Hello again, one of my players is an assassin. She wants to run a poison based assassin. Im basing posion making skills off of the Chem-use skill. I want your guys opinion on how i should treat her using poisons before she has this skill. As of right now she cant brew poisons without the skill. The idea I had was as of right now if she applies poison to her blade it would only encure a toxic trait of 1d5 extra damage if the target doesnt pass its Toughness test. As for applying poisons to her blades I have told her they will last for usualy 4-5d10 minutes unless she pretty much lets her blade bathe in it which would last for about 1-3 hours of use. Your input and ideas would really help me on how to possibly better handle this. Thanks cheers.

Well, the letter of the rule is that characters without skill in a Trained skill have no chance of using said skill. If you want the PC to be able to dabble in poisons without having the skill in advance, a reasonable penalty might be to require a skill test, and a failure of 2 or more degrees means that the poison effects the PC trying to use it...

By the way, in case you didn't know, there is a bit of info on poisons in the Game Master's Kit.

Hi Augustus,

I think you are to harsh. Me, for example (the REAL me) has no "Chem-Use Skill" as well, but the unguents I apply to my skin rashes are never the less working. After all, I do what the doctor told me. Applying a ready-made "blade poison" to a blade should not become a problem, either. If the assassine has a ready-made blade poison!

All in all, you should make the assassine acquire the poisons. Which could become a problem in regards to her surrounding. Inquiry tests or tests for Common Lore (Underworld) should do the trick..together with a sum of thrones.

Thanks to the both of you for your input. To comment Gregorious, as of right now the group in a frontier system. The planets still are populated with most of its original wildlife and plants. She wants to be able to brew poisons from natural plants and substances in the system. This is why im basing her skill to make them off the Chem-Use skill. The time it takes to brew certain poisons depends on how concentrated it will be, what she wants it to do. Im sorry i didnt go into detail on that subject. Thanks! and cheers.

Brewing poisons from natural plants? Ask the player if she can go out in the woods and make a poison out of bark and leaves using just what she knows. Note only that, an alien planet with plants she's never seen before. Ask her to make some nytroglycerine and maybe some LSD while she's at it. This should require more than Chem-Use, it should require some kind of Scholastic Lore or Trade skill.

Come to think of it, Apothecary is the skill you need here, I think. For a totally alien world, that and Scholastic Lore (Chymistry).

Inquisitor Augustus Pike said:

Aaah! I see! Thanks for the input. In that case you are right not to give her ANY access to such poisons. She is not having the skill. Other skills I would allow for making something out of the present wildlife are

Trade(Apothecary)
Survival (which will NOT help preserving the poison! She will need to do this about an hour before the act)
Perhaps Wrangling (for "milking" a snake... after catching the **** beast!)

While Apothecary is obvious in regard to plant-based poisons, survival could do the same (so the Trade should be easier). I remember stories of natives from jungles who move their arrow tips gently along the skin of a poison frog in order to get some of its poison.

I would agree that Trade (apothecary) or the trade (chymist) skills would be the most applicable here, but as gregorious said the survival skill would be very important, as she is going off into the wilderness to find dangerous things, additionally some scholastic lore could be used, but i think a trade is a little better, just one advanced skill purchase should solve all these problems, or give her access thorugh some common lore (underworld) to a poision maker of some knowledge to make her poisions untill she gets that skill, or learns it from them..

Thanks for the input everyone! And lucky enough for her shes a feral world assassin so Survival is already covered. I will consider all of the things you guys have said and see what works with the game. Thanks once again cheers.