Got a question about one of those poison weapons way back from the Dhu Gillywack.

It doesn't list on the Item Properties page on the wiki anything about poison flares. The particular weapon in question is one from the Dhu Gillywack that you would pour poison vials into.

Do the poison flares fall into a Category B or is it treated as a Category D?

>Since you have to "do something with something" to get the flare, I'm pretty sure it falls into the "Script" category rather than the "'normal' flare" category.

If that's the case, it being a script flare - then with the newer changes pushed out with weapons a while back, I could add an actual flaring substance to it that falls under Category B. Even possibly add weighting to it....

Interesting.

On to the next part for NIR guys.

Can these poison weapons get some love? They're nifty, but mostly in the looks department when they actually flare. The high power poison can certainly do some damage with the amount of DOT they can dish out....however, the DOT on them is horribly long. There is no initial damage for the flare itself. There is however, one flare messaging that actually knocks the target over, but nothing more (no RT, no damage from the knock down, no stun). The poison damage does DOT every 30 seconds. Seriously....30 long, grueling, seconds.

Here's what I know the weapons do from what I've tested.
1) Neat flare messaging - 4 distinct flares regardless of the poison potency you're using. Only 1 is mechanically unique and useful - it knocks the target down.
2) No initial damage done from the actual flare
3) DOT triggers once every 30 seconds after the hit that flared (yes, this means you get the flare and have to wait 30 seconds for any poison damage is taken) until the following:

a) Target dies

b) Poison is cured (via Unpoison spell)

c) Target lives long enough through the cycles to allow the poison to dissipate.

* There is a caveat to the last one. I know one of the original poison vials (seems to be a lesser potent one I had in the weapon) from the original Dhu Gillywack can actually cause a small DOT per round and has a dissipation rate of 0 per round. This only came up a few times in my testing of several hundred poison flares and only came up from an older poison. The DOT was always small, around 2-5 damage and 0 dissipation per round. Only way to fix the issue is to cast Unpoison or die.

4) Poison flares can only trigger once per target, unless the initial poison flare has worn off or removed (via Unpoison spell)
5) Flares seem to trigger about as often as most, normal flaring weapons
6) Flare messages appear to be random regardless of where you actually strike the target
7) Flare message/severity of the message do not appear to correlate to the actual DOT and rate the poison dissipates (DOT amount and Dissipation rate appear to be random, based on the potency level of the poison you're using)
8) (going from memory here, I can't find my log or spreadsheet with all my data) Low potent poison usually gives upwards of maybe 15-20 DOT and dissipation rates vary from a few per round enough per round to make the poison leave the body after one round. High potent poison can cause upwards of, if I remember correctly, 60+ DOT and also vary in dissipation rates from low to same amount the DOT does.

As it stands now, these poison flares are pretty much a party favor. They don't offer any real advantage over a basic weapon. Without any initial damage from the flare and the fact the DOT takes 30 seconds to trigger and only triggers every 30 seconds after, whatever target you're attacking is going to be dead way, way, way, way, way, way, way (see what I'm doing here?) before the poison even flares.

Can something be done to improve upon the poison flare?
Suggestions:
1) Allow the flare to apply some initial damage to the target, maybe 1/2 of the DOT amount that it applies.
2) speed up the DOT to trigger every 5 seconds (like the acid splash damage from 904) - this would allow at least one round of the poison to actually be beneficial before the target ends up dead.
3) Apply RT durations or special properties for the specific flare messages:

Droplets of smoking black liquid spray from your vultite falcata! Xxxxx watches in horror as his skin begins to smoke! - cause this to drop the DS/AS by 10% for a couple rounds

Noxious liquid from your vultite falcata showers Xxxxx, who falls to the ground and begins to roll around violently. - maybe tack on 3-5 seconds for the whole stop, drop and roll thing going on here

Drops of oily residue fly from your vultite falcata, drenching Xxxxx! - cause a 1 round stun because of the whole clawing at your eyes
Xxxxx claws at his eyes!

A malodorous toxin spits from your vultite falcata and slimes the face of Xxxxx! - reduce E/B/P by 10% for a couple rounds