Simple Rules for Drinking Contests

[derv]

It occasionally comes up in games. Here's a system that attempts to keep things simple, but offer a little challenge at the same time.

A character can drink a certain amount of strong fermented beverage before needing to make a Saving Throw against drunkenness. This is based on the characters CON and involves rolling the CON score or under on a d20. He will have to make subsequent SR’s for every half of that value given. For CON scores 3-9, this means every additional drink. After a second SR is made, each additional SR incurs a +1 penalty that is cumulative. So, for example, a character with a 3 CON will automatically fail their SR after 5 drinks. There is no reason to roll beyond that point. Just roll for damage until the character is unconscious.

CON score/ # of drinks:
3-4    /  1 drink
5-6    /  2 drinks
7-9    /  3 drinks
10-12 /  4 drinks
13-15 /  6 drinks
16-17 /  8 drinks
18     /  10 drinks

A failed SR results in d6 temporary damage being reduced from hp’s. When the character reaching 0, he is unconscious*. Character will regain consciousness after 12 hours of rest and his hp’s fully restored.

*GM may want to add a random results table of various consequences such as vomiting, soiling themselves, losing valuable objects, falling down and taking d6 permanent damage, etc.

Some may also want to add to this basic idea by imposing additional penalties to other ability scores or combat effectiveness, after the first failed SR. Up to you if that's necessary. An occasional reaction check might result in a brawl breaking out, who knows?

Remember to also keep a tab on the expenditures involved, if any. Drinks aren't generally free and there's always a cost for poor behavior

[Deleted]

OR:

Roll 1d4 per drink. First one to get over their CON score pukes.

[scottenkainen]

Mike's got it -- got to keep it simple!

[derv]

Sure, that will work. You would have to be satisfied with the anemic Lord Languid, who has a CON of 3 and 22 hit points, being drunk under the table by every Veteran with a CON of 12 or higher and an average of 3 hp's.

I prefer to even the odds in some way.

[LouGoncey]

Each round is a point. First one that hits their CON is black-out hammered. But each round you roll a Save vs. Poison. If you fail, you add D6 points...

Also, each person that gets hammered has to roll a D6 -- on a 5+ he or she did something obnoxious and does not remember doing it,

(I got tons of frat stories from college that I can work with here...)

[luc]

Aug 12, 2016 19:37:59 GMT -6 derv said:

Sure, that will work. You would have to be satisfied with the anemic Lord Languid, who has a CON of 3 and 22 hit points, being drunk under the table by every Veteran with a CON of 12 or higher and an average of 3 hp's.

I prefer to even the odds in some way.

I don't see this example as a problem though.

If his Con is 3 then I think he would be drunk under the table by an average person every time. It's one thing I don't like about contested challenges - the idea that everyone has a chance of success. I'm pretty sure that if I was in a 100m race with Ussain Boot there is no chance of me winning. Even if he trips over his shoelaces 3 times he's going to beat me EVERY TIME.

Same with something like arm-wrestling. I am only going to have a chance with someone roughly the same strength as me.

[otiv]

Do you award XP for drinking contests?
If I encounter goblins in a dungeon can I challenge them to a drinking contest instead of fighting them?

[derv]

Aug 13, 2016 19:40:10 GMT -6 luc said:

I don't see this example as a problem though.

If his Con is 3 then I think he would be drunk under the table by an average person every time. It's one thing I don't like about contested challenges - the idea that everyone has a chance of success. I'm pretty sure that if I was in a 100m race with Ussain Boot there is no chance of me winning. Even if he trips over his shoelaces 3 times he's going to beat me EVERY TIME.

Same with something like arm-wrestling. I am only going to have a chance with someone roughly the same strength as me.

If you want to over emphasize ability scores and under utilize experience, then so be it. You would have to consider your drinking contest a non-contest then, because the 1st level character with a CON greater then 11 will automatically beat the 8th level character with a CON of 3. It would not be necessary to even consider rolling any dice.

I would also point out that the combat system is in opposition with your views. Experience is of much greater importance than any one ability score.

Traditionally, OD&D does not put that much emphasis on ability scores. A high score might grant you a +1 and a low score might impose a -1 to a roll. They did not make it impossible to attempt trying anything and possibly succeeding.

Don't you think an 8th level character might have learned a few tricks over time to compensate for his weaknesses? I also like to consider old fashioned luck as being a factor.

Your illustration of Usain Bolt is an example of someone with both experience and natural ability. I'm sure he has his off days, though, and there is always the possibility that he pulls a hamstring making it impossible to finish a race.

[otiv]

If we want to emphasize experience over ability, here's an idea:

When you drink alcohol, you take subdual damage. You can make a saving throw vs. poison to half the damage (dwarves get their bonus on this save.)
Last man standing wins, and is awarded XP determined by the HD of his opponent.

If you want to represent a game of beer-pong or something, have the players make attack rolls as though attacking with a ranged weapon against their opponent's unarmored AC. If the attack hits, the target takes no damage but instead must drink.

I'm sure you could even incorporate hireling morale into this somehow.

You can keep things nice and minimalistic this way; instead of adding a new layer of rules to the game, you can represent drinking contests using an adaptation of the combat rules.

*edit*
Your constitution ability is still involved with this, of course, as it determines how many hit points you have and thus how much subdual damage you can take from drinking.
Incidentally, fighters drink hard. Dwarf fighters drink harder than everybody with their save bonus, but elf fighter/magic-users drink hard too if you use the rule that elves roll hit dice twice and keep the better result. Clerics can't drink as much unless they sober themselves up a little with Cure Light Wounds. Non-elf magic-users are the worst class for holding their liquor.

*edit2*
If you want to add a bit of mechanical rigor to this, you could have different kinds of drinks with variable damage dice and special effects.

Example:
Ghoul's Hand Brandy
Damage: d8
Cost: 100gp per bottle
The very height of elven decadence. This spirit of distilled wine is aged in a wooden cask with parts of a ghoul inside (or in some cases, the entire ghoul!)
Non-elf characters that fail their saving throw vs. poison while drinking Ghoul's Hand Brandy are paralyzed for a number of rounds equal to the amount of subdual damage taken. Elves take subdual damage from this drink as normal, but are immune to the paralysis effect.

[Deleted]

Oh for F*CK's sake, it was a trivial tossoff over a silly idea for a silly game.

Really, this thread already contains more thought than "a drinking contest in a silly-@ss elfgame" deserves.

[otiv]

You know what D&D could really use?

A fighter subclass that specializes in getting really, really drunk.

[18 Spears]

Aug 15, 2016 18:17:03 GMT -6 @gronanofsimmerya said:

Oh for F*CK's sake, it was a trivial tossoff over a silly idea for a silly game.

Really, this thread already contains more thought than "a drinking contest in a silly-@ss elfgame" deserves.

it sure made me wonder if doods got that situation come up a lot LOL

[otiv]

Aug 15, 2016 19:09:21 GMT -6 18 Spears said:

it sure made me wonder if doods got that situation come up a lot LOL

Actually, it has come up for me quite a number of times.
A large part of it has to do with playing D&D in bars. Sometimes when you play in a bar, the players decide that their characters should also have something to drink. And then it gets to a point where the players want to roll dice for it. At least in my experience.
Drinking rules act as a sort of sobriety test. If you're too drunk to understand the drinking rules, you've had too much to drink.

[coffee]

When my characters get to an inn, tavern, or other watering hole, they quite naturally have a pint or two. Possibly three.

In one game we get to town so rarely my half-orc fighter goes on a right old bender. But it's all role playing and we don't need specific rules for it.

But this thread does point up the geek factor of D&D; some of us just love to tinker with systems to get (realistic) results. This was evident in early issues of The Dragon. People presented systems for all sorts of things.


Add it all up and you get AD&D.


For myself, I think I'll stick to the original. If I run a game and you drink what I believe to be too much, you'll get drunk. And who knows what will happen to you then?

[18 Spears]

Aug 15, 2016 19:23:38 GMT -6 otiv said:

Actually, it has come up for me quite a number of times.

enough times to need a long complicated rule about it? if you'uns say so

I like gronans rule

[Deleted]

Roll 1d6 per drink, add them together. First one to exceed their HP pukes.

There. Level based, and done.

[derv]

Sometimes I wonder about you guys. It seems this system that took me a whole two minutes to devise is just too complex for you.

Let me point out that it is neither ability-based nor level-based. It incorporates both. But, if all things are equal, it could boil down to just rolling 1d6 until hp's are exceeded.

All I did was give a threshold based on CON. You can make those thresholds whatever you want. The thought behind it involves a simple drink like beer or mead. If you want to consider more intense drinks, like shots of whiskey, then have it equal to multiple drinks. Let's say four for the good stuff.

So, you have two guys pounding shots over who gets to keep the mystical Dagger of Yayaya. One guy (Biff) has a CON of 12 and 6 hp's. The other guy (Shirley) has a CON of 4 and 18 hp's.

Biff has to make saves at 4, 6, 8, 10, etc. drinks. Shirley has to make Saves at 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 drinks and automatically fails after that. Bif would automatically fail after 28 drinks.

Since they are drinking 1 gp shots worth 4 drinks, each player would make multiple saves after each drink or take d6 damage.

1st shot:
Shirley- rolls a 10, 4, 2, 15 taking 2d6 damage. He rolls a 6 and a 4= 10. He's down to 8 hp's.
Bif- rolls a 10. No damage.

2nd shot:
Shirley- rolls a 3, automatically fails for 3d6 damage. He rolls a 2, 2, and 3= 7. He only has 1 hp remaining and is pretty wasted. He will automatically go under after the next round.
Bif- rolls an 8 and a 14 taking 1d6 damage. He rolls a 6. His eyes roll back as his face turns pail. He shakes his head twice, turns and barfs up this mornings biscuits.

Both men owe 2 gp's for the drinks and the mystical Dagger of Yayaya goes to Shirley.

Now Michael, please share something new about Crom's hairy nutsack.

[Scott Anderson]

When I play drinking contests with my kids, we just act it out. I can beat them like three times out of five.

[Porphyre]

Aug 16, 2016 20:35:05 GMT -6 @gronanofsimmerya said:

Roll 1d6 per drink, add them together. First one to exceed their HP pukes.

There. Level based, and done.

1d3 for light beer and cider 
1d6 for stout and wine 
1d8 for scotch and liquors
1d20 for Dwarf Spirit and Universal Gargle Blaster

Klatchian coffee restores 1d12 by making you knurd