A drunk dwarf

[Jimbob]

Morning all,

Im just about to DM for my group and a few interesting backgrounds have come up. But the one that caught my eye was the dwarf that has a real drinking problem.
So this got me thinking, if the party where to get jumped or attacked whilst the dwarf was on one of his binges, is there any information about being drunk etc?


Cheers

[TechnOkami]

Well, I don't know anything about intoxication rules, but I have made a Drunken Dwarven Druid who became the Demigod of Drinking and Partying.

So, relevant information is relevant. :smallbiggrin:

[tcrudisi]

There's nothing in the rules about it.

You could go two routes with this. One, consider it a "disease" or some-such and impose penalties, much like it sounds like you want to do.

I'd go for another route, however. We all know of the drunken master. Why not make him something similar? No, no benefits for being drunk -- just differences. Since you didn't say what class he was, I'll pretend he's a Barbarian. So during the combats where he's drunk, re-flavor everything. Instead of the rage, he uses the drunken stupor. Same damage, same in-game effect, but the description completely changes. Perhaps he head-butts the opponent instead of hitting them with his axe. And something like Macetail's Rage now makes even MORE sense! "Gain temp hp equal to your Str mod when you hit an enemy." Doesn't that sound like a tough drunk guy?

I'd go the latter route. I think its more fun for everyone involved. It can still be a serious character, but if done properly, it's one that the entire table will love and remember for a long time.

If you prefer to do the former and impose penalties, we will help you. I would just like to let you think about the other possibilities first, though.

[Jimbob]

Well having a look around online I have found this:

Drunken Stupor:

•-2 penalty to saves
•Dazed (grant combat advantage, one action/turn)
•Slowed (speed is reduced to 2)
•Weakened (standard attacks cause 1/2 damage to foes)

Which seems good to me, and I would give him a save each round V's poison, saying he snaps out of it in the heat of battle.

But I do like the idea of maybe swapping a few of his powers around for when he is drunk, any ideas on this?

[tcrudisi]

Well having a look around online I have found this:

Drunken Stupor:

•-2 penalty to saves
•Dazed (grant combat advantage, one action/turn)
•Slowed (speed is reduced to 2)
•Weakened (standard attacks cause 1/2 damage to foes)

Which seems good to me, and I would give him a save each round V's poison, saying he snaps out of it in the heat of battle.

But I do like the idea of maybe swapping a few of his powers around for when he is drunk, any ideas on this?

I just want to point out for people who find this thread and are thinking, "What are the drunk rules for 4e?" that this is a house-rule. There are no actual rules for being drunk in 4e.

Having said that, I think this is far too punitive. If you really want to penalize the player, you've already done it with dazed and slowed. Adding in weakened means they are totally useless in combat. Heck, dazed and slowed alone may be enough to take them out of the first 3-4 rounds of combat, since they can only run 4 squares. Enemies who are played intelligently can make any dazed and slowed character never have a chance to participate in combat by constantly keeping 1 square in between themselves and the drunk character. In other words, that combination alone means the character can really only do a couple of actions in combat. For example, healing as a minor action. Or using the "Aid Another" action or performing skill checks. Really weird stuff that doesn't make sense for a drunk character to be doing (except for the healing).

[INDYSTAR188]

I agree with Tcrudisi completely. I think you should encourage his background and consider it a good way to implement some role play. Imposing a penalty for being drunk is fine if you and he both agree that's what being drunk means... but how much fun is it to come up w/a character concept and flaw and then having to spend a lot of your in game time w/a rather severe penalty? Besides, maybe a normal person getting drunk suffers those affects but an alcoholic dwarf with a good/high CON might function relatively normally. Maybe you could find a middle ground and impose a penalty AND a bonus? If it were me, I would definitely make it a fun re-fluff like Tcrudisi suggested.

[Ashdate]

Depending on the class, you could have a lot of fun pretending the dwarf is drunk. Here's some houserules you could potentially use, inspired in part by the 5e playtest:

- All allies become enemies for the purposes of burst and blast powers (no friendly fire!).
- If the player rolls a 1 on a d20 roll, he/she falls prone.
- Drunk players get a single point of generic damage resistance.

Alternatively, you could also say that a drunk character always grants combat advantage, but bump up the damage resistance some more. The point is that while erring on the side of "debilitating" is fine, if there isn't an upside you probably won't encourage such behaviour.

[NecroRebel]

tcrudisi is right; daze/slow/weakness renders a character useless, especially if they've got no decent ranged attacks.

Personally, I'd just have them treat every surface they're on as unstable, forcing Acrobatics or Athletics checks for balance. They grant combat advantage to everyone, and whenever they move or take damage, DC20, fail by 5+ they fall prone, fail by 1-4 they don't move when trying to, and on a success they move only half the normal distance. This would be a major penalty, but not totally crippling, especially for a race that's already somewhat sluggish.

[Alan_Pehnereas]

I have a weird idea for drunk characters;


-1 to Attack Rolls
+2 to Damage Rolls (drunken rage)
-1 to Will, Reflex, and Fortitude


I was also thinking that maybe if you wanted, there could be different "tiers" of being drunk, in which these effects stack.

Also, a Drunken Axe would be a cool weapon. Works like any other normal magic weapon, but with an added property;

"A critical hit with this weapon will make your opponent drunk, but a critical fail will make the use drunk."

[Jimbob]

@ Alan_Pehnereas
I have a weird idea for drunk characters;

-1 to Attack Rolls
+2 to Damage Rolls (drunken rage)
-1 to Will, Reflex, and Fortitude


I like this idea that you get a bonus and a negative, would a few temp hit points be too much, and saying that he can only use melee powers? Would this be a save per round or for the whole encounter no matter what?

I think you are all right though, it should be a roll playing thing and not a player crippling thing so I have scrapped my first idea but like I said im liking this idea from Alan_Pehnereas as I think it reflects being drunk.

[Alejandro]

Well, at the risk of injecting real world science..

A drunk person may exhibit some or all of this:

- Trouble judging speed and distance
- Memory/recall failure
- Loss of social or emotional inhibition
- Physical distress (you know what I mean)
- Greater tolerance for pain
- Reduced ability to comprehend risk

And so on. I'd just rule on a case by case basis, depending on how drunk the PC is and what they are trying to do. A drunken dwarf trying to hit a huge troll with an ax might not have much trouble. The same dwarf trying to make a skill check to remember something about the troll? Not so much.

[OracleofWuffing]

tcrudisi is right; daze/slow/weakness renders a character useless, especially if they've got no decent ranged attacks.
Very tempted to throw in a vomitting encounter power, then. :smalltongue:

[Reluctance]

Roll with it, and make one or two of his powers dependent on taking a drink first. It's not like the idea of drinking making you even more badass is unprecedented.

Now, you'd be within your rights to penalize certain skills the player doesn't have trained. But penalizing the character in combat just means that you're discouraging the archetype. Which is fine if it's being done intentionally, but you should be careful about doing it in the name of "realism". (To kick a handy horse skeleton, would you let the realistic differences in athletic ability between men and women prevent someone from playing a super strong female character?)

[Alan_Pehnereas]

As for the save, it would depend on how he gets drunk. Does he take a drink mid-battle? Does he get drunk before rushing in?

If he likes a drink during battle, I'd actually make it like a magic potion you can find in treasure piles. Different ales do different things. You can use the drunk effects I suggested, and then add maybe gains like THP, a higher damage bonus, attacks deal necrotic damage, etc., and then add some kind of penalty on critical fails, such as falling prone (lack of balance), or rerolling the attack on a nearby ally (misjudged aim, or double sight). I would make the normal drunk effects, critical fail penalty, and the "special ale bonus" all save ends (unless it's something like THP).

If it's before the battle, I'd roll a die before the battle (not telling him the result), and the number you get is how many rounds it lasts. The more he drank beforehand, the bigger the die is. A few beers might be portrayed as 1d4 rounds drunk, while standing on the tavern table being cheered on by fans in a chugging contest might be 1d12 rounds of drunkeness.

However, mind you, that if you make all these special things for one player, don't let it appear as favoritism to the other players. For example - my DM is awesome enough to let me have a re-fluffed Dark Sun weapon, but letting me give it a different appearance and name that matches my character's background. However, he'd be willing to do similar things with any of the players in his game. Be willing to appease your players. Don't let them have game-breaking or overpowered changes, but also remember that they are the "stars" of your world.

[TheKoalaNxtDoor]

Give him a +3 against fear effects, but a -3 against charm effects, and each turn he can choose to drop his defenses by up to three to gain temporary hp equal to twice that. On a roll of 1 on a d20 roll he falls prone, and on a roll of a 20 on a d20 roll he gains temporary hp equal to his constitution modifer. He also gains vunerable 2 fire, but resist 2 poison.