Illegal drugs move through clubs, casinos, street crews, private parties, shelters, warehouses, and smuggling routes. Some are sold as stimulants, social enhancers, painkillers, or psychedelics. Their quality and strength vary widely.
Drug effects are temporary. They do not heal wounds, remove consequences, or create supernatural abilities.
The real-world comparisons below describe broad effects only.
Closest comparison: Cocaine or another short-acting stimulant
Price: 300 GP per gram
Duration: 1 hour
Gain +2 to Dexterity checks.
Suffer –2 to Wisdom saving throws.
Ghost increases confidence, agitation, speed, and risk-taking. Possible complications include paranoia, tremors, dehydration, poor judgment, and cardiovascular strain.
Repeated doses before a long rest may require a Constitution saving throw or cause one level of exhaustion.
Closest comparison: MDMA or another empathogen
Price: 50 GP per dose
Duration: 1 hour
Gain advantage on Charisma (Performance and Persuasion) checks.
Suffer disadvantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks involving manipulation, concealed hostility, or dishonest emotional appeals.
Bliss creates warmth, energy, lowered inhibition, and exaggerated trust. Risks include overheating, dehydration, emotional instability, exhaustion, and unsafe social decisions.
Bliss never creates consent. Intoxication, friendliness, or attraction must not be treated as consent.
Closest comparison: Methamphetamine or another powerful synthetic stimulant
Price: 120 GP per tablet
Duration: 1 hour
Gain advantage on Charisma (Persuasion) checks.
Suffer disadvantage on Constitution saving throws.
When the effect ends, make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. On a failure, gain one level of exhaustion.
Each additional dose taken before a long rest increases the DC by 2.
Dust creates energy, confidence, rapid speech, and prolonged wakefulness. Risks include overheating, paranoia, aggression, insomnia, heart strain, and dangerous overexertion.
Closest comparison: Psilocybin mushrooms
Price: 70 GP per dose
Duration: 1 hour
Gain +2 to Wisdom saving throws against fear and mental effects.
Suffer disadvantage on Intelligence checks because of hallucinations and altered perception.
Risks include panic, confusion, false perceptions, unsafe movement, and difficulty identifying threats.
The bonus against fear represents emotional detachment, not supernatural protection.
Closest comparison: Heroin, fentanyl, or another potent opioid
Price: 80 GP per dose
Duration: 1 hour
Gain 1d8 temporary hit points.
Gain advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Suffer disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks.
Suffer disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws.
The temporary hit points represent dulled pain and reduced awareness of injury. They are not healing.
When Burnout ends, make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw:
Success: The character remains conscious but fatigued.
Failure: Gain one level of exhaustion.
Failure by 5 or more: Fall unconscious for 1 minute or until awakened.
Burnout may suppress breathing. Mixing it with alcohol, sedatives, painkillers, or another dose greatly increases overdose risk.
An overdose check may be required when a character:
Takes repeated doses
Mixes substances
Uses contaminated drugs
Combines drugs with alcohol or medication
Is seriously injured, exhausted, or dehydrated
Uses an unusually strong batch
Use a Constitution saving throw, usually DC 13–18, based on the substance and circumstances.
Possible overdose effects include:
Unconsciousness
Seizures
Dangerous overheating
Heart failure
Respiratory depression
Organ damage
Death
Mixing drugs applies all penalties and may increase the saving throw DC. Stimulant combinations increase heart strain and overheating. Burnout combined with alcohol or sedatives creates an especially serious risk of respiratory failure.
Immediate treatment may require a Medicine check, emergency medication, a Street Medic, or hospital care.
Addiction should develop through repeated use and established behavior rather than automatically after one dose.
Possible signs include:
Craving
Increased tolerance
Secretive use
Missed obligations
Financial problems
Irritability
Fatigue
Sleep disruption
Risky efforts to obtain another dose
Withdrawal effects should resemble the drug’s general real-world comparison. Franz should portray addiction seriously without removing player agency or treating it as a joke.
Street drugs may be diluted, mislabeled, counterfeit, or contaminated.
A character may examine a substance using:
Intelligence (Investigation)
Wisdom (Medicine)
A chemical-testing kit
Relevant Street Medic or criminal knowledge
Suggested DCs:
DC 10: Recognize a familiar substance
DC 12: Notice poor quality or obvious contamination
DC 15: Identify unusual strength or substitution
DC 18: Determine detailed composition with proper equipment
Failure may reveal nothing. It should not automatically cause immediate poisoning unless the substance is actually dangerous.
A contaminated batch may increase overdose DCs, reduce benefits, shorten duration, or create additional symptoms.
Drug laws distinguish between possession, distribution, manufacturing, and trafficking.
Consequences may depend on:
Drug type
Quantity
Packaging
Cash found nearby
Weapons
Prior convictions
Location
Evidence of sales
Current Heat
Political or faction influence
Personal-use possession may lead to confiscation, arrest, fines, probation, or treatment requirements.
Distribution or trafficking may lead to more serious charges, asset seizure, surveillance, conspiracy investigations, and longer incarceration.
Contraband may include:
Street drugs
Restricted medication
Stolen pharmaceuticals
Unlicensed firearms
False identification
Counterfeit casino chips
Smuggled technology
Stolen corporate property
Illegal surveillance devices
The legality and consequences of each item should be defined in its item record.
Drug distribution may involve street dealers, club staff, pharmacists, smugglers, couriers, chemists, gangs, cartels, and corrupt officials.
Evidence may include:
Packaged substances
Scales
Cash
Messages
Customer lists
Financial transfers
Fingerprints
Cameras
Informants
Vehicle records
Chemical residue
Controlled purchases
Possessing drugs does not automatically prove trafficking. Investigators normally need quantity, packaging, communications, money, witnesses, or additional evidence.
Destroying one package or phone does not erase all records of the operation.
Franz should establish:
The substance
Dose
Duration
Benefits
Penalties
Quality
Legal risk
Evidence created
Overdose danger
Drug use, sale, refusal, treatment, and recovery remain player choices.
These rules should create temptation, danger, debts, investigations, health consequences, and faction conflict without presenting drug use as safe, glamorous, or automatically destructive.