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View Full Version : An idea for drugs (3.5)



Harperfan7
2010-02-08, 04:51 AM
I was thinking about using drugs as a kind of cheaper potion with drawbacks.
It might copy a spell (like rage, bulls str, haste, etc.) but it would come with addiction, withdrawal, and bodily harm. It would be cheaper than the actual potion, but would also be illegal (like poison). Now, it might give a unique effect unlike any spell. Another thing is, would they be naturally occuring organic sources, something you make with alchemy or a specific craft skill, or something magical that requires a craft (drug) feat?

Fluff-wise, you might say they bring enjoyment in the form of a high, but mostly they are an unscrupulous mans potion and/or a way too control toughs who work for you (as slaves, thugs, or henchmen). At least, the some drugs are.

A lot of people have been posting threads about drugs lately, and somebody recently made a system for designing and pricing poisons, so how about one for drugs?

Altair_the_Vexed
2010-02-08, 06:55 AM
I don't know what the Book of Vile Darkness rules were, but I know that you'll find official drugs rules in there.

The system that I used when I needed to invent a fantasy drug in my D&D game was the same as poisons - but the initial "damage" was a temporary bonus, followed with secondary damage of a more normal type (loss of bonuses, plus fatigue, or nausea, or actual ability damage, for example).

By increasing the length of time between initial and secondary saves, you can change the length of beneficial effects.

I also introduced a new condition: Addicted. Addiction works like a disease - you have to make saves to avoid taking damage, but multiple successful saves means you've shaken off your addiction. A dose of the drug removes (at least some of) the symptoms.

Lysander
2010-02-08, 09:58 AM
Altair's system makes a lot of sense. Benefit now, damage later.

Altair_the_Vexed
2010-02-08, 11:41 AM
Cool, thanks!
Some of the ideas I had were that there'd be a few benefits (like ability bonuses) coupled with penalties in the initial hit - say, an INT bonus with a WIS and CHA penalty (you have awesome memory retention and speed of thought, but you're unfocused and muttering incogherently to yourself).

Zom B
2010-02-08, 12:54 PM
I was thinking about using drugs

Tsk tsk tsk.

Harperfan7
2010-02-08, 06:52 PM
Tsk tsk tsk.

...:smallamused:

deuxhero
2010-02-08, 08:17 PM
Unearthed Arcana (the part in the SRD, under sanity rules) has some drug rules.

ForzaFiori
2010-02-08, 09:21 PM
Another thing is, would they be naturally occuring organic sources, something you make with alchemy or a specific craft skill, or something magical that requires a craft (drug) feat?


Yes. To all of them. Just like in real life, some of the drugs in your game could be natural (IE:shrooms, mary J, etc), alchemical (IE:cocaine, meth, etc) or magical (no real life examples...obviously.)

Altair_the_Vexed
2010-02-09, 02:59 AM
It's going to hard, in a thread like this, not to mention real world narcotics - but we ought to try not to. Could get messy, otherwise.

You may find that drugs in your game have limited appeal.
Despite my putting some thought into the mechanics for drugs, I quickly found that as soon as the party had any kind of spare cash and could afford the better kit, they bought potions and wands to do the same job without the drawbacks.

Lysander
2010-02-09, 11:47 AM
Another possibility is to have drugs operate like a kind of medicine - beneficial but requiring proper medical supervision to be safe.

With a suitable heal check someone can administer the drugs without side effects. A botched heal check gives you the benefit and the side-effect. Failing by five or more just causes the side-effect with no benefit.

A few possible drugs:

*Antivenom. Automatically cures poison. Perhaps each poison would have a different antivenom for it, so you'd have to know what kind of poisonous creatures you were going to face and prepare accordingly. There could also be a more general antivenom that doesn't automatically cure anything but provides the healer with an additional benefit on their heal check to cure any poison.

*Stimulants - Allow someone to ignore penalties from the fatigued/exhausted conditions for a short period of time. Failing your heal check requires you rest even longer to recover later.

*Stat swappers - Something that temporarily benefits one stat at the expense of another. +2 strength but -2 Int, +2 Dex, -2 Wis, etc.

*Stat boosters - Temporarily raise one stat +4 at the risk of later ability damage.

*Psychiatric drugs - Gain temporary immunity to non-magical fear, gain morale bonuses, gain increased resistance to magical fear and emotion spells

Harperfan7
2010-02-13, 10:56 AM
A few possible drugs:

*Antivenom. Automatically cures poison. Perhaps each poison would have a different antivenom for it, so you'd have to know what kind of poisonous creatures you were going to face and prepare accordingly. There could also be a more general antivenom that doesn't automatically cure anything but provides the healer with an additional benefit on their heal check to cure any poison.

*Stimulants - Allow someone to ignore penalties from the fatigued/exhausted conditions for a short period of time. Failing your heal check requires you rest even longer to recover later.

*Stat swappers - Something that temporarily benefits one stat at the expense of another. +2 strength but -2 Int, +2 Dex, -2 Wis, etc.

*Stat boosters - Temporarily raise one stat +4 at the risk of later ability damage.

*Psychiatric drugs - Gain temporary immunity to non-magical fear, gain morale bonuses, gain increased resistance to magical fear and emotion spells

This is good. Pretty much exactly what I was looking for.

Now I just need a system.

Zexion
2010-02-13, 11:54 PM
Just popping in to say I really like this idea.