AD&D DRUGS
FOR ADVANCED DUNGEONS & DRAGONS
BY
*** DISCLAIMER ***
All contents of this guide are presented for game purposes only. In no way is this guide intended to persuade people to take drugs of any kind. The author of the guide does not condone the illegal use of drugs. Hopefully, information presented in this appendix will educated on the dangers of drugs. In fact, the misuse of drugs in a fantasy setting will hopefully educate on the real-world dangers of drug abuse and drug addiction. Just say no. In no way will the author of this appendix or the contributors of this appendix be held responsible for other persons’ actions.
@ COPYRIGHT 1993 by DESMOND REID
The following appendix is the property of its author, who
hereby states that he retains the copyright. You may distribute
it at will, provided that nothing in the appendix, this notice,
or any of the credits are altered in any way; and that you do not make a profit from it.
Introduction
Effects of Drugs in AD&D
Recovery from Drug Use
Drug Use and Drug Abuse Equals Drug Addiction
Availability
Scientific Drug Naming System
Psychedelic Warrior: Fighter Kit
The nervous system in the body has an inhibitory effect when the body is in a state of extreme emotion. It’s part of the human body’s ability to stay in a normal state: “ homeostasis ”. This is what makes cliff-divers like cliff diving: the nervous system inhibits the abnormal state of fear, essentially by simulating the reaction opposite to fear: ecstasy. A classical example of this is a slightly depressed person who takes stimulant drugs. His nervous system increases his depression to counteract the abnormal stimulation, so that he needs to take stimulants even to feel how people normally feel. Now, when he’s off drugs, he will be very depressed.
This explains some withdrawal symptoms. Under the effect of any strong drug, the nervous system naturally tries to counter that effect. When the drug wears off, the “ downer ” that is experienced occurs because the nervous system is still producing that opposite emotion. If a human uses drugs too much, then his/her nervous system gets into the habit of countering that drug’s effect, so he/she starts to need to take the drug all the time to avoid the awful downers. Eventually, drug addicts need more and more of their drug of choice in order to have the effect they had the first time they tried it.
Although some drugs are very useful and safe, this appendix deals with those drugs that are dangerous and usually addictive. A thin line exists on which drug that is helpful and safe can become a drug that is dangerous and addictive. Typically, this line is cause to the dosage or amount of the drug that is taken. Also, prolonged use of a drug could cause it to enter the danger zone. It is left to the DM’s discretion to make a decision on whether a drug could become dangerous and enter the ranks below. Of course, the DM no doubt has a notebook full of drugs discussed as fungi, sap, plants, and minerals that are nothing more than dangerous drugs.
There are nine classifications for stimulants and nine for depressants of dangerous drugs based on potency and level. In theory there can be an infinite amount of drugs all being different but for play ability there are nine classifications in the drug categories of stimulants and depressants.
DMs are free to make any variations they wish to individualize a particular drug. In fact, all classifications presented here which total 18 are merely foundations. The DM still must develop a drug to its full potential.
· A drug should have a specific purpose or outcome. For example, one moderate level 1 drug’s specific purpose is to cause hallucinations which are seen when the drug is used. These hallucinations are in addition to all effects presented for a moderate level one drug.
· A drug needs to have a benefit or benefits that are real or perceived. People usually have some desired effect in mind when they start taking drugs and this should be specified. Usually benefits have something to do with the specific purpose or outcome.
After consuming a serving of a drug, a character must make a constitution check with the following penalties given on Table A.
Potency Level Abbreviation Penalty
Mild 1 Mild1 -1 after the first serving
Mild 2 Mild2 -2
Mild 3 Mild3 -3
Moderate 1 Mode1 -4
Moderate 2 Mode2 -5
Moderate 3 Mode3 -6
Strong 1 Strg1 -7
Strong 2 Stgr2 -8
Strong 3 Stgr3 -9
The penalties accumulate with each check for each serving. For example, after Rath eats his second “ fun-fungi ” mushroom which is a Mild drug of level 3, he makes his Constitution check at -6. Eventually, a character will fail a Constitution check if he/she continually takes the drug.
Drugs come in two forms, stimulants and depressants and effect a character differently. A stimulant is an agent temporarily excites or accelerates the function of the body or one of its systems or parts. A depressant is an agent that temporarily slows vital body processes.
When a character fails a Constitution check, he/she is physically and mentally effected depending on the potency and level of the drug. Table B lists the effects to a character when a stimulant is used.
Table C lists the effects to a character when a depressant is used.
Effect on Mild1 Mild2 Mild3 Mode1 Mode2 Mode3 Strg1 Stgr2 Stgr3
Morale +1 +2 +3 +5 +6 +7 +10 +11 +12
Strength +1 +2 +3 +6 +7 +8 +12 +13 +14
Intelligence +1 +2 +3 +5 +6 +7 +10 +11 +12
Wisdom +1 +2 +3 +5 +6 +7 +10 +11 +12
Dexterity +1 +2 +3 +5 +6 +7 +10 +11 +12
Charisma 0 +1 +2 +4 +5 +6 +9 +10 +11
Attack Dice 0 0 +1 +3 +4 +5 +8 +9 +10
Hit Points 0 0 +1 +3 +4 +5 +8 +9 +10
% of Spell Fail 20 30 40 60 70 80 100 100 100
TABLE C: Effects from a Depressant
Morale -1 -2 -3 -5 -6 -7 -10 -11 -12
Strength -1 -2 -3 -6 -7 -8 -12 -13 -14
Intelligence -1 -2 -3 -5 -6 -7 -10 -11 -12
Wisdom -1 -2 -3 -5 -6 -7 -10 -11 -12
Dexterity 0 -1 -2 -4 -5 -6 -9 -10 -11
Charisma 0 -1 -2 -4 -5 -6 -9 -10 -11
Attack Dice 0 0 -1 -3 -4 -5 -8 -9 -10
Hit Points 0 0 -1 -3 -4 -5 -8 -9 -10
NOTES ON DRUG TABLES
Any abilities that reach 0 remain there and cannot drop below 0.
Any abilities that reach 18 remain there and cannot go above 18.
Morale pertains only to non-player characters.
Intelligence, Wisdom, Dexterity, and Charisma indicate the number of
points the various characteristics are lowered temporarily due to the
drug. Remember to check the PHB to see the effects of attribute lose.
Attack dice refers to adjustments to THAC0 and saving throws. An
opponents saving throws vs. magical attacks made by an drugged
character is raised by the same number.
Hit points are increased due to the effects of the drug on the
drugged person. He/she can physically withstand more punishment.
OPTIONAL RULE: Make the hit point adjustments a percentage of total hit
points rather than a few hit points. For example +1 would become 10%,
+2 would become 20%, and +3 would become 30%.
% of Spell Failure refers to the chance that a spell that is cast will
fail. A mage or cleric has difficulty with somatic and verbal
components due to his/her condition.
THE HIGH
Being drugged is dangerous although some may argue otherwise. For every failed Constitution drug check, the player rolls on Table D to get additional effects. All effects are cumulative (i.e. after two failed checks the character will receive to drug effects from Table D). Effects last for the duration of the “ high ”. High is the drugged state of intoxication and euphoria.
TABLE D: Drug Effects (1d20)
01 Aura Hallucination
02 Blindness
03 Blurry Vision
04 Courage
05 Deafness
06 Fumble
07 Friendship
08 Happiness
09 Hate
10 Hopelessness
11 Hypnotic Hallucination
12 Magical Ability
13 Monster Hallucination
14 Psionic Wild Talent
15 Scare
16 Self Hallucination
17 Sound Sensitivity
18 Total Confusion
19+ REROLL
AURA HALLUCINATION: The character hallucinates and sees colorful auras around living beings. Actually, the auras are hallucinations but the character may believe the auras to be life forces, infravision, ultravision, magic fields, alignment fields, etc.
BLINDNESS: The character is temporarily blinded.
BLURRY VISION: The character’s vision becomes very blurred. The distortion causes a -4 penalty on a first attempt and a -2 on all successive attacks of missile and melee combat.
COURAGE: The character becomes berserk, fighting with a +1 bonus to the attack dice, causing +3 points of damage, and temporarily gaining 5 hit points. The character fights without shield, and regardless of life, never checking morale.
DEAFNESS: The character becomes temporarily deaf.
FRIENDSHIP: The character reacts more positively (e.g., tolerance becomes goodwill).
FUMBLE: The character becomes very clumsy and awkward. He/she falls and trips over everything, drops everything, and always moves in random directions when attempting to move in a specific direction.
HAPPINESS: The character becomes very joyful and gets a feeling of complacent well-being, adding +4 to all reaction rolls and making attack unlikely unless he/she is subject to extreme provocation.
HATE: The character reacts more negatively (e.g., tolerance becomes negative neutrality).
HOPELESSNESS: The character submits to demands of anybody otherwise the character is 25% likely to do absolutely nothing in a round.
MAGICAL ABILITY: The character believes he/she has the ability to cast spells as a mage and a priest. Of course the character has no such ability, but the character does “ cast ” spells and does believe they work as intended.
HYPNOTIC HALLUCINATION: The character hallucinates and sees a weaving, twisting pattern of subtle colors in the air. This pattern causes the character to become fascinated and he/she gazes at the display as if hypnotized.
MONSTER HALLUCINATION: The character hallucinates and sees a monster. Level 1 drugs cause the character to see nothing as the monster. Level 2 drugs cause the character to see an inanimate object as the monster. Level 3 drugs cause the character to see another person/creature as the monster. Roll on any encounter table no matter how bizarre to see what monster appears. Roll 1d10 on the following to see how the character reacts:
01-10 Cower and whimper
11-15 Stare in bewilderment
16-18 Flee shrieking in a random direction
19-20 Try to kill the “ monster ”
PSIONIC WILD TALENT: The character gains a wild talent that immediately goes into affect. Roll on Table 12 in The Complete Psionics Handbook, “ Wild Devotions ” to determine exactly what the power is.
SCARE: The character becomes extremely scare of everything. The character falls into a fits of trembling and shaking. He/she has a -2 reaction adjustment and will drop held items. If corned to fight, he/she fights with a -1 penalties to attack and damage rolls as well as saving throws.
SELF HALLUCINATION: The character hallucinates that he/she is something else. Level 1 drugs cause the character to believe he/she is a plant. Level 2 drugs cause the character to believe he/she is an inanimate object. Level 3 drugs cause the character to believe he/she is another person/creature/monster.
SOUND SENSITIVITY: The character becomes extremely sensitive to sound. Sounds are amplified 2 times the level of the drug. Thus a level 2 drug would cause all sounds heard by the character be amplified by 4 or 4 times as loud.
TOTAL CONFUSION: The character becomes really confused. Roll 1d10 on the following to see what the character will do:
1 Wander away (unless prevented)
2-6 Stand confused one round (roll again)
7-9 Attack nearest creature one round (roll again)
10 Act normally for one round (roll again)
The duration of the high and the effects that accompany it are as followed:
Potency Duration
Level Time
1 0-2 hours
2 1-8 hours
3 2-24 hours
Time is the only cure for recovering from drug use. Recovery time is based on the Potency level of the drug:
Potency Recovery
Any ability that was increased by 3 or more during the high decreased by the same number during the recovery. This is do to the create strain put on the body and mind during the high.
As a person recovers, his/her statistics that are affected begin go back to normal half-way through the recovery time with body strain exception mentioned previously.
At the end of the recovery time, abilities return to normal.
Every hour of recovery, the character must make a successful saving throw vs. poison. Failing the save cause the character to suffer the dire consequences of withdrawal.
01 Comatose
02 Itching
03 Rash
04+ REROLL
COMATOSE: The character falls comatose for the duration of the recovery.
ITCHING: The character suffers from an intense itch on a large portion of the body. The character must constantly scratch the irritated area. Failure cause causes the character to squirm and twist for three rounds which lessens Armor Class by 4 and attack rolls by 2 during this time.
RASH: A rash develops where the character’s skin breaks out in red welts that itch. the character’s charisma lowers by 1 point per hour as the rash worsens.
A person may enjoy taking a drug, but he/she may unfortunately become a victim of it. To represent the progression of drug addiction the character is assigned a drug addiction percentage (DAP). A character who has never taken a drug before has a DAP of 0.
Every time a character uses a drug, his/her DAP is increased by 1 if a mild drug, by 2 if a moderate drug, and by 3 if a strong drug. Thus, Rath who had a DAP of 0 takes a mild drug; his DAP goes to 1. Then, Rath takes a strong drug,; his DAP goes to 4. Note that it doesn’t really matter if a character takes many different drugs or just one type of drug. They all will eventually lead to addiction. Yet another danger of drugs. This doesn’t necessarily mean that the character is addicted to all drugs of a certain potency (although they may be substituted at times). Typically, one drug got the character addicted and this will be the drug he will continue to use to furt...
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