DM question: potions of healing

[Fflewddur Fflam]

So I mentioned in another thread that I am converting the old computer game "Baldur's Gate 2" to pen and paper 5e and I have a question concerning healing potions.

In the game, healing potions are found everywhere like candy (in addition to magic items). Converting to 5e has, of course, meant scaling back big time on all the magical items but I'm confused as to how often to drop healing potions among treasure.

It seems if you provide too many healing potions then the PC's will have no trouble chugging them during tough battles and making every combat trivial. So how often and how much to provide the PC's with healing potions in a dungeon crawl or whatever?

Thanks for any insight!

[Blue Lantern]

There is no hard rule for how much healing potions are needed, it depends on the party composition (a group with no healer would need more) and the kind of campaign and the difficulties they encounter.
In any case if you are afraid about chugging potions in battle, that is actually not as a big deal as you make out to be, consuming a potion takes an action and the healing amount is small, especially past the first few levels, compared to the potential damage taken by enemies, using potion in combat is more of a desperation move that an useful action.

[Fflewddur Fflam]

There is no hard rule for how much healing potions are needed, it depends on the party composition (a group with no healer would need more) and the kind of campaign and the difficulties they encounter.
In any case if you are afraid about chugging potions in battle, that is actually not as a big deal as you make out to be, consuming a potion takes an action and the healing amount is small, especially past the first few levels, compared to the potential damage taken by enemies, using potion in combat is more of a desperation move that an useful action.

I hear what you are saying but I'm looking at potions of greater healing which I feel if I give too much of, then there's too much easy healing. I don't know, converting BG2 is tough, especially with all the gold and magic items, two things that don't fit 5e at all.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I am converting the old computer game "Baldur's Gate 2" to pen and paper 5e

Baldur's Gate 2 was all combat, all the time. There were no short rests and, assuming you run with the starting NPCs and your PC isn't a cleric or druid, your healing is limited to a fighter/druid and (very squishy) cleric/mage. That's pretty limited so potions are useful. Especially because casting higher-level cure spells takes forever.

In 5e, you won't need so many potions. Maybe a sensible attrition rate would be one or two per adventuring day?

[Fflewddur Fflam]

Baldur's Gate 2 was all combat, all the time. There were no short rests and, assuming you run with the starting NPCs and your PC isn't a cleric or druid, your healing is limited to a fighter/druid and (very squishy) cleric/mage. That's pretty limited so potions are useful. Especially because casting higher-level cure spells takes forever.

In 5e, you won't need so many potions. Maybe a sensible attrition rate would be one or two per adventuring day?

That sounds good. I'm certainly cutting down the combat encounters dramatically anyway. It's all fine and good for a computer game to be hack and slash but if I put every combat encounter in a pen and paper conversion it would arduous as hell.