Dosing (sage ability)

Dosing is an amateur status ability that allows the character to add ingestive poison to food or drink without being seen. This requires no check for success and the right amount is always chosen. The deed can be done in the company of the intended victim, choosing a moment when potential witnesses, including the erstwhile victim, are distracted. This can be done during a dinner or a feast, or in any public place, so long as the character has a pretext for casually passing by, so that a dollop of poison can be poured into or dusted over food and drink.

Some consumable must be involved. The ability makes it unnecessary for the character to provide food or drink that's already been poisoned. There is no certainty that the intended victim trusts the character, however — only that it's for certain the character won't be actually seen adding poison to the meal. Apart from the skill, the player must take steps to obtain the intended victim's trust, if that's important.

Drawbacks

It's considered a near-certainty that the victim will eat the food that's poisoned — though a crisis could arise that would cause the would-be consumer to abandon the meal. The chance of this is a mere 1%.

Additionally, the intended victim IS allowed a saving throw; the poison might be detected by odour, tasting only a small bite at first by chance or the experience of the victim. The dosing ability grants a -2 penalty to the victim's throw. If the roll is 5 points higher than the number needed, the consumer has smelled something — and will be cautious about taking a bite. In this case, the poison is detected and no damage accrues.

However, if a save nearer to the number needed is made, the poison won't be detected until after some food or drink has been imbibed. In this case, the victim suffers 20-50% of the poison's effect. If a save fails, then the victim consumes enough to suffer the full effects of the poison.

It will be obvious to all that a poisoning has taken place; to master the means of producing an effect that will appear to be naturally caused, or at least undetermined, the character must possess the subtle poisoning ability.

See Poisoning