There was a minor discussion at the starting planet yesterday whether Avians would drink whiskey or not, "person A" stating they would ONLY drink wartwine if they consumed alcohol at all and also claimed that Avians are very sensitive when it comes to alcoholic beverages. "Person B" would say they could drink whiskey, much like humans - it would be different for each individual. Not saying avians are like humans, but that it would be pretty dull if they only drank wartwine.. Edit: Same goes with cigars, there is no official cigar item but as some of you might know - they excist. Would an avian smoke? Unless their beak is perfectly shapes to hold a cigar - maybe. Otherwise it would be pretty difficult inhaling the smoke due to the extra air coming through. No? I'd appreciate your views regardning this..
The general perception has been that Avians are sensitive to alcohol, becoming intoxicated faster than other races. There's nothing official about this, however. It's based on the common idea that Avians are lighter and leaner than Humans or other races, meaning they have less body mass. However, Avians can drink harder alcohols. Chemically speaking, there would be nothing different between Wartwine and Whiskey except the concentration of alcohol in each product. Mind you most people don't play getting drunk at all. We have people guzzle down whole bottles of vodka and hiccup once or twice. Ultimately, it's preference. If you are a large bodied Avian, chances are you'll have a higher tolerance than slighter Avians.
There is definitely an official examine text when you play as avian about them getting drunk faster, let me find it.
It's when you examine an Apex Drink as an Avian, and the text is: "An Apex drink? Avians do not react well to alcohol." (http://starbound.gamepedia.com/Apex_Drink)
Then I would say that Avians are weak drinkers but they enjoy the taste of wine, especially Wartwine. I have an Avian character, tall one, he could drink one or two glas of hwiskey before getting really sloppy. A Starpilot, I imagine they would drink hwiskey.. they probably drink hwiskey.. Just wanted to make sure
Maybe Avians are just really drunk on wartwine, like, all the time. One day the entire species will collectively wake up with a huge hangover and look at all the sacrifices and such as one big wild party that got out of hand.
Just because someone gets drunk quick doesn't mean they don't drink. Just take real life for example.
I always found it amusing people based a small alcohol intolerance on his text. It could mean any number of things. Maybe the player character is making a nudge that Avians are mean drunks. Maybe it is a nod to alcoholic beverages being liked to religious proceedings and this upsets them. Vague things like this don't have a defined meaning, it is what we want to make of it. I have never had an Avian that did much in the way of drinking, but if I did I would likely treat them like anyone else in regards to getting drunk or sick.
Personally, my avian can't handle alcohol at all and is very wary around alcohol. But after seeing that everyone else drinks, he just takes empty bottles of alcohol and fill it with soda. To make himself look better. Influences also affect why a character would drink in this case. Some people would just drink to fit in and others would drink because they can. I mean, if someone wants to get into the more sciencey part of birds with how their blood interacts with alcohol, there's that. After a quick search, birds (although not bird people) handle about the same amount of alcohol if not less than humans proportionally. But if I remember correctly from drug and alcohol programs in high school, alcohol tolerance comes from just how big you are. And with cigars and smokes. Even if the inhaling thing is a problem, cigars and smokes alike are also seen as a cosmetic which appeals to a lot of people. Avians raised by, let's say human pirates, would find smoking to be a norm and do it themselves. Also, secondhand smoking is also addictive so holding the smoke in the beak and just inhaling gradually would be addictive enough to keep smoking.
The speed at which someone gets intoxicated is based on their body weight, and their metabolism. It takes the average person 1 hour to process 1 drink worth of alcohol. The threshhold at which you begin to feel the effects of alcohol depend on your body weight. Avians have hollow bones, and are lighter specifically compared to any of the other races. Therefore we can extrapolate from there that they cannot hold their drink very well. Edit: Relevant
Everyone drinks whiskey. All the whiskey. All the time. All space-bars offer whiskey on tap. Thanks to alcohol-regulating nanites that were introduced into all major water supplies in 2231, all races can enjoy copious amounts of whiskey without consequence. I always just went off the idea that avians have a lower bodymass than the other races, thus can't drink as much. But geez, guys. Order some juice, you don't want to crash your spaceship on the way home.
Pfft, as if there's anything to crash into in space. More likely you'd just wake up after a night of binge-drinking in the middle of deep space with no fuel.
(try not to get off-topic) BUT, as for Avians, I have no issue with them being just as tolerant to alcohol as any other race. However, I personally believe Avians being lightweights adds a lot more diversity and creates plenty of possibilities for more dynamic RP. In the end, I say, leave it up to the player to decide. Unless it's stated by Chucklefish, I don't think we really -need- to know whether or not Avians as a whole can handle their alcohol. Handle it case-by-case, if it works for the story, then it works. Those're my views on the situation.