Alcohol is treated as a specialized poison. Ales and wines usually have a fortitude save DC of 10-15, most human spirits a 15-20 dwarven or special spirits would have a 21+. Like most poisons, continued “doses” increase the DC of checks that must be made to stave off drunkenness.
When a character consumes alcoholic beverages in excess, they go through gradual states of inebriation. Characters can consume one drink per 6 points of Constitution, per hour, without having to make any checks. As soon as this ratio of beverage/time is exceeded, characters must make checks to avoid becoming inebriated.
Just like drugs, alcohol can be abused and have significant negative effects. In general, a character can consume a number of alcoholic beverages equal to 1 plus double his Constitution modifier before being sickened for 1 hour equal to the number of drinks above this maximum. If a drinker becomes sickened by alcohol, they are in danger of developing an addiction. The base DC for avoiding or curing alcohol addiction is equal to the highest DC of the alcohols consumed while contracting the addiction, and this increases by 2 for each drink consumed while under the negative effects of alcohol (either the sickening, or the penalties of already being addicted).
