[Thaumatology] Drunkeness as Energy Reserve

[Prince Charon]

Imagine, if you will, a setting in which spending points in the the usual Energy Reserve for magic-users causes them to seem drunk. The level of your ER is derived from the lower of Will and HT. Spending points of ER is like drinking beer or wine, resulting in penalties to DX & IQ (but not Will or Per) when ER gets too low - at 1/2 ER, the caster takes a penalty of -1 to both IQ and DX, and may appear a bit tipsy; at 1/3 ER, the penalty is -3, and any failed roll on either (or skills based on same) will have you seem drunk to observers; when ER is reduced to 0, the penalty is -5, it is no-longer possible to fake sobriety without a very good Acting roll, and you must roll Will or HT to avoid losing consciousness. Recovery takes the usual ten minutes per point (unless you have an advantage or spell to speed that up), as you seem to gradually sober up. On the bright side, at least spending ER doesn't usually give you hangovers. (This idea started as an alternate magic system for the settings that relate to Sally the miller's daughter, though that had some other concepts, like the Critical Failures Table being the Comedy Table, and magic seemingly being something the Fair Folk are doing, among other things.)

I'm rather curious as to what effects this would have on not only gameplay, but on the setting, as well. What do you think?

[sir_pudding]

DWC, driving while casting becomes a thing.
Addiction to spell casting is s real problem
Treatment requires a no mana zone or chemical magery inhibitors or something.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

DWC, driving while casting becomes a thing.

OK, I hadn't quite considered that, but that's a good point. Mind you, one of the settings that uses it is a historical fantasy one (in the year 1011 CE), so people aren't driving cars, but the other one is a sort of alternate Technomancer setting, so they'd have to worry about that.

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

Addiction to spell casting is s real problem
Treatment requires a no mana zone or chemical magery inhibitors or something.

Hmm, yes. Also, of course, once you've started casting, even if you're not yet addicted, your judgement is impaired, and you may decide to cast something 'fun' when you really shouldn't.

[sir_pudding]

In Low-Tech settings wizards either get a reputation as drunkards or it's considered some kind of mystical state, depending on how much respect the public puts on them.

I recently read an essay, which I can't cite immediately, unfortunately, that argued that the difference between "magic" and "ritual" in most cultures is mostly normative. Writing lead tablet letters to the gods = normal/not magic; going to a graveyard and wearing nothing corpse-ash to summon the spirits of the dead = weird/magical. Transubstantiation = normal/a miracle; blowing smoke up a cat's anus to talk to Beliel = weird/magic.

So, in this case if mages are thaumaturges and it's normalized, spelldrunk is a mystical state. If they are a weird fringe magicians its an undesirable behavior and a sign of moral weakness.

[The Colonel]

Of course a lot of cultures used some form of intoxication in their practice anyway - although these tended to be shamanic and to do with an altered state of consciousness that allowed you to commune with the spirits better. Alternatively you could end up lending your body to a spirit that liked to drink - although some of those were also famous for hoovering up booze without showing the effects (some of the Voudou loas are well known for their love of rum, with or without chilli peppers steeped in in ... and apparently gunpowder as well in some historical contexts).

[Varyon]

For statting it out, the big effect is that DX/IQ penalty, worth [-25] per -1 on its own (it looks to functionally be -1 DX [-20], -1 IQ [-20], +0.25 Basic Speed [5], +1 Per [5], +1 Will [5]). That's arguably a Temporary Disadvantage on part of your ER - this will work out to 50% of ER being taken without a penalty, 20% being taken with with the above for -25%, 30% minus 1 being taken with 3 levels of the above for -75%, and that final point being taken with 5 levels of the above for -125% (which gets capped to -80%, unless there are Enhancements in play). For a character with the lower of ST and Will being 10, that's ER 5 [15] + ER 2 (Temporary Disadvantage: Drunkenness 1 -25%) [4.5] + ER 2 (Temporary Disadvantage: Drunkenness 3 -75%) [1.5] + ER 1 (Temporary Disadvantage: Drunkenness 5 -150%->-80%) [0.6], for a grand total of [21.6], which rounds up to [22] (or [23] if you round up before adding). I'd probably just treat the "You look like you might be drunk at Drunkenness 3, and are very obviously drunk at Drunkenness 5" effects as just special effects, although you might be able to justify a further -5% Nuisance Effect for each (dropping overall cost to [21], or [23] if you round up before adding).

As noted, the societal effects will be strongly dependent on how magic is regarded. You may also have people purposefully getting themselves blackout drunk in hopes of it resulting in them gaining powers. I remember in the Ender's Game series of books (specifically starting in the third book, Xenocide) there's a colony where the leaders are believed to be touched by the gods - they are incredibly intelligent, but have severe obsessive compulsive disorders. Possible future leaders are often identified by looking for such behaviors... which results in some parents encouraging their children to fake it (such as by washing their hands until they bleed) in hopes of "attracting the gods" (there's a specific term in the book, but I forget it) to touch them, as becoming one of the ruling class lifts the family out of the functional poverty everyone else lives in. I could see something similar happening here.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Prince Charon

I'm rather curious as to what effects this would have on not only gameplay, but on the setting, as well. What do you think?

It would make it more difficult to cast powerful spells undetected.

It would also make mages even more vulnerable in a running conflict situation, since temporarily drunk mages will be mentally and physically impaired.

If mages get pleasure from being "spelldrunk" some might become addicts, with either Addiction (Psychological) or Compulsive Behavior (Spellcasting). That's potentially very dangerous if you regularly deplete your ER in order to get a decent buzz.

Ceremonial casting takes on an entirely different vibe. Less solemn chanting and more drunken orgy.

[Prince Charon]

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

If mages get pleasure from being "spelldrunk" some might become addicts, with either Addiction (Psychological) or Compulsive Behavior (Spellcasting). That's potentially very dangerous if you regularly deplete your ER in order to get a decent buzz.

On the other hand, regularly using your ER is a common justification for buying it up... but then you have to use even bigger spells to get a good buzz on. Oh, dear.

Originally Posted by Pursuivant

Ceremonial casting takes on an entirely different vibe. Less solemn chanting and more drunken orgy.

I am reminded that the word 'symposium' comes from an Ancient Greek word for something like 'drinking party.'

[Þorkell]

Would there be different social repercussions for someone who gets tipsy casting spells and someone who simply drank too much?

Would a celebratory beer or wineglass send a wizard into the next elvel of intoxication?