Addiction Rules

[Drawmack]

Does anyone have, or know of a supliment with good OGC addiction rules?

Or would anyone be interested in aiding in the development of addiction rules?

These rules are for a fan project and will be published in a pdf there for they must be OGC, of course the source of the rules will get credit in the pdf.

 

[wheeljack]

not alot of help

I don't know how good they are
since I don't have the book yet
but the reviews I have read for
"Pale Designs: A Poisener's Handbook"
lead me to believe that they have rules for drugs/addiction.

Most entries for drugs I have seen have their own addiction rules

[/possible minor spoiler]
Example in "Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil" there is a drug in one of the towns. Once you use it, your immediately addicted, if you don't get a daily dose you experience some general nasty side effects until you die. I am being a bit vauge on purpose to avoid spoilers.
[/spoiler]


I will stop blathering now.

 

[Xyros]

Try the _Book of Vile Darkness_. It specifically covers addiction to drugs.

 

[Drawmack]

Thank you for the suggestions I have Pale Designs I'll have to look at that.

 

[Inez Hull]

Unfortunately addiction is a bit less cut and dry than X drug = Y effect. Long term and/or heavy use of psychoactive substances does lead to levels of tolerance increasing, up to a point where no longer consuming the substance causes withdrawal symptoms. This however is not necessarily the same thing as addiction. Some people can use alcohol or other drugs in high doses for long periods and then stop completely without any huge struggle, whilst others can become strongly dependant in short periods. Give an alcoholic a beer after twenty years of sobriety and the reaction will be very different to some guy who just likes to drink a bit too much for his own good.

Simply put, addiction has just as much (or more) to do with the personality and makeup of the person who becomes addicted. People develop strong addictions to gambling and sex which are incredibly similar to alcoholism and drug addiction.

Of course, in fantasy worlds uber drugs which hook the user after one use and which must be taken daily to stave of death exist

 

[Drawmack]

I was thinking that addiction might be a two way street. First you have to calculate the characters propensity to become addicted. Then you take that in conjunction with the addictive nature of the substance.

For example:
Alcohol has a low addictive nature (casual use will not addict the normal person). But if someone drinks heavily everyday eventually their body will become dependent on the drug.

Crack has a high addictive nature (most people get addicted after just a couple of uses). Nearly everyone who uses this substance gets addicted, it is just a matter of time.

Then there are non-chemically addictive drugs like pot. It is impossible to become chemically addicted to pot, but you can become psychologically dependant on it. These types of drugs are only addictive to those with a propensity to that addiction.

Just what I've been thinking so far.

 

[Drift]

As a general idea for addiction I was looking at a sliding scale.

but first to simplify addiction: the more you use the more addicted you become the more you need to use.

With this in mind I was thinking of some sort of addiction points each use adds points while prolonged non-use would remove points.

Penalties would be based on the time between doses.

So perhaps a drug is given an addiction rating 0 being non-addicted 1 being a minor addiction, 2 major, 3 being life consuming. each time the drug is taken the character gains addiction points equal to the drug rating.

Character drug points
a character with 0 to 10 points suffers no side effects and loses 1 point per each week without the drug.

a character with 10 to 20 points is suffering from a minor addiction, character suffers penalties of withdrawal if the drug is not induced within a time frame this is a four days - the drug rating so a person addicted to a 3 rated drug will suffer withdrawal symptoms if he has not taken the drug with a day. The symptom is dependent on type of drug see below.
The character loses points by going cold see below

a character with 20+ points is considered addicted and suffers immediate withdrawal after taking the drugs as determined by the drug type. The character also suffers a –1 to con temp damage for each time frame passes this is a four days - the drug rating so a person addicted to a 3 rated drug will suffer –1 to con for each day without the drug.

Drug types
Drugs have different effects and these manifest themselves in different ways examples include
The shakes causing all dexterity checks to gain a –2 penalty
Nightmares prevent the character from sleeping causing sleep deprivation and lack of spells
Violently ill a number of times equal to drug rating a fortitude save should be made failure causes 1d4 hp damage due to violently ill.
Headaches cause a –2 to all wisdom and intelligence skill checks

Going cold
A character who suffers a minor addiction and goes for 7 days plus addiction rating minus there con modifier without the drug loses a single point and suffers no more withdrawal symptoms for each month after a further point is dropped but only if the drug is not taken. If the drug is taken then the character must go through the process again

A character who suffers a major addiction and goes for 7 days plus addiction rating minus con modifier without the drug loses a single point and there con score no longer drops for each week after there con point is increased by 1 until back to original place. For each month after a further point is dropped but only if the drug is not taken. If the drug is taken then the character must go through the process again

Example
Black Lotus
Addiction rating 2
Withdrawal effect headaches
Black lotus is a smoked and can be very addictive over a period of time.

Lorian fighter 3 con 16
Lorian has been smoking black lotus for a while and has just hit 11 adiction points he is now mildly addictied. Fearing it will interfere with his work Lorian tries to go cold
He must spend the next 7 days with a –2 penalty and a further month without the drug to go out of the addiction zone.

These are currently complicated and clunky an suggestions on improving them what they don’t include is once an alcoholic always an alcoholic, but it’s a start.

 

[Drawmack]

Those rules are an excelent start. I'm going to work from those and see what I can come up with.

 

[Drift]

having relooked at the rules and having a bit of a rethink I don't think my rules for recovery are very good at all but I can't think of any other ways of doing it.

I am thinking that it needs away to modify that an addict is always an adict. just one who has gone cold for a long time. my current thinking is that after going cold the next time the drug is used the character gains 10 addiction points. but that doesn't really work either

 

[Inez Hull]

If you want to tailor withdrawal effect and periods to each drug, look first at the way the drug works when taken. Withdrawal symptoms are simply the result of the body becoming used to the substance being there and adjusting its balance in accordance. When the drug is no longer there the body is out of balance in the opposite direction to how the drug usually throws it.

For example, common effects of heroin use: reduction of pain, drowsiness, constipation. Common withdrawal effects of heroin: cramps and discomfort, sleeplessness, diarrhoea.

Also usually the period taken to get a drug out of your system is proportional to the time it takes to become dependant. i.e. quick development of dependance = quick withdrawal and detox and vice versa.

By working backwards this way you can make the withdrawal effects match the addiction effects.


Perhaps you could reflect the fact that for some people 'once an addict always an addict' by having a certain threshold that once crossed sees no going back. This may be a certain point past where dependance sets in and be determined by the user themself rather than the drug?