[Torg] Characteristic damage

[Kansas Jim]

Phil writes:

[poison causing attribute damage?]

> I don't recall seeing anything about characteristic damage in
> TR&E as I've been reading it the last couple of weeks (note to

There's nothing along those lines in the rules anywhere. The closest
Torg ever got were with SFX that caused the loss of attribute points
like the Weakness spell or the Withering Touch pulp power in IU#1.

One problem I see with treating poisons as causing attribute damage
is that a rattlesnake bite (as from your example) will never kill
anyone unless you give it a ridiculously high DV or run it as straight
RPs taken off rather than through a push (assuming a rule similar to
d20 where reducing an attribute to zero kills.) While we don't want
our PCs dying off from random spider and snake bites, if you can't kill
Ords with something approaching the frequency of "real life" then it's
IMO too unrealistic of a game mechanic.

Of course there is the problem of that if we treat poisons too
realistically they lose a lot of their power in RPG games. A rattlesnake
bite may not exhibit any dangerous symptoms for 30-60 minutes, in a game
with access to magic, miracles and even just present day medicine (ie,
antivenin) most players will yawn when their character gets poisoned,
secure in the knowledge that they might have a couple hundred rounds
before the effects will even start appearing. As opposed to the
traditional RPG approach of dealing with poisons, instant and possibly
continuing damage and in some games even instant death (ie, a failed
saving throw), something that does make players worry about getting
poisoned.

I've tried over the years to come up with some happy medium, rules which
produce somewhat realistic effects for poisons while still making it
something that players can't dismiss as a problem they can wait to
address after the current encounter is finished. Haven't had much luck,
what I've tried tends to be too simplistic or involves too much book-
keeping, I'm still trying to find the right balance.

-- 
Kansas Jim, Torg guru (ksjim (at) sdc (dot) org)
Torg website: http://www.sdc.org/~ksjim/index.html