Faster potion brewing

[barna10]

What means are available to allow one to brew potions faster than 1 per day?

[Duke of Urrel]

Pay a team of NPCs with the Brew Potion feat to brew potions for you. Two of them can brew two vials of potion in 8 hours, three of them can brew three vials, and so on.

That's the only solution I know within the RAW.

I've often toyed with the idea of breaking the rules and allowing you to brew more than one batch of potion at the same time. You would still have to pay for the raw materials, which aren't any cheaper in bulk; you'd still have to sacrifice the same number of XPs per vial; and of course, you'd have to use a bigger cauldron if you wanted to make a really big batch. I think the rules for potion brewing got tighter in version 3.5, so I am tempted to compensate for this in some way.

[Alienist]

Pathfinder allows you to brew potions which cost 250gp or less in 2 hours.

Eberron has the Dedicated Wright - a Homunculus that crafts magic items for you (you kick it off by spending xp and materials, it puts in the time)

Be a Warfroged (sic) or someone else that doesn't need sleep.

In Eberron again, if you're taking the Lightning Rail to travel to your next module, there's some downtime there.

I think there might be a prestige class that helps with this too (but from vague memory it has sucky caster progression)

[ArcturusV]

Well, I'm not sure warforged would help. I mean I know the standard interpretation of a day's work is 8 hours, based off typical banker's hours in America, etc. But it doesn't actually say 8 hours on the ability. It says "A day". Which sucks. Even if you were up 24/7 it's still just one a day, seven a week. Or whatever your local variant uses.

Though the "on the road" thing is always good. I mean two horses and a wagon is cheap enough that outside level 1 (Which you'd have to be to brew potions typically), you can easily afford it. And provide you with a work space on the road. The rolling Laboratory/Library/workshop is a concept I always try to practice. That and if you're in a Sandbox game, or really any game where you don't want to slow down the storyline, it's about the only way you'd have time for crafting/research anyway.

[Diovid]

There are two prestige classes which do this (and which can be combined):

Alchemist Savant (Magic of Eberron)
Master Alchemist (Magic of Faerun)

[Crake]

Be a Warfroged (sic) or someone else that doesn't need sleep.

You can only work on magic items 8 hours a day, and cannot spend more time to make further progress each day.


The caster works for 8 hours each day. He cannot rush the process by working longer each day.

straight from the DMG

[thethird]

When I've tried to weaponize potions in the past I built an Artificer / Alchemist savant / Master Alchemist

Other ways not mentioned here is getting Gremma's Cauldron from expedition to undermountain, for 5000 gp it halves the time, and it also allows to convert scrolls into potions.

[HunterOfJello]

Don't forget about the Quick Potion spell. You cast it on a flask of water, then have a spellcaster cast the spell you want on the flask. After that, you have that spell as a potion for hour/lvl of the original person who cast Quick Potion.

[Darrin]

Gremma's Cauldron does several unusual things, some of which may allow you to brew more than one potion per day (consult your DM):


Gremma's Cauldron
Price: 5000 GP
Weight: 5#
(Expedition to Undermountain p. 217)
Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble... this little stewpot has several different ways to brew up abuse. First, if you have the Brew Potion feat, it cuts the time to create a potion from 8 hours down to 4 (you're still limited to one potion per day). Second, anyone without the Brew Potion feat may brew potions as if he had the feat (although the standard 8 hour creation time still applies). It's not clear to me if this allows non-spellcasters to create potions, since you still have to meet the existing requirements, which would include having the spell on your spell-list, but it might allow a non-spellcaster with SLAs to convert them into potions (check with your DM). Third, anyone (and from the context it looks like they do mean anyone, including non-spellcasters) can use the cauldron to convert a scroll into a potion by spending the difference of the creation cost in GP and XP between the scroll and the potion. It's not clear if this allows you to convert a spell on a scroll that normally can't be made into a potion (potion of meteor swarm, anyone?), but by RAW I don't see anything in the item description that explicitly says you can't. In addition to whether personal spells or spells higher than 3rd level can be converted into potions, there doesn't seem to be a daily limit on the number of potions you can create, nor does there seem to be a specific creation time. You pay the GP+XP and BAM you have a potion. And lastly, once per day you can spend 4 hours brewing and 25 GP worth of ingredients to create a potion of cure light wounds. Again, there doesn't appear to be any restriction for non-spellcasters and doesn't appear to count towards the "one potion per day" brewing limit. If you're going to use this item, you'll want to get together with your DM and go over what exactly this thing can do with a fine-toothed comb, particularly that converting scrolls into potions option.


First, it cuts the brewing time in half for standard potions: 4 hours instead of 8. Second, you can convert scrolls into potions... and no mention of a daily limit. And third, 1/day you can convert 25 GP of ingredients into a potion of CLW.

[barna10]

Gremma's Cauldron should work quite well, thanks!

Now, do you think Exceptional Artisan Feat would allow one to brew a potion in 3 hours using a Gremma's Cauldron?

Also, funnily enough, there is no reference to only being able to make one potion per day in the DMG. Is there errata somewhere that states one can only make one potion per day? If not, I don't see why Gremma's Cauldron wouldn't let one brew 2 potions per day (3 if you include the Cure Light Wounds potion, which doesn't appear to need attending).

[Aracor]

Considering that the item itself says you're still limited to one per day, I don't think it will bypass that limitation.

"First, if you have the Brew Potion feat, it cuts the time to create a potion from 8 hours down to 4 (you're still limited to one potion per day)."

[Peelee]

The Mod on the Silver Mountain: Potions in the necromancy school are ill-advised.