Poisonous flora/fauna, and antidotes

scubamatt

In the real world, every creature develops some sort of mechanism for avoiding predators - speed, camouflage, armor, weapons (spines/teeth/etc), symbiotic relationships with other creatures that the predator doesn't dare mess with, and chemical deterrents like 'tastes awful' and various toxins.

We haven't really seen any common poisonous creatures or plants on this planet, and I find it odd. By poisonous, I mean dangerous to us, as humans. There are *lots* of creatures that apparently have poisonous flesh (etc) according to the PDA, but none that really pose a hazard to us. A plant or two that can poison you if you brush up against it, or a creature that has a poisonous sting/bite, would probably fit right into the ecosystem of this planet. It wouldn't have to be terribly poisonous, just something that does damage-over-time, so you have a chance to heal it or take some other action to neutralize it. A good antidote for poison (Antivenom?) could be crafted from the Spotted Dockleaf plant (read its PDA entry to see what I mean).

Edit: I forgot about the Drooping Stingers. They qualify as poisonous plants, but the PDA description seems to say it shocks you with electricity, even though it has a DoT effect. I still think we need to see more poisonous critters and plants, and then have some way to make/carry an antidote. I've changed the title of the thread to reflect this.

Antonin

The problem is that if you are poisoned, you just store your stuff and dye. There is no big need of antidote.

Rezca

Antonin wrote: »

The problem is that if you are poisoned, you just store your stuff and die. There is no big need of antidote.

Not the most pleasant option to go with, if playing on Hardcore mode :P

I'd been thinking about this since seeing the 'Early Reference sheet' for Biomes, where one tab was listed as "Toxic_Jellyfield". It might be interesting to have for variety's sake, but I'm not sure how worth it it'd be to add.

DrownedOut

I could let myself die whenever my health is very low instead of going to the trouble of rushing for medkits, but I don't because I don't consider that fun. I'm sure there's plenty of pragmatic players for whom poison wouldn't matter, but there's also plenty roleplayers who would see a difference.

As long as the poison doesn't take you down too quickly, I can imagine it being a fun extra. Spotted Dockleaf as cure, however, would require careful consideration of the biomes where you can get poisoned. It's a midgame plant, so poisoning should not be likely to occur before reaching midgame (and drooping stingers are early game).

werner339

I find it a good idea, and as said, it is compliant with the real world defense mechanisms - thus it would be realistic and immersive. It would force us to more careful exploration (not only watching for the directly aggressive fauna but also for more subtle threats like eating an improper fish or being stung by some).

TenebrousNova

I've noticed that if I'm already damaged and a gasopod or stinger gets me, my health quickly regenerates back to 100% once the poison effect stops.

Rainstorm

I do agree that we are desperately in need of creatures that defends themselves in other means than chasing you till they get a good chunk of you ....

We've got the Gasopods tha release the fart bombs (which are pretty funny the first few times u see this )
The Crash fish that explodes on you (scared me to death the frist few times, until you find the trick to neutralize them)
The Drooping Stingers that kills you with just one touch (they're the Bane of every Hardcore gamers)

then thats it .... all the rest of the predators will do is just chase you down till they get a good bite at you. The first few hours its fun, then it gets old pretty quickly. We def need more defensive behaviors like poisoning as the OP suggests. Theres alot more that could be featured also:

Creatures that blends in the decor (like the earthly Cameleons) then jumps at you suddenly when u get too close!
Creatures that uses the environement to attack you, like boulders or whatnot
Id love to see more swarming pools, like the biters!
When you enter caverns, some plantlife tries to eat you (carnivorous plants of some sorts)

im sure id find more just thinking about it for some more time. Or, how about some creatures that comes near you, that are very curious of you since they never seen anything like you before, but arent necessarily hostile to you.... that'd be a welcomed sight

The sky (or rather the deep abyss, in this case ) is truely the limit for this game!