Introduction

     Sooner or later, it had to happen. Bremen, the party's fighter, has just challenged a dwarf NPC to a drinking contest. Who will win? How fast does a character get drunk? What happens after they are drunk? I have created a set of optional rules to use when adjudicating a drinking contest.
     Many factors can affect a character while drinking. Circumstances such as race, body size, constitution, the alcoholic beverage involved, and current physical condition can have significant affects on a character while drinking. These situational modifiers are explained below.

Determining the Odds

     An alcoholic beverage can vary from anything as weak as watered wine to anything as potent as dwarven spirits. To determine the base number of drinks a character may imbibe before drunkeness may occur, consult the following table.
     Base Number of Drinks refers to the number of glasses of a specific alcoholic beverage a character may drink before having to worry about becoming drunk. This number varies depending on the type of drink, and is modified by other factors (as listed below).
     Once the base number of glasses have been drunk, the character must make a Constitution check for every drink he downs afterwards. These checks are also modified by other situational factors.

     Naturally, the higher a character's Constitution score, the better able he is to hold his alcohol. This is outlined on the table below.

     Certain races are better able to handle alcohol than others. The reasons for this varies from innate hardiness (as in the case of dwarves), to shear physical size (as in the case of half-giants)

     Current condition describes the physical state of being of the drinker at the time of the drinking contest. Factors such as sleep and general physical health can greatly affect just how quickly (or slowly) a character will get drunk.

     Once all the factors have been considered, then the characters can begin the drinking contest. The contest consists of five stages: sober, half-drunk, drunk, wasted, and comatose.
     Each time a character fails a Constitution check, he or she moves to the next stage of drunkeness. A character may voluntarily end the contest at any time. Alternately, as soon as a character reaches comatose, he immediately falls unconscious.
     Furthermore, the various stages of drunkeness can also affect the Constitution checks. The following table illustrates these effects.

Example of a Drinking Contest

     Bremen, a Human fighter (Constitution of 13) challenges Surehelm, a dwarven cleric (Constitution 17) to a drinking contest. In order to keep things fair, Surehelm decides that the contestants will drink strong ale.
     First, we determine Bremen's base number of drinks. Bremen is working on no sleep, but has had a large meal just before the contest began, and is currently at full hit points. The modifiers appear below:

     This means that number of strong ales Bremen can drink before worrying about getting drunk is 7 (4+1+2 = 7).
     Next, we must calculate how many drinks Surehelm may have before he can get drunk. Surehelm has had plenty to eat, but unfortunately only slept half a night last night sleep (due to a fight with four orcs, leaving him at 25% of his total hit points).

      Surehelm can drink 5 mugs of strong ale before he has to worry about getting drunk (4+2+2-2+2-3 = 5).
     Once the base number of drinks has been determined, we must then figure out the drink modifier (to be applied to the Constitution check on each subsequent drink). We begin with Bremen.

     Thus, after the base number of ales have been drunk, Bremen has no modifier to his Constitution checks (1-1 = 0). Next, we determine Surehelm's Constitution check modifier.

     So we can see that Surehelm's Constitution check modifier is +2 (1-1+2+1-1 = 2).

     The base number of drinks has been determined, along with the Constitution check modifiers. The bartender lines up mug after mug of strong ale, Bremen and Surehelm sit opposite one another, determination glinting in their eyes. The bar patrons finish their betting, and the contest begins.

     Thus, each character manages to drink 14 strong ales. Unfortunately for Bremen, the 14th such ale is too strong for him, and he passes into oblivion. After his 14th ale, Surehelm is only drunk, and is still raring to go. Obviously, he wins the contest.

Effects of Intoxication

     As anyone who has ever been drunk knows, intoxication tends to have a negative affect on the performance of complex (and sometimes not-so complex) physical actions. The following table indicates various modifiers for common activities for each stage of drunkeness.

Serious Drinkers

     The DM has the option of allowing the Drinking non-weapon proficiency, if he so desires. This proficiency is detailed below.

Drinking:     The character has made the act of drinking alcoholic beverages into an art form. He has spent so much time drinking strong alcoholic beverages that he has developed a partial immunity to it's intoxicating affect.
     A character with this non-weapon proficiency may increase the base number of drinks he may imbibe by one half (rounding up). Furthermore, he recieves a +2 bonus to any alcohol related ability checks he may have to make.
     For every further slot spent on this non-weapon proficiency, the die roll bonus is increased by +1. This proficiency can be found in the Warrior category.