Drinking & Drunkenness
Drinking is a balancing act: too much and you become inebriated; just enough and you become a master at billiards, charming as a devil, and capable of surmounting any obstacle. Legend says the Pale Aleomancers, led by famous brewer Jan Smyth, titrated themselves to reach the perfect level of drunkenness. In the short time thereafter, conflicts between long-warring nations were resolved, a universal healthcare system was established that delivered free care at the point of need, and the eternal question of why the gobboc crossed the road was answered. To celebrate their achievement, they finished their pint. In the slightly-more-inebriated aftermath, all their hard work was undone and the world descended into chaos once more. Since then, Aleomancers the world over have kept their titrating techniques a closely guarded secret.
Condition: Drunk
Between long rests, a creature can drink a number of units of alcohol equal to its Constitution modifier (minimum 0) without any effect. For each unit of alcohol the creature drinks beyond this, the creature must make a Constitution saving throw, calculating the DC using the formula below.
Drunkenness saving throw DC = 10 + number of units of alcohol consumed since last long rest
On a failed saving throw, a creature gains 1 level of drunkenness. Drunkenness is measured in six levels. If an already drunk creature suffers another effect that causes drunkenness, its current level of drunkenness increases by the number of units of alcohol the creature consumed to trigger the saving throw.
A creature’s drunkenness level is reduced by 1 for each 2 hours since it last drank. Furthermore, finishing a long rest reduces a creature’s drunkenness level to 0.
A creature suffers the effect of its current level of drunkenness as well as all lower levels. For example, a creature suffering level 3 drunkenness has disadvantage on Dexterity, Charisma, and Wisdom checks and saving throws.
Drunkenness & Effects
| Level | Effect |
|---|---|
| 1 | The creature has advantage on Charisma checks. |
| 2 | The creature has disadvantage on Dexterity checks and saving throws. |
| 3 | The creature loses the effects of level 1 drunkenness, and has disadvantage on Charisma and Wisdom checks and saving throws. |
| 4 | The creature’s speed is halved. |
| 5 | The creature is poisoned and retains no memory of events that occur between this point and when they are no longer drunk. |
| 6 | The creature falls unconscious for 1d4 + 8 hours. When it wakes, it is no longer drunk, but doesn’t gain the benefits of a long rest, and gains 1 level of exhaustion. |
Optional Rule: Hangover
Prerequisite: The creature loses at least 1 level of drunkenness during or as a result of finishing a long rest.
When this occurs, the creature must make a Constitution saving throw at the end of the long rest. The DC for this saving throw equals four times the drunkenness level before they started the long rest. A creature that fails this saving throw has a hangover and is poisoned for a number of hours equal to the difference between the result of their saving throw and the DC.