Potions in 3.5?

[Bacchanalian]

Hey guys, I'm kinda new at 3.5 so bear with me. The character I developed is a Bard, but he has addiction issues. I was originally thinking some sort of substance that he smoked and was dependent on, but the DM suggested potions would fit his campaign world better. The idea is to play a CN bard whose ultimate goal in life is to find that next potion and gobble it down to see what happens. Or maybe to keep a stash of a few off the wall potions that he'll use with no warning because "hey this might solve the problem, never mind that it'll turn me into a bull for an hour afterwards". I want him to focus on support skills so he's quite useful to the party, at least when he's not being a complete nuisance chugging any random glass vial he can get his paws on. He has extremely low constitution (7), so I was thinking maybe something to boost his constitution or a related ability would be his "gateway drug" so to speak, but I'm not that familiar with potions in 3.5 and how they work.

Any pointers?

[Hazrond]

Hey guys, I'm kinda new at 3.5 so bear with me. The character I developed is a Bard, but he has addiction issues. I was originally thinking some sort of substance that he smoked and was dependent on, but the DM suggested potions would fit his campaign world better. The idea is to play a CN bard whose ultimate goal in life is to find that next potion and gobble it down to see what happens. Or maybe to keep a stash of a few off the wall potions that he'll use with no warning because "hey this might solve the problem, never mind that it'll turn me into a bull for an hour afterwards". I want him to focus on support skills so he's quite useful to the party, at least when he's not being a complete nuisance chugging any random glass vial he can get his paws on. He has extremely low constitution (7), so I was thinking maybe something to boost his constitution or a related ability would be his "gateway drug" so to speak, but I'm not that familiar with potions in 3.5 and how they work.

Any pointers?

7 con? I sure hope he can survive long enough for this concept to work

[heavyfuel]

First things first. Unless your DM is willing to give you potions at a reduced price, this is an addiction that will likely starve you financially as potions are a bit expensive.

Potions in D&D are basically magic that's stored in liquid form. So you can have a Potion of Enlarge Person that, when drank, enlarges you like an Enlarge Person spell. Or you can have a potion of Cure Light Wounds that heals you a bit. There's nothing, to my knowledge, that turns you into a bull when drank (even potions of things like Polymorph will allow you choose a creature as far as I know).

If you want some rules for addiction and withdraw, check the Book of Vile Darkness (if available).

As far as something for Con boosting, a potion of Bear Endurance is what you want, though it costs 300GP a pop, and last for only 3 minutes.

I'm not saying you couldn't make this concept work, but it'll be hard. Maybe try alcoholism.

[Bacchanalian]

Noted, thanks! I had originally wanted to go with a drug of some sort that conferred no real benefit, but was his addiction and without it he suffered withdrawal symptoms, but the DM suggested potions instead. Maybe he has something in mind to make it work, who knows. I'll check out the addiction/withdrawal stuff mentioned though if I can track down the Book of Vile Darkness.

And yeah, 7 con was a huge gamble. We'll see how it goes. At worst, I'll have to roll up a new character when this one proves to be too short-lived. Our DM is big on character flaws and creating characters with quirks that will have serious impacts on how we play them, so this was the idea I came up with. I suppose I could swap his STR and CON (11 and 7 respectively) if the CON is just way too low. Better to be barely able to lift a jug of water but survive a scratch.

And yeah, maybe alcoholism is the way to go. Not sure though. I like the idea of something a bit edgier. The notion originally came out of playing a schizophrenic, but that seemed like it would be rather difficult, so I modified it into someone who has a serious addiction to the point where when he goes too long without his fix, he can devolve all the way into minor psychotic episodes complete with hallucinations and paranoia.

[Bacchanalian]

If you want some rules for addiction and withdraw, check the Book of Vile Darkness (if available).


http://therafimrpg.wikidot.com/drugs-and-poisons

Bingo! Thanks! Book of Vile Darkness was the lead I needed. Hopefully this will be enough info for my DM to work something in. I was thinking along the lines of Devilweed when coming up with the idea. And I think I'll ask him if it's okay for me to swap CON and STR, since we haven't finalized the characters yet (today is our first real meeting just to make sure the character sheets are developed and ready to go).

[heavyfuel]

http://therafimrpg.wikidot.com/drugs-and-poisons

Bingo! Thanks! Book of Vile Darkness was the lead I needed. Hopefully this will be enough info for my DM to work something in. I was thinking along the lines of Devilweed when coming up with the idea. And I think I'll ask him if it's okay for me to swap CON and STR, since we haven't finalized the characters yet (today is our first real meeting just to make sure the character sheets are developed and ready to go).

No problems man.

I do think it's a good idea to swap Str and Con, especially since you don't seem intended to go into melee. And 7 Str isn't all that bad, it's just one point below the average Halfling or Gnome, or the equivalent of an Old Age Human.

[Urpriest]

What level are you? Bards can qualify for Swiftblade (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/prc/20070327), so if you're high enough level you can RP an addiction to the Haste spell, a cool concept I've seen floated once or twice.

[Bacchanalian]

Just starting out, level 1 for now. I'll keep that one in mind for later on though, it sounds like it'll fit his personality. I got my DM to agree to some of the substances on that page I linked, so we'll see how it goes.

[Dalebert]

Potions are very cost-ineffective. It could be a very costly habit.


There's nothing, to my knowledge, that turns you into a bull when drank (even potions of things like Polymorph will allow you choose a creature as far as I know).

Actually I think that's exactly how they work.

"The character taking the potion doesn’t get to make any decisions about the effect —the caster who brewed the potion has already done so."
From the SRD: http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/potionsAndOils.htm


I do think it's a good idea to swap Str and Con, especially since you don't seem intended to go into melee. And 7 Str isn't all that bad, it's just one point below the average Halfling or Gnome, or the equivalent of an Old Age Human.

Just be aware you will constantly be battling encumbrance and wearing armor in particular is going to be problematic. I've played a STR 7 cleric and went cloistered, but couldn't really wear decent armor until I could afford a mithril chain shirt with Easy Travel on it. I suggest using mage armor until then or just do a good job of hiding behind the meat shields.

[Bacchanalian]

Yeah, I figure as a chaotic neutral bard self-preservation will be high on my priority list, so staying away from bad guys and letting our fighter and the other guy who's rolling a cleric be the front line. I'll keep that in mind about armor weights though. One of our party is focused specifically on hunting and identifying magic items, so hopefully that will pan out in some armors that will help me.

Potions sound fun, but for now I'll focus on the stuff from the BoVD and just keep an eye out for potions that I can get into and cause mischief with.