ALCOHOL FOR FANTASY ROLE-PLAYING GAMES

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:48 PM

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THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO ALCOHOL

FOR FANTASY ROLE-PLAYING GAMES

BY DESMOND

WITH A LOT OF HELP FROM SOME FRIENDS

If all be true that I do think, There are five
reasons we should drink; Good wine - a friend -
or being dry - Or lest we should be by and by -
Or any other reason why.

--- Henry Aldrich

My manner of living is plain and I do not mean
to be put out of it. A glass of wine and
a bit of mutton are always ready.

--- George Washington

What harm in drinking can there be,
Since punch and life so well agree.

--- Blacklock

Drunkenness is the vice of a good constitution, or
of a bad memory! Of a constitution so treacherously good,
that it never bends until it breaks; or of a memory that
recollects the pleasures of getting drunk, but forgets the
pains of getting sober.

--- Colton

A loaf of bread, a jug of wine, and thou.

--- Omar Khayyam

He who drinks one glass of wine a day
Will live to die some other way.

--- Anon

Their wine is the poison of dragons, and the
cruel venom of asps.

--- Deuteronomy 32:33

We made neere twentie gallons of wine.

--- Capt. John Smith
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COPYRIGHT (C) 1994

All trademarks of products, company names, logos, phrases, service
names, and/or slogans are trademarks of the respective companies,
artists, and/or individuals, where applicable.

Material presented in this document is for use with any fantasy
role-playing game. However, references to the Player's Guide or Dungeon
Master's Guide refers to core books of Advanced Dungeons and Dragons
role-playing game. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is a registered
trademark if TSR inc. References to TSR products are not meant to
infringe on copyright laws but are to gain support for AD&D products.

The following guide is the property of its author, who hereby
states that he retains the copyright except for where noted. You may
distribute it at will, provided that nothing in the guide, this notice,
or any of the credits are altered in any way; and that you do not make
a profit from it.

This document is not for sale and is made available for private
game use only.

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:49 PM

*** DISCLAIMER ***

All contents of this guide are presented for game purposes only.
In no way is this guide intended to persuade people of any age to drink
alcoholic beverages or to persuade people to reproduce fantasy
creations in real life. The author of the guide does not condone the
use of alcohol, especially for those under the legal age. Hopefully,
information presented in this guide will educated on the dangers of
alcohol. In fact, it would be preferred that people use this guide to
allow thier fictitious characters to indulge in the use of alcohol in
place of them. A character can be thrown in the trash, a person is a
lot harder to dispose of. In no way will the author of this guide or
the contributors of this guide be held responsible for other persons'
actions.
Advice oriented information is not to be taken as legal
consultation or legal service, but as suggestions and examples of real-
world or hypothetical models. Always consult a lawyer for legal and
lawful guidance. The opinions and views contained in this guide reflect
those of the individual authors. The opinions, content, and
organization of this magazine are in no way connected with the faculty
and staff of any educational institute where this guide was found.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Initial Reactions To The Guide
Preface
Introduction To Alcohol
Proficiency In Brewing
Proficiency In Wine-Making
Proficiency In Distilling
Everything You Ever Wanted To Know About Distilleries
When The Still Explodes
Effects Of Alcohol
Recovery From Intoxication
Stimulants for Recovering From Intoxication
A More Sinister Side Of Drinking: Alcohol Addiction
Alcoholic Diseases
Crazy Drunk: A Look At Dipsomania
Fetal Alcohol Syndrome
Non-Weapon Proficiencies
Not A Typical Assortment Of Weapons
Getting To Know Your Booze
Spells With A Twist Of Lime
Lohocla's Tome of Ultimate Chaos
Popular & Strange Alcohols Amongst The Worlds
Alcohol Drink Additives
Extracts From the Net Poison Digest
No Guide Is Complete Without Magic-Items
(MAGIC-ITEM) La Bouteille Magique de Chandon (Chandon's Amazing Bottle)
(MAGIC-ITEM) Dionysus's Chaotic Arrows
(MONSTER) What A Cute Rodent
(MONSTER) Hey Bartender, There's A Fish In My Drink
(MONSTER) Have A Picnic With These Ants
(MONSTER) The Best, The Beast
(MONSTER) Woof, Woof, Hiccup
(MONSTER) A Little Worm Can't Hurt
(MONSTER) A Monk's Best Friend and a Life Saver: The Saint Bernard
(MONSTER) I Think I Saw a Pink Elephant!!!
(MONSTER) A Horse is a Horse of Course: The Clydesdales
(MONSTER) What Just Flew in My Drink? An Alcohol Hummingbird
(MONSTER) Yo-Ho-Ho and a Bottle of Rum, A New Sea-Side Skeleton
(MONSTER) That Lich is a Luch
(MONSTER) A Dragon With More Than A Drinking Problem
The Guardian Of Alcohol Is A Leprechaun?
The Alcohol Deities
Holy/Unholy Alcohol
Alcohol Organizations Of All Sorts
Revenuer: Fighter Kit
Non-Player Characters & Their Work
Taverns And Bars From Campaigns
Taverns And Bars From Novels
Story Time
Glossary
Drinking Songs
Some Famous And Not So Famous Quotes On Wine
Other Related Reading Materials
Special Thanks

UPDATED: 07/28/94
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INITIAL REACTIONS TO THE GUIDE

"NO THANKS."

--- TSR's DRAGON magazine

"It looks GREAT. You are to be commended on a really terrific job. You
have outdone yourself. Enough cliches. I really liked it. Thanks."

--- Mr. Blackheart

"Great stuff. See ya round."

--- Mr. Scott

"...I think it is not big... it's GREAT."

---Mr. Fernando

"I have several requests from our gaming (or gamey depending on how you
look at it) group for your work. It's a hit...! Congrats...!

--- Mr. Scott

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PREFACE

In December '91, I began to make a small informative guide about
alcohol based on discussions of the ADND-L list (an electronic mail
forum for AD&D). It was a small project that served the purposes of the
time. In '92 I worked on other guides with the help of others and they
turned into nice guides. I hoped to create a great guide with more
useful material than any guide of the past by re-working my initial
alcohol stuff, and so The Complete Guide To Alcohol was reborn. I
requested some help on the list for people to look it over. Well, this
caused quite a stir and I realized that the guide was very incomplete
as suggestions for more sections started pouring in. Over a few months,
ideas, comments, criticisms, and additions kept coming. I even
established a small mailing list to correspond to these people.
Eventually, this final product was reached.
One objective in making the guide was to make the guide
informative. Information is as valuable if not more valuable than just
rules. You might just learn a thing or two as well. However, there are
plenty of rules in the guide for those who like them. To satisfy all
gamers, attempts were made to have an extensive guide filled with
stuff.
This guide will add a new and often times funny dimension to any
campaign. The key is funny. One objective was to try and keep it light
and fun. There are real-world problems with alcohol, but AD&D is a
fantasy world where the purpose is fun and recreation.
This guide is extensive enough that there should be something for
everybody. And if not, then you can just throw it away (it's not like
you had to pay for it).
For the most part, the material enclosed will have been
play-tested and in a workable form. In others, you may have to make
further adjustments to fit the ideas into your campaign. All rules are
optional and whatever is needed by the GM should be used. It is
suggested that you at least try to use everything and see how it goes.
If it works well then use it, if not get rid of it. I would be
interested in knowing the results and any changes you've made.
This material is the fruit of my labor with special assistance
from a few people of ADND-L. Although most material is my own, it is
not all my own. Some material was submitted from others, and I merely
edited it. Also, many people inspired much of the guide (especially
Vinnie in the beginning). Plus, they made a considerable amount of
suggestions, comments, and criticisms (especially Ronald and The
Phantom near the end). Acknowledgment to these people is given in the
Special Thanks section of this guide. I would acknowledge them at the
beginning of the guide, but the acknowledgments are specific and would
be confusing if not read after reading the guide.
For those that do have a copy, I ask that you drop me a line with
your comments whether good or bad. I like to know what people liked and
what they hated.
Because I plan to make continuous updates, I would appreciate that
people do not make the guide available via FTP sites because they tend
to accumulate old out-of-date versions.
I would appreciate that my name as well as those in the Special
Thanks section are not removed, changed, or altered since we are the
ones who deserve credit our names should remain with the guide. Of
course I can't really stop anybody from doing what they want. I just
ask that you respect those who made this guide possible because I'm
sure that they will continue to make great material for AD&D.
As a final comment, I would like you to know that I am continuing
to add new material to this guide and would appreciate any
contributions that you could bring. You have a copy and can see which
sections could use more development. If there is something missing that
you would like to see then make it or let me know what you want. Only
through your assistance can this guide continue to grow.

Desmond

P.S.

Much criticism has been aimed at the guides that I create. Some
feel that characters are forced to roll instead of role-play. Some feel
that its contradictory to increase role-playing by adding more tables.
I don't think that some rules hamper role-playing. A lot of
players don't like bad things to happen to their characters and will
prevent these things to happen. Having the rules on getting drunk and
having hangovers allows the GM to ensure that the character suffers,
but suffers fairly. Of course the player must still role-play the drunk
character, but now he will know what abilities are effected. On the
same note, I find that tables like the hangover table gives the
characters something to work with instead of just saying he has a
hangover. Rolling on the table and finding out you are vomiting can be
fun. The character still must role-play (e.g. he feels the urge to puke
and runs outside only to find that he upchucks on the captain of the
city watch). It just helps to give the players some direction. Being
free to let a character do anything in the name of role-playing isn't
right for AD&D. AD&D has many rules and to criticize rules that others
make isn't fair. Why not criticize the combat system, spell casting,
and such (of course some of you do)? You could say that the limitations
put on spells hampers role-playing. Why not let characters flourish
with dramatic spell-use that isn't encumbered with rules? My point is
that some rules are to much, but using certain ones that you like at
the right time will enhance role-playing by giving players something to
work with. Its your game so do what you want.
There are many types of players around, some like rules others
don't. I just put everything in my guides based on what people ask for.
I don't limit the guide to just what I want. I just don't use what I
like. I use what people want and suggest.
Another complaint is that there is to much work for the GM to use
the rules interactivly. The problem is that the GM will have to look at
lots of tables and ask players to roll dice and it breaks the game
rhythm, but if he just passes a note or tells a player "the next
morning you feel very sick and wake-up with a terrible headache" it is
quick and the players have the opportunity of giving good role playing.
I feel that there is already a lot of dice rolling in AD&D. To make a
statement about saying "dice rolling in a tavern will hamper role-
playing" is like saying "to much dice rolling in combat hampers role-
playing". I don't think rolling a few dice while in a tavern will
impede role-playing. It is not like the dice rolling is an addition to
other dice rolling. Most players don't have many opportunities to roll
dice while characters visit a tavern. So this minimal amount of dice
rolling for alcohol reasons should not restrict role-playing. Besides
good GMs can allow the players to assists in examining tables and
rolling dice so it goes by quickly.
I would like to quote a friend who seems to say it all about
people's complaints:

"I think all those that complain that the guides are too strict or
difficult to roll are a wee too steeped in the judicial side of
the game, i.e. following the rules to the letter. I suppose
someone ought to mention that what you're doing is creating guides
for those who want to have a bit more realism in certain
situations, not creating rules that MUST be played. In general,
I've found a lot of useful ideas contained in your guides which
can be used or abused to make my games more enjoyable. Thanks for
collecting all of this stuff."

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:49 PM

INTRODUCTION TO ALCOHOL

Beer after wine is not recommended.
Wine after beer is praised.

--- Anon

People of the ancient world began to make alcoholic beverages not
because they wanted to become intoxicated, but for more practical
reasons. One reason was that there were very few ways in which food
could be preserved (with magic being one way, but common people are
limited in this regard). The people of those times found that fruit
juice soon spoiled, but that fermented juice, or wine, would keep. The
alcohol produced by the fermentation stopped the growth of the bacteria
which spoiled the juice. They also noticed that persons who drank
fermented liquors did not become sick as often as those that drank
water or unfermented beverages. This was not because alcoholic drinks
themselves were healthful, but many springs and wells were impure and
the drinking of the water caused sickness and death.
Another factor that made alcohol popular is that the majority of
the population was poor and they spent the little money they had on
alcoholic drinks to escape from their sad reality.
Brewing and wine making are very important to civilization. Beer
and ale are the principal beverages of the poor. Wines in great variety
are served at the tables of the rich. Many religious establishments use
wine during their services. Liquor is one of the products with which
the lords pay their debts under the feudal system. Merchant guilds
control the beer and wine trades and regulate business practices.
Of course, there are some societies who adhere to the principal of
total abstinence from alcohol, or "teetotalism". The term "teetotal"
was suppose to be used first in one local society which had two classes
of members: those abstaining only from spirits, whose names were marked
O.P. (old pledge which allows wines and beers which seems necessary to
substitute the dangerous, polluted water) on the roll, and those who
included wine (i.e. no alcohol of any type) in their pledge. The latter
were identified with the letter T for Total.

Beer

The common word "beer" seems to be derived throughout the known
realms from the word "bibere", meaning "to drink". Amongst the various
races, the base of the word is the mostly the same but the spelling is
somewhat different. Beer is known as "bier" to the dwarves, "biere" to
the elves, "bierra" to the gnomes, "bir" to the halflings, and "biru"
to those in the Orient.
Beer is a beverage obtained by the yeast-caused fermentation of a
malted cereal, usually barley malt, to which hops and water have been
added. Among the earliest records of its use is a Ancient Baklunish
tablet, inscribed with a cuneiform recipe for the "wine of the grain".
The origin of beer brewing, however, has not been determined; nor is it
known whether bread or beer was invented first.
The ancients are thought to have the first to render barley more
suitable for brewing by malting, a process in which the barley grains
are germinated, developing the enzymes that transform starch into
fermentable sugars.

Types of Beer

Lager is a pale, medium-hop-flavored beer that averages 3.3 to 3.4
percent alcohol by weight and is high in carbonation.
Lager is kept for several months at a temperature of about 33
degrees Fahrenheit in order to mellow. One of the problems faced by
most brewers of lager is the necessity of storing the beer in a cool,
undisturbed place for several months after brewing. The usual solution
was the use of underground caves, where such were available or could be
made. An extract from the diary of an adventurer:

"We've recently discovered a mammoth cave complex that apparently
was connected to a long lost Brewery. Our party consists of 8 people.
We all carried torches, which were necessary to properly illuminate the
dark recesses, and to enable one to find his way out into daylight,
should he chance to stray away from the others. After passing through
several long cellars, with flagged with stone and roofs arched brick,
and lined on either side with rows of huge puncheons, we plunged still
deeper into the bowels of the earth, only to find still longer and more
numerous arched passages, all lined with the same enormous puncheons,
and the puncheons all filled with foaming lager beer, not the typical
treasure of our ilk but treasure just the same.
The mapper figures the dimensions are 15 feet in width and 12 to
15 feet in height, built of brick and totaling 600 feet of tunnel. With
a capacity of close to 100,000 barrels.
It really is exciting to discover these caves. I recall one
brewery that was named 'Cave Brewery', its cave covered an area of one
mile and were three stories deep."

The temperature of caves like this one was not always cold enough
and in many cases ice had to be used, particularly during the summer
months, to assure the proper level for the beer being stored. This was
easy enough where ice could be cut from a frozen river or lake and kept
for summer needs. Ice could be a very profitable business by clever
entrepreneurs. Of course, ice isn't necessary for smart brewers. One
master brewer began brewing beer and had his cellar "so near an aceqia,
irrigation trench, that the flow of the water kept the brew cold.
Another ingenious fellow enslaved a few dozen ice toads to do his
bidding in his storage areas. Of course, there are many more monsters
that if used properly could be of great service. And one shouldn't have
to mention the use of magic.

A seasonal dark-brown beer, bock, owes its color to a roasting of
the malt, and is heavier and richer in taste than lager.
Stout, a very dark beer, is brewed with a combination of roasted
and regular malt and has a strong hop taste.
Another dark beer, porter, is a mixture of ale and beer which
makes a sweet, malty brew, with a 6 to 7 percent alcohol content.
Malt liquor is a beer made from a high percentage of fermentable
sugars that are largely derived from malt. The resulting beverage has a
higher alcohol content (5 to 9 percent by weight) than regular beer.
The flavor is mildly fruity and spicy, without a hint of hops.

Ale

Ale is brewed from the same basic ingredients as lager beer; the
difference in flavor is caused in part by a different strain of yeast.
Ale yeast ferments at higher temperatures than lager and imparts a
distinctive tang and a somewhat higher alcohol content. Also, it is
generally brewed with more hops than beer, giving it the tart taste.
Ale has a pale color which comes from the use of a light-colored malt,
generally barley. Of course, ale is the drink of the dwarf, as they
were the first race in recorded history to brew it.

Mead

Mead is an intoxicating alcoholic beverage made by fermenting
honey and water, sometimes with fruit and spices added as flavorings.
With beer and ale, mead is one of the oldest of fermented drinks. Mead
is favorite drink of the elf. Elves are thought to be the founders of
mead and given its sweet nature, they are given the credit.

Wine

Wine is an alcoholic beverage made from fermented grape juices.
Growing grapes for wine is one of the world's most important farming
activities, and is a major feature of the economy of many
wine-producing countries. Most wines are named after the geological
places that they are produced. For example, a very popular sparkling
wine throughout the world is Champagne, the small wine community that
invented the champagne method for creating fortified wines.
Wine had a more practical reason in the beginning than the
mere pleasure of drinking. Ancient peoples had little pure water to
drink, and they learned that alcohol formed by fermentation protected
fruit juice from spoiling. The people who drank this fermented juice,
or wine, did not get sick so often as those who drank the impure water.
This reason for wine drinking continues down to the present day in many
parts of the world. Many people take wine as part of their regular diet
and use it instead of water for drinking.
Bards have sung the praises of wine throughout the ages. They
write of the friendliness of wine. Many clerics write of the
intoxicating powers of wine. One such reference is "Look not upon the
wine when it is red, when it giveth his color in a cup... at the last
it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder". Another
reference is "Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging".
Some gods of wine are also looked on as the god of good living, a
lawgiver, and a promoter of civilization. Wine also has come down
through the ages as part of religious celebrations.

Light

Light wines may be either red, white, or rose and also dry,
medium, or sweet. For red wine, the grapes are crushed immediately
after picking and the stems generally removed. The yeasts present on
the skin come in contact with the grape sugars, and fermentation begins
naturally. Cultured yeasts, however, are sometimes added. During
fermentation the sugars are converted by the yeasts to ethyl alcohol
and carbon dioxide. The alcohol extracts color from the skins; the
longer the vatting period, the deeper the color. Traditional maturation
of red wine takes up to two years in 50-gallon oak casks, during which
time the wine is racked - drawn off its lees, or sediment -three or
four times into fresh casks to avoid bacterial spoilage. Further aging
is usually advisable after bottling.
The juice of most grape varieties is colorless. Grapes for white
wine are also pressed immediately after picking, and the must starts to
ferment. Fermentation can proceed until it is completed, which will
make a dry white wine; or it can be stopped to make a sweeter wine.
Minimum contact with the air retains the freshness of the grapes.
To make rose wines, the fermenting grape juice is left in contact
with the skins just long enough for the alcohol to extract the required
degree of color. Vinification then proceeds as for white wine.

Sparkling

The best and most expensive sparkling wines are made by the
champagne method, in which cultured yeasts and sugar are added to the
base wine, inducing a second fermentation in the bottle. The resulting
carbon dioxide is retained in the wine. Other methods, however, such as
carbonation, are also practiced.

Fortified

The alcohol content of fortified wines is raised by adding grape
spirits. With port, brandy added during fermentation kills off the
yeasts, stopping fermentation, and leaves the desired degree of natural
grape sugar in the wine. Sherry is made by adding spirit to the fully
fermented wine. Its color, strength, and sweetness are then adjusted to
the required style before bottling.

Aromatized

Aromatized wines are famous for their distinctive odor, called
bouquet. It results from the addition of aromatic herbs and spices to
the wine. Such wines have an alcoholic content of 15 to 20 percent.

Serving Wine

Many persons prefer to serve only one wine with a meal, usually a
dry wine. When a number of wines are served with a formal dinner, they
are served in the following manner. Sherry is served with the appetizer
or soup. Any dry white wine goes well with fish or seafood. Meat
courses are best accompanied by any dry red wine. A dry white wine
should be served with creamed dishes. A sparkling or sweet wine is good
for dessert.

Bottle Storage

Wine bottles should be laid on their side to prevent the corks
from drying out and the air getting at the wine. There should be no
great fluctuation in temperature: 55-60 degrees Fahrenheit for reds,
50-55 degrees Fahrenheit for whites being ideal. Humidity should be 70
to 80 percent, and the storage place should be free from drafts, light,
and vibration.

Liquor

Distilled

Brandy is obtained by distilling wine or a fermented fruit mash,
after it has been aged in oak casks. The alcohol content of brandy is
45 to 55 percent.
Whiskey is distilled from a fermented mash of corn, rye, barley,
or wheat. It is then aged in wooden barrels. Whiskey has an alcohol
content ranging from 40 to 54 percent. Whiskey is designated as
straight or blended. Straight whiskey is the pure distillate, which is
reduced or cut, to the desired alcohol strength with distilled water.
Blended whiskey is straight whiskey blended with pure alcohol.
Rum is distilled fermented mash of sugar cane or molasses.

Compounded

Compounded liquors are pure distilled spirits which have been
flavored with various seeds, roots, leaves, flowers, or fruits.
Gin is made by distilling a mash of rye, corn, or other grain in a
special kind of still called a pot still. Juniper berries give the gin
flavor. The alcohol content of gin is about 40 percent.
Cordial is made by combining some spirit such as brandy with sugar
and certain flavorings, Examples of the fruit cordials are apricot,
blackberry, cherry, raspberry, and strawberry liqueurs. plant cordials
include creme de menthe (flavored with mint), creme de casso (whose
flavor is obtained from cascao and vanilla beans), and creme de rose
(flavored with vanilla and essential oil of rose petals).

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:50 PM

PROFICIENCY IN BREWING

God loves fermentation just as dearly as he loves vegetation.

--- Ralph Waldo Emerson

Introduction

The character with the Brewing proficiency is trained in the art
of brewing beers and other strong drinks. The character can prepare
brewing formulas, select quality ingredients, set up and manage a
brewery, control fermentation, and age the finished product.

The Process Of Brewing

Brewing is the making of fermented alcoholic beverages, such as
beer and ale, from cereal grains. The term brewing is usually applied
to all the steps in the process of making beer and ale, but actually
the operation has two steps, malting and brewing.
Malting is the preparation of the grain for the brewing. The
grain, usually wheat or barley, is soaked in water for 48 to 76 hours.
The water is drained and replaced with fresh water at least once a day.
When the grain is soft, it is piled in heaps. Here the grain starts to
sprout small root shoots. This is called germination. When the
sprouting starts, the grain is spread out to a depth of about ten
inches. When the sprouts are about two-thirds the length of the grain,
the germination is halted by placing the grain in an oven called a dry
kiln. The grain, or malt as brewers call it at this stage, is then
baked dark and crisp in temperatures ranging 155 degrees to 220 degrees
Fahrenheit. The lower temperatures are used in making light beer, and
the higher temperatures for dark beer.
Brewing begins after the dry malt is crushed between rollers and
mixed with water to form a mash. The mash is made thinner with hot
water and brought to a temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit. The mash
is stirred constantly at this temperate. During this stage of brewing
the beer or ale undergoes chemical changes which make the exact
temperature very important. The heat is increased slowly to about 160
degrees Fahrenheit. This liquid, called wort, is then drained from the
grain, or grist.
Hops made from the dried flowers of the hop vine are then added to
the wort and the mixture is boiled for one to six hours. One to twelve
pounds of hops are mixed with every hundred gallons of wort. The hops
keep the beverage from spoiling and also add flavor to it.
The boiled wort is cooled and placed in fermenting vats. About
five pounds of yeast are added to each one hundred gallons of wort.
Most beer is made with bottom fermentation, using a yeast that becomes
active at temperatures from 43 degrees to 46 degrees Fahrenheit and
stays at the bottom of the fermentation vat. Top fermentation is used
for ale, porter, and stout. A yeast is used which becomes active at
temperatures from 60 degrees to 68 degrees Fahrenheit.
After fermenting several days, the wort is run into a settling
vat. The yeast rises to the surface and is skimmed off. The beer is
then drawn off and stored in casks and barrels to age before being
bottled.

Proficiency

A normal proficiency check is not made because normal proficiency
checks only judge success or failure and not quality. Instead the
percentile dice are rolled to decide the quality of the brew (using
Table 1). An initial modifier of 6 will guarantee that a brewer will
never make a terrible drink. A one time modifier equal to Wisdom is
added. Also for each slot given to this proficiency, a modifier equal
to Intelligence is added.

TABLE 1: Quality Of Brew

Die Roll Quality
01-05 Terrible
06-15 Very Poor
16-35 Poor
36-65 Normal
66-85 Good
86-95 Very Good
96-00 Excellent

Thus, our hero Rath (Intelligence: 15, Wisdom:

has three
non-weapon proficiency slots allocated to brewing because he hopes to
be a master brewer some day and retire from the life of adventuring. He
decides to whip up a batch of malt liquor beer. After completing the
brewing process, it is time to sample the quality of Rath Malt Liquor
Beer. He rolls a mere 13 on the percentile dice, which would normally
produce a poor (13+6=19) quality brew. However, due to Rath's
experience, Intelligence (3*15=45), and Wisdom (

; he gains a modifier
of 53. Therefore, the quality of Rath's beer is good (72).

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:50 PM

PROFICIENCY IN WINE-MAKING

Bier is Menschenwerk, Wein is von Gott!
Beer is made by men, wine by God!

--- Martin Luther

Introduction

The character with the Wine-Making proficiency is trained in the
art of fermenting fruits and making the various wines from them. The
character can prepare wine formulas, select quality ingredients, set up
and manage a winery, control fermentation, and age the finished
product.

The Process Of Wine-Making

Wine is the fermented juice of the grape or some other fruit.
Some fruit juice ferments easily because it already contains sugar.
The more widely used fruits are the grape, apple, cherry, and
blackberry. The quality and quantity of fruits depend on geographical
geological, and climatic conditions in the vineyards, and on the grape
variety and methods of cultivation. Some of these factors may be
governed by local laws. The crop is harvested in the autumn when the
grapes contain the optimum balance of sugar and acidity. Wine falls
into two general groups, dry and sweet, depending on the taste and the
percentage of sugar remaining or after fermentation.
Wine grapes are crushed, but not enough to crush the seeds. The
must, or juice from the crushing, is run into vats which hold from 25
to 100 barrels. The juice is then allowed to ferment the length of time
needed for the type of wine wanted. The first must that flows from the
crushed fruit makes the choicest wines, and is drawn of first. When the
fermentation has gone on to the stage desired, the wine is drawn off
into casks called tuns. It remains in these casks until it is suitable
for drinking. It is in this stage that the chemical changes take place
which fix the bouquet, or flavor or aroma, of the wine. Dry wines are
made by allowing most of the sugar to turn into alcohol. The sweetness
of sweet wines comes from the sugar allowed to remain in the wine.

Proficiency

A normal proficiency check is not made because normal proficiency
checks only judge success or failure and not quality. Instead the
percentile dice are rolled to decide the quality of the wine (using
Table 1). An initial modifier of 6 will guarantee that a wine maker
will never make a terrible wine. A one time modifier equal to Wisdom is
added. For each slot given to this proficiency, a modifier equal to
Intelligence is added.

TABLE 1: Quality Of Wine

Die Roll Quality
01-05 Terrible
06-15 Very Poor
16-35 Poor
36-65 Normal
66-85 Good
86-95 Very Good
96-00 Excellent

Thus, our hero Roxanna (Intelligence: 15, Wisdom:

has three
non-weapon proficiency slots allocated to wine making because she hopes
to be a master wine maker some day and retire from the life of
adventuring. She decides to whip up a batch of light, sweet, red, apple
wine (one of her favorites). After completing the wine making process,
it is time to sample the quality of Roxanna Apple Dimple' Wine. She
rolls a mere 13 on the percentile dice, which would normally produce a
poor (13+6=19) quality wine. However, due to Roxanna's experience,
Intelligence (3*15=45), and Wisdom (

; she gains a modifier of 53.
Therefore, the quality of her wine is good (72).

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:51 PM

PROFICIENCY IN DISTILLING

Introduction

The character with the Distilling proficiency is trained in the
art of distilling hard liquor. The character can prepare distilling
formulas, select quality ingredients, set up and manage a distillery,
control fermentation, and age the finished product.

The Process Of Distilling

Distillation is the process in which a complex mixture or
substance is broken up into relatively pure or individual components by
being heated until the components vaporize one by one and are made to
condense individually. The next section of this guide deals extensively
with the process.

Proficiency

Two proficiency checks are made. The first is a normal 1d20 check.
Success or failure is irrelevant. The still will explode on a natural
roll of 20. The second check is not a normal proficiency check because
normal proficiency checks only judge success or failure and not
quality. Instead the percentile dice are rolled to decide the quality
of the brew (using Table 1). An initial modifier of 6 will guarantee
that a brewer will never make a terrible drink. A one time modifier
equal to Wisdom is added. Also for each slot given to this proficiency,
a modifier equal to Intelligence is added.

TABLE 1: Quality Of Liquor

Die Roll Quality
01-05 Terrible
06-15 Very Poor
16-35 Poor
36-65 Normal
66-85 Good
86-95 Very Good
96-00 Excellent

Thus, our hero Rath (Intelligence: 15, Wisdom:

has three
non-weapon proficiency slots allocated to distilling because he hopes
to be a master illegal distiller some day and retire from the life of
adventuring. He decides to whip up a batch of whiskey. After completing
the distilling process, it is time to sample the quality of Rath
Daniels Whiskey. He rolls a mere 13 on the percentile dice, which would
normally produce a poor (13+6=19) quality brew. However, due to Rath's
experience, Intelligence (3*15=45), and Wisdom (

; he gains a modifier
of 53. Therefore, the quality of Rath's whiskey is good (72).

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:51 PM

EVERYTHING YOU EVER WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT DISTILLERIES

*** IMPORTANT NOTE ***

It is a federal felony to actually use this information to build
your own still and produce alcohol. The information presented here is
simply for informative, educational and game-use only. In no way is
this document meant to persuade people to actually produce illegal
alcohol. It is ill advised to do so, but if you must there are legal
ways to do so. It is possible, in special cases, to get a permit to
build an experimental still, work on solar power, or power an alcohol
gassed automobile. If you decide you want more information, look in the
library under fuel alcohol, distillery, or wine making. Have fun but
please use discretion.

The following is a large excerpt from a discussion about
distilleries with Jesse Duke, Master Bootlegger. Jesse is considered
one of the finest moonshiners in the land. Although he operated
illegally, many law enforcers overlooked his operations for just a sip
of his elixir while others hunted him down because he was considered
the prize catch. Now retired, Jesse lives of the riches of his
successful career. His love now is telling tales for all who will
listen of his many adventures. Many sages have regarded him as an
expert on distillation. Unfortunately, nobody can get Jesse to put his
knowledge on paper. At least we can listen to him...

"So you want to know about a still do you? Well, I suppose I'm the
expert around these parts. Your not with the law are you? Of course,
I'm in retirement now and don't distill, except for medicinal reasons.
A still is a very old, very simple concept. It has been postulated
that perhaps the reason that people actually started farming was in
order to produce an excess of grain from which to produce alcohol. At
any rate beer is made simply from fermenting most any grain starch.
Whiskey, hard liquor, or other distilled drinks are made by removing
water from the base material. If you distill beer you have whiskey,
wine wields brandy, potato mash wields vodka. The technology to do this
is available among almost any people's that are capable of speech it
seems. All that is required is a source of heat, a cooking vessel, and
some sort of cooling element. The principle of the distillery, or still
for short, is that water boils (i.e. becomes vapor) at 100 degrees
Celsius (212 Fahrenheit). Alcohol (ethyl alcohol that is) on the other
hand boils at about 73 degrees Celsius (170 Fahrenheit). If a liquid
contains both water and alcohol and is heated to a temperature
somewhere between these boiling points then it is possible to drive off
the alcohol and leave the water behind. Now all that is left to do is
capture these intoxicating vapors to increase the percentage of joy in
the drink.
How is this done? The absolute simplest way is to place a freshly
fermented, malted drink (beer in the raw) into a container and heat it.
Seal the container except for a single tube/pipe/etc. leading away and
into a tub of water. At the other end, allow the tube to empty into a
cup or jug that has been set in a bed of ice. This is not the safest,
or easiest still to run, it is the simplest. Constant care must be
taken of the temperature, as there are no safe guards against
overheating the beer (thus boiling off a good bit of water too) or an
explosion. This can be caused by the careless who don't clean the
equipment properly. A build up in the tubing can cause the pot to build
up steam, and the you can say "Good night!"
The basic workings of the still are as follows. The pot is the
containment vessel for the crude fermented beverage. A heat source is
applied to the bottom of this to drive vapor out of the top vent pipe.
This then leads more or less directly to the worm. The worm is a coil
of tubing which acts to cool the vapor back into a liquid, which will
hopefully be noticeably more intoxicating than the original material. A
pressure gauge and/or valve can be added to the pot as a safety
measure. A thermometer/rheostat can also be added to the pot to more
closely control the temperature for optimum performance. However as
hundreds of years of backwoods moonshining can attest, there is no need
for such extravagances to produce good quality liquor. The worm can be
made from almost anything. At one point car radiators were popular,
however due to their less than clean nature, this is HIGHLY
unrecommendable. The lead used in soldiering at the manufacturer can
also easily react with alcohol to produce lead nitrates and other
nasties that can permanently relieve you of the necessity of sight.
More common, and safer is a quarter inch diameter copper tube, wound
into a coil, and submersed in a barrel or bathtub of cold, slowly
running water. A heat source should be diffuse if possible, a common
trick was to place the pot on a piece of slate, then use a wood fire to
heat the slate. This produced an even, slow heat that tended to prevent
scorching of the grain sediment and eventually leaving a burnt taste to
the end product.
Improvements are constantly being made to this basic design. One
of the most revolutionary, and important additions is that of the
thumper keg. When this is added to a still, it halves the distilling
time and doubles the final proof of the beverage. The thumper keg is
nothing more than a second pot which is not directly heated. Hot vapors
from the real pot are piped over into the bottom of the thumper keg.
The vapors then percolate through the thumper keg's hold of new crude
alcohol. As it cools the vapor, water is drawn from the vapor. As the
thumper keg's liquid warms, more alcohol is vaporized. Thus, when the
vapors finally leave the top of the thumper keg, they have essentially
been processed twice. Before the advent of the thumper keg, the crude
mash would first be run for "singlings". These singlings would be run
through the still a second time to produce the final whiskey. Now it
was possible to produce a high quality, high alcohol content liquor on
the very first run.
An additional attachment was invented long before the thumper keg,
but is attached after it in the normal sequence of the still. This is
the dry box. Simply said, it is a air-sealed box that takes the vapors
from the thumper keg (or the pot, if a thumper keg is not used) and
sends the vapors out the other side. In the mean time, the vapors have
cooled slightly and water has condensed on the inside of the box.
(Please note that this box is empty, thus "dry", except for the vapors
passing through it.) The box is so angled that any water condensing
inside runs through a pipe back to the thumper keg or pot. There should
be three pipes attached to this dry box. One leads out of the box
towards the worm, one leads out of the box into the thumper keg, and
one from the thumper keg to the dry box. The reason there are two pipes
between the dry box and thumper keg is to prevent a back log of liquid
and a build up of pressure in the dry box. The pipe meant for the
return of water to the thumper keg should be visibly lower to gravity
than the pipe meant primarily for transportation of steam/alcohol
vapor. Water from the dry box can be alternatively bled out onto the
ground, or into a nearby stream, but it may still contain some alcohol,
and for this reason it is often simply cycled back into the still.
The worm is probably the most important piece of the still, as far
as final quality goes. All the careful care in the world can be put
into making sure that the pot doesn't get too hot, the still can be
clean as a whistle every time you run it, and if the worm is nothing
more than gunky, disgusting, rusty piece of metal, your liquor will
suck. Besides, that's not how they did it in the good old days, right?
They used wooden kegs for the pot and thumper keg, and chances are that
they used a can in place of a coil. A can is a sort of sleeve that has
an input opening in one side for the vapor, and an output port for the
leaving liquor. Basically it looked like a very thick walled can
without the top or bottom. This allowed the cooling water to flow over
a lot of surface area. It isn't easy to make something like this. It
would involve a good bit of soldering with plumbers solder (i.e. no
lead) and two large, closely matched cans. Perhaps a better way is to
use copper tubing, coiled and submerged in a contained of water. (The
can has to be submerged in cold water too by the way.) This coil of
copper tubing is what is most commonly referred to as the worm.
That is the basics of the hardware. There are other nifty little
adaptations that can be added but each requires a bit more technology
than the last, so we'll keep it simple. Next is needed the knowledge of
how to actually take field corn and produce drinkable white lightening
from it. The true artists will insist that it be done with grain, and
grain alone, while the pragmatist will say that adding sugar really
doesn't affect taste that much and greatly increases the yield. You
can decide for yourself whether sugar should be used or not. First you
need starter stock. Take 10% of whatever amount of corn your going to
work with and place it in a warm damp spot for about a week. Perhaps
you will keep it in jars behind the stoves (don't allow the seeds to
become submerged, they can drown believe it or not) in a burlap sack
buried in a manure pile (please, please wash them VERY well) or
whatever. After they have sprouted with 3-4 inch growths (and
preferably before the leaves break free of their casings) grind them
up. For small batches a sharp knife and cutting may work. Larger
batches may require a meat grinder or something. This will act as an
enzyme to start breaking starch down into sugar. Next thing that needs
done (and should be down simultaneously with making the starter) is to
grind up the other 90% of your corn. You might try buying ready round
corn meal, maybe use that meat grinder again, perhaps soak the corn in
water then try to grind them up. Whatever works for you. Then mix the
ground corn with water to make a mix that won't quite hold a spoon
straight up. About a gallon of mashed corn to three gallons of water,
or less if you have already soaked the corn in water prior to grinding.
Now heat this grain/water till it is almost boiling, keep it
simmering for 10 to 30 minutes. Then let it slowly cool, when you can
comfortably put a finger in it, mix in the starter. Stir this around
for another 20 to 30 minutes. Keep it warm during this time. If you
desire (and it is a good idea to do this) yeast can be added at this
point. Best thing to do is get brewer's yeast at a store that sells
supplies for making wine, and then culturing the yeast in sugar water
as per instructions with the package (if any). Otherwise you can use
regular baker's yeast, or not use any, and trust wild yeast to do the
work (keep your fingers crossed here). Watch the mix carefully, as
without sensitive equipment it is hard to tell when the yeast have
stopped working. The yeast will form a foam or crust as they work. As
they finish, the foam will break up and disappear. The proper time to
run it through the still is when the foam is pretty well gone, but not
totally, there should be a film of it left with some holes poking
through. Wait to long and you will have wood alcohol rather than grain,
it is not possible, no matter who tells you different to return wood
alcohol back to grain alcohol. I cannot possibly emphasize enough the
number of injuries and fatalities occurring from attempts to "purify"
wood alcohol. Run it too early and you won't get a good yield of
anything but corn starch and water. It is better to run it too early,
trust me.
The next major thing to know is how to know when to stop
collecting the distillate. One easy way is to collect a small amount of
the end product, splash it on the pot, and light it with a match or
lighter. It should burst into blue flame. If it doesn't, there is too
much water in it. Either turn down the heat on the pot if you are just
starting, or stop collecting if its been going a while. By this time
you have as much of the alcohol as you'll be able to get. Another,
better way, is too watch the distillate as it pours out of the worm.
It will sputter at first, slowly develop into a ready stream
(hopefully), then at a certain point it will sputter a bit again, and
then the twist to the stream will change very slightly as the content
changes from mostly grain alcohol to mostly water. These are very hard
changes to catch, and it takes practice to learn. It is however the
most accurate means by which to gauge the distillate without high tech
equipment.
That is about all there is to it. There are many, many other
details that have been discovered in the many years of distilling, but
these are the basics needed to build a simple still. Now, don't go off
half-cocked kid. Distilling is illegal in this country without an
official permit from the High Court. And of course, permits are only
issued to the rich merchants that can put some gold pieces in
important people's pockets. But of course, you young adventuring types
try everything at least once, more until you get a sword in your face."

-- Jesse Duke
Master Bootlegger

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:52 PM

WHEN THE STILL EXPLODES

When a non-proficient character distills, a GM should decide if a
still explodes or not mainly based on campaign use (i.e. plot use,
serves a purpose to an adventure, etc.). If the GM wants to leave it up
to chance, a still will explode on a roll of 15-20 on a 1d20. A
proficient character will have an exploding still on a roll of 20 on a
1d20.
An exploding still does a lot of damage to creatures and things
that are near it. Most of the damage comes from the force of the blast
and from the intense heat of the steam. A smaller amount comes from the
shrapnel created by the still itself flying apart.
Once a still explodes, a creature in the area of effect (see Table
A, Distance) suffers damage if not sufficiently protected. Only half
the damage is received if a saving throw vs. breath weapon is
successful.

TABLE A: Heat Damage

Distance Damage
00' - 01'11" 4d10+10
02' - 05'11" 3d10+10
06' - 11'11" 2d10+10
12' - 16' 1d10+10

The heat damage is not the only danger. Anyone in the vicinity
could easily take shrapnel damage from the pieces of the still flying
about. Typically, stills are of wood or metal. A wooden still tends to
produce more shrapnel. A metal still tends to split rather than truly
shatter.
Once a still explodes, a creature in the area of effect (see Table
B, Distance) suffers shrapnel damage if not sufficiently protected.
Only half the damage is received if a save vs. breath weapon is
successful.

TABLE B: Shrapnel Damage

Distance Wood Damage Metal Damage
00' - 01'11" 4d4+5 4d4+1
02' - 05'11" 3d4+5 3d4+1
06' - 11'11" 2d4+5 2d4+1
12' - 16' 1d4+5 1d4+1

The GM should note that the information provided here is for a
still with a pot of 40-80 gallon capacity. This would make about 1-2
gallons or 5-10 bottles of liquor in a run with a maximum of about 8-10
runs in a day. Of course, fermenting time must be taken into
consideration. Generally, fermenting time is a week or more depending
on fermenting material, starting yeast, starter mash, temperature, and
other factors.
For different sizes of stills, the GM should adjust the damage and
make the area of effect larger.

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:52 PM

EFFECTS OF ALCOHOL

"Drink hardy me 'lads for tomorrow we die!"

--- Anonymous

In wine's intoxication lays the truth!

--- Anon

After consuming a serving of alcohol, a character must make a
constitution check with the following penalties:

Beer -1
Ale -2
Wine -3
Mead -4
Liquor -5

The penalties accumulate with each check per state of intoxication.
For example, after Rath drinks his third ale he must make his
constitution check with a -6 penalty. If Rath moves into a state of
slight intoxication (see below) due to a failed constitution check, his
ale penalty is reset back to -2. Of course, the penalty will continue
to get worse as he drinks in this state and reset to -2 when he goes
into a moderate state of intoxication.

NOTE: Serving sizes vary depending on type. For example, a typical
serving size of liquor is around 2 fluid ounces. Beer, ale, and mead
have a serving size around 16 to 20 fluid ounces. While a serving size
for wine is around 10 to 14 ounces. The serving size is decided by the
DM.

If a character fails his/her constitution check, his/her state of
intoxication moves up. There are three states: slight, moderate, great.
The state an intoxicated person is in will have the following effects:

Intoxication Table:

Effect State of Intoxication
on Slight Moderate Great
Morale +1 +2 +3
Intelligence -1 -3 -6
Wisdom -1 -4 -7
Dexterity 0 -2 -5
Charisma 0 -1 -4
Attack Dice 0 -1 -5
Hit Points 0 +1 +3
% of Spell Failure 25 50 100

NOTES ON INTOXICATION TABLE

Morale pertains only to non-player characters.

Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, and Charisma indicate the number of
points the various characteristics are lowered temporarily due to
intoxication. Remember to check the PHB to see the effects of attribute
lose.

Attack dice refers to adjustments to THAC0 and saving throws. An
opponents saving throws vs. magical attacks made by an intoxicated
character is raised by the same number.

Hit points are increased due to the effects of the alcohol on the
intoxicate person. He/she can physically withstand more punishment.
OPTIONAL RULE: Make the hit point adjustments +10% and +30%, rather
than +1 and +3.

% of Spell Failure refers to the chance that a spell that is cast will
fail. A mage or cleric has difficulty with somatic and verbal
components due to his/her inebriation. When in a great state of
intoxication, the mage/cleric has complete memory loss of the spell and
must relearn the spell upon recuperation.

Being in a state of great intoxication is dangerous. When a
character is in this state, he/she no longer continues to make a
constitution check. Instead he/she must make a saving throw vs. poison.
A cumulative penalty of -1 goes into effect as the character continues
to drink. If a character fails his/her saving throw, he/she passes out.
With each saving throw a character has a cumulative 5% of permanently
lowering his/her constitution by 1 point.

Example

For example, Rath has just missed his constitution check from
his last glass of ale and is now in a state of great intoxication.
He orders another glass and drinks it. He makes his save vs. poison and
has a 5% chance of lowering his constitution, which doesn't happen.
He orders another glass and gulps it down. He makes his save vs.
poison and now has a 10% chance of lowering his constitution, which
doesn't happen. He orders yet another glass and gulps it down. This
time he misses his save and passes out. Now he has 15% chance of
lowering his constitution, which unfortunately happens. Rath is now
passed out and has a permanent deduction of 1 from his constitution.
Another victim of drunkenness.

Optional Wisdom Rule

As a person continues to drink, he/she tends to consume more and
more alcohol without really noticing it. Thus, the consumer must begin
making a Wisdom check after each drink once he/she reaches a state of
slight intoxication. A successful check allows the consumer to quit
drinking if he/she desires. A failed check indicates that a person will
attempt to have another drink if possible (i.e. has money, alcohol is
available, etc.).
A friendly, non-hostile person around the drinker who wants to
prevent him/her from continuing to drink can attempt to by making a
successful Charisma check. Success indicates that the person talked the
drinker into stopping. However, a failed check makes the drinker angry
and no further attempts can be made by the less that charismatic
person.

Optional Weight Rule

A person that weighs more tends to handle alcohol better than one
who weighs less. Since most creatures' weights aren't known, the best
indication of weight would be size. Thus, the penalties/bonuses are
relative to size. The following penalties/bonuses can be assigned to
the constitution check that is made after consuming a serving of
alcohol:

Tiny -4
Small -2
Man 0
Large +2
Huge +4
Gargantuan +6

Optional Drunk Disposition Rule

Once a person enters a state of great intoxication, his/her
disposition has a tendency to change. The DM has a few options in how
to handle this. Option one, the player chooses from the table which
disposition he/she wishes the character to have. Option two, the player
rolls once on the table for the character and makes this the
disposition the character will always have when drunk. Option three,
the player rolls on the table each time the character is drunk.
The effects to disposition are optional. Some DMs may not wish to
use the effects because it may cause game imbalance.

TABLE: Disposition

Roll Disposition Effect
1 animated, excited, alert +1d4 to save vs. passing out
2 sleepy, "Zzzzzz" -1d4 to save vs. passing out
3 show-off, foolhardy, challenging +1d4 morale
4 melancholy, annoying -1d4 morale
5 chatty, know-it-all +1d4 intelligence
6 quiet, content, stupefied -1d4 intelligence
7 happy, everything seems good +1d4 wisdom
8 mean, cranky, annoyed -1d4 wisdom
9 humorous, amusing, comical +1d4 charisma
10 egotistical, cocky, bragging -1d4 charisma
11 clumsy, clutz, "Oops" -1d4 dexterity
12 horny, aroused see boo-hag effect

Optional Boo-Hag Effect

The effect of being drunk (i.e. in a state of great intoxication)
makes the character more susceptible to seduction. This effect is
better known as the "boo-hag" effect. In other words, the appearance
and charisma of a person of the opposite sex no longer matters. This is
represented by a-1d4+1 to any seduction rolls made by the character
when a person is trying to seduce him/her. Note that the character is
also 50% more likely to attempt seduction of other people.

Optional/Alternative Intelligence Loss Rule

A DM may opt to make a character lose a point of intelligence
rather than constitution when a save vs. poison is failed. A more
vindictive DM may opt to make the character lose the constitution point
and then make him/her roll another constitution check. Failure
indicates that the character loses a point of intelligence. The main
reason for this is because prolonged use of alcohol kills brain cells.

Alternative Percentage Loss

Some feel that the percent chance of losing a point of
intelligence or constitution is to drastic. A night of hard drinking
shouldn't do a person in. Rather, extended periods of serious boozing
should do such severe damage to the character. Therefore, when a
character is in a state of great intoxication, he/she no longer
continues to make a constitution check. Instead he/she must make a
saving throw vs. poison. A cumulative penalty of -1 goes into effect as
the character continues to drink. If a character fails his/her saving
throw, he/she passes out. With each saving throw a character has a
cumulative .1% of permanently lowering his/her constitution by 1 point.
This cumulative percent is cumulative throughout the character's life.

Alternative Alcohol Penalties

Some campaigns may consider the penalties for the various
alcoholic drinks to be incorrect. An alternative is provided for those
who wish it. Thus, after consuming a serving of alcohol, a character
must make a constitution check with the following penalties:

Beer -1
Ale -2
Liquor -2
Wine -3
Mead -3

Alcohol And Races

People have suggested that certain races like dwarves and elves
should have bonuses or penalties when drinking alcohol because they
would naturally have more or less of a tolerance. Well, technically
this could be and is true. Table 8 on page 20 of the Player's Handbook
lists racial ability adjustments during character creation. Dwarves
receive a +1 to constitution and elves receive a -1 to constitution.
Furthermore, demihumans like dwarves have bonuses to poison saves and
poison saves play an important role in these rules. Therefore, since
alcohol checks are based on constitution and adjustments to
constitution are made during character creation and certain races get
bonuses to poison saves, there is no need for any additional
adjustments. However, DMs may still give bonuses and penalties to races
if he/she wishes.

Paladins

Nice DMs may allow a paladin to have +1 bonus to constitution when
consuming alcohol because they have a great immunity to such "evil"
like alcohol. On the other hand, the DM may induce a -1 penalty to
constitution because such poisonous toxins like alcohol are dangerous
to the purity of a paladin.

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:52 PM

RECOVERY FROM INTOXICATION

Wine, a turn-coat; first a friend, and then an enemy.

--- Thomas Fuller

Wine prepares the heart for love, Unless you take too much.

--- Ovid

Time is the only cure for intoxication, although certain
stimulants might shorten the recovery time. Note that a person may only
be affected by stimulants once.

Recovery From Intoxication:

Intoxication Recovery Stimulant Multiplier
Level Time Mild Medium Strong
Slight 1-4 hours x .80 x .65 x .50
Moderate 4-8 hours x .85 x .70 x .55
Great 8-14 hours x .90 x .75 x .55
Comatose 14-20 hours x .95 x .80 x .60

As a person recovers, his/her statistics that are affected begin
to go back to normal. For example, a comatose person's recovery time is
19 hours and his/her stats are based on this. Five hours later, he/she
moves into a state of great intoxication and his/her stats are relative
to this state, and so on.

Having A Hangover

Although the victim's statistics will slowly return to normal, he
will suffer unpleasant after-effects that are known in the drunks'
world as a hangover. After a person finally gets down to a state of
slight intoxication, he/she rolls on Table 1 (1d100) and receives a
hangover effect.

TABLE 1: Hangover Effects Table

Die
Roll Effect
01 blinding headache, vomiting, -3 to DEX and CON for 1d4 hrs
02 blinding headache, vomiting, -3 to WIS and INT for 1d4 hrs
03 blinding headache, vomiting, -2 to DEX and CON for 1d6 hrs
04 blinding headache, vomiting, -2 to WIS and INT for 1d6 hrs
05 blinding headache, vomiting, -1 to DEX and CON for 1d8 hrs
06 blinding headache, vomiting, -1 to WIS and INT for 1d8 hrs
07 blinding headache, the squats, -3 to DEX and CON for 1d4 hrs
08 blinding headache, the squats, -3 to WIS and INT for 1d4 hrs
09 blinding headache, the squats, -2 to DEX and CON for 1d6 hrs
10 blinding headache, the squats, -2 to WIS and INT for 1d6 hrs
11 blinding headache, the squats, -1 to DEX and CON for 1d8 hrs
12 blinding headache, the squats, -1 to WIS and INT for 1d8 hrs
13 blinding headache, nausea, -3 to DEX and CON for 1d4 hrs
14 blinding headache, nausea, -3 to WIS and INT for 1d4 hrs
15 blinding headache, nausea, -2 to DEX and CON for 1d6 hrs
16 blinding headache, nausea, -2 to WIS and INT for 1d6 hrs
17 blinding headache, nausea, -1 to DEX and CON for 1d8 hrs
18 blinding headache, nausea, -1 to WIS and INT for 1d8 hrs
19 blinding headache, the squats, trembling
20 blinding headache, vomiting, trembling
21 blinding headache, nausea, trembling
22 blinding headache, the squats
23 blinding headache, vomiting
24 blinding headache, nausea
25 blinding headache, trembling
26 blinding headache
27 headache, vomiting, -3 to DEX and CON for 1d4 hrs
28 headache, vomiting, -3 to WIS and INT for 1d4 hrs
29 headache, vomiting, -2 to DEX and CON for 1d6 hrs
30 headache, vomiting, -2 to WIS and INT for 1d6 hrs
31 headache, vomiting, -1 to DEX and CON for 1d8 hrs
32 headache, vomiting, -1 to WIS and INT for 1d8 hrs
33 headache, the squats, -3 to DEX and CON for 1d4 hrs
34 headache, the squats, -3 to WIS and INT for 1d4 hrs
35 headache, the squats, -2 to DEX and CON for 1d6 hrs
36 headache, the squats, -2 to WIS and INT for 1d6 hrs
37 headache, the squats, -1 to DEX and CON for 1d8 hrs
38 headache, the squats, -1 to WIS and INT for 1d8 hrs
39 headache, nausea, -3 to DEX and CON for 1d4 hrs
40 headache, nausea, -3 to WIS and INT for 1d4 hrs
41 headache, nausea, -2 to DEX and CON for 1d6 hrs
42 headache, nausea, -2 to WIS and INT for 1d6 hrs
43 headache, nausea, -1 to DEX and CON for 1d8 hrs
44 headache, nausea, -1 to WIS and INT for 1d8 hrs
45 headache, the squats, trembling
46 headache, vomiting, trembling
47 headache, nausea, trembling
48 headache, the squats
49 headache, vomiting
50 headache, trembling
51 headache, nausea
52 headache
53 vomiting, trembling
54 nausea, trembling
55 the squats, trembling
56 vomiting
57 nausea
58 the squats
59 trembling
60 vomiting, the squats, trembling
61 vomiting, the squats
62 nausea, the squats, trembling
63 nausea, the squats
64 -4 to DEX and CON for 1d10 hrs
65 -4 to WIS and INT for 1d10 hrs
66 trembling, loss of appetite for 2d6 hrs
67 loss of appetite for 5d4 hrs
68 disgusting taste in mouth for 24 hrs
69 cheerful energy
70 DM SHOULD COME UP WITH A DASTARDLY EFFECT
71 NO BAD EFFECTS (This time!)
72-00 REROLL

NOTES ON HANGOVER TABLE

Blinding Headache: For 1d4+1 hours. -4 to hit, -3 to armor class, +25%
chance of spell failure for mages and clerics, -25% to all thieves
skills.

Headache: For 1d4+1 hours. -2 to hit, -1 to armor class, +10% chance of
spell failure for mages and clerics, -10% to all thieves skills.

Vomiting: Roll percentile dice (01-50: 1d12 hours, 51-00: 1d6 hours).
Constitution check every turn. Failure means PC vomits which takes
1d4+1 rounds. Strenuous activity (includes combat and spellcasting)
will also require a constitution check to avoid being ill.

Nausea: Roll percentile dice (01-50: 1d12 hours, 51-00: 1d6 hours). The
PC feels like vomiting. The PC has difficulty concentrating and
therefore has a +05% chance of spell failure for every hour of nausea.
Furthermore, he/she suffers a -1 to dexterity and strength for the
duration of nausea.

"The Squats": Roll percentile dice (01-50: 1d20 hours, 51-00: 1d10
hours). Constitution check at -2 every turn. Failure means PC will
defecate within 1d4 rounds. The PC must find a suitable place and
remove armor, clothing, etc. within that time or soil themselves
(YECH!).

Trembling: For 1d4-1 hours. -1 to hit, -2 to dexterity.

Loss Of Appetite: Character will not eat. Also, character has dry mouth
thus being very thirsty.

Example

For example, our hero Rath has found himself in a state of great
intoxication partying until four in the morning in his favorite
establishment, The Golden Griffon Inn. Unfortunately, he is suppose to
go adventuring at sunrise (6:00 AM), so he takes a strong stimulant in
hopes to recovery. Recovery time was 14 hours for Rath, but now it is
7.70 hours (14 x .55), and his stats go from the great intoxication
state to the moderate intoxication state. Well, Rath can't even move
out of bed until 1:00 PM. But since he got little sleep and feels quite
sick, Rath sleeps until 5:00 PM. When he awakens, he finds that he has
a headache (which will last 3 hours). Also, he starts vomiting (which
will last until at least 10:00 PM). He will suffer -2 to dexterity and
constitution for the next 4 hours. And to top it off, Rath finds out
that his adventuring party has left town without him and he is left
with nothing to do but go party again tonight.

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:53 PM

STIMULANTS FOR RECOVERING FROM INTOXICATION

Mild

Cure Light Wounds - 1st level clerical spell
Slow Poison - 2nd level clerical spell
Potion of Healing
Scroll of Protection from Poison
Healing Proficiency
Herbalism Proficiency

Medium

Cure Disease - 3rd level clerical spell
Cure Serious Wounds - 4th level clerical spell
Potion of Sweet Water
Periapt of Proof Against Poison

Strong

Neutralize Poison - 4th level clerical spell
Cure Critical Wounds - 5th level clerical spell
Potion of Extra-Healing
Potion of Vitality

Special

Heal - 6th level clerical spell
Restoration - 7th level clerical spell
Regenerate - 7th level clerical spell
Elixir of Health

Notes

1. Special stimulants cure the intoxicated character, no recovery time
is required.

2. Multiple spells or potions (use the rule of mixing potions) applied
on intoxicated characters lower the stimulant multiplier by 5% per
dose (spell).

3. If more than one type of stimulant is used, the strongest one is
considered.

4. Healing and herbalism proficiencies can be used once a day, but if
both are used in the same character then treat as medium stimulant.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

A MORE SINISTER SIDE OF DRINKING: ALCOHOL ADDICTION

Wine has drowned more men than the sea.

--- Anon

Nothing is better to fight alcoholism than a moderate use of wine.

--- Jean Louis Faure

The nervous system in the body has an inhibitory effect when the
body is in a state of extreme emotion. It's part of the human body's
ability to stay in a normal state: "homeostasis". This is what makes
cliff-divers like cliff diving: the nervous system inhibits the
abnormal state of fear, essentially by simulating the reaction opposite
to fear: ecstasy. A classical example of this is a slightly depressed
person who takes stimulant drugs. His nervous system increases his
depression to counteract the abnormal stimulation, so that he needs to
take stimulants even to feel how people normally feel. Now, when he's
off drugs, he will be very depressed.
This explains some withdrawal symptoms. Under the effect of any
strong drug (e.g. alcohol), the nervous system naturally tries to
counter that effect. When the drug wears off, the "downer" that is
experienced occurs because the nervous system is still producing that
opposite emotion. If a human uses drugs too much, then his/her nervous
system gets into the habit of countering that drug's effect, so he/she
starts to need to take the drug all the time to avoid the awful
downers. Eventually, drug addicts need more and more of their drug of
choice in order to have the effect they had the first time they tried
it.
A person may enjoy having a drink of alcohol, but he/she may
unfortunately become a victim of it. To represent the progression and
regression of alcohol addiction; two levels, amount level and drinking
level are used.
Each time a person drinks and goes into a state of intoxication
(slight, moderate, great), he/she must make a save vs. poison (with
modifiers; see below) or go up one amount level (Table 1).
Each time a person reaches a state of great intoxication he/she
must make a save vs. poison (with modifiers; see below) or go up one
drinking level (Table 2).
To make drinking even more dangerous, the DM can make a character
that has an 8 for an amount level and/or a 5 for drinking level roll on
the Hangover Table. The effects rolled will last until the levels are
lowered.

Table 1: Amount Level

Level Effect
0 never drinks
1 needs to drink one time every week
2 needs to drink two times every week
3 needs to drink three times every week
4 needs to drink four times every week
5 needs to drink five times every week
6 needs to drink six times every week
7 needs to drink seven times every week
8 needs to drink eight times every week

Table 2: Drinking Level

Level Effect
0 never drinks
1 will always take at least one drink
2 will drink until at least slightly intoxicated
3 will drink until at least moderately intoxicated
4 will drink until greatly intoxicated
5 will drink until passed out

Humans, elves, gnomes, and half-elves gain their normal bonus to
poison save due to Constitution (PHB, page 15). Dwarves and halflings
use the same bonuses that they get against magical attacks due to their
race (PHB, pages 20-23).
Additional modifiers to the poison save for all races are based on
Wisdom (Table 3). Also, the DM may wish to add modifiers based on
circumstances and situations, some examples are given in Table 4.

Table 3: Wisdom Modifier

A. Score Modifier
01-03 +4
04-06 +2
07-12 0
13-15 -2
16-18 -4

Table 4: DM Modifiers

Mod. Circumstance
+8 friend, family member, or comrade died
+5 lost beloved item (e.g. family heirloom, magical item)
+3 gambling debts, considerable misfortune
+1 unlucky times

A person can reduce his/her or her addiction in a number of ways.
A Neutralize Poison spell will rid the need to drink, thus the amount
level becomes 0. For every week a person is restrained from drinking
(i.e. clinic, forceful friends, etc.), both the amount level and
drinking level are reduced by 1. Some DMs may allow the character to
make a Wisdom check once a week. Success indicates that the character
has enough willpower to lower his/her amount level and drink level by
1.

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:53 PM

ALCOHOLIC DISEASES

This system does not attempt a specific treatment of a subject
which is beyond its scope and purpose. What is done, however, is to
give general categories of disease and maladies and their game effects.
In some cases, the disease can't convert into game effects, so role-
playing must substitute.

There are many ways a DM may go about giving a character a
disease:

- When a character's Amount Level is 8 and Drinking Level is 5, he
must make a save vs. poison or contract a disease.
- When a character's Amount Level is 8 or Drinking Level is 5, he
must make a save vs. poison or contract a disease.
- When a character becomes comatose due to alcohol use, he must
save vs. poison or contract a disease.

TABLE A: Diseases (1d12)

Roll Disease
1 Acne Rosacea
2 Alcohol Amblyopia
3 Alcoholic Hepatitis
4 Alcoholic Myopathy
5 Alcoholic Polyneuropathy
6 Central Pontine Myelinolysis
7 Cirrhosis
8 Delirium Tremens
9 Marchiafava-Bignami Disease
10 Rhinophyma
11 Korsakoff's Psychosis
12 Wernicke's Encephalopathy

Acne Rosacea - A facial skin condition usually characterized by a
flushed appearance and often accompanied by puffiness and a "spider-
web" effect of broken capillaries.

Alcohol Amblyopia - A rare disorder of the eye, alcohol ambloyopia is
typically due to long-term alcohol use. The disease begins slowly with
a slight vision impairment (-1 penalty to THAC0) that becomes
progressively worse (additional -1 per week until -4 is reached). The
typical complaint is a painless blurring of vision over a period of
several weeks (2d4) with reduced sharpness for both near and distant
objects. Generally, changes are symmetrical in both eyes and, if not
treated adequately, may be followed by optic nerve degeneration.
Treatment consists of vitamins and minerals or cure disease magics.

Alcoholic Hepatitis - A disease of the liver characterized by
inflammation and necrosis, alcoholic hepatitis is accompanied by
jaundice (which causes the character's skin to turn a reddish-yellow
color), fever, and abnormal accumulation of fluid in the abdominal
cavity.
Alcoholic hyaline, a clear glassy substance, is often found in
livers of patients with alcoholic hepatitis.

Alcoholic Myopathy - Alcoholic Myopathy is an alcoholic muscle disease.
A character with this disease suffers from severe muscle cramps that
vary in frequency or by muscle pain and swelling. This results in a
lose of 1d4 to Strength and movement is two-thirds normal.

Alcoholic Polyneuropathy - A disease of the nervous system. It develops
slowly over months and years affecting first and most severely the
lower legs, where numbness and pain may develop. Other problems are
muscle wasting (-1d4 to Strength), tenderness of the calves of the
legs, and signs of impaired motor function (-1d4 to Dexterity).

Central Pontine Myelinolysis - A rare disease of unknown origin that
occurs in a group of brain nerve fibers known as the pons. The
principal symptoms are a progressive weakness in the muscles extending
from the lowest part of the brain to the spinal cord (a successful
called shot to the back causes triple damage), an inability to swallow,
and the absence of the gag reflex. After 2d4 weeks, the character
becomes drowsy (unable to adventure). After another 1d4 weeks, the
character becomes comatose.

Cirrhosis - From an ancient word kirrhos orange-colored - the color of
a cirrhosis liver. Cirrhosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the
liver in which functioning liver cells are replaced by scar tissue. The
main cause of cirrhosis is long-term alcohol use.
The onset of cirrhosis is associated with such nonspecific
complaints as weakness and fatigue. As the disease progresses, some of
the associated effects may include:
- Jaundice which causes the character's skin to turn a reddish-
yellow color.
- Swelling of the character's legs.
- Uncontrolled bleeding due to a decrease in clotting factors in
the blood. If the character receives an open wound that cause
bleeding, he/she will loses -1 hit points per round for 3d4
rounds.
- Increased sensitivity to drugs which results in a -1 modifier to
any Constitution checks made for drug or alcohol use.

Delirium Tremens - The D.T.'s. One of the most dramatic and serious
conditions associated with alcoholism, delirium tremens' symptoms
include:
- Vivid and frequently terrifying auditory, visual, and tactical
hallucinations (25% per day of having one).
- Profound confusion (-1d4 to intelligence).
- Disorientation.
- Severe agitation.
- Restlessness and insomnia which can be bad for mages.
- Fever.
- Abnormally rapid heartbeat.

Marchiafava-Bignami Disease - The disease causes agitation, confusion
(-1d4 to intelligence), hallucinations (25% per day of having one),
memory disturbances, and disorientation.

Rhinophyma - A skin condition of the nose characterized by swelling,
redness and, often, broken capillaries. Rhinophyma is considered by
religious organizations as their deity's punishment to drunks.

Korsakoff's Psychosis - Korsakoff's psychosis is primarily a mental
disorder characterized by confusion, memory failure and a tendency to
recite imaginary occurrences. Other symptoms include disorientation in
time, emotional apathy and loss of insight, which prevents the
character from becoming aware of the disability. Characters are often
moderately cheerful and non-comprehending.

Wernicke's Encephalopathy - This disease is characterized by an acute
confusion state (-1d4 to Intelligence), loss of balance (-1d4 to
Dexterity, disorders of the eye nerves (extreme blinking), and high
risk of heart failure (10% chance of death to do heart failure).
There is a cumulative +3% per day of Wernicke's encephalopathy
developing into Korsakoff's psychosis.

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:53 PM

CRAZY DRUNK: A LOOK AT DIPSOMANIA

When the wine is in the wit is out.

--- Thomas Becon

Presented here are two ways a DM can introduce Dipsomania into a
campaign. The first is an insanity which can be introduced via mind-
affecting magic or psionic powers. The second is a disease which can be
introduced via a spell or normal disease transmitting ways.

Dipsomania Insanity

This mild insanity form manifests itself periodically. About once
per week, or whenever near large quantities of alcoholic beverages, the
afflicted will begin drinking excessive quantities of ale, beer, wine,
or like spirituous liquors. Such drinking will continue until the
character passes out. It is 50% likely that the dipsomania will
continue when he/she awakens if anywhere near alcohol, 10% likely
otherwise (in which case the individual will seek to find drink and
become violent if denied).

Dipsomaniac Virus

Technically, this is not a monster, but rather a disease composed
of tiny organisms that require alcohol to maintain their bodily
functions. They will most likely be encountered by Player Characters in
infested sources of alcohol (seedy bars suddenly lose character). If
this alcohol is drunk, then the character is infected with the virus.
As with many diseases, these microorganisms enter the body and
feed and reproduce there. However, unlike most diseases, these require
a high level of alcohol in the blood to survive. It is unlikely that
most characters will be quite as obliging in this regard as the disease
requires. So, the virus improvises; it begins to take over cells and
converts them into producers of alcohol, fermenting blood sugar in
order to keep the blood-alcohol level high.
This has two negative effects upon the character: raising his
appetite by depleting his blood sugar level, and keeping him
perpetually intoxicated, whether he drinks or no. A simple cure disease
spell will end the condition; however, it is likely that no one will
suspect that a mere disease is the problem in the first place!

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:54 PM

FETAL ALCOHOL SYNDROME

Wine is the most healthful and hygienic of all beverages.

--- Louis Pasteur

The blood of the vineyard shall mingle with mine.

--- Oliver W. Holmes

His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

--- Genesis 49:12

In water one sees one's own face,
but in wine beholds the heart of another.

--- Anon

Alcohol has a very bad effect on the developing brain of the
fetus. In some areas, the brain may never totally mature. In addition
to reduced learning capabilities, a person has little or no sense of
"right or wrong". He/she has little sense of time, so that a potential
long jail term means little to him/her, and he/she doesn't see the
benefits of saving money today to spend next year, or to study today
for a test next week. These symptoms can range anywhere from almost
unnoticeable to very pronounced, and facial disfigurement (small,
misshapen eyes and a flatter nasal area) can even occur.
Some Fetal Alcohol Syndrome victims are somewhat socially inept.
Not in a "nerdy" manner, but they seem to be unable to have healthy
friendships. They are attracted to dangerous elements, such as the
other troublemakers (unable to separate right from wrong, etc). They
can't seem to resist peer pressure, and if pressured, will drink,
steal, etc.. Their work ethic is bad, unable to see the future as
imminent. The awful thing is, it's not their fault!
Therefore, if a woman drinks at ANY time during pregnancy (even if
she doesn't know she's pregnant) and if she consumes even a small
amount of alcohol, there is a risk of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome. The more
often she drinks, the greater the risk and the greater the possible
effects. The player should roll 1d100 when the baby is born, with a
cumulative possibility of having Fetal Alcohol Syndrome of +5% for
every time the mother had two or more alcoholic drinks (in one sitting)
during the pregnancy. If the result is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, then the
DM has two options in deciding on the results:

1: The player rolls 1d100 with a cumulative +5% for every time the
mother had two or more alcoholic drinks (in one sitting) during
the pregnancy. Then consult Table 1.

2: The player rolls 1d12 with a cumulative +1 for every time the
mother had two or more alcoholic drinks (in one sitting) during
the pregnancy. Then consult Table 2. Note that the character has
all of the symptoms up to and including his/her die roll. That is,
if the player rolls a 6 then the character has results 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, and 6.

Table 1: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Results

Die
Roll Effect
01-03 Intelligence is 4d4.
04-06 Intelligence is 3d4.
07-09 Intelligence is 2d4.
10-12 Intelligence is 1d4.
13-15 Wisdom is 4d4.
16-18 Wisdom is 3d4.
19-21 Wisdom is 2d4.
22-24 Wisdom is 1d4.
25-27 Strength is 4d4.
28-30 Strength is 3d4.
31-33 Strength is 2d4.
34-36 Strength is 1d4.
37-39 Some facial disfigurement. Charisma is 4d4.
40-42 Some facial disfigurement. Charisma is 3d4.
43-45 Extreme facial disfigurement. Charisma is 2d4.
46-48 Extreme facial disfigurement. Charisma is 1d4.
49-51 Weak. Constitution is 4d4.
52-54 Weak. Constitution is 3d4.
55-57 Very Weak. Constitution is 2d4.
58-60 Very Weak. Constitution is 1d4.
61-63 Learns at 1/4 speed.
64-66 Learns at 1/2 speed.
67-69 Learns at 3/4 speed.
70-72 Cannot have a lawful alignment.
73-75 Must have a chaotic alignment.
76-78 Must have a neutral alignment.
79-81 Unable to save money, destitute. Always gets rid of money.
82-84 Unable to save money, poor. Wastes money on frivolous things.
85-87 Never able to cast spells.
88-90 2d20+8 % magic resistance. Roll ignoring any result above 87.
91-93 Two problems. Roll twice ignoring any result above 87.
94-96 Three problems. Roll thrice ignoring any result above 87.
97-99 Four problems. Roll four times ignoring any result above 87.
00-00 Five problems. Roll five times ignoring any result above 87.

Table 2: Fetal Alcohol Syndrome Results

1 Intelligence penalized -1d4.
2 Wisdom penalized -1d4.
3 Strength penalized -1d4.
4 Some facial disfigurement. Charisma penalized -1d4.
5 Weaker. Constitution penalized 1d4.
6 Learns at 1/4 speed.
7 Cannot have a lawful alignment.
8 Must have a chaotic alignment.
9 Must have a neutral alignment.
10 Unable to save money, poor. Wastes money on frivolous things.
11 Never able to cast spells.
12 2d20+8 % magic resistance.

cloudrf · Oct 13, 2023, 02:54 PM

NON-WEAPON PROFICIENCIES

Back of this wine is the Vintner,
And back through the years, his skill;
And back of it all are the vines in the sun,
And the rain and the Master's will.

--- Anon

You cannot know wine by the barrel.

--- Herbert Predentum

The varieties of the wine and the names
of its grapes are beyond number.

--- Virgil

All non-weapon proficiencies presented here are general. Thus all
classes make take a proficiency without any penalties. Of course, DMs
may want to limit them to a particular class.

# of Slots Relevant Check
Proficiency Required Ability Modifier
Bartending 2(3) Special Special
Disguise Drunkenness/Hangover 1 Intelligence -4
Drinking (Boozing) 1 Special Special
Drinking Skills/Tricks 1 Dexterity Special
Toasting 1 Intelligence -2
Wine Pouring 1 Wisdom 0
Wine Tasting 1 Wisdom 0

Bartending - A character with this proficiency has a great knowledge of
mixed drinks and can make a perfect mixed drink on a successful Wisdom
check. Note that the mixed drink must be known (i.e. ingredients,
preparation, etc.). The DM may require an Intelligence to see if the
character is familiar with the drink.
Wine is the drink of the rich, but a small tavern having a large
supply of wine in stock isn't practical or economical. Thus, a
bartender has the skill to mix wines together to make an entirely
different wine. The bartender has the ability to mix wines to make them
look and/or taste a certain way. The maximum number of wines the
bartender can mix together is two with one more wine added for every
wisdom point over 12 (ex. a bartender with a 14 wisdom can mix a
maximum of 4 wines together). Whether it be a dreadful odor, an
unwholesome sticky taste, or a fantastic texture, the bartender can
attain this on a successful Wisdom check. If the bartender fails the
check while trying to do this, he/she gets the exact opposite result
(i.e. good tasting wine becomes bad tasting wine).
Bartenders have the uncanny ability to raise morale. This ability
is another benefit bestowed from this proficiency. On a successful
Charisma check, the character can raise the morale of those he/she
serves by +2. DMs should make sure characters don't abuse this ability.
A character shouldn't be able to hand a beer to a soldier in a middle
of a battle in hopes to raise his morale. It is intended to be used in
a tavern setting. Also, DMs should require that the player role-plays
the situation. Just stating that the character wishes to raise morale
isn't enough.
A lot of people go to taverns when depressed, and the bartender
has a tendency to raise their spirits. A bartender can bring a person
out of a non-magical depression on a successful Charisma check with a
positive modifier equal to the character's level. A bartender can bring
a person out of a magical depression on a successful Charisma check
with a modifier of -1 for very level under 8th.
A lot of taverns, bars, and inns have a tendency to doctor drinks
to make them more potent or make them less potent than they should be.
Usually it is making drinks less potent which is the tendency, better
known as watering them down. Sometimes a bartender may wish to make
drinks more potent to cause certain patrons to get really inebriated.
Why would a bartender want to make a drink more potent? Well many
people, like thieves or adventurers, would like certain people in a
drunken state so their job (whatever it may be) can be easier and a few
coins to a bartender is a small price to pay to make sure a person is
drunk. The key to doctoring drinks is making the customer not notice a
change. A successful Wisdom roll indicates that nobody will notice a
change in the drink. Failure indicates that a customer may notice a
change. The customer must make a successful Intelligence check to
notice a change.
A more seedier skill of this proficiency allows him to mix other
liquids together to make them taste like a wine. The bartender must
have knowledge of the wine's taste that he/she wishes to duplicate,
almost to perfection, and gets a -3 to his/her roll if he/she has the
wine with him/her. On a successful Wisdom check, the character creates
a fake of the original wine. This ability can be counteracted with a
successful Wine Tasting proficiency check.
Another skill of this proficiency is the ability to make alcohol
drink additives (discussed elsewhere in the guide). A character needs
to make a Intelligence check with a -3 modifier. Failure indicates that
the additive is worthless and the process must start over (i.e. get new
ingredients, etc.).
Another skill of this proficiency is the ability to slide drinking
containers down a bar or another flat surface like a table. A character
needs to make a Dexterity check. If successful, the character slides a
drinking container down the bar and can even make it spin around a 90
degree angle (only once). If the check fails, the glass slips, spills
its contents, and will probably break.
If the player devotes a third slot to this proficiency, the
character gains the skills of the Wine Pouring and the Wine Tasting
non-weapon proficiencies.

Disguise Drunkenness/Hangover

A person with this proficiency has the uncanny knack for
concealing his/her unattractive alcoholic problems of drunkenness and
hangovers.
The character must make a proficiency check after moving into a
new state of intoxication. A successful proficiency check indicates
that the character seems to be at the previous state of intoxication.
The character still suffers the penalties for the new state of
intoxication, but it will appear at face value that he/she is at the
previous state.
For example, Rath (who is proficient in this), just went into a
state of slight intoxication. His stats are adjusted accordingly. He
makes his proficiency check. So it seems at face value that Rath is not
intoxicated, although he is slightly intoxication. Of course, if he
would need to use an ability like intelligence (intelligence attribute
check), then his -1 intelligence penalty will manifest itself.
If a character has a hangover and makes a successful proficiency
check, he/she can suppress 1 or 2 (DM's option) of the hangover
effects.
For example, Rath has a hangover. He rolls a 13 on the hangover
effects table. The effects are blinding headache, the squats, and
trembling. He suppresses "the squats" effect, but still suffers from a
blinding headache and trembling. If he only suffered from one effect
like vomiting, then he wouldn't have any hangover problems.
NOTE: All checks are made at the current intelligence (i.e. with
modifiers from being intoxicated).
Another benefit of this proficiency is the ability to hide the
fact that the character has an alcohol addiction problem. An
intelligence check is made when a character is not drunk or hungover.
If successful, the character disguises his/her alcohol addiction from
people. The character is so nonchalant that people don't realize that
he/she has a problem.

Drinking (Boozing)

A person with this proficiency has a great love of alcohol. He/she
has the skill to consume more alcohol then most people without
suffering the ill effects as bad.
Also, the character can tell the quality of any alcoholic drink by
taste. This knowledge goes deeper than just general quality knowledge.
He/she can know interesting facts about alcohol drinks if a successful
intelligence check is made. For example, he/she may know the year it
was made, what race created it, its value, specific ingredients, etc..
When consuming a serving of alcohol, the character now gets a
bonus for his/her constitution checks. Thus, the penalties for
constitution checks are as followed:

Beer +5 A 20 on the constitution check
Ale +4 always fails.
Wine +3
Mead +2
Liquor +1

When the character is in a state of great intoxication, he/she
doesn't receive a penalty when he/she saves vs. poison. With each
saving throw a character has a cumulative 2% instead of 5% of
permanently lowering his/her constitution by 1 point.
Unfortunately, this proficiency has an evil side to it. The
character's alcohol addiction can never be at 0 for amount and drinking
levels. Furthermore, the character suffers a -1 penalty to poison saves
for alcohol addiction checks.

Drinking Skills/Tricks

This proficiency bestows many benefits to the character although
they tend to have any enlightened value.
"The Chug", "The Gulp", "The Neck" are all names for the ability
to consume a single serving of alcoholic beverage in a seconds. A
proficiency check (cumulative -1 penalty per serving) is required when
competing against another person. If both make the check, the person
with the highest score loses. If both fail the check, neither wins
because they either choke, spit up the booze, etc.. Of course, if one
fails the check and the other makes the check, then the winner is the
successful one.
"Fire Breather" is the ability to spit alcohol, through a flame,
and hit a target. The spitter must have a flame source of at least
candle power and the target must be within 9 feet. The spitter must
make a successful proficiency check with a penalty based on range
between him and the target. Success indicates a hit and the target
suffers burn damage based on range. Failure indicates a miss unless a
20 is rolled. A 20 indicates that the flame back tracks into the
characters mouth and cause 1d6 points of burn damage.

Range Damage (*) Check Mod.
0' to 3' 2d6 -2
3' to 6' 1d6 -3
6' to 9' 1d4 -4

(*) save vs. Breath Weapon for half damage. Dexterity bonus apply.

"The Big Belch" is the incredible and slightly disgusting ability
to produce long-lasting burps while drinking alcohol. A character can
burp continuously for 1d10+10 rounds after having only one serving of
any alcoholic beverage. If the character makes a successful proficiency
check, he/she gains an additional 1d10+10 rounds to the burp.
"The Mouth Catcher" is the ability to throw a small object into
the air and catch it in his/her mouth. Typical small objects are a
nuts, popcorn, pretzels, etc.. The character can throw the object up to
5 feet into the air and catch it without requiring a check. A
proficiency check is required if the character tries for over 5 feet.
The check requires a modifier of -1 for every additional foot the
character wants. A failed check indicates that the small object misses
the character's mouth. Roll on the following table to see where the
object lands:

Roll Effect
1 Lands in character's nose.
2 Pokes character in left eye. Can't see through eye for 1d6 turns.
3 Pokes character in right eye. Can't see through eye for 1d6 turns.
4 Bounces off head and hits nearest person.
5 Bounces off head and lands in character's drink.
6 Bounces off head and lands in nearest drink other than
character's drink.

DMs should modify effects that would not apply to a given situation.
"Bottle Cap Flick" is the ability to take a bottle cap and flick
it at a target. A proficiency check is required if the character aims
for a target over 5 feet away. The check requires a modifier of -1 for
every additional foot the target is away. A successful check indicates
that the bottle cap hits the intended target. A failed check indicates
that the bottle cap misses the target a number of feet equal to the
number of points the check was missed. Thus, if the check was missed by
4 points, then the bottle cap lands four feet from it's target. The
direction the bottle cap is randomly determined by the DM.

Toasting

The term "toast" comes from the fact that, in days of old, beer
was often consumed in front of the fireplace, where bread was being
toasted at the same time. To add nutrition and flavor (?) bits of the
toast would be thrown in the about-to-be-drunk beer and then a "toast"
would be made. In any case the custom of toasting one's drinking
companions goes back many centuries and only the skilled make toasts
that are remembered for centuries.
Proficiency in toasting includes the skills of reciting above
average to excellent toasts and judging the quality of toasts. It also
indicates that the character has a repertoire of toasts memorized for
toasting at any time.
A character may wish to create a new toast to be used later or
immediately. A successful proficiency check indicates that the toast is
of excellent quality. Failure indicates an above average toast, which
is still better than a toast of a commoner.
After a successful proficiency check and toast, a character with
the Etiquette proficiency gains a -2 to all etiquette proficiency
checks in that situation. The excellent toast demonstrates that the
character is a person of high class, whether he is or not, and thus the
toastees are more relaxed and less cautious of the character's true
economical and social class.
Here are two examples of toasts:

Drink to fair woman, who, I think,
Is most entitles to it;
For if anything drives men to drink,
She certainly can do it.

Here's to a long life and a merry one,
A quick death and easy one
A pretty girl and a true one
A cold beer - and another one.

Players and/or DMs are encourages to read Toasts and Anecdotes by
Paul William Kearney (Clode pub. 1923, written in 1896) and Toasts, the
Complete Book of the Best Toasts, Sentiments, Blessings, Curses, and
Graces (Delacorte Press, c1981) for a great source of toasts to be used
in the campaign to take full advantage of this proficiency.
Some clever people have made careers out of creating toasts for
less than imaginative kings and other nobles. Sitting around making up
toasts is quite a cushy job.

Wine Pouring

With this proficiency the bearer can entertain any other person
with his flare in pouring wines. He can make even the dullest, worst
tasting wines look good to the common person. On a roll of 5 or below,
the pourer does his act with so much flare a few coins could be tossed
his way. If he fails, he spills the wine. On a roll of 16+ (unless 16+
is a succeed) he pours the wine over himself. On a roll of 20 he pours
the wine over himself and destroys any paper or object that can be
destroyed by liquid.

Wine Tasting

Less powerful than the Drinking (Boozing) proficiency but also
less evil, this proficiency is for a more elite, upper class person.
This is the ability to appreciate and judge the quality of wines.
On a successful roll, the character can identify the kind of wine
he is drinking and the quality: terrible, very poor, poor, normal,
good, very good, excellent. On a roll of 4 or less, the character can
name the year of the vintage, and recognize the vineyard.

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