| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
So this is something my group struggled with, because the rules are pretty spread out. Hopefully we got it right, and this can help others.
The section on radiation begins on p. 403, and continues into p. 404.
Each round you are exposed to radiation, you are exposed to it as a poison, and make a Fort saving throw based on the level of radiation you are in, lest you progress down the Constitution Poison track on p. 415.
Also on p. 415, note that upon initial exposure to radiation (or any type of poison), whether you make the save or not, you lose HP equal to the DC - 10. As written this bypasses Stamina.
If you have failed 2 saves against Radiation (poison) and are Impaired in the Con Poison track, not only do you have -4 to Fort saves and some other stuff, but you also risk getting Radiation Sickness (DC 18), per p. 404. I believe each time your state deteriorates due to the poison effect, you risk catching Radiation Sickness again.
We were confused for a while because all it said for Effect was that "Radiation sickness isn't contagious", but it's a Physical track Disease, which means p. 414 details the effects.
Also very relevant and at least for us, easily missed, armor provides protection against radiation (poison). On p. 198, you'll see that all armor grants immunity against low levels of radiation, and offers a +4 bonus against higher levels. Level 7 and higher armor protects fully against medium radiation as well, and offers a +6 bonus against higher levels.
So those nukes you launch in starship combat, just by virtue of dealing hit point damage by exposing those within to poison, might kill unarmored folks. Probably just the civilians though.
This is largely correct. However, note that armor does not protect you from radiation by default. Its environmental protections must be activated first, which is a standard action - even if everyone on a ship is armored, a surprise strike may still manage to irradiate everyone despite their protection, though for low radiation this is still of only limited value. There is also another ambiguity regarding radiation, which is how frequently one saves against it as an environmental effect. For instance, Irradiating starship weapons bathe a ship in radiation for 1d4 rounds; if you pass your initial save, do you save again in following rounds until the effect is gone? You may be tempted to say yes, given the poison frequency, but remember that you have not actually been poisoned yet; this is an exposure check, and every environmental hazard other than radiation has a frequency given for it. The answer to this has a significant effect on the potential lethality of radiation.
There are also cosmic rays to worry about, though perhaps a ship's navigational shielding - which they're assumed to have, even if they don't have proper defensive shields - is sufficient to keep people on the hull from suffering.
Good point, activating the armor is vital but very easy to do after the first nuke, since Starship Combat turns are longer than normal combat rounds, it shouldn't interfere with your crew function.
My interpretation was that you save vs. Radiation Poisoning for each round you are in an irradiated environment, regardless of whether you fail or succeed on prior saves.