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Drugs 4e

Post/Author/DateTime Post
#1
OskarOisinson
Aug 24, 2010 19:56:24 So, I've always been a fan of dark fantasy settings. My favorite splat book from 3.x was BoVD because it allowed for more of the complexity that marks mortal life to be incorporated both flavour-wise and mechanically into the game. The ideas of compulsion, taint, corruption, addiction, and sacrifice are powerful in terms of creating believable characters. Sure, it's fun to play a vanilla cleric of Pelor, but how much more complex is it to play a cleric of Pelor who used to be an addict and now ministers to other addicts? What about a Paladin with some profane compulsion? Or a ostensibly chivalrous knight with a streak of sadism? While I think they should re-release the BoVD in some form eventually, I think one of the easiest content ports from that book wold be drugs due to their ambiguous moral nature, potential as a story element, and the fact that they already half-exist in 4e in the form of alcohol and potions.

So here's my proposal, we can use this thread to compile or create a variety of drugs, fantastical or real, for use in mature 4e settings.

- My suggestion is we first divide them between addictive and non-addictive. Addictive ones will obviously have more desirable effects but with a pronounced down-side of potential dependence (which acts like a disease). Non-addictive drugs will have less potent/useful effects but also have less of a down-side in that characters will not have to ward off addiction. This isn't to say that non-addictive drugs shouldn't necessarily have pronounced down-sides or that addictive drugs necessarily have additional down-sides, merely that, on top of the basic effects of a drug, addiction must be balanced into the equation.

- The next step is to divide them by cost, cheap drugs have less potent effects and/or are more common on the market whereas expensive ones generally have better or more specific effects, and/or are harder to find.

- Third, we need to divide the potential addictive power of addictive drugs into low, moderate, and high (potentially 'vicious' for a select few as per BoVD) and come up with standardized rules for how addiction works within each of these categories. My thought is to have characters make a save (likely Fort or Will) each time they take a substance to NOT become addicted. If they fail, they are 'habituated', the first step of Addiction (the disease) and they must make either a save or use the drug to which they are addicted either weekly (low), daily (moderate), or 2-3 times daily (high) to prevent themselves having the Addiction disease's effects increase (moving down the chart). I think there should be different effects for the disease based on the drug's addictiveness but not based on the individual drug as a general guideline to simplify the rules for Addiction. There should also be a way to cure the disease for most drugs (perhaps not for viciously addictive ones), but it should be more difficult based on the addictiveness of the drug and how far along the character has progressed in his/her addiction.

- Fourth, we should divide the drugs into use-categories/types thus:

Medicinal: These drugs have curative effects, staving off certain diseases, giving temporary buffs to saves or defenses, neutralizing certain on-going effects, granting temporary hit points, etc. (e.g. sulpha drugs, penicillin, opiates)

Social: These drugs have social effects, boosting social skills, elevating insight, giving situational bonuses to this or that stat, etc. (e.g. MDMA, marijuana, mushrooms)

Performance Enhancing: These increase physical and non-social perceptual skills, they might increase combat performance by ceding bonuses to attacks, defenses, initiative, damage, etc. (e.g. steroids, amphetamines, caffeine)

Mystical: These drugs increase the potency of certain rituals such as divination, exploration, nature, etc. (ayahuasca, salvia, mescalin)

Recreational: Drugs that don't fit into the other categories but are used anyway.

- Finally, I think we need an over-dose effect (and rules) as well as side-effects for each drug.

So a drug entry should look more or less like this:

Template:
Drug Name (level)
Type
(Addictiveness) attack modifier
(Cheap/expensive) Cost
Dose Size (weight/volume)
Method of Administration
Effects/Side-effects
Overdose Threshold

Rough Draft/Example:
Red Eye (Level 5)
Performance Enhancement
(High) +X vs. Will
(Cheap) 25 gp per dose
1 gram
Insufflation
Effects: Insufflating this drug causes the user to enter a state of extreme aggression. Until the end of the encounter, the user gains a +1 on melee attack rolls, and a +2 on melee damage rolls, they also gain regeneration 2. The user does not become unconscious if they drop below zero hit points. At the beginning of the user's turn, the user must attempt to attack the creature nearest to them. At the end of the encounter, make the following attack targeting the user: +X vs. Will, if the attack succeeds, the user is Habituated.
Side-Effects: The user loses a healing surge. If they have no surges left, they lose hit points = to their surge value.
Overdose Threshold: If a user takes more than 2 doses of Red Eye in a day, they experience an overdose and fall unconscious for 1 hour. For the next 24 hours, the user is weakened.

Edit: This Overdose Threshold needs to be fleshed out more. I think it would work well if there maybe four stages of for the Addiction disease: Habituation, Addiction, Manic Compulsion, and finally, Debilitating... or something along those lines at least. The threshold increases relative to the stage of Addiction representing tolerance. So for instance, someone unused to Red Eye might overdose if they use it more than once a day, someone who's habituated might overdose at more than two doses a day, Addicts overdose at <3/day, Compulsives overdose at < 4/day, etc. This allows for an incentive to delve into addiction as you are able to use (really, you're forced to use) substances that give you substantial benefits more often, but you risk being dragged further and further along into addiction.

So, with all this, let's see what we can make. If you want to make a drug, please create a thread for it and post the link here, I will create sub-headings for the drugs based on type and organize them as they are submitted. Please include any flavour info or editorial comments on it in a post separate from the actual info for clarity's sake. If anyone wants to write up potential rules for the Addiction disease, I will post that too. You can use additional posts on this thread for discussing Addiction because I'd like to be involved in that process. Anyway, thanks, and hopefully this will be a productive effort!

#2
OskarOisinson
Aug 24, 2010 19:57:04 (reserved)
#3
iqwinn
Aug 25, 2010 3:11:29 Very interesting! The things that really aren't covered by the official rules.

I'll have to keep this in mind for my stories...
#4
Fedosu
Aug 25, 2010 13:09:27 Potions of Clarity. One of our characters is addicted to them, and she rarely actually uses the effect.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 OskarOisinson Aug 24, 2010 19:56:24	So, I've always been a fan of dark fantasy settings. My favorite splat book from 3.x was BoVD because it allowed for more of the complexity that marks mortal life to be incorporated both flavour-wise and mechanically into the game. The ideas of compulsion, taint, corruption, addiction, and sacrifice are powerful in terms of creating believable characters. Sure, it's fun to play a vanilla cleric of Pelor, but how much more complex is it to play a cleric of Pelor who used to be an addict and now ministers to other addicts? What about a Paladin with some profane compulsion? Or a ostensibly chivalrous knight with a streak of sadism? While I think they should re-release the BoVD in some form eventually, I think one of the easiest content ports from that book wold be drugs due to their ambiguous moral nature, potential as a story element, and the fact that they already half-exist in 4e in the form of alcohol and potions. So here's my proposal, we can use this thread to compile or create a variety of drugs, fantastical or real, for use in mature 4e settings. - My suggestion is we first divide them between addictive and non-addictive. Addictive ones will obviously have more desirable effects but with a pronounced down-side of potential dependence (which acts like a disease). Non-addictive drugs will have less potent/useful effects but also have less of a down-side in that characters will not have to ward off addiction. This isn't to say that non-addictive drugs shouldn't necessarily have pronounced down-sides or that addictive drugs necessarily have additional down-sides, merely that, on top of the basic effects of a drug, addiction must be balanced into the equation. - The next step is to divide them by cost, cheap drugs have less potent effects and/or are more common on the market whereas expensive ones generally have better or more specific effects, and/or are harder to find. - Third, we need to divide the potential addictive power of addictive drugs into low, moderate, and high (potentially 'vicious' for a select few as per BoVD) and come up with standardized rules for how addiction works within each of these categories. My thought is to have characters make a save (likely Fort or Will) each time they take a substance to NOT become addicted. If they fail, they are 'habituated', the first step of Addiction (the disease) and they must make either a save or use the drug to which they are addicted either weekly (low), daily (moderate), or 2-3 times daily (high) to prevent themselves having the Addiction disease's effects increase (moving down the chart). I think there should be different effects for the disease based on the drug's addictiveness but not based on the individual drug as a general guideline to simplify the rules for Addiction. There should also be a way to cure the disease for most drugs (perhaps not for viciously addictive ones), but it should be more difficult based on the addictiveness of the drug and how far along the character has progressed in his/her addiction. - Fourth, we should divide the drugs into use-categories/types thus: Medicinal: These drugs have curative effects, staving off certain diseases, giving temporary buffs to saves or defenses, neutralizing certain on-going effects, granting temporary hit points, etc. (e.g. sulpha drugs, penicillin, opiates) Social: These drugs have social effects, boosting social skills, elevating insight, giving situational bonuses to this or that stat, etc. (e.g. MDMA, marijuana, mushrooms) Performance Enhancing: These increase physical and non-social perceptual skills, they might increase combat performance by ceding bonuses to attacks, defenses, initiative, damage, etc. (e.g. steroids, amphetamines, caffeine) Mystical: These drugs increase the potency of certain rituals such as divination, exploration, nature, etc. (ayahuasca, salvia, mescalin) Recreational: Drugs that don't fit into the other categories but are used anyway. - Finally, I think we need an over-dose effect (and rules) as well as side-effects for each drug. So a drug entry should look more or less like this: Template: Drug Name (level) Type (Addictiveness) attack modifier (Cheap/expensive) Cost Dose Size (weight/volume) Method of Administration Effects/Side-effects Overdose Threshold Rough Draft/Example: Red Eye (Level 5) Performance Enhancement (High) +X vs. Will (Cheap) 25 gp per dose 1 gram Insufflation Effects: Insufflating this drug causes the user to enter a state of extreme aggression. Until the end of the encounter, the user gains a +1 on melee attack rolls, and a +2 on melee damage rolls, they also gain regeneration 2. The user does not become unconscious if they drop below zero hit points. At the beginning of the user's turn, the user must attempt to attack the creature nearest to them. At the end of the encounter, make the following attack targeting the user: +X vs. Will, if the attack succeeds, the user is Habituated. Side-Effects: The user loses a healing surge. If they have no surges left, they lose hit points = to their surge value. Overdose Threshold: If a user takes more than 2 doses of Red Eye in a day, they experience an overdose and fall unconscious for 1 hour. For the next 24 hours, the user is weakened. Edit: This Overdose Threshold needs to be fleshed out more. I think it would work well if there maybe four stages of for the Addiction disease: Habituation, Addiction, Manic Compulsion, and finally, Debilitating... or something along those lines at least. The threshold increases relative to the stage of Addiction representing tolerance. So for instance, someone unused to Red Eye might overdose if they use it more than once a day, someone who's habituated might overdose at more than two doses a day, Addicts overdose at <3/day, Compulsives overdose at < 4/day, etc. This allows for an incentive to delve into addiction as you are able to use (really, you're forced to use) substances that give you substantial benefits more often, but you risk being dragged further and further along into addiction. So, with all this, let's see what we can make. If you want to make a drug, please create a thread for it and post the link here, I will create sub-headings for the drugs based on type and organize them as they are submitted. Please include any flavour info or editorial comments on it in a post separate from the actual info for clarity's sake. If anyone wants to write up potential rules for the Addiction disease, I will post that too. You can use additional posts on this thread for discussing Addiction because I'd like to be involved in that process. Anyway, thanks, and hopefully this will be a productive effort!
#2 OskarOisinson Aug 24, 2010 19:57:04	(reserved)
#3 iqwinn Aug 25, 2010 3:11:29	Very interesting! The things that really aren't covered by the official rules. I'll have to keep this in mind for my stories...
#4 Fedosu Aug 25, 2010 13:09:27	Potions of Clarity. One of our characters is addicted to them, and she rarely actually uses the effect.