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Old 08-04-2016, 10:05 AM   #1
dfinlay
 
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Default Fluid Consumption Rules

I'm working on a High Fantasy campaign, but I've decided, in part to keep potions under control as wealth levels rise and in part because I like the aesthetic, that I'm going to have magical potions, but that they are going to be big (I'm thinking 750 mL to 1.5 L). That way, they have significant weight, take time to drink and you can't drink too many in rapid succession without running the risk of retching or choking. I'm having trouble coming up with rules that feel right for the latter two effects, though.

How slow do you have to drink liquid to not require a roll? What rolls are appropriate (probably HT) to try to chug quickly and how much should this speed things up? What risk are associated with drinking absurd amounts in a short time span (several liters in an encounter, say) and what rolls can help with this (the obvious option is HT, but I could also see ST to represent mass). Thoughts, anyone?
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Old 08-04-2016, 03:21 PM   #2
Nereidalbel
 
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Default Re: Fluid Consumption Rules

Water has an LD/50 of about 6 liters. As for drinking quickly, one can learn to open their esophagus and allow fluid to flow directly from mouth to stomach as fast as gravity allows.
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Old 08-04-2016, 03:42 PM   #3
Culture20
 
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Default Re: Fluid Consumption Rules

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Originally Posted by Nereidalbel View Post
Water has an LD/50 of about 6 liters. As for drinking quickly, one can learn to open their esophagus and allow fluid to flow directly from mouth to stomach as fast as gravity allows.
And close one's trachea at the same time. :) When I was a youngster, I used to amaze my friends by chugging a can of soda with no breaks. I can't remember how long it took, but the new "wide mouth" cans on the Mt. Dew helped speed things up, so I was limited by the shape of the can opening. You could similarly limit players by mandating a special shape to the containers. Perhaps a difficult wax and cork seal to preserve the potion or prevent children from accidentally drinking it.
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Old 08-04-2016, 04:05 PM   #4
Maz
 
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Default Re: Fluid Consumption Rules

I feel like the sizes of potions given in DF are already pretty big. Roughly 250ml. In my D&D games small potions are more like 30ml "shots", but that's a different game where you often have to chuck several potions after a battle.
But I would feel a bit silly having to chuck around dozen litres of potions in huge containers.


If what you are after is a limitation on potions there are many other ways to do it. You could simply say it takes 3 secs to drink a potion instead of one. Or that they are difficult to open. You do not have to explain it using real world physics or logic. It's magical potions.

You can also just state that each person can only contain so much magic and so you can't benefit from new potions before a certain amount of time has passed... or maybe that they have a limites effectiveness (this is especially easy to do with healing potions where you can say they heal 1 HP less per potion until 8 hours has passed of "no potion drinking").

You could also say that a potion requires a certain amount of FP to use. Again using healing potions as an example it could be 1 FP per 1d healing. This is especially useful as a limitation if your using Extra Effort in Combat. I use this in a DF-like sci-fi game where there are super drugs instead of magical potions, but it's the same effect. It works really well.

Last edited by Maz; 08-04-2016 at 04:25 PM.
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Old 08-04-2016, 05:48 PM   #5
evileeyore
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Default Re: Fluid Consumption Rules

I can chug 1 liter of water in about 1 second*. I routinely (at least once every two weeks) chug 2 liters in in one go.


But then I'd probably have a Perk in your game.


* Maybe 2. I'm not exactly timing it. It's drunk as fast as it pours out.
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Old 08-04-2016, 08:48 PM   #6
Flyndaran
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Default Re: Fluid Consumption Rules

I drink a TON of diet soda, and on at least one day drank 10 liters of diet Pepsi with zero problem. I try to keep it below 8 now a days.
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Old 08-04-2016, 10:40 PM   #7
clu2415
 
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Default Re: Fluid Consumption Rules

You could also say that potions are thick and jelly-like, so they take two or more seconds to slither out of their container.
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Old 08-04-2016, 10:43 PM   #8
Nereidalbel
 
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Default Re: Fluid Consumption Rules

The easiest thing to do is give them diminishing returns. The penalty to total healing should wear off relatively fast for out-of-combat purposes, but, nobody's going to cheese a fight by drinking a potion every time they get hit.
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Old 08-05-2016, 12:05 AM   #9
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Default Re: Fluid Consumption Rules

You could always make healing potions addictive. . . .
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Old 08-05-2016, 12:15 AM   #10
Tallor
 
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You could always make healing potions addictive. . . .
Or make it sort of like Ascepaline from Ultratech. Houserule that a failure on HT means it works at half effectiveness, and a critical failure actually penalizes the HT roll for a day or week.
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