Poison Duration

[OgeXam]

I have been trying to find a specific rule and I am either going blind or something.

How long is a poison able to stay on a weapon before it becomes inert?

I know one attack removed it, but how long before use can it be applied and still be active?

If it is on a blade I can see it drying up and becoming useless after a given amount of time.

What if you applied the poison to an arrow head then coated the arrow head in a thin layer of clay, wax, etc. Would the poison on the arrow last longer?

Anybody know where the rules are on how long a poison is active after it is applied to a weapon?

[Eric Clingenpeel]

Last I knew there were no rules as to how long the poison will last on a weapon. Seems like an oversight I know, but as we know, not everything can be accounted for.

[OgeXam]

That is what I was thinking.

Does anybody recall if there as a rule for duration on 3.5 or 3.0?

[reefwood]

I am also curious about the duration of poison after is it applied to a weapon. Seems to be something that is lacking an official answer.

Since poisons have so many different stats, I wonder if it could vary from poison to poison. Maybe based on their onset time or duration? Or at least on their type (injury, contact, etc)?

Basing it off Onset time:
"-' = 1 round
1 rd = 1 min
1 min = 1 hr
10 min = 1 day

I don't know enough about poison to know if this idea has any basis in reality, but it is also nice to keep somethings fairly simple in D&D.

[OgeXam]

Then let us try to get an official answer by pressing the FAQ button.

[Type2Demon]

Poison will stay on a needle trap for ages.

I would say that poison stays on a weapon until it is used, cleaned or perhaps submerged in water.

Alchemist "sticky poison" ability would probably survive a dunking (I would remove one use for that action IMHO).

[karkon]

I happened to have my 1st edition DMG by me and the rule for applied poisons then was that the amount of damage halves after 1 day, halves again after another day and then the poison is inert. Not totally applicable but it is a starting point.