Drinking and Intoxication

If you drink too much alcohol in a
short period of time, you may become
intoxicated. Keep track of how many
“drinks” you consume each hour. For
simplicity, one drink is a full mug or
can of beer (12 oz.), a full glass of wine
(4-5 oz.), or a shot of spirits (1.5 oz.).
At the end of any hour during
which you consume more than ST/4
drinks, roll against the higher of HT or
Carousing. If you continue to drink,
continue to roll once per hour.
Modifiers: -1 per drink over ST/4
that hour; -2 on an empty stomach, or
+1 if you have recently eaten; +2 for
the Alcohol Tolerance perk (p. 100), or
-2 for the Alcohol Intolerance quirk
(p. 165).
Each failure shifts you one level
from sober to tipsy to drunk to uncon-
scious (drunken stupor) to coma; see
Afflictions (p. 428) for details. A criti-
cal failure drops you two levels: sober
to drunk, tipsy to unconscious, or
drunk to coma. If penalties reduce
your roll to 2 or less, critical failure
means
you
drop
three
levels!
Remember that any roll 10 or more
above effective skill is a critical failure;
e.g., a roll of 11+ against a modified
HT of 1.
Pink Elephants: If you are drunk,
make one additional HT+4 roll. On a
failure, you are also hallucinating (see
Incapacitating Conditions, p. 428).
The Heaves: If you are drunk and
keep drinking, your body will try to
purge itself of the alcohol (which is a
toxin, after all!). When a failed HT roll
indicates that you would fall uncon-
scious or into a coma, make a second,
unmodified HT roll. On a success, you
vomit up the alcohol instead of pass-
ing out; treat this as retching (p. 429).
On a critical failure, however, you pass
out and then retch; treat this as chok-
ing (p. 428).
Sobering Up: To sober up, you must
first stop drinking. After half as many
hours as the total number of drinks
you consumed, roll vs. HT. Various
remedies may give a bonus. On a suc-
cess, you move one step toward sober.
Continue to roll each time this many
hours pass until you are sober.
Exception: To recover from a coma,
you need medical help!
Hangovers: If you are tipsy or
worse, you must roll vs. HT when you
stop drinking, at -2 if you’re drunk or
-4 if you’re unconscious. On a failure,
you will suffer a hangover. This kicks
in 1d hours after the end of the drink-
ing session – or on awakening, if you
pass out or fall asleep before this time
– and lasts hours equal to your margin
of failure. During this time, you will
suffer from moderate pain (see
Irritating Conditions, p. 428) and
acquire Low Pain Threshold (or lose
High Pain Threshold, if you have it).
The GM may decide that preventative
treatment (including drinking plenty
of water and possibly taking a mild
analgesic) gives you a bonus to this
roll.