So I'm running a homebrew game for my group and at one point they encounter an old friend who is downing a poisoned drink. No one knows it is poisoned. For a template I am using Blackfinger's Salt: https://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/afflictions/poison/blackfingers-s-sa lt/
At one point the NPC, if not left alone or killed in advance by the party (it's a complicated relationship), they will begin to cough blood and die rapidly. I actually plan on setting a six-minute timer or something to add to the urgency.
Now I know for certain that the party has no means of neutralizing poison or bringing someone back to life, but they do have a lot of cure spells and a wand of restoration with four charges left.
My goal is to be fair but make it difficult to save this character. If someone says they use the wand to undo the Con damage I'm willing to give it to them, but that doesn't stop the bleed damage. Should I let them get away with curing that with a cure spell or stabilize, even though the bleeding is internal? Or is that too lenient? And on the flip side, if I don't let those work, would that be too harsh? It's meant to be kind of a moral grey death so I'm not worried about the character surviving, I just don't want to make a "scripted death" the party can't interact with. I guess another way of asking is if you were a player willing to expend resources on this NPC to save them, would it feel too unfair if I denied you? By extension, what other things could they do to help? I've thought of giving them a chance to roll for a Heal check but that's kind of vague...
Thanks in advance!
I would try some other way to add urgency then a real world timer. It almost always takes longer than 6 seconds to run a round of actions. I think their are better ways to build dramatic tension by describing the events and progress of the poison.
Magical Healing cures HP damage and ends bleed effects. Their is no such thing as 'internal' or 'external' damage. Not having it work would be unfair unless you have published specific house rules.
A heal check against the DC of the poison (standard action) should give a +4 competence bonus on the next save.
If they are willing to spend up to 6 cure spells, the victim is unlikely to die unless they have a really low CON. The most CON damage the victim can take is 12, 7 is more likely even if they fail every save. Without magical healing, the bleed is a killer but if they have enough it is simple to counter act.
That helps, thanks! I won't deny the healing but will let them know it will take a fair amount. Much appreciated.