7
\$\begingroup\$

Does the line on Quick Alchemy about remaining potent for only 1 round matter for poisons once they've been applied?

You swiftly mix up a short-lived alchemical item to use at a moment's notice. You create a single alchemical item of your advanced alchemy level or lower that's in your formula book without having to spend the normal monetary cost in alchemical reagents or needing to attempt a Crafting check. This item has the infused trait, but it remains potent only until the start of your next turn.

I mostly wonder because poisons are applied by being Activated, which seems like it could be distinct for this purpose. Other items have their effects immediately, but poisons can be Activated and have their effects occur later depending on the method of exposure.

Injury: An injury poison is activated by applying it to a weapon or ammunition, and it affects the target of the first Strike made using the poisoned item.

If poisons do have no effect after the turn they were created, does that impact other persistent-effect alchemical items like smokesticks created by Quick Alchemy?

\$\endgroup\$
2
  • \$\begingroup\$ To be clear, is this just about if you apply a Quick poison when it was made but miss any Strikes that round, if it would still be applicable to Strikes in a future round? Or are you also wondering if applied poison would suddenly stop affecting the target? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 26, 2022 at 0:40
  • \$\begingroup\$ Yes, mainly if the weapon would still be poisoned in future rounds. An easier potential use could be Quick Alchemy out of combat and then having a poisoned weapon when one breaks out. \$\endgroup\$
    – brandon
    Commented Feb 26, 2022 at 1:15

2 Answers 2

5
\$\begingroup\$

Quick Alchemy Poison Stays on the Weapon

You created an alchemical item with the infused trait using your infused reagents, and it has a limited time before it becomes inert. Any nonpermanent effects from your infused alchemical items, with the exception of afflictions such as slow-acting poisons, end when you make your daily preparations again.

The infused trait normally allows nonpermanent effects to persist for their normal duration (up to the next daily preparations, or longer for afflictions).

Potency is the Ability to be Activated

This item has the infused trait, but it remains potent only until the start of your next turn.

How Quick Alchemy works depends on what 'potent' means in this context—whether it means an item can be Activated or whether it has any effect.

Most alchemical items have effects with a duration longer than 1 round, so potency as the "ability to have any effect" severely limits Quick Alchemy's usefulness when spontaneously creating virtually all elixirs, poisons, and alchemical tools, and even many bombs which rely on persistent damage or other persistent non-affliction conditions.

Because of this, it seems much more natural that Quick Alchemy limits the time between creation and Activation rather than total duration of effect, potency as the "ability to be Activated".

Applied Poison is Activated

So when using Quick Alchemy to create an injury poison like graveroot, you have until the start of your next turn to Activate the poison by applying it to a weapon or ammunition. As a nonpermanent effect of the poison, this stays applied for its normal duration, limited to your next daily preparations.

If someone is struck with the poisoned weapon, then the affliction that affects them would not be subject to this duration limit because of the exception under the infused trait.

\$\endgroup\$
3
  • \$\begingroup\$ So your concern with the first ruling would be that buffs such as the bonus to Saves vs disease and poison from consuming an elixir of life would also be limited to that round? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Mar 1, 2022 at 18:29
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Yes, if potency means 'having an effect at all', then that bonus would also be limited to a round. For things like antiplagues to mutagens to even sunrods and more, that interpretation would be pretty hard on Quick Alchemy. \$\endgroup\$
    – brandon
    Commented Mar 1, 2022 at 18:42
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ @ESCE "Or until daily preparations", but otherwise that's a good summary. Hopefully this latest update is a bit clearer for the conclusion. \$\endgroup\$
    – brandon
    Commented Oct 4, 2022 at 21:05
2
\$\begingroup\$

It does not matter for slow-acting poisons that have been applied

The infused trait states:

You created an alchemical item with the infused trait using your infused reagents, and it has a limited time before it becomes inert. Any nonpermanent effects from your infused alchemical items, with the exception of afflictions such as slow-acting poisons, end when you make your daily preparations again.

The modification to this trait is

This item has the infused trait, but it remains potent only until the start of your next turn.

The item will become inert at the start of your next turn, instead of when you make your daily preparations again. The explicit exception are afflications such as a slow-acting poison (that already was applied before then, causing the affliction).

If you apply the poison, and then do not hit in the same round, it will become inert, and be ineffectual.

\$\endgroup\$
4
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ This doesn't answer OP's question about applying the poison to a weapon but not successfully delivering it that round \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 26, 2022 at 17:37
  • \$\begingroup\$ This feels important if you consider the weapon being coated is a nonpermanent effect of the poison. Still not sure the infused trait avoids the limitation in Quick Alchemy for the effects, though defining potency as related to infused inertness could be right. \$\endgroup\$
    – brandon
    Commented Feb 26, 2022 at 18:17
  • \$\begingroup\$ I edited to clarify -- I think based on the rules text, if the poison does not hit in time, it becomes inert. If there is evidence to the contrary, happy to be shown this is incorrect. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 26, 2022 at 18:49
  • \$\begingroup\$ @brandon the quoted section pretty clearly indicates that infused poisons, once affecting a creature ("exception of afflictions"), continue to have their effect. I agree that they go inert if not applied within the same round, though, based on it specifying afflictions. Otherwise you run into ~~dumb~~ incorrect ruling such as losing hit points from infused elixirs of life. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Feb 27, 2022 at 4:34

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .