...Was bored the other evening so I fired up the ol' 'puter and Since I have been going though Augmentation, decided to see if I could build my little Covert Agent, Night Angel (#72) in 4th ed. One of her more important implants was the Chemical Gland, which She called the "Kiss of Death" (Arsenic - spit vector). To my dismay I discovered a couple things about the bio implant had been changed.

First & foremost Arsenic was no longer considered a natural compound & therefore could not be produced by the gland (even though in M&M it was and there was even a mention of the gland producing the substance in the text). Second, implantation of the gland no longer imparts immunity to the toxin produced and now requires additional filtering bioware or a medijector implant with the antitoxin. In addition, the cost of the gland has remained the same as in 3rd 3d (30,000 + 100 x single dose toxin cost).

This makes it a very pricey item for the end result, particularly since there is still not a comprehensive list of other toxins available yet.

Yeah, it's terribly expensive, but you could potentially use cyanide, the natural immunity quality (which still doesn't provide full protection..) and ask your GM about getting inoculated (it says even some toxins can be protected against) to minimize the dangers. Personally, if I were GMing I'd probably waive the cost of 100 doses for a natural, unlisted toxin, since the prerequisites for making such 'ware useful are already quite steep and don't really accomplish much you couldn't do with some deft legerdemain and a smuggling compartment.

...yeah but that's another 34,000 (@340 per dose) for the toxin + the immunity treatment, bringing the cost to that of rating 1 Synaptic boosting. That's a big chunk of chargen resources for what amounts to a neat "special effect".

Actually, the way I put it, it's a lot worse than that; the innoculation is cheap but I forgot that cyanide is alreadly listed and costs 450 per dose, is illegal, lacks rules and has 16 availability. So yeah, chem spit sucks. Here's hoping that there is good alternatives in Arsenal (which was supposed to come out first, wasn't it?).

There are plenty of cheap cyber ways to dose someone, though. Darts from your fingers, eyes, or mouth, cybersquirts, fang implants with cyberglands, etc. are all very affordable bits of ware.

Certainly, they are less elegant than the bioware version, but I guess you get what you pay for.

...that was why Arsenic in M&M was so nice. Only 20 or 30 per dose and very effective. Looks like this becomes ware for NPCs.

Yeah I think you are correct, Arsenal was supposed to be before Augmented.

@Feshy. but none of those are as stealthy or insidious not to mention as stylish as doing it with a kiss. The original Night Angel was very effective considering she was also an elf (human looking) with tailored pheromones, a high Charisma, and has a specialisation in Seduction.

...when your playing the games of state angle, style is everything.

There'll be a full list of chemicals for your glandular issues in Arsenal. I will say that there was significant kvetching about a chemical gland being able to produce elemental materials in SR3. Short of a specialized arsenic-heavy diet, you're unlikely to be able to produce significant amounts in your body unless you're in the middle of being poisoned.

Arsenic also not exactly quick acting. It's a heavy metal, if you want to poison someone with lead in combat I'd suggest delivery via 9mm or .45 caliber is likely to be much faster acting and effective than spitting some in their face.

Yeah, writing up a chemical gland which was incapable of making fucking arsenic was a specific design goal of Augmentation.

-Frank