The Drunk Condition
The drunk condition is one with different tiers of severity, and its effects are additive unless specifically stated.
A character can consume an amount of alcoholic drinks equal to twice their Constitution modifier without receiving the drunk condition, minimum of one unless the character has a negative Constitution score. If a character has a negative Constitution score, they become drunk at their first drink.
However, what is 1 drink? DM's discretion, but generally, a 1 coctel to 1 drink for the chart ratio is good enough, even without accounting the specifics of the drink. However, some coctels may count as more than others in some tables: for example, a shot of vodka counting as 2 drinks while a glass of beer counts as 1.
Upon first becoming drunk a character gains the tier 1 effects of drunk. Afterwards while affected by the condition, character increases their tier of the condition by 1 for each drink consumed.
No matter their tier, all drunk characters have disadvantage on all attack rolls and are prone to recklessness and dangerous tasks.
The Drunk Table
| Tier | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | A character has advantage on all Charisma checks, and disadvantage on all Wisdom checks. |
| 2 | A character has disadvantage on all Intelligence checks, and for every 10 feet they attempt to move, they must succeed on a DC 12 Dex save or fall prone. |
| 3 | A character loses advantage in Charisma checks, instead has disadvantage on them, and the DC for tier 2 increases to 20. |
| 4 | Every 5 minutes, the character must succeed on a DC 20 Con save or barf, become stunned for one round, and lose one tier of drunk. |
| 5 | A character loses all negative effects from this table, and becomes unconscious after 5 minutes. |
For every hour a character does not consume a drink, their tier is reduced by one.
Upon waking up the next time they take a long rest, a character loses all tiers of drunk and must succeed on a Constitution saving throw (DC= 6 + four times your highest tier of drunk in the past 24 hours). If the character's last tier of drunk was 3 or higher, they must also succeeed on a Wisdom saving throw against the same DC.
Hangover
On a failed Constitution saving throw, a character becomes hangover until their next short or long rest.
While hangover, a character's speed is reduced by 5 feet, they have disadvantage on Wisdom(Perception) checks and attack rolls while they or the target are in direct sunlight, they have vulnerability to thunder damage, and once every 10 minutes upon taking damage or moving more than their walking speed on their turn, they must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against the same DC or barf.
Blackout
On a failed Wisdom save, a character suffers a blackout. If the save was against a DC determined by the tier 5 on the drunk table, it is automatically failed.
If the save was failed automatically, or by 10 or more, the character does not remember anything from the previous night from the moment they first became drunk, complete amnesia about the events.
If the save was failed by 5 or more, the character remembers about 50% of the previous night's event from the moment they first became drunk, partial amnesia.
If the save was failed by 4 or less, the character remembers about 75%, partial amnesia about specific embarassing events perhaps, but mostly intact.
Design Goals
Players, most of the time, enjoy alcohol consumption in game. Acting out the fun parts of the substance can lead to very fun roleplaying, and it's a part of the fantasy genre's...well, genre. There's a reason starting out in a tavern is one of the genre's cliches.
So, what should an alcohol system ideally be?
- Simple. The players are having fun in a tavern, there's no need to revolutionize the system's mechanics from the ground up.
- Reward Constitution Scores. I think we can all agree, high Constitution characters should probably be able to withstand more alcohol than those with an 8 in the stat.
- Not reward Constitution too much. On the opposite end, because of that, there's a chance a player's image of their own high Constituion character is that of a heavy drinker. But if you make drinking too dependant on the stat, specially if they have proficiency in saves with it, you can end up with the character not becoming drunk at all.
- Not make it Poison. Aside from it being the boring option and not too accurate on how alcohol works for some people, there are a lot of ways of getting immunity or advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, which leads into a similar problem as point number three.
Practice
Safe
Homebrewing
A big thanks to a bolt of inspiration and eternal ADHD procastination for making this possible.
Cover Art: CELillustration