Potions as Drugs

POTIONS AS DRUGS

MARROW needs something unique. Something built into its mechanics to insinuate some larger, cooler world. Something stolen from Goblin Punch. To that end, I present Potions as drugs.

There are no more potions. Anything that would have been a potion, like a potion of healing or flight, is now some strange type of drug. When you take a drug of any sort, magical or mundane, make a CON roll. (Mundane things like a smoke from a pipe or a pint of ale don’t really count, though one could track that as benefit-less Addiction if they’re an evil DM like me.) If the roll fails, you get a point of Addiction to that drug (track each separately). Take a penalty to every roll you make to take drugs equal to your current Addiction to that drug. That point occupies a DEX slot. Then the effect takes hold, whatever it may be. To remove a point of Addiction, you have to spend a tenday doing nothing but trying to get clean. At the end of that time, roll CON, with ADVANTAGE if you had help (a counter-drug, friends encouraging you, a promise to a dead relative, something significant like that). If you succeed, you remove a single point of Addiction.

Here are some common magical drugs:

SIGHT-ROOT. This thich grey powder is made from dried and ground leaves that grow near beholder lairs. Upon ingesting, the user can see through illusions and magic for an hour.

FAIRY DUST. Take a guess where this thin white powder comes from. Upon ingesting, you gain the ability to fly for a TURN.

DWARVEN GAR. Some say the Bearded Folk slip the oils of the earth into their rich mugs of mead. Upon ingesting, you gain ADVANTAGE on all STR, CON and CHA rolls for an hour, but DISADVANTAGE on all DEX, INT, and WIS rolls for that same hour.

WIZARD’S TOBACCO. This bright blue leaf is truly unnatural, being harvested by mad horticulture-mages from the backs of moon beasts. Upon ingesting, you gain the ability to see magical auras for an hour. However, you have DISADVANTAGE on all WIS rolls, as the auras shimmer and disorient.

SYRUP. This thick, molasses-like red elixir is made from coagulated blood and fairy dust. It stitches the skin as you drink it, but its sway acts quickly. Effect: When you ingest this drug, wager up to 5 Addiction. This drug heals you a number of WOUNDS equal to the Addiction you wagered.

1 Addiction: You’ve tried it, but you’re not quite hooked. No negative effects… yet.

2 Addiction: It’s starting to get the hang of you. If you go a tenday without ingesting this drug, you get DISADVANTAGE on all rolls until you secure a dose.

3 Addiction: You’re hopelessly head-over-heels. You have DISADVANTAGE on all rolls when you or one of your Friends does not have a dose of the drug on them.

4 Addiction: Its hold deepens. If you go a day without ingesting this drug, you get DISADVANTAGE on all rolls until you secure a dose.

5 Addiction: You’re an addict through and through. If there are any doses of the drug in your line of sight, you must attempt to secure them and ingest them as fast as possible. If you fail a WIS roll, you must do this heedless of your own safety, as well as that of anyone else.

6 Addiction: You are a slave to this substance. DISADVANTAGE on all rolls when you’re not under its effects.

Now I want to make a System Shock table for when DEX slots get overfull. Darn, that reminds me I need to write my scar location table in the MARROW doc. Well, expect an update to 0.2 soon. In the meantime, I’m gonna be looking up lists of fantasy drugs to steal.

If this post makes no sense, don’t worry. I plan on cleaning it up before it goes into MARROW. Just needed to get the idea on the internet.

The original post: http://goblinpunch.blogspot.com/2013/12/drugsdrugsdrugs.html