For the given Craft (poisonmaking) modifier, the odds of success are calculated for each poison in the table. Once the odds of success are known, the average die roll within the success range is calculated and that number is used to figure out how much progress is made for each unit of time. The total price divided by the amount of progress gives the total time required.

For example, with a skill modifier of +5 and a poison with DC 17, the character needs to roll a 12 or better on 1d20. There are 9 such rolls, so the chance of success is 9 out of 20. The average within that range of 9 is 4.5 which we round down to 4. So when the character succeeds, they will average a roll of 16 (which is the 12 they needed plus the 4). Since they will only roll that number 9 out of 20 times, the number is further reduced to represent that they will fail 55% of the time.

The algorithm used here does not account for failure by 5 or more because such failure causes the loss of the raw materials which have to reacquired, but other than losing the weeks' worth of work, doesn't affect the completion time. (And the loss of the week is already factored in by the 55% number, above.)

Level	Poison	Type	DC	Frequency	Initial Effects	Secondary Effects	Cure	Initial Damage	Secondary Damage	Price
Permanent drain, not temporary damage.
4	Malyss root paste	Contact	DC 16	1 round (6)	1 Dex damage	1 Dex damage	1 save	1 Dex	2d4 Dex	500 gp
4	Sassone leaf residue	Contact	DC 16	1 round (4)	1d6 hit points	1d6 hit points	1 save	2d12 hp	1d6 Con	300 gp
6	Nitharit	Contact	DC 13	1 round (6)	0 damage	2 damage	1 save	-	3d6 Con	650 gp
6	Terinav root	Contact	DC 16	1 round (5)	2 Dex damage	2 Dex damage	1 save	1d6 Dex	2d6 Dex	750 gp
11	Dragon bile	Contact	DC 26	1 round (3)	3 Str damage	3 Str damage	1 save	3d6 Str	-	1,500 gp
14	Black lotus extract	Contact	DC 20	1 round (7)	3 Con	3 Con	1 save	3d6 Con	3d6 Con	4,500 gp
17	Tears of death	Contact	DC 22	1 minute (5)	1d6 Con damage	1d6 Con damage	-	1 Wis	2d6 Wis + 1d4 Int	180 gp
4	Arsenic	Ingested	DC 13	1 round (5)	1 Con	1 Con	1 save	1d8 Con	1d8 Con	120 gp
4	Striped toadstool	Ingested	DC 11	1 round (5)	1 Wis damage	2 Wis damage + 1 Int damage	1 save	1 Wis	2d6 Wis + 1d4 Int	180 gp
5	Id moss	Ingested	DC 14	1 round (5)	2 Int damage	2 Int damage	1 save	1d4 Int	2d6 Int	125 gp
6	Lich dust	Ingested	DC 17	1 round (5)	2 Str damage	2 Str damage	1 save	2d6 Str	1d6 Str	250 gp
6	Oil of taggit	Ingested	DC 15	1 minute (1)	0	unconscious for 1d3 hours	1 save	-	Unconsciousness	90 gp
7	Dark reaver powder	Ingested	DC 18	1 round (5)	2 Con damage	1 Con + 1 Str damage	1 save	2d6 Con	1d6 Con + 1d6 Str	300 gp
12	King's Sleep	Ingested	DC 19	1 day	1 Con drain	1 Con drain	2 consecutive saves	-	-	450 gp
5	Insanity mist	Inhaled	DC 15	1 round (5)	2 Wis damage	2 Wis damage	1 save	1d4 Wis	2d6 Wis	1,500 gp
6	Ungol dust	Inhaled	DC 15	1 round (3)	1 Cha damage	1 Con damage + 1 Cha drain	1 save	1 Cha	1d6 Cha + 1 Cha¹	1,000 gp
8	Burnt othur fumes	Inhaled	DC 18	1 round (4)	1 Con drain	3 Con damage	1 save	1 Con¹	3d6 Con	2,100 gp
11	Nightmare vapor	Inhaled	DC 20	1 round (5)	1 Wis damage + 1 Wis drain	1 Wis damage + 1 Wis drain	2 consecutive saves	-	-	1800 gp
1	Small centipede poison	Injury	DC 11	1 round (2)	1 Dex damage	1 Dex damage	1 save	1d2 Dex	1d2 Dex	90 gp
2	Greenblood oil	Injury	DC 13	1 round (2)	1 Con damage	1 Con damage	1 save	1 Con	1d2 Con	100 gp
2	Medium spider venom	Injury	DC 14	1 round (3)	1 Str damage	1 Str damage	1 save	1d4 Str	1d4 Str	150 gp
3	Black adder venom	Injury	DC 11	1 round (6)	1 Con	1 Con	1 save	1d6 Con	1d6 Con	120 gp
3	Drow poison	Injury	DC 13	1 minute (1)	unconscious for 1 min	unconscious for 2d4 hours	1 save	Unconsciousness	Unconsciousness for 2d4 hours	75gp
4	Giant wasp poison	Injury	DC 18	1 round (4)	1 Dex damage	1 Dex damage	1 save	1d6 Dex	1d6 Dex	210 gp
4	Large scorpion venom	Injury	DC 18	1 round (4)	1 Str damage	1 Str damage	1 save	1d6 Str	1d6 Str	200 gp
5	Blue whinnis	Injury	DC 14	1 round (2)	1 Con	unconscious for 1d3 hours	1 save	1 Con	Unconsciousness	120 gp
6	Shadow essence	Injury	DC 17	1 round (7)	1 Str drain	1 Str damage	1 save	1 Str¹	2d6 Str	250 gp
8	Bloodroot	Injury	DC 12	1 round (3)	1 Con + 1 Wis	1 Con + 1 Wis	1 save	-	1d4 Con + 1d3 Wis	100 gp
8	Deathblade	Injury	DC 20	1 round (5)	2 Con	2 Con	1 save	1d6 Con	2d6 Con	1,800 gp
9	Wyvern poison	Injury	DC 17	1 round (7)	2 Con damage	2 Con damage	1 save	2d6 Con	2d6 Con	3,000 gp
10	Purple worm poison	Injury	DC 24	1 round (5)	2 Str damage	2 Str damage	1 save	1d6 Str	2d6 Str	700 gp

Overview

When a character takes damage from a poisoned weapon, touches an item smeared with contact poison, or consumes poisoned food or drink, he must make a Fortitude saving throw. A character who fails the saving throw takes the poison's initial damage, which is usually ability score damage. Even a character who succeeds at the initial saving throw faces secondary damage ~~1 minute later~~, which can be avoided by making a separate Fortitude save ~~at that time~~.

In the Pathfinder Beta ruleset, generally poisons do damage over a sequence of rounds. A creature who succeeds on the initial Fortitude save takes no damage whatsoever from the poison and does not need to make future saves. A creature who fails the initial Fortitude save takes the initial damage shown in the Effect column, above, and must continue to make additional Fortitude saves at the duration shown in the Frequency column. The number in parentheses in the Frequency column is he number of additional saves until the poison has run its course, although the creature may cure itself upon achieving the results specified in the Cure column.

As is probably obvious, all poisons saves are Fortitude saves, so the most damaging poisons are those that affect Constitution, since that ability score factors into the creature's Fortitude save.

Creating Poisons

The first rule for refining natural poisons, such as an animal's venom, into a generally useful poison is that simply killing the creature and wiping your character's blade on its poison gland doesn't work. Most creature's poisons are a delicate mixture of various toxins, and that delicate mix is often disrupted when the creature dies or the poison is exposed to the air. Getting the poison to persist on a blade and remain effective is a trickier task still.

Refining raw materials, such as creature venom, into an effective poison requires time, determination, and an application of craft. Craft (poisonmaking), a subcategory of the Craft skill, provides the necessary expertise. Table 3-6 provides Craft (poisonmaking) DCs for usable poisons made from centipede, scorpion, and spider venom.

Making poisons with the Craft (poisonmaking) skill follows the rules in Chapter 4 of the Player's Handbook for making items with the Craft skill, with the following two exceptions.

Cost: The cost of raw materials for a poison varies widely depending on whether the character has access to the active ingredient — that is, the venom or plant that actually provides the poison. If a supply is readily available, the raw materials cost 1/6 of the market price, not 1/3. Otherwise, the raw materials cost at least 3/4 of the market price — assuming that the substance in question is for sale at all.

Time: To figure out how much poison can be made in a week, the character makes a Craft (poisonmaking) check at the end of the week. If the check is successful, multiply the check result by the DC for the check. That result is how many gold pieces' worth of poison are created that week. When the total gold pieces' worth created equals or exceeds the market price of one dose of the poison, that poisonmaker has completed that dose. (Any left-over funds from the last check when the dose is completed may be applied towards another dose of the exact same poison, assuming that the poisonmaker has sufficient raw materials to begin another dose.) For a skilled poisonmaker, multiple doses in a week may be possible. If the poisonmaker fails the check, no progress is made that week. If the poisonmaker fails the check by 5 or more, the raw materials are ruined and must be reobtained.

Using the Craft (alchemy) Skill:

Characters with the Craft (alchemy) skill can substitute it for Craft (poisonmaking), but doing so imposes a -4 circumstance penalty on checks related to poisonmaking.

Harvesting venom:

Because of the refinement process, raw venom from creatures doesn't command anywhere near the price of a dose of real poison. There is no open market for poison raw materials, because the use of poison is often illegal, or at least rarely admitted to. Characters who hunt creatures for their venom will have a difficult time finding buyers for corpses of poisonous creatures. If they can find a buyer, characters will typically get 1/6 of the cost of one dose of the refined version of the poison. (And there are difficulties in transporting dead creatures while retaining the eficacy of the venom.)

First, fill in the total skill check of the character who wishes to make a poison. Minimum value is -4 (for an Int of 1 and no ranks) up to a maximum value of 50.	Craft (poisonmaking) modifier:
The Craft description says that the price of items to be created should be converted to silver pieces and then the character rolls their Craft check. Their result times the DC of the poison is how much progress they've made. This checkbox allows the selection of either silver or gold for the above calculation.	Cost is normally in silver. Use cost in gold instead? (From BoVD)
The skill description says that all crafting times should be measured in weeks, but that's not always convenient. This checkbox allows the selection of displaying weeks or days.	Duration is calculated in weeks. Should display be in days?