Talk:Drinking (5e Variant Rule)

How much time does this downtime activity consume? Is it compatible with resource-based downtime days, or is it only functional in games where you play out your downtime? --Kydo (talk) 04:16, 15 December 2016 (MST)

It takes an hour of heavy drinking to reach your threshold. It can be played out passively, as well as actively. --Drwatson88 (talk) 18:03, 26 December 2016 (MST)

So, in other words, it is incompatible with the downtime days resource playstyle. --Kydo (talk) 09:27, 28 December 2016 (MST)

I guess but to be honest I'm unfamiliar with that playstyle. --Drwatson88 (talk) 10:37, 28 December 2016 (MST)

In the adventurer's league, (The current official play program) downtime is awarded to the players for completing quests as though it were currency or xp. Between sessions, players literally spend downtime days, as if it were money, on downtime activities, to Retcon their "offscreen" activity into the game, and the gaminess is hand-waved as "I was working on this in my spare time". They do this because the AL only runs modular adventures in a 2 hour time frame, so there is no room for playing out downtime at the table. This approach to downtime also resolves all of the classical issues with rules systems which allow non-adventuring activity, such as players being forced to sit out, the adventure stalling and getting sidetracked, etc., because nothing happens until after the players have acquired the free time to complete their activity, and the non-adventuring is removed from the table completely. That's why the core rules downtime activities are all based on days as a standard unit; this new playstyle approach is highly effective. They left it open-ended so players don't have to run it one way or another, which is just a cherry on top of their brilliance. However, it also means that it's possible to make downtime activities which make sense in one playstyle but not the other, and their inability to clearly communicate a distinction means players likely won't even be aware of alternative playstyles regarding downtime. --Kydo (talk) 10:52, 28 December 2016 (MST)