Potions in 3.5

[Sploggle1]

I was trying to figure a way for non magic users to be able to make potions in 3.5. I took the whole list of herbs from 1e and categorized them by effects.
Currently I am wanting to get potions out of the way and I was wondering what the current DC's are for creating them normally so I can convert it to my new chart.

Currently without the DC chart this is what I have:

Brewing potions as a non caster

You can learn to mix together herbs, spices, and vegetables to create many types of potions with the feat Brew Herbs. You can also learn from other characters, or NPC's how to brew them without the feat but with a downside. The brewer will automatically suffer a -4 penalty to all rolls. These potions are also weaker than their magically infused counterparts.
The upside: Herbs are found everywhere. After a great battle if someone gets wounded someone with the knowledge (nature) skill can go search for these necessary herbs. It is also cheaper for the characters who have this skill to find a fix for their current problem like wounds, or sicknesses.
The downside: Now having a quick and cheap brew of potion can be good but it could also be bad. If the roll doesn't reach the required DC then one of three things can happen. 1. Your character will take damage equal to half the potion. 2. If the brew you are creating has herbs that can be turned into poisons you may have created a poison. And finally 3. Nothing happens.
Usage: As said before these potions are weaker which means they are not as potent and take slightly longer to work. The user of the potion will have to wait 10 minutes for it to take effect.
For ones that cure disease it may take days or weeks of usage.
Non magical potions can only be used for the ailments that are listed for that herb. For example if the herb heals cuts, you cannot use it for burns.


*Ten minutes before effect
+Days or more


None Magic Wound healing: *
Cure light wounds: 1d4 +1
Cure minor wounds: 1d6 +1
Cure major wounds: 1d8 +1

None Magic Burn healing: *
Cure burn wounds: 1d4 +1

None Magic Sickness healing: *
Time may vary depending on the sickness.

None magic disease healing: +
Time may vary depending on the sickness.

[BrokenChord]

Wouldn't this be better placed in the Homebrew section? I guess it could count as a system conversion so it might have its place here, but eh.

It looks like a solid start, but you need a much more solid mechanical chassis; try PMing someone like Ur-Priest, maybe? He's very good with providing solid and fairly balanced strict mechanics to things like this.

[Sploggle1]

Yeah I was thinking homebrew but then I thought it was something that should have been done. Herbs are one of the many things that lost their luster in the later years of Dungeons and Dragons.

[Dawgmoah]

The name "potion" has magical connotations attached to it. Herbs really should be considered magical so most things derived from them should not be considered a potion. Relabel them as "tonics" or "natural remedies" with some of the same effects the regular potions give.

This was already done in the Book of Exalted Deeds when the poisons used by good-aligned characters were dubbed, "ravages and afflictions." (page 35.)

I personally use this concept in my campaign and well they are much more common (depending on if the herbs and plants are in the area) than the standard magical potions.

[Phelix-Mu]

I'd just make it a Profession(herbalist) or Craft(alchemy) rank pre-req to get a feat, let's call it Brewmaster. Once you have brewmaster, you can make brews. A brew is simply a potion with a shelf-life. Select the list of potion effects you want to duplicate, and then give it a shelf-life of one-half day per rank in the feat in question (or something like that).

Thus, the brews are cheaper (they have to be sold on-demand, and so are less marketable) and can be more widely acquired by commoners and such. Make them cost 1/10 the cost of a potion or something, and take no xp to make.

That's what I would go with. Thus, you avoid homebrewing an entirely new class of items from scratch (which could be quite the headache).