Jafazo wrote:I like to keep my Heroquest as original as possible with no house rules. That kept in mind, when deciding how to handle "restoring poison damage", I looked for an example how the game handled it and that example is in the Anti-Poison Quill using the keyword 'immediately'. The Antivenom Antidote is the only red flag that gives credit to whether poison damage was meant to be tracked and handled on a separate basis. If there were more red flags supporting poison type damage as its own damage type, I might rule in favor of tracking, but there isn't. Taking damage in Heroquest is almost always referenced by a flavored source, which has no ingame influence over mechanics, then by the damage result, which influences how many body points you lose. It never combines the two to say, "... you lose 2 body points of fire damage, or water damage, or poison damage, or lightning damage." It always just says, "This is what caused your damage, because of it you lose this much damage."
Even the wording of the poison needle trap doesn't reference "Poison type damage" in itself. It just flavors the trap as being a poison needle that causes damage because let's face it, "You prick your finger on a needle and lose 1 body point." sounds plain ridiculous right?
NA Questbook, Rescue of Sir Ragnar, Note A - "The treasure chest has a trap with a poison needle on it. If a hero searches for treasure before the trap is disarmed, he will lose 1 body point. The chest is empty." (So notice how it references the damage by simply saying, he will lose 1 body point, not he will lose 1 body point in poison damage. The damage type is never referenced by the games mechanics even if we speculate by saying, "But it's a poison NEEDLE trap! OBVIOUSLY it's poison damage!" That's our experience with other RPG's kicking in to butt into Heroquest's simple gameplay.
NA Quest 5, Melar's Maze, Note C - "This chest is filled with a poisonous gas-it's a trap! If a hero searches for treasure before the trap is disarmed, he will lose 2 body points. The chest also contains144 gold coins. There is no other treasure in this room." (Again, it doesn't say he loses 2 body points of poison damage.)
Zargon's Chaos Spell, Lightningbolt - "...it will inflict 2 body points of damage on all heroes..." (No reference to lightning damage)
Looking at how restoring poison damage is handled by the game, we see in the Anti-Poison Quill that it needs to be healed 'immediately' after suffering damage from a poison source. So the only support to tracking poison type damage is in one stupid card because one word is missing. Do we chalk it up as a mistake, or apply a whole new mechanic to justify the card? C'mon people. Again, as a house rule, go for it, but if you're keeping the game house rule free, the antivenom antidote needs to be used 'immediately'.
If we go the tracking poison damage route then the game's gonna go straight to *lemony goodness* cause....
The Wizards fire spells CLEARLY reference the source of damage being fire based, so now let's mark our papers up with a bunch of P's (Poison Damaged) and F's (Fire Damaged). Sure, there's no item that says it heals fire damage, but we're just looking at the source where the damage came from right, not the descriptor that tells us how much and of what type of damage was suffered. We'll also need a few L's in case Zargon hits us with Lightningbolt and some E's or R's for Earth (Rock) damage like falling rock taps. (X_X)
Your interpretation of poison rules is fine--you've clearly arrived at a satisfactory answer with a lot of supporting thought. My interpretation is also fine. I say interpretation, not house rule because we are both separately coping with a rules issue, not creating a new rule (more on mine below.) Any frequenter of the Inn is free to "choose your poison."
I agree the examples of poison supplied in your post present only Body Point damage with poison fluff text. Being from the Main Game System, there is no other way to deal with healing damage caused from poison in those cases. Sure, one could allow Alchemist Shop potions at that point, but it isn't recommended anywhere because those Quests weren't intended to be considered with poison rules.
Then KK and RotWL were released. As expansions, they contain new rules for play within those Quests (and later Quests if you prefer.) Specifically, rules for a new way of healing poison damage are found within the text of
Venom Antidote from the Alchemist's Shop and the
Anti-poison Quill Artifact Card. Also, on p.3 under Playing Return of the Witch Lord:
New Artifact Cards (continued)
*Anti-poison Quill: This rare, hollow quill contains a
mysterious substance that counteracts any type of poison. This
antidote will restore Body Points lost by poisoning if used
immediately by the owner. The quill must be crossed off the
Hero’s Character sheet after it is used.
Unfortunately, the additional text, "counteracts any type of poison" contradicts the Artifact Card which only covers Body Point damage. Good thing the Anti-poison Quills in Quest 8 aren't available until after Belethor the poisonous Gargoyle is encountered in Quest 5!
As Hero Quest is an older game, those item texts (and the Quests) don't use or need the descriptor "poison damage" found in many later games. Could a descriptor have worked more clearly? Yes. However, Hero Quest instead words poison damage in these two ways: Venom Antidote "...heals up to 2
Body Points of damage by poison needles or poison darts only"; Anti-poison Quill "Restore any of the owner's
Body Points lost by poisoning if used immediately...."
Written this way, the potion and artifact poison rules and how to handle them apply in a global way to applicable instances within the Quests; no further "poison damage" descriptors within the few trap entries of KK and RotWL are needed or included. The Quest text about a poison needle, etc. serves as a pointer to the global rule; if the potion or artifact is available, you may apply it's listed rule. That makes poison traps functionally separate from other cases of Body Point damage and fluff text within KK and RotWL.
This top-down interpretation of how the poison rules are called into play with trap damage is what motivates me to consider the text in the Venom Antidote entry as acceptable, rules-as-written. Tracking Body Point loss caused by poison is a viable implementation of that rule. As poison need only be considered where only poison rules are presented, tracking "F" for fire damage, "L" for lightning, "E" or "R" for falling rocks is extraneous. Nowhere else in the sum of MB-published Hero Quest material (that I'm aware of) is special Body Point damage tracking called for. Well, there is the BQP Potion of Warmth, but that must be used immediately and doesn't need a letter for recording.
For those who don't wish to record a "P", they may instead interpret the ambiguous wording of Venom Antidote by tracking poison damage as a condition (as my old group has done.)
Consider poison damage to be healed last and ask: Does a Hero have any unhealed damage remaining from when he/she was poisoned by a needle or dart? If so, then up to 2 Body Points of damage may be healed by Venom Antidote. If Venom Antidote is on hand, remembering if 1, 2, or more Body Points causes by a poison needle/dart remains unhealed should be easy.
Posted: February 18th, 2016, 12:07 pm