Symptoms: The symptoms of a syndrome are what happens to the unfortunate afflicted character. If they are listed as cumulative, the penalties stack. Otherwise, they just last for the duration of the disease or poison. Symptoms cannot be removed or dealt with until the poison or disease has been cured, so a wound from snake venom can‚t be cured until the poison is. Typically, symptoms are wounds, fatigue, and/or nausea. If a character is infected by a poison or disease which can afflict wounds as a symptom, the character does not heal naturally every day regardless of whether he succeeded on his fortitude check or not.
Primary Transmission: The Transmission of a syndrome is how someone gets it in the first place.
Injury: If the poison is present on the weapon dealing damage (even if it doesn't do a wound), the character is afflicted. Injury syndromes are also always Ingestion transferrable.
Inhalation: Breathing in the toxin causes the syndrome. The DC increases by +1 for every full time increment, based on the check rate (ex. For every round spent breathing tear gas, or every day spent in the presence of one or more plague victims).
Ingestion: Eating or drinking the toxin causes the syndrome.
Vector: A vector refers is a small creature, usually an insect (such as fleas or mosquitoes) that carries a disease from subject to subject. Vectors are almost always insects.
Secondary Transmission: This is the way that it gets from an infected creature to a healthy one.
Airborne Secondary: Every round the character is within 3m of an infected creature, roll a d6. On a 1, the character gets infected.
Waterborne Secondary:
Check Rate: The check rate is how often the character has to make a Fortitude check against the syndrome's DC. Each failed check incurs Symptoms. Three successful checks in a row mean the character has recovered from the poison or disease and is no longer afflicted
Diagnosis DC: This is the Medicine DC required to diagnose the character. If it is obvious what the character has (i.e., you saw him get bit by a viper) this check is unnecessary. See Medicine for more information. If the poison or disease is something the diagnose has never heard of before (such as a new disease) increase the DC by +3.
Fort DC: This is the DC that a character must beat to avoid that round of symptoms. Three successful checks in a row mean the character has recovered.
Overdose: The given DCs and effects are for one standard dose of poison. If the afflicted character is, say, bitten twice in the same round or injected with more sedative, the DC goes up. You still only make one fortitude check, however. For every doubling of dose, the DC increases by +1 and the effects increase. If the character fails the check, he counts as having been poisoned twice (for double dose) three times (for quadruple dose), etc.. So, a quadruple dose of sedative would have DC 8 (6 +2), and would cause the drugged character to fall unconscious for 3d4 minutes.