[PvK]

Seems pretty clear that there should be several categories, e.g.:

* Doesn't need to hit: wall of fire, gas cloud, heat/cold aura

* Needs to hit, but primary attack doesn't need to penetrate: astral weapon, electrocution, mage bane, elf bane

* Needs to hit, and needs to penetrate:
blood poison, venom, bane blade

What exactly each effect's requirements are is largely up to interpretation, though. The one that seems clearest to me though is venom versus armor - one should really need to get through external armor before causing poisoning, it seems to me.

PvK