Drinking and drunk rules

[XanOfFiveHills]

Hi all,

I am playing POA with my group and tonight they are having a feast with the Feathergale Knights. I want to give them the option of drinking and possibly getting drunk. I can't find the rules for this in 5e any help would be appreciated?

Cheers

[mgshamster]

There are no rules.

Here's what I did:
+2 Strength, +2 Charisma
-2 Dexterity, -2 Wisdom

Random advantage and disadvantage assignment by me or any one of the other players.

[HammeredWharf]

I don't think there are any. Usually people rule it as either a series of Con saves with rising DCs or a flat number of drinks equal to your Con modifier. Then, if you fail, you get drunk. In 5e that would probably mean disadvantage on most rolls. If you fail a couple of saves more or go way over the allowed number of drinks, you pass out.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Building on what others have said, you could set something up like the exhaustion rules...

*Every drink triggers a Con save; DC depends on strength of the booze:
Beers, ales and meads: 12
Wines, <dwarven/orcish/whatever> beers: 14
Spirits, etc: 16

*Every failed save adds a level of drunkenness.



Level
Description
Effect


1
Tipsy
Advantage on Cha saves and any save against becoming frightened. Ignore up to one level of exhaustion.


2
Merry
Advantage on Cha saves and any save against becoming frightened, disadvantage on any other Dex, Int & Wis saves. Ignore up to two levels of exhaustion.


3
Drunk
Disadvantage on all saves and ability checks, except those against becoming frightened. Wild mages must roll a wild magic surge on reaching this level.


4
Bladdered
Disadvantage on all attack rolls, saves and ability checks. Memory loss at DM's discretion.


5
Falling-Down Drunk
Disadvantage on all attack rolls, saves and ability checks. No memory of the feast. Any movement requires a DC 15 Dex save (fall prone on failure). Any miss with a melee weapon attack results in dropping the weapon.


6
Passed-Out Drunk
As per Unconscious, recover in 2d4 hours with 1 additional level of exhaustion.

[hymer]

@ Ninja_Prawn: Nice table! There's a tiny typo in 'Tipsy'. I think I'd just go with drunk meaning you have disadvantage on every roll (except saves against fear is iwth advantage for the first six hours) and however drunk you are is measured in how many hours before you stop having disadvantage.
I was, however, under the impression that there were officially (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHnBppccI0o) four levels: Fairly Merry, Inebriated, Absolutely Plastered and Completely Newscasted. :smallwink:

[Ninja_Prawn]

@ Ninja_Prawn: Nice table! There's a tiny typo in 'Tipsy'. I think I'd just go with drunk meaning you have disadvantage on every roll (except saves against fear is iwth advantage for the first six hours) and however drunk you are is measured in how many hours before you stop having disadvantage.
I was, however, under the impression that there were officially (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHnBppccI0o) four levels: Fairly Merry, Inebriated, Absolutely Plastered and Completely Newscasted. :smallwink:

'Tispy' sounds like the sort of thing you'd say if you were tipsy, so I'm almost tempted to let that stand...

I hadn't seen that sketch... it's a bit before my time. :smalltongue: The six levels is completely arbitrary though; I only chose it to line up with exhaustion.

[Specter]

I came up with something like that in my campaign too.

1) Slightly drunk (drinks equal to CON modifier) - -2 Intelligence and passive Perception
2) Kinda drunk (CON mod + 3 drinks) - +2 Strenght, -4 Intelligence and Passive Perception
3) Drunk (CON mod + 6 drinks) - +2 Strenght, -4 Dexterity, -6 Intelligence and passive Perception. Advantage on saves against fear.
4) Passed out - unconscious

[Spectre9000]

Building on what others have said, you could set something up like the exhaustion rules...

*Every drink triggers a Con save; DC depends on strength of the booze:
Beers, ales and meads: 12
Wines, <dwarven/orcish/whatever> beers: 14
Spirits, etc: 16

*Every failed save adds a level of drunkenness.



Level
Description
Effect


1
Tipsy
Advantage on Cha saves and any save against becoming frightened. Ignore up to one level of exhaustion.


2
Merry
Advantage on Cha savesand any save against becoming frightened, disadvantage on any other Dex, Int & Wis saves. Ignore up to two levels of exhaustion.


3
Drunk
Disadvantage on all saves and ability checks, except those against becoming frightened. Wild mages must roll a wild magic surge on reaching this level.


4
Bladdered
Disadvantage on all attack rolls, saves and ability checks. Memory loss at DM's discretion.


5
Falling-Down Drunk
Disadvantage on all attack rolls, saves and ability checks. No memory of the feast. Any movement requires a DC 15 Dex save (fall prone on failure). Any miss with a melee weapon attack results in dropping the weapon.


6
Passed-Out Drunk
As per Unconscious, recover in 2d4 hours.



I like this a lot. Will definitely try to use this.

[DracoKnight]

Building on what others have said, you could set something up like the exhaustion rules...

*Every drink triggers a Con save; DC depends on strength of the booze:
Beers, ales and meads: 12
Wines, <dwarven/orcish/whatever> beers: 14
Spirits, etc: 16

*Every failed save adds a level of drunkenness.



Level
Description
Effect


1
Tipsy
Advantage on Cha saves and any save against becoming frightened. Ignore up to one level of exhaustion.


2
Merry
Advantage on Cha savesand any save against becoming frightened, disadvantage on any other Dex, Int & Wis saves. Ignore up to two levels of exhaustion.


3
Drunk
Disadvantage on all saves and ability checks, except those against becoming frightened. Wild mages must roll a wild magic surge on reaching this level.


4
Bladdered
Disadvantage on all attack rolls, saves and ability checks. Memory loss at DM's discretion.


5
Falling-Down Drunk
Disadvantage on all attack rolls, saves and ability checks. No memory of the feast. Any movement requires a DC 15 Dex save (fall prone on failure). Any miss with a melee weapon attack results in dropping the weapon.


6
Passed-Out Drunk
As per Unconscious, recover in 2d4 hours.



This is beautiful! :smallbiggrin:

[eastmabl]

I came up with something like that in my campaign too.

1) Slightly drunk (drinks equal to CON modifier) - -2 Intelligence and passive Perception
2) Kinda drunk (CON mod + 3 drinks) - +2 Strenght, -4 Intelligence and Passive Perception
3) Drunk (CON mod + 6 drinks) - +2 Strenght, -4 Dexterity, -6 Intelligence and passive Perception. Advantage on saves against fear.
4) Passed out - unconscious

Too many fiddly bits for 5e.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Too many fiddly bits for 5e.

And yet you don't complain about my table? :smallconfused:

[Pyon]

Building on what others have said, you could set something up like the exhaustion rules...

*Every drink triggers a Con save; DC depends on strength of the booze:
Beers, ales and meads: 12
Wines, <dwarven/orcish/whatever> beers: 14
Spirits, etc: 16

*Every failed save adds a level of drunkenness.



Level
Description
Effect


1
Tipsy
Advantage on Cha saves and any save against becoming frightened. Ignore up to one level of exhaustion.


2
Merry
Advantage on Cha saves and any save against becoming frightened, disadvantage on any other Dex, Int & Wis saves. Ignore up to two levels of exhaustion.


3
Drunk
Disadvantage on all saves and ability checks, except those against becoming frightened. Wild mages must roll a wild magic surge on reaching this level.


4
Bladdered
Disadvantage on all attack rolls, saves and ability checks. Memory loss at DM's discretion.


5
Falling-Down Drunk
Disadvantage on all attack rolls, saves and ability checks. No memory of the feast. Any movement requires a DC 15 Dex save (fall prone on failure). Any miss with a melee weapon attack results in dropping the weapon.


6
Passed-Out Drunk
As per Unconscious, recover in 2d4 hours.



You could also add a level of exhaustion to passed out drunk to simulate a hangover

[Ninja_Prawn]

You could also add a level of exhaustion to passed out drunk to simulate a hangover

Good point. As a lifelong teetotaler, it didn't occur to me that people get hangovers... :smalltongue:

[Slipperychicken]

I don't know what you're drinking that lets you ignore exhaustion levels.

[Spectre9000]

I don't know what you're drinking that lets you ignore exhaustion levels.

Generally people drink a beer or so to unwind from their exhaustive day. This is a pretty common practice across the world.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Generally people drink a beer or so to unwind from their exhaustive day. This is a pretty common practice across the world.

Yeah. And I've heard of people feeling a bit more energetic and/or belligerent (what a biologist might term 'aroused') after a few drinks. Obviously too many drinks has the opposite effect, but there's a sweet spot before that where you feel like superman, right?

Plus alcohols generally restore stamina in elder scrolls games, don't they? There's got to be some reason for that.

[Spectre9000]

Yeah. And I've heard of people feeling a bit more energetic and/or belligerent (what a biologist might term 'aroused') after a few drinks. Obviously too many drinks has the opposite effect, but there's a sweet spot before that where you feel like superman, right?

Plus alcohols generally restore stamina in elder scrolls games, don't they? There's got to be some reason for that.

That sweet spot is called the Ballmer Peak (https://xkcd.com/323/) to those of us in Software Engineering. :D

[Vogonjeltz]

Generally people drink a beer or so to unwind from their exhaustive day. This is a pretty common practice across the world.

Maybe so, but specifically getting drunk makes humans bad at everything. The effects also don't make sense on several other levels:

Charisma saves are about retaining your sense of self, being drunk would hinder this.

I'd also caution that level 4 is actually blackout drunk (actual memory loss is indicative of brain damage). Level 6 is more likely death from excessive bac, not mere unconsciousness. Come to think on it, presumably the character who is hungover would suffer as if under the same level of exhaustion.

[HammeredWharf]

If we're being realistic, I don't see how being drunk would offer any advantages. If anything, you could tell the players to roll as if they had advantage. Then, secretly use the lower result.

[Spectre9000]

You know guys. This is a game about having fun and enjoying yourselves, and it just needs to succeed at that. Alcohol is a curve that goes from beneficial to harmful, and that's scientific fact. There's a reason drinking a beer/glass of red wine a day is recommended. I, for one, will definitely enjoy using this table, and thank Ninja_Prawn for coming up with it.

[HoarsHalberd]

If we're being realistic, I don't see how being drunk would offer any advantages. If anything, you could tell the players to roll as if they had advantage. Then, secretly use the lower result.

A few drinks may help some people over come natural shyness/overthinking of social situations. And it definitely, definitely helps against being afraid. Mainly because your thinking is too impaired to realise that you should be afraid, but still, it helps.

Also I'd give advantage to any tests made to swallow strong alcohol from levels 2-4.

[Ninja_Prawn]

A few drinks may help some people over come natural shyness/overthinking of social situations. And it definitely, definitely helps against being afraid. Mainly because your thinking is too impaired to realise that you should be afraid, but still, it helps.

Yeah. And what we've got to remember is that this is a game. If drinking were 100% downsides, the players wouldn't do it and all the effort you just put into writing new rules and coming up with names for dwarven beers is wasted.

That's not to say I buy "alcohol is a curve that goes from beneficial to harmful" as "scientific fact". The most recent official guidance (from scientists) is "there is no safe limit" because any amount of alcohol increases your risk of developing cancer. But I'm not about to start writing rules for D&D characters getting cancer. :smalleek:

[Pyon]

Yeah. And what we've got to remember is that this is a game. If drinking were 100% downsides, the players wouldn't do it and all the effort you just put into writing new rules and coming up with names for dwarven beers is wasted.

That's not to say I buy "alcohol is a curve that goes from beneficial to harmful" as "scientific fact". The most recent official guidance (from scientists) is "there is no safe limit" because any amount of alcohol increases your risk of developing cancer. But I'm not about to start writing rules for D&D characters getting cancer. :smalleek:

Also, and here at just my two cents on the matter, any drinking rules table created should allow a "drunken" class. Either a Barbarian that goes into a rage after drinking or a drunken monk. For these classes to be viable, there has to be an upside in drinking to begin with! Class ideas of a drunk barbarian and a drunk monk are NOT realistic and not historically accurate. But they sure are fun.

DND is about fun guys c:

[Slipperychicken]

Also, and here at just my two cents on the matter, any drinking rules table created should allow a "drunken" class. Either a Barbarian that goes into a rage after drinking or a drunken monk. For these classes to be viable, there has to be an upside in drinking to begin with! Class ideas of a drunk barbarian and a drunk monk are NOT realistic and not historically accurate. But they sure are fun.

DND is about fun guys c:

I'd be okay with characters drinking a special beverage to help them enter a battle-fury. Historically, some berserkers would get bombed out of their minds on drugs before killing people.


My main requirement would be for some roleplaying ideas to be enforced, like a raging character shrieking as an animal would, doing insane nonsense like gnawing on his shield or swallowing hot coals, and having difficulty telling friend from foe.

[Rusvul]

In my games, if a player drinks excessively, they make a CON save or gain the Poisoned condition. If a player brought it up I could probably be persuaded to give them advantage on saves against fear.

I, personally, prefer to leave things like levels of drunkenness in our 3.5 game where they fit better.