Fri 04 Nov 2022, 11:33
Was this an answer to my reply? If so you misunderstood it.
"So most monsters lack a wits or empathy score. Those poisons either have no effect or would otherwise instantly break monsters. Agility generally doesn't exceed Kin norms. So, somewhere from 2-6 rounds and the creature would be broken. Neutralizing all monsters." --> Averted as I said all damage is redirected to Strength.
"But they roll Endurance right? So is that 12-36 strength of dice?" --> No, they do not roll Endurance. Just roll the Potency Dice, deal 1 damage to Strength per rolled "6". If it is not a lethal poison the monster maybe acts infinitesimally more sluggish, causing you to land another hit. So Strength damage is not really Strength damage, it is just a representation of how much effort (hit points) left for you to take it down.
"What is lethal poison to a creature with 40 health?" --> It is just not lethal, just stomach cramps or a slight feeling of pain, rash or sickness. Just because accidentally sleeping on some kind of fire ant hill might not be lethal to us humans, it might still be inconvenient to deal a Strength damage to us? If they somehow could bite through the armor rating of something with 40 Strength it would still be 90% less inconvenient then to a Human with Strength 4?
"How does a lethal poison effect a Hydra with multiple health bars for each head?" --> It is still damage, so the Hydra gets affected just be any damage. The damage can therefor be dealt to any head, but probably the head you hit, as any effects are more likley to spread from there. You could also say that as Hydras are so poisonous themselves, so that they could be immune, but you don't have to!
All in all, this is kind of how lethal poisons would affect monsters if they were allowed to in the rules. You would then, roll potency, the monster would then automatically win their Endurance roll without rolling, then according to the rules for poison (PHB 113): "If you win the roll, you only suffer the limited effect of the poison" --> "LIMITED EFFECT: You take one point of damage to Strength". So monsters do not roll Endurance, i.e. always winning, i.e taking 1 damage to Strength.