# Reading an Entry

*The Apothecary, Poisons, Drugs, and Chemical Agents for Exodus NDS. Source: https://exodusnds.com/sourcebooks/the-apothecary/reading-an-entry*

Every substance in this book is printed the same way.

##### <span class="substance-bar toxin"></span>Wolfsbane
<span class="weapon-aka">Aconite, monkshood, leopard's bane</span>

<div class="substance toxin">

<span class="pot">3</span>
<span class="onset">10 minutes</span>
<span class="interval">10 minutes</span>
<span class="course">6</span>

</div>

<div class="substance-detail">

<span class="vector">Ingested, Injury</span>
<span class="price">80</span>
<span class="avail">Restricted</span>
<span class="period">Old World</span>
<span class="qual">Lethal, Subtle 1</span>

</div>

<div class="weapon-profile">

<span class="pname">Effect</span>
<span class="pqual">3 Wounds. The mouth and hands go numb at the first failed check</span>

</div>

## The Four Numbers

| Number | What it is |
|:--|:--|
| **Potency** | The difficulty of the Fortitude check to resist: 1 Easy, 2 Average, 3 Hard, 4 Severe, 5 Extreme |
| **Onset** | The time between exposure and the first resist check. Nothing happens during it |
| **Interval** | How often the victim makes a resist check once the poison has started |
| **Course** | How many resist checks the poison lasts for, unless it is ended sooner |

Wolfsbane above reads: ten minutes after it is swallowed, and every ten minutes after that, the victim makes a Hard Fortitude check, up to six times.

A Course of **In cloud** means the checks continue for as long as the victim stays in the gas.

## Vector

How the substance gets into a body.

| Vector | Exposure |
|:--|:--|
| **Injury** | Carried into a wound by a coated weapon, a dart, a fang, or a needle. The attack must inflict at least 1 Wound after Resistance |
| **Contact** | Touching bare skin. **Contact (eyes)** works only on the eyes and is stopped by goggles or a visor |
| **Ingested** | Eaten or drunk |
| **Inhaled** | Breathed in as gas, smoke, vapour, or dust |

A substance with more than one Vector works by any of them. Chapter 3 has the rules for each.

## The Rows

| Row | Meaning |
|:--|:--|
| **Effect** | What happens on a failed resist check |
| **Resisted** | What happens on a successful one. If the row is missing, nothing happens |
| **Sleep** | How long a victim put to sleep by a sedative stays asleep |
| **After** | What remains once the poison has ended |
| **Antidote** | The specific antidote, if one exists |
| **Special** | Anything else |
| **Cloud** | For a gas: how much space it fills and how long it stays |
| **Stops it** | For a gas: the protection that works |
| **Use** | For something sprayed or thrown at one target: the attack that delivers it |

**Wounds and Strain from a substance are not reduced by Resistance**, unless the entry says they are. Armour does not help against what is already in the blood.

<img class="framed" src="https://exodusnds.com/assets/sourcebook/the_apothecary/the-apothecary-scales.jpg">

## Drugs Read Differently

A drug, a medicine, or an antidote is something a character usually takes on purpose. Its last two numbers change.

| Number | What it is |
|:--|:--|
| **Potency** | The difficulty of the check to avoid an Overdose |
| **Onset** | The time before it works |
| **Lasts** | How long the Benefit and the Side effect last |
| **Limit** | How many doses a character can take between full nights of rest before risking an Overdose |

| Row | Meaning |
|:--|:--|
| **Benefit** | What the user gains |
| **Side effect** | What the user suffers for as long as the drug lasts |
| **Crash** | What the user suffers when it stops |
| **Overdose** | What happens on a failed check past the Limit |
| **Unwilling** | What happens to someone given it in secret, where that differs |

Chapter 5 has the rules.

## Price, Availability, and Period

**Price** is for one dose: enough for one person once, to coat one weapon for one hit, or one pot, grenade, or canister of a gas. It is in the units of the armory that covers the same period: Old World entries on the scale of *The Fantasy Armory*, Industrial entries on that of *The Black Powder Armory*, Modern entries in present-day US dollars as in *The Modern Armory*, and Stellar entries in credits as in *The Stellar Armory*. An entry with a dash for its price is not for sale at any price a character can pay.

| Tag | Meaning |
|:--|:--|
| **Common** | Sold openly, or growing wild for anyone who knows it |
| **Restricted** | Sold by licence, by prescription, or to a recognised trade. Others are asked questions |
| **Military** | Made for a state or an army. Bought from a quartermaster or a thief |
| **Rare** | Made by a few people, or found in a few places |
| **Illicit** | Against the law to sell or carry. Bought with Streetwise, at the seller's price |

**Period** is the first period in which the entry is found: Old World, Industrial, Modern, or Stellar. Later periods keep it.

<img class="framed" src="https://exodusnds.com/assets/sourcebook/the_apothecary/the-apothecary-herb-stall.jpg">