So i looked around the books and the forums, but i could not get the answer i need so here i am.

So I understand the rules for toxins and i understand the rules for taking drugs, but what about using drugs as a toxin. If one of my runners want to use a drug to disable a NPC, does that NPC get a resist test? What would that test be? My runner's want to release that surgical paralyzing gas in arsenal (forgot the name, sorry) and i don't know how to deal with that. It just has the effects in the book but no way to resist it. Any idea?

If you are talking about NoPaint, not sure how you plan to massage the drugs over the entire body of the victim. Interesting roleplaying opportunity I guess.

But any drug can become a poison if you up the dosage so basically just determine a reasonable Power and Penetration of the drug of choice, and also increase the price.

Unfortunately, SR4 makes an arbitrary distinction between "drugs" and "toxins" (even though they are the same thing) and uses completely different rules for the two. I recently tried to come up with a simple rule for resisting drugs and found that there was just no good way to do it. Like Charon said, you basically have to make up a power and penetration that seems reasonable for each drug.

Is it too much to hope for that this is something that'll be addressed in SR5?

Arsenal, p. 73
"The Shadowrun rules treat drugs differently from toxins and
other chemicals. It is, for example, assumed that the character
desires the drug’s intended effect and no Toxin Resistance Test
is called for. In some cases, however, a character may be drugged
against their will. Characters who are naturally or magically resistant
to toxins must also be taken into account, as must characters
who have a buzz-killing Antidote spell or antidote patch applied.
When a situation like this arises the gamemaster may choose
to call for a Toxin Resistance Test, as noted on p. 254, SR4A. The
gamemaster determines the drug’s Power, as appropriate to its nature
and effects.
As a standard rule of thumb, most street drugs have A Power of 6. If
the Power is not reduced to 0, the drug still affects
the character as normal. Alternately, the drug’s modified Power
must still exceed the character’s Body for the drug to take effect."


Bolding mine.

Slab, one of my favorites.


Yes. In this case, however, I suggest raising the Power to 8 because it's a surgical drug and not a street one. The way I've run it is that way, and every success they get on the Toxin Resistance Test is one less hour they have to be unconscious, minimum one hour unless they fully resist the drug.

Thanks guys, very helpful. I was actually thinking using the stats for CS since they are distributing it as "crazy purple knockout gas".