Knowledge (poisons) encompasses not only a poison's appearance and usage, but its history, antidotes (if any), makeup, and common organizations that might use it, as well as natural ways of counteracting it.
On a DC 15 check, the character knows if a particular poison has a medicinal use.
On a DC 20 check, the character can tell if a particular malady or condition might benefit from a certain poison or drug.
Table 1 lists the base DC by rarity of poison type. The factors from Table 2 are applied to the character's roll when he makes the Knowledge check; the following checks use the base DC plus a modifier, depending on how hard the information is to find out.
On a DC +5 check (base DC for the poison type, +5), the character knows the poison's most common use – incapacitation, killing, or merely to inflict suffering – as well as if the poison's effects and common cures.
On a DC +10 check, he can name well-known individuals and organizations that use the poison.
On a DC +10 check, he knows who first developed the poison (if this is known at all) and for what purpose.
On a DC +15 check, he can name less well-known individuals and organizations that use the poison.
Table 1: Poison Rarity
Type of Poison | DC |
---|---|
Common (arsenic, cyanide) | 10 |
Uncommon (stonefish venom, belladonna) | 15 |
Rare (blue ring octopus venom) | 20 |
Very rare (unique poisons) | 25 |
Table 2: Poison Factors
Factor | Modifier |
---|---|
Character has the poison and/or symptoms described in detail by another source | +1 |
Character can examine the victim | +3 |
Character tests poison by delivery method (tasting for ingested, smelling for inhaled, etc) | +71 |
Character tests the poison another way (tasting an inhaled poison, or smelling a contact poison) | +22 |
Character can examine some of the poison or a poisoned article | +7 |
Character has knowledge of the poison that was used (i.e. he has experience with using it or has seen it before) | +10 |
Character is unfamiliar with the poison used | -5 |
Poison has multiple components | -5/comp. |
1 Testing poison in this manner is very dangerous; the character must make a Fort save with a +6 circumstance bonus when testing small amounts.
2 As above, but the character must make a Fort save vs. half the poison's DC.