Whether its drunken monks stumbling into their foes and unleashing fists of fury, alcoholic barbarians swigging down wine as they curse and cut their way to glory, or the charming roguish individual who uses a little alcohol to lower their inhibitions and skate through life, drink has a potent grasp on the imagination when it comes to adventures. This is no surprise, really; alcohol is one of humanity's greatest vices and fondest indulgences, and has been since more or less the dawn of human history. Being such an integral part of the human experience, it should be no wonder that alcohol has so thoroughly permeated our folklore and fantasy for nearly as long as it has been around. From myths and legends to being a driving force behind some of the most cherished characters from more contemporary literature, alcohol holds a very special place in the hearts and minds of a wide array of audiences as something easily relatable and yet mystifying.
Of course, there’s no reason why martial characters should have a monopoly on drunken fun. In ancient Greece, the cult of the god Dionysus reveled in the mysteries of wine and drunken debauchery, and this is only one of many examples of the symbiotic relationship that alcohol often has with mysticism. Or, to put it another way: clerics and wizards like to get drunk, too! This book presents 12 new spells that are thematically linked with alcohol, many of which work in conjunction with the existing alcohol-themed feats and class features found in other Pathfinder products.
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Weekly Wonders – Drunkard's Grimoire by Necromancers of the Northwest is a collection of 12 alcohol-based spells presented in the artistic style typical for those products (nice tome-like cover, a few black and white illustration inside the book.) As stated in the introduction, those should serve to extend that theme on spell-casters and is partly inspired by the Cult of Dionysos, while so far, mainly Monks and Barbarians had alcohol-themed archetypes. Also in the introduction is printed a list of official alcohol-based content. It seems not to be complete (a short Google search pointed me at the official combat trait „Accelerated Drinker“), but I still give bonus points for including that, because it is also stated that the part of the spells work in conjunction with those class features and archetypes, so to have this ready as a reference may come in handy. There's also a hint at another Weekly Wonders Issue (Drunken Feats), that also might work with those spells, but as I don't have that product (yet), I can't say if that's the case.
With two exceptions, the spells are cast at either a living creature or at a drink that has then to be imbibed for the spell's effect to take place. In those cases, the drink in question can be drunk as part of the spell casting, so the casting time is unaffected by that (same goes for alchemists that might use such a spell). To give an impression, a short description of some of the spells follows:
Beer Goggles: impairs the sight of the drinker, who gains save bonus against gaze attacks, but also becomes more susceptible to diplomacy checks and charm effects.
Blackout: impairs the target's ability to form memories, so they can't remember what happened after.
Deadly Tankards: makes tankards into weapons. Also, you won't spill the content while using them this way.
Valorous Whiskey: Drinker gains cold resistance and a morale bonus on attack rolls saves and some checks.
In the end, if I had one thing to criticize, then that some of the spells would require the GM to work with the player spell-caster (because there's no use casting a spell on some drinks if the NPCs simply won't drink them), which might be a con for players who don't like such dependencies. On the other hand, as the GM, I immediately had some ideas how to use some spells even to introduce the players into a new adventure, so at least to me, they have a positive inspiration factor. And that you can use some of them as buff spells with (rum) flavor is something I really like very much. Mechanically, the levels of the respective spells seem right to me, and I wouldn't have any problem if one of my players would want to use some of them. So if you like the theme of this product, I think it's well worth it's price and grant it full five stars
Most of the spells in that tome are usable by bards and half of them by alchemists. I wouldn't mind some alcohol-based archetypes for those classes, though.
