4e:Drinking
Drinking can be very important, in both social situations and for drinking contest skill challenges. Every character has Tolerance. Base Tolerance is equal to their Constitution score. Tolerance shows how much alcohol can be drunk before the effects start to show. Weak alcohol counts for 1 point, temperate alcohol counts for 3 points, and strong alcohol counts for 6 points. Once your alcohol intake exceeds your Tolerance, you start to feel the effects of being drunk, and take a penalty to all actions (skill checks, initiative rolls, attack rolls, and damage rolls) and all defenses (AC, Fortitude, Reflex, and Will) equal to one-half the difference between Alcohol and Tolerance.
For example, if your Tolerance was 14, and you had drunk 18 points worth of alcohol, you would take a -2 penalty to all actions and all defenses.
While drunk, you also gain resist damage equal to one-half the difference between Alcohol and Tolerance, because it is harder for you to feel and recognise pain or duress.
For example, if your Tolerance was 14, and you had drunk 18 points worth of alcohol, you would gain Resist damage 2.
At any point you can spend a healing surge and, instead of regaining hit points, eliminate Alcohol points equal to the value of your healing surge. During a short rest you eliminate Alcohol points equal to the value of your healing surge. During an extended rest you eliminate all your accumulated Alcohol points.
Once your Alcohol is equal to twice your Tolerance or more, you fall unconscious.
Certain class choices provide modifiers to Tolerance.
Character is... | Tolerance Modifier | |
Dwarf | +5 | |
Goliath, Half-Orc | +3 | |
Dragonborn | +2 | |
Human, Shifter | +1 | |
Eladrin | -2 | |
Elf | -1 | |
Small size | -5 | |
Martial class, Primal class | +1 | |
Arcane class | -1 | |
Trained in Endurance | +3 | |
Trained in Streetwise | +1 | |
Living Construct | +10 | |
Certain feats and backgrounds may also improve Tolerance.
Feats
Drunken Master | Drinking Feat |
Prerequisites: Monk | |
Benefits: While drunk, you take no penalty. Instead, gain a +2 bonus to all defenses. |