The Poison Use class ability says that you do not risk poisoning yourself when applying poison to a blade. Does that mean I still risk pricking myself when applying it to an arrow, dart, or morningstar? Do I still risk poisoning myself when dosing someone's stew or throwing a vial on deadly inhalant to the floor at my enemy's feet?
It seems...dumb...if that is the case.
I am not entirely sure if it's a balance reason or not.(Can't see much reason for it to be...and if it is I can only figure it to be minor at best)
But I would rule that the ability "Poison Use" extend to cover such things as Arrows and Darts and Stews.
Poison Use should let you use poison without the 5% risk. Nothing game-breaking jumps out at me about it.
Whenever a character applies or readies a poison for use there is a 5% chance that he exposes himself to the poison and must save against the poison as normal. This does not consume the dose of poison. Whenever a character attacks with a poisoned weapon, if the attack roll results in a natural 1, he exposes himself to the poison. This consumes the poison on the weapon. Characters with the poison use class feature do not risk accidentally poisoning themselves.
Problem solved.
I imagine the "when applying poison to a blade" was more careless wording, or a holdover from previous editions. In any case, the rule I just quoted is not limited to blades or even to weapons, so all uses of poison become safe for someone with this class feature.
Whenever a character applies or readies a poison for use there is a 5% chance that he exposes himself to the poison and must save against the poison as normal. This does not consume the dose of poison. Whenever a character attacks with a poisoned weapon, if the attack roll results in a natural 1, he exposes himself to the poison. This consumes the poison on the weapon. Characters with the poison use class feature do not risk accidentally poisoning themselves.Problem solved.
I imagine the "when applying poison to a blade" was more careless wording, or a holdover from previous editions. In any case, the rule I just quoted is not limited to blades or even to weapons, so all uses of poison become safe for someone with this class feature.
I'm afraid the rules you quoted aren't as contradictory as you think.
Poison Use protects me from endangering myself when (1) poisoning a blade and (2) fumbling with ANY poisoned weapon. That still means I can, by RAW, potentially poison myself when applying poison to a non-bladed weapon despite having the class feature.
(Though I do agree with you as to the intent.)
Use of the word "blade" was indeed careless wording. You can apply poison to any weapon (although ruling that the weapon has to do piercing or slashing damage if the poison's not contact poison seems logical).
Thank you for another fine clarification. Should this be another one for the errata?
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Use of the word "blade" was indeed careless wording. You can apply poison to any weapon (although ruling that the weapon has to do piercing or slashing damage if the poison's not contact poison seems logical).
Right, so anything sharpy or pointy, gotcha. I guess caltrops and things like needle traps also apply.