Drunk Dungeons & Dragons: Pay what you want rules

Dylan Brown published one page of Drunk Rules for 5e.

Also, I released Saint Patrick’s Day was a thing, and so I stuck in a calendar reminder to do a post about it today.

So, here we are, with some practical but straightforward rules for drinking and being drunk, during the ethics of alcohol abuse and national stereotyping swirl in my brain.

Drunk Rules for 5e

I paid $1 for the Pay What You Want Drunk Rules for 5e and would not have been happy to pay $2.

Drinking is based on your Con modifier, and the first thing to suffer as characters get more drunk is passive perception, then dexterity.

There are different stages;

• A Night Cap
• Tipsy
• Drunk
• Wasted

And a final form

• Hangover

The text for hangover reads;

Always do sober what you said you’d do drink. That will teach you to keep your mouth shut…

My thoughts are that there’s space on the one page, nearly one whole column left, to get a bit more intellectual about drinking and being hungover.

Whether you’re using Dylan’s rules or not, don’t lecture players as that will annoy them, but D&D might be a safe space to explore other consequences of being drunk.

Perhaps an ally is lost, influence reduced, or a meaningful trinket is missing. Alternatively, the next time the rambunctious adventurers are hired, one of them is recognised as that drunk idiot. The result is the pay for this one mission is reduced until the hiring merchant is satisfied the group are the elite professionals they claim to be.

Equally, I think RPGs can also be an area for people to develop confidence and perhaps even desire to go out and be sociable. A night out could make allies, boost influence through contacts and add to the loot pile through the hijinks and madcap adventures this newfound bravery leads to.

Saint Patrick’s Day

The 17th of March, 461, was the death of the Apostle of Ireland. The anniversary is celebrated in and out of Ireland today. It’s a Holy Day of Obligation and so Catholics are expected to attend Mass.

There’s a theory that there were actually two people.

The feast day celebrations have become heavily focused on drinking, which isn’t entirely representative of my Irish friends. But none of them seems to mind.

In the end, the Irish manager of my local, the Dreadnought, penned this illustration of the pub painted gree, surrounded by leprechauns and with the announcement, there will be green pints that persuaded me to go ahead and publish drinking rules on St. Patrick’s day.

Quick Links

• Drunk Rules for 5e.
• Saint Patrick.
• Drinkaware’s Alcohol support services.