I'm new to Pathfinder...making the switch from 3.5, and I am on my first read through the rules. I've tried finding an answer to this question in the books and in the forums, but have had no luck so far.
(And Yes, I did find the "What Happens When a Cat Crits" thread, but my question is slightly different.)
The Viper (Bestiary p.133) has the following melee attack: "Bite +5 (1d2-2 plus poison)".
My confusion involves the minimum damage rule and the poison. The minimum damage rule says that if the damage from your attack has penalties that reduce it below 1, you still do 1 damage, but it is non-lethal. (Paraphrasing...that book isn't in front of me atm, sorry.) Judging from this creature's attack line, it will do 1 non-lethal damage every time.
However, the Viper's poison states it is "Injury" based. Have it "injured" with non-lethal damage? Does the poison still get applied? If not, why give it a poisonous bite in the first place?
I'm not so much interested in this specific example as a general ruling for the future. It's bound to come up again when the player's reduce the strength of a monster they're fighting to the point where it's doing minimum damage... what if a giant leech finds itself in this position? Does the "minimum 1 non-lethal" rule mean it still attaches? Does a dire rat pass on its disease? What about a wererat's bite? Does it pass on its lycanthropy if it does a mere 1 non-lethal? What about paralysis? Ability drain tied to damaging the opponent? The list goes on.
Is there an official ruling somewhere?
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Taffer
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Yes, the non-lethal damage still counts as injury.
Think about real life. Virtually no one is seriously maimed or at the risk of death from the sheer physical trauma of a tiny viper's bite alone. It's the poison that makes it dangerous.
Start a fistfight with some other non-martial artist guy. At the end, someone might be bleeding, but it's usually not fatal.
You can draw blood and not cause HP damage.