Toxicology

Toxicology sees two players take the role of dueling plague doctors that are attempting to take the other out before their own toxins do them in.

Each player has 30 HP, and you lose when your HP hits 0. But HP isn't just for staying alive, it's a resource can be spent or gained through the game's 4 main actions: Attack, Defend, Detox, and Research.

Turns occur simultaneously with both players making private submissions for their actions before they are publicly revealed along with the resulting HP and Vial totals.

Players have 90 seconds each round to submit their action.

Attacking costs the attacker 3 HP in an attempt to deal 6 to their opponent.

Defending costs the defender 1 HP in an attempt to block 10 from their opponent.

Detox heals the user 2 HP. You cannot exceed 30 HP. If both players in a round select Detox, only the player with lower health will be healed. Both players will be healed if their HP is tied.

Researching will add a Vial to the researcher's Toxicity Meter at the cost of 1 HP. The Toxicity Meter can hold up to 10 Vials, and more than 1 Vial can be filled in one research. However, for every even number of Vials filled in one research, the cost of those Vials increases by 1 HP during said research. So research filling 2 Vials costs 2 HP, 4 costs 6 HP, and 6 costs 12 HP. But if you were to do two separate researches and fill 2 Vials both times, you would only pay a cumulative 4 HP.

Vials can be spent to enhance your other actions. Multiple Vials can be spent in one turn to stack the effect.

Using a Vial on an Attack increases its strength by 2.

Using it on Defense will absorb 2 damage to heal the user. (Absorption takes place before the basic defense block).

Using it on Detox will heal 1 additional HP.

The Toxicity Meter can also be Attacked and Defended.

Attacks targeting the opponent's Toxicity Meter will cause the opponent to lose Vials equal to how much damage the attack deals. Damage done to the Toxicity Meter that is greater than the opponent's number of Vials has no additional effect. By default, an Attack against an undefended Toxicity Meter would cause the opponent to lose 6 Vials.

Defenses can target one's Toxicity Meter to prevent the attack if you suspect your opponent will go on the offensive.

Attacking the Toxicity Meter occurs before other actions except for Defense, so if an opponent uses Detox or attempts to make a Direct Attack against their opponent, they lose their Vials before getting their effect. If an opponent has leftover Vials after an attack on their Toxicity Meter, and they attempted to spend Vials that turn, then they will use whatever Vials remain to come as close as possible to achieve the intended effect.

Attacks on the Toxicity Meter will not remove Vials that were added via Research on the same turn.

The first player to win two games of Toxicology will win the death match.

Tiebreaker

In the event both players are at 0 HP or less at the end of a round, the loser will be whoever is further into the negative. In the event that a tie still remains, play will resume for 3 additional rounds. Whoever has lost the most HP after these 3 rounds will lose.