Bartending

Systems and Tools

Introduction

Bartending allows characters to mix cocktails, which when drunk use Avlis' custom alcohol system. Any class build can be a bartender.

Getting Started

To become a bartender, you need to acquire a Bartending School Diploma. There are a few bars in Negaria that will allow you to take a test to get the diploma, such as the Leaping Stag Inn in Zvidureth. You can do several things with the diploma:

• If you use the diploma on itself, it will refresh itself, changing its description to explain what it can do now, as well as making it droppable, so your PC can drop it or put it into a bag. It will also be renamed, adding your PC's name to the diploma name.
• If you use the diploma on your PC, you will get a message telling you how much Bartending XP and how many Bartending levels you have. (You can also get this information by using the chat command /check bart)
• If you use the diploma and target a spot on the ground, it will spawn a drinks cabinet there, which your PC will walk to. You will use this cabinet to mix cocktails. If you use the diploma and target another spot on the ground while you have a cabinet out, the original cabinet will be destroyed and a new one will spawn where you targeted it. When a drinks cabinet is destroyed, anything inside the cabinet is spilled onto the ground.

Note: The diploma is not a Plot item.

The drinks cabinet is a placeable which can hold inventory. It can be destroyed in three ways:

• targeting it with your diploma
• through a conversation option with the cabinet (see below)
• through physical attacks and spells

Destroying the cabinet always dumps its contents on the ground.

Bartending Experience and Progression

Bartending does not grant any real XP. Like most of the other Avlis custom tradeskills, it grants its own tradeskill experience points, Bartending XP, and has a level progression the same as character levels.

Bartending is different from other tradeskills in that it grants you a skill bonus every time you gain a level up to 10th level. These skill points are permanently added to the PC's hide. Whenever a PC gains a bartending level between 2nd and 10th, you will be shown your PC's hide to confirm the bonus has been granted. (You can also confirm the bonus by looking at your PC's character sheet, and can examine your PC's hide at any time with the /check hide chat command.) The bonuses are as follows:

• 2nd lvl: +2 Bluff
• 3rd lvl: +2 Persuade
• 4th lvl: +2 Lore
• 5th lvl: an additional +2 Bluff (+4 total)
• 6th lvl: an additional +2 Persuade (+4 total)
• 7th lvl: an additional +2 Lore (+4 total)
• 8th lvl: an additional +2 Bluff (+6 total)
• 9th lvl: an additional +2 Persuade (+6 total)
• 10th lvl: an additional +2 Lore (+6 total)

In other words, a 10th level Bartender will have +6 bonuses to Bluff, Persuade, and Lore added to his PC hide.

You can continue to gain Bartending levels after 10th. Additional levels after 10th do not provide any more skill bonuses, but will allow you to mix potions (see below).

Mixing Cocktails

When you close the drinks cabinet, a conversation will begin. You will have the option to mix a cocktail or pack up the cabinet. The latter option destroys the cabinet, spilling all of its contents on the ground.

Mixing a cocktail is similar to making items in other tradeskills - you put components into the drinks cabinet and then a roll is made to see whether or not you succeed in making a cocktail. The difficulty levels and xp gain are similar to the other tradeskills. There are three levels of success and failure:

• Success: you make a cocktail and gain Bartending XP..
• Failure: you make a Strange Concoction, which is potable but would probably not be described by anyone as delicious. You do not gain Bartending XP.
• Critical failure: you fail so horribly that the resulting mixture is not drinkable by anyone and is discarded.

No matter whether you succeed or fail, when you try to mix a cocktail the components used are always destroyed.

Unlike many tradeskills, there is no "mass bartending" or "craft 50" option - while you can put as many components into the drinks cabinet as you like, you can only mix one cocktail at a time.

Recipes

The biggest difference between Bartending and the other tradeskills is the way recipes are handled. There is no menu with recipes listed at each level. Recipes don't use specific components - they use groups of components. These can be figured out through experimentation. I will give as examples the three 1st level recipes.

Garnished Beer: to make this you simply need fruit and a beer/ale. Fruit can be any of the following items: Blackberry, Blueberry, Raspberry, Bag of Cherries, Berries, and Nanshi Vehir Berries. Beer/ale can be any potion that has the Cast Spell: Alcohol, Beer Single Use property. This includes ales from offworld. Avlis custom beer/ales can also be used, which includes items like Galdosian King's Ale and Heartwood Stout. Any combination of a fruit and a beer/ale can be used to make a Garnished Beer.

When you succeed in making a cocktail, it will spawn directly into your PC's inventory. It will have a custom name such as "Rodrick Goodman's Garnished Beer". The cocktail's description will include the names of the components the PC used to make it. For example, the Garnished Beer description could look like this: "Rodrick Goodman has garnished Galdosian King's Ale with Bag of Cherries to give it a slightly fruity taste."

Now, on to the other two 1st level recipes:

Shandy: this is a mixture of a juice and a beer/ale. Juices include such items as Apple Juice, Orange Juice, Fanos' Fruity Punch, Shemathen Root Beer, and Radish Juice.

Half and Half: this is a mixture of two beers/ales. They must be different - you can't split a stack of Ale in half and try to use the two stacks to make a Half & Half.

There are a total of 27 recipes across 8 levels. For lower-level recipes (1st through 4th), the recipe level is determined by the alcoholic strength of the resulting cocktail. In Avlis, alcoholic drinks are rated by their strength:

• Beers/Ales: 1
• Wines: 2
• Spirits/Liquors: 3
• Strong Liquors: 4 (includes Grainshots and Deputy Tom's Moonshine)

Higher level recipes (4th through 8th) are more complex, and some require more components than lower level recipes. Some also require a new component, Cocktail Mix, which can be purchased at some taverns and inns.

As mentioned above, PCs can only make one cocktail at a time. When a PC tries to mix a cocktail, the drinks cabinet will examine everything inside it and look to see if any components match a recipe. Higher level recipes take precedence.

Cocktail Components

Groups of components used to make cocktails include but are not limited to:

• Beer/Ale: as described above
• Wine: any item with the property Cast Spell: Alcohol, Wine Single Use, as well as Avlis custom wines
• Spirits/Liquor: any item with the property Cast Spell: Alcohol, Spirits Single Use, as well as Avlis custom spirits
• Strong Liquor: as described above
• Fruit
• Juice
• Herbs: some plants (herbs, vegetables, etc.) can be used to garnish a cocktail or infuse it with flavor
• Cocktail Mix: a catch-all item used in higher level recipes for more complicated cocktails that require things like syrup and soda water, such as Deputy Tom Collins, Song Island Tea, and Tyeduan Sunrise.

Mixed cocktails cannot be used as components in other cocktails. For example, you can't use a Half and Half to make a Shandy or a Garnished Beer.

Mixing Potions

Once a PC has gained 10 levels in Bartending, they gain the ability to mix potions. When two potions are successfully mixed, the end result is a new potion that will grant the effect of the one the two original potions, but at the combined caster level of the two potions that were mixed. The resulting potion effect is randomly chosen between the two potions.

Example: a bartender mixes two standard NWN potions, Potion of Aid and Potion of Barkskin, both of which have a caster level of 3. If successful, the bartender will create either a new Potion of Aid or Potion of Barkskin, which when drunk will cast its respective spell at caster level 6.

There are some limitations to potion mixing:

• You cannot mix two potions of the same spell, even if they are of different caster levels.
• Mixed potions cannot be further mixed with other potions.
• Only potions that cast spells can be mixed; custom scripted potions such as the Potion of Psionic Resistance cannot be used in potion mixing.

The chance that a bartender successfully mixes two potions is affected by the combined caster level of the potions to be mixed as well as the PC's Bartending and Alchemy levels. In some cases a PC can outdo himself and create a mixed potion which casts its spell with metamagic (empowered, extended, maximized) when drunk. Likewise, it is possible for the bartender to fail when mixing potions, sometimes in spectacular fashion. There are also cases when the bartender can create a mystery potion, whose effects are completely unknown until drunk.