Originally Posted by Heffe
This depends so heavily on what part of the country you're in and what kind of snake bites you. I used to research this a bit when I was into back-country backpacking when I was younger.
In the southwest US where I live, the most common and dangerous type of snake is one of a few species of rattlesnake (Mojave and Western Diamondback in the far southwest afaik). A bite from those can have some pretty serious, and even fatal effects. From my understanding (at least what I was always told growing up), the babies are far more dangerous than the adults, as they don't have the same capacity to regulate the amount of venom they inject, and just give a full dose on every bite.
A bite from an adult rattlesnake usually has one of four effects, all about equal in chance (maybe do a 1D4 roll for in-game purposes). The snake either injects no venom, a little venom, a medium amount of venom, or a lot of venom. A bite with no venom isn't an issue at all outside of a couple of small punctures at the site of the bite. A little venom is going to suck for the person bit, as they'll experience some combination of lightheadedness, sweating, some weakness, a little nausea, swelling at the site of the bite, and just general discomfort. If the bitee gets a significant dose, things escalate with shortness of breath and difficulty breathing (often due to swelling), likely more vomiting, blurred vision, etc. If the rattler injects a full dose, the victim's life will be in jeopardy, with worse versions of all of the above symptoms, along with possible long term organ damage (parts of the victim's intestines dying, eventually going septic, etc) and even death.
I'd say that if you get bit with one of the first 3 types, chances are you'll live with varying amounts of discomfort over the following days/weeks (or even months if it was a strong bite) without any treatment. With the strongest bites, the victim will almost certainly live so long as they receive treatment at a hospital and possible antivenin dose - without treatment, I'm not sure what the chance of death is, but it's probably at least somewhat significant.
Interesting fact that I just learned, for most rattlesnake bites in the US, the recommended course of action for hospitals is to give the victim some Antihistamines (Benedryl) and monitor them for 24 hours. Often that and pain relievers are enough to stave off some of the worst immediate effects. If it isn't, then they'll proceed with the course of antivenin.
Finally, an obscure adage from fellow hikers in the southwest - "When hiking in single file, try to never be the third person in line. Because if you come across a sleeping rattlesnake, the first person in line is going to wake it up. The second will piss it off. And it'll bite whoever's in third."
edit: As an added bonus, Rattlesnakes can grow to be fairly long - I've seen a couple of larger ones that were 6ft or longer. Throw some spices on em and toss em on a bbq, they also make for a pretty decent meal - If memory serves, they taste somewhat like chicken (doesn't everything) but with some small fish-like bones.
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