How to cure venom?

[Dragon]

I think the gist of the conversation is we all know now that Cure Poison is the real 'cure'. Instant, ranged, 1 SR to cast. No chance the victim even needs to roll his CON.

Antidotes (Antivenin) help, to the level of their potency.

Treat Poison can help with long acting poisons, and does nothing for fast acting poison due to the times involved. Fast acting poisons (gas, wyvern, herbal, sometimes mineral) take 3 rounds to act. The healer with Treat Poison needs 25 rounds per person (1 Full Turn).

For the slow acting poison (scorpion, spider, other mineral) a healer can purge some potency on 5 people max before the poison takes effect and Treat Poison is thereafter useless. And that is if the healer can start as soon as the first person is injected. Remember only one roll can ever be made. No letting the worst person with Treat Poison get a shot at an experience check for this skill. Demand the best.

And here is the kicker, once the poison does damage, only Antidotes help and only within 10 minutes. Antidotes will reverse some or all of the damage. Nothing else will but time. As in weeks. This is when Xiola Umbar and Healing Trance comes in handy. That 3 recovery rate for 13-18 CON per week goes to 3 GHP per 21 hrs (24x7/8). But neither the victim nor the healer wakes until it is all cured.

Now, your GM may throw in special poisons. Poisons that inflict a low amount of damage over a long, long time. For those, Cure Poison will stop future damage, but not restore what is already lost. Or poisons that take characteristics points rather than GHP. Those can be restored by Restore Health.

Or, take a drop of Arroin's Blood. That will cure and restore anything. Availability is the only issue. Okay, there may be an issue for an Illuminate who wants to retain that nifty chaotic feature.

Hence poison is not to be taken lightly in RQG. If you want to allow shamans to have access to a special type of healing spirit that works on poisons rather than diseases, to be consistent with how nasty poisons are to everyone else, the 'healing poison' spirit better be engaged with the victim within 5 Full Turns (or 3 rounds for fast acting). This is definitely not something the shaman discorporates to find. Unless the shaman discorporates to find a spirit with Healing Trance, and the victim is able to survive the poison damage. 

[Bill the barbarian]

1 hour ago, Dragon said:

I think the gist of the conversation is we all know now that Cure Poison is the real 'cure'. Instant, ranged, 1 SR to cast. No chance the victim even needs to roll his CON.

 

Well seeing as this was my idea initially (see the third post) I suppose I must agree. But I do love David's idea of poison being something like a spirit that a shaman can exercise. That rocks and moves us away from the idea we are on earth and that earthly remedies are worth something. And even if you do not agree with poison being a spirit, as Qizilbash Woman said a spirit of healing summoned by said shaman should just about do the trick. 

Well to be fair, sure the other solutions will work as you say Dragon, but really when in the lands of the gods and spirits and you wish results worthy of gods and spirits and can spare the power... use the magic of gods and spirits!

 

Edited April 28, 2021 by Bill the barbarian

[Dragon]

18 hours ago, Bill the barbarian said:

Well seeing as this was my idea initially (see the third post) I suppose I must agree. But I do love David's idea of poison being something like a spirit that a shaman can exercise. That rocks and moves us away from the idea we are on earth and that earthly remedies are worth something. And even if you do not agree with poison being a spirit, as Qizilbash Woman said a spirit of healing summoned by said shaman should just about do the trick. 

Well to be fair, sure the other solutions will work as you say Dragon, but really when in the lands of the gods and spirits and you wish results worthy of gods and spirits and can spare the power... use the magic of gods and spirits!

Oh, I have no problem with using the magic of the spirits. My point was more the general rule that if the most powerful spirit of healing (i.e. god), Chalana Arroy, then no other spirit will be able to do something she cannot. And that is heal poison damage after the 10 minutes are up. Hence, a powerful healing spirit should be able to begin the healing within that 10 minutes. They could even have powers similar to Xiola Umbar and speed the natural healing some. Such a spirit, other than Chalana or Xiola, should not have better healing abilities. Because they don't own the Harmony Rune.

Otherwise, next we will see a spirit with death powers better than Humakt, storm powers better than Orlanth, or Sky powers better than Yelm. It ruins the narrative.

[Bill the barbarian]

9 hours ago, Dragon said:

Oh, I have no problem with using the magic of the spirits. My point was more the general rule that if the most powerful spirit of healing (i.e. god), Chalana Arroy,

Hmmm, I am just saying I like the idea of others not that those ideas are mine, You will have to take up the debate with those who postulated those ideas or I will be putting words in their mouth. My idea was Cure Poison being an option and that does not seem to need defending .