Potions in RPGs

[Quertus]

So, a thought just hit me: from video games and anime, I'm really used to the idea of potions as a staple for heroes / adventurers / what have you.

The most common potion is, of course, the Healing potion. And numerous IP, including D&D, have this covered.

The next most common potion is the Mana potion. But I'm drawing a blank on any IP whose RPGs actually contain such (Unless perhaps the Diablo expansion had Mana potions?).

Then there's Stamina potions. And... I guess more modern IP, with various Stimulants qualify? Anything beyond that?

After that... it's rarer potions, like speed potions or invisibility potions or other crazy concoctions. What would Harry Potter be without Polyjuice, or Dresden be without its plot coupons? What are y'all's feelings about these various miscellaneous tools in consumable form?

Part of the reason I ask is, I'm personally more fond of mana potions than I am of miscellaneous potions, yet, in RPGs, the latter is far more common than the former (where "more common" might mean "actually exists). I'm even in theory a fan of investigating mysterious items... but that feels like wasted effort for a 1-shot potion. Maybe that's just me. I'm... neutral (?) about buying plot coupons - that is, I'm not used to it, but I'm willing to accept "we need to (craft or) buy items of water breathing in order to complete this quest" as a reasonable thought process for PCs / reasonable way to allow arbitrary parties to progress through a story line as good RPG design.

At this point I'm rambling, but what do y'all think of potions? Have you seen any of the elusive Mana or Stamina potions in RPGs? Any RPGs where potions really rock, really help bring the RPG together? Any places where you hate potions? Any particular potions ideas you really love?

[Anymage]

Mana potions are an allowance for computer games, to allow magic users a bit of stamina wiggle room before they have to hang out in the back defending or doing piddly autoattack damage. They can be used in TTRPGs, but that would require a MP system which comparatively few TTRPGs have. Stamina potions, meanwhile, would require some sort of fatigue tracking system while also being okay with fatigue being circumvented by stamina potions, which doesn't leave much value for including them in a game.

Plot coupons in a TTRPG have the problem that the DM can't know where the plot will go as well as a single author can. Players can look for other ways to achieve their same goals, or else just not pick up on the plot thread that will require questng for the plot coupon before going after the main plot. Unless the players can just buy potions as utility consumables. In which case that's not unknown, and mostly less popular because players would rather spend gold on permanent upgrades.

Potions as the character's medium for spellcasting is quite possible. It's just that alchemist is a less popular archetype than something like fireball flinger.

[Kurt Kurageous]

Mana potions are an allowance for computer games, to allow magic users a bit of stamina wiggle room before they have to hang out in the back defending or doing piddly autoattack damage.

I think you are asking (in 5e) for a potion that restores a consumed spell slot. Go for it.

[Anymage]

I think you are asking (in 5e) for a potion that restores a consumed spell slot. Go for it.

It's not hard to do mechanically. Items like pearls of power already exist to extend daily spell slots. However, if a class is designed around having to conserve their high level spell slots and then potions are introduced that allow for easy refilling of those spell slots, that will skew your balance pretty hard.

[firelistener]

For me, I actually prefer niche potions. I would rather see players use their limited tools creatively rather than have a general-purpose resource that can be used to solve any challenge as long as they have it available. It's why I like spell slots over MP systems in tabletop as well.

[Satinavian]

At this point I'm rambling, but what do y'all think of potions? Have you seen any of the elusive Mana or Stamina potions in RPGs? Any RPGs where potions really rock, really help bring the RPG together? Any places where you hate potions? Any particular potions ideas you really love?

TDE has a mana based magic system and has had mana potions since the eigthies. But later they made them more rare and expensive, the direct opposite to how healing potions were treated. It seems that the impression was that healing potions did a lot of good at preventing wounded PCs being left behind and the players having to sit out half the session where mana potions instead allowed spellcasters going nova even more, which was seen as somewhat undesirable.

TDE also had miscellious potions. And since the 90s complete recipies for every single potion. And you totally waste a whole session or more hunting down all the ingredients, potentially getting special tools ready and finally doing the brewing process to create a single potion. But then it turned out that it was stupid idea to have a super detailed and complex minigame for a single character and hardly any group actually wanted to make a whole adventure out of browing a single potion. So during the 00s some more simplified alchemy system was introduced in a subsetting but mostly ignored as it was not a super popular subsetting and not compatible with alchemist skills from the primary setting. 5th edition still printed all the old recipies, but made a rule in the line of "you can buy all the ingredients for X".

[Anonymouswizard]

Yeah, most games with casting resources use some kind of mana/stamina/fatigue/whatever point pool, partially because it's easier than tracking up to ten different resource pools. There are exceptions, but in the grand scheme spell slots tend to be limited to D&D and direct derivatives.

Of the ones I own which use spell points they tend to have either mana potions or some kind of magical battery (rechargeable or nonrechargeable). Like health potions they mostly serve to give a bump in staying power when encounters and adventures begin to drag. But they're less common because MP tends to regen faster than HP, sometimes ten times as fast or more.

I'll also quibble, the second most common kind of potion is the Antidote. The 'remove bad thing without Spellcaster present' one. It's not always explicitly magical, but it's common.

[False God]

Potions are an excellent gold sink in many computer games. But most computer games are essentially a collection of point-systems. You trade Points A(currency) for Points B(potions) which get you Points C(mana/HP/fatigue).

Most TTRPGs like to do silly things like having Vancian casting, where there is no clear and direct correlation between System A and System B. Without that correlation, you can't connect them with sub-systems like Potions. Well, you can, but it takes more work, and it's less granular.

Personally, I use spell-points in D&D, and just copy-pasta health potions into "mana" potions. Works well enough. Though I've got some more intensive rules on the creation of either than RAW so potions in general are more expensive and less common.

[Marcloure]

Mana potions can exist in any RPG with, well, mana. Even in D&D you have some stones that can recharge spell slots. The thing you need to pay attention to is that they need to have a higher cost per restored HP than a healing potion. In other words, buying a healing potion to heal 10 HP should be cheaper than buying a mana potion that will allow you to cast a spell to heal 10 HP.

[Quertus]

TDE has a mana based magic system and has had mana potions since the eigthies. But later they made them more rare and expensive, the direct opposite to how healing potions were treated. It seems that the impression was that healing potions did a lot of good at preventing wounded PCs being left behind and the players having to sit out half the session where mana potions instead allowed spellcasters going nova even more, which was seen as somewhat undesirable.

TDE also had miscellious potions. And since the 90s complete recipies for every single potion. And you totally waste a whole session or more hunting down all the ingredients, potentially getting special tools ready and finally doing the brewing process to create a single potion. But then it turned out that it was stupid idea to have a super detailed and complex minigame for a single character and hardly any group actually wanted to make a whole adventure out of browing a single potion. So during the 00s some more simplified alchemy system was introduced in a subsetting but mostly ignored as it was not a super popular subsetting and not compatible with alchemist skills from the primary setting. 5th edition still printed all the old recipies, but made a rule in the line of "you can buy all the ingredients for X".

TDE only exists in German, not in English, right? So... how does it handle wealth? How many potions can a beginning vs experienced Mage afford to carry around? How much of what natural capacity can such potions replenish?

I've never heard of an RPG that actually had Mana Potions, so I find myself quite curious about their effects on play.

Similar questions for healing potions, too, wrt expected capacity/stockpile, what they're competing against for wealth expenditures, and % health recovered, especially since they felt the need to (effectively) buff them after the first printing.

[warty goblin]

TDE only exists in German, not in English, right? So... how does it handle wealth? How many potions can a beginning vs experienced Mage afford to carry around? How much of what natural capacity can such potions replenish?

Both 4th and 5th edition have English translations, under the English name The Dark Eye. 5th is really good, albeit way, way crunchier than is in vogue. 4th is, well, look if I said it was a German RPG with a lot of detailed rules, you'd not be far off the mark. Also only like the core rules, one setting book, and a single adventure from 4th ever got translations, so there's not a lot of actual options there.

Because TDE/DSA branched from D&D really early and was able to develop on its own, by the time you get to 5th edition it's a radically different game than you might be used to in the fantasy adventure RPG genre. Where D&D has an on again off again relationship with skill systems, DSA more or less is a skill system. The core mechanic is that every skill check is three linked roll under your stat checks, with skill points used to make up the difference when you roll too high.

So e.g. climb is I think Courage, Strength and Agility. If you have Cou 12, Str 15 and Agi 10, you make 3 d20 rolls in order, trying to get less than or equal to those scores. Your skill points let you essentially add to your attribute score/subtract from the dice roll to get back to passing, but your skill points don't reset until the end of the check. So if I roll 5 on the first roll I pass that, but a 17 on the second requires 2 points of climbing skill to pass, and a roll of 13 on the Agi check requires three points. If I have 5 or more points in Climb I'm fine, otherwise I fail.

(Weapon combat uses a slight simplification of these rules, but every weapon type is it's own skill.)

The kicker is that spells use this same system - every individual spell is its own skill. And they don't all use the same attributes either, it varies from spell to spell. There's some vaguely metamagic stuff about casting with a penalty to get better results as well, or spending more mana to upcharge the result you can do too.

That alone reins magic in a lot, because casting spells can fail, knowing them isn't free (you have to spend XP to learn them and to advance your skill in them) and so knowing magic comes at the direct expense of your other skills. Then the spells each come from different traditions, each of which have their own demands, and generally you only get access to one of them. Bottom line is you simply do not have fiat access to any given spell effect, and this is deeply embedded in the rules.

The magic is also generally much weaker and more, mmm, specific than in D&D. There's not a ton of direct damage spells, buffs are lower key, and summoning is just an utterly different beast. Like, there's literally a chapter on the lengthy rituals you have to do to summon something, and if you mess up, it can try to eat you.

Bottom line is that giving a TDE caster some more magic juice is nothing like giving a D&D wizard a 4th level spell slurpee.

[Anonymouswizard]

I remember in this forum making a joke that DSA had rules for what happens if you forget to use a whetstone and essentially got 'only in a previous efition' in response.

Now cards on the table, DSA is a game I'd love to run but never will. It's definitely in my top three heroic/western fantasy RPGs*, and by far the crunchiest of them. But a lot of people I'm likely to play with would struggle with character creation for various reasons, and that just makes it a no-go. It's why I've still not got the full sized corebook. It's an amazing game, but even the streamlined 5e is a lot. The character sheet is 4+ pages long, and it would probably be hard to reduce that without sacrificing the bits that make the game great.

...I own a lot of games that are probably too complex for me to practically run.

* The other two are Advanced Fighting Fantasy and The Fantasy Trip.


ETA: The Dark Eye is kind of like what The Fantasy Trip would have been if it had surpassed D&D.

[warty goblin]

I remember in this forum making a joke that DSA had rules for what happens if you forget to use a whetstone and essentially got 'only in a previous efition' in response.

Truly, 4th Edition needs to be seen to be believed. There is a -10% chance I'd ever play it, but the book is worth every penny I paid, because it is amazing. One of your statistics is literally a mathematical average of three others. That just makes me swoon with joy.

Now cards on the table, DSA is a game I'd love to run but never will. It's definitely in my top three heroic/western fantasy RPGs*, and by far the crunchiest of them. But a lot of people I'm likely to play with would struggle with character creation for various reasons, and that just makes it a no-go. It's why I've still not got the full sized corebook. It's an amazing game, but even the streamlined 5e is a lot. The character sheet is 4+ pages long, and it would probably be hard to reduce that without sacrificing the bits that make the game great.

Absolutely this. I really love the skill check resolution mechanic, the bit where everything is a skill, and just the tone and level of the whole thing. DSA just nails a flavor of not being exactly gritty, but being quite grounded for fantasy. Basically DSA the system works like a Dragonlance novel reads.

...I own a lot of games that are probably too complex for me to practically run.
.

Also true. I'm hoping in a couple months I can get my GF and a couple of her friends to try something very, very simple. Like I'm seriously questioning whether 5E D&D is more complicated than is useful here. It's not that they can't understand something with that level of detail, it's that I'm worried the detail and rules burden will make interacting with the game feel unfun and like homework. Like you need a mechanic for trying to hit the orc with your sword, and you need enough granularity for Fred Fighter to hit better than Wanda Wizard, but how much more than that is actually useful when getting people into a game?

[Anonymouswizard]

Also true. I'm hoping in a couple months I can get my GF and a couple of her friends to try something very, very simple. Like I'm seriously questioning whether 5E D&D is more complicated than is useful here. It's not that they can't understand something with that level of detail, it's that I'm worried the detail and rules burden will make interacting with the game feel unfun and like homework. Like you need a mechanic for trying to hit the orc with your sword, and you need enough granularity for Fred Fighter to hit better than Wanda Wizard, but how much more than that is actually useful when getting people into a game?

Skipping the rest of your post because we're basically in agreement, but I'd be in the same position if I wasn't on the other side of the country to my partners. D&D has all these weird bits of complexity built into it including characters gaining a lot of abilities as they level, and I'd generally much rather move away from that. What I like about TFT is that most skills are just enablers that let you roll, although AFF has the advantage of Fighting Fantasy having had a resurgence a decade or two ago. And I should really pick up AFF in hardcover.

I've also got options like Fate and the various Osprey games (even if Crescendo of Violence seems designed to annoy me), but this discussion could probably be a thread of it's own.

[Satinavian]

TDE only exists in German, not in English, right? So... how does it handle wealth? How many potions can a beginning vs experienced Mage afford to carry around? How much of what natural capacity can such potions replenish?

I've never heard of an RPG that actually had Mana Potions, so I find myself quite curious about their effects on play.

Similar questions for healing potions, too, wrt expected capacity/stockpile, what they're competing against for wealth expenditures, and % health recovered, especially since they felt the need to (effectively) buff them after the first printing.

Wealth : TDE does not have the kind of ridiculous wealth scaling that D&D has at all. A guild mage, even an experienced one would probably be able to live an lower upper class lifestyle with other caster types a step below at upper middle class. Of course there is a lot of individual variation.
A potion in TDE4 of average quality would roughly cost 60D. It is roughly enough to fill a third of the total capacity of a magic beginner or a sixth of an expert, also roughly three time the total daily regeneration of a beginner and equal to the daily regeneration of an expert.

50D would also last you one month of "rich person" lifestyle, which is what an experienced, successful mage might have. The typical desciption for that lifestyle is :

Housing: own small house or large apartment with 6 rooms
Food: three times a day, fish, meat and vegetables; matching wines
Clothing: three sets of good clothing, one set of holiday clothing made of good fabrics
Body care: daily bath and shave, up to three times per month in the bathhouse, once a month at the hairdresser's
Pleasure: daily visit to a tavern or diner, twice a month visit to a theater or fancy brothel
Travel: Hired coach, overnight stay in a single room
Personnel: one or two journeymen or house servants, plus
a handful of apprentices or servants/maids

Now for stockpiling : All TDE potions have a limited shelf life. So you buy them when you know you need them or maybe have some as emergency reserve. But actually stockpiling them is waisting money.

Healing potions of the same edition are 10D, heal roughly a third of the health of the average PC of any experience (health points barely increase) and roughly three times the daily regeneration (which doesn't increase at all). There are also various even cheaper potions and ointments for health regeneration that have various drawbacks, primarily that they don't work instantaniously.

[Kurt Kurageous]

It's not hard to do mechanically. Items like pearls of power already exist to extend daily spell slots. However, if a class is designed around having to conserve their high level spell slots and then potions are introduced that allow for easy refilling of those spell slots, that will skew your balance pretty hard.

I wasn't thinking that a potion would let one recover anything beyond what other magic items (pearl of power, ring of spell storing) can already do.

The potion would be a one time effect, probably with slot level restored corresponding to potion rarity (1 thru 5), and perhaps further limited to wizards only. Max slot level might be 5th.

The rules for hiring spellcasting services might provide a starting point for pricing/costs to craft as well.

[PrismCat21]

The WarCraft rpgs have Mana Potions statted up. I believe they restore a set number of spell slot lvls, but it could be up to a specific spell lvl. I haven't looked at them for awhile.

[Gnoman]

GURPS has mana potions, after a fashion. In the basic GURPS magic system, casting spells drains your Fatigue Points (which also go down for particularly strenuous exercise and such - it is a measure of how tired you are). The Dungeon Fantasy supplement adds an item called the "potion of Paut ", which restores Fatigue Points, but only those expended by spellcasting.

[gatorized]

So, a thought just hit me: from video games and anime, I'm really used to the idea of potions as a staple for heroes / adventurers / what have you.

The most common potion is, of course, the Healing potion. And numerous IP, including D&D, have this covered.

The next most common potion is the Mana potion. But I'm drawing a blank on any IP whose RPGs actually contain such (Unless perhaps the Diablo expansion had Mana potions?).

Then there's Stamina potions. And... I guess more modern IP, with various Stimulants qualify? Anything beyond that?

After that... it's rarer potions, like speed potions or invisibility potions or other crazy concoctions. What would Harry Potter be without Polyjuice, or Dresden be without its plot coupons? What are y'all's feelings about these various miscellaneous tools in consumable form?

Part of the reason I ask is, I'm personally more fond of mana potions than I am of miscellaneous potions, yet, in RPGs, the latter is far more common than the former (where "more common" might mean "actually exists). I'm even in theory a fan of investigating mysterious items... but that feels like wasted effort for a 1-shot potion. Maybe that's just me. I'm... neutral (?) about buying plot coupons - that is, I'm not used to it, but I'm willing to accept "we need to (craft or) buy items of water breathing in order to complete this quest" as a reasonable thought process for PCs / reasonable way to allow arbitrary parties to progress through a story line as good RPG design.

At this point I'm rambling, but what do y'all think of potions? Have you seen any of the elusive Mana or Stamina potions in RPGs? Any RPGs where potions really rock, really help bring the RPG together? Any places where you hate potions? Any particular potions ideas you really love?

Diablo has had mana potions since the first game, not sure what expansion you're referring to.

After reading your post, it occurs to me that potions as they're usually presented are pretty much the worst possible delivery method for magic power that I can imagine in a dangerous adventuring context. They're fragile, bulky, round, smooth, heavy, and expensive. Carrying, packing, transporting them; even the idea of stopping to un-cork, drink, and then either toss or stow the empty bottle, in the middle of a fight, is utterly absurd. I think only scrolls are worse; at least glass has the advantage of being largely inert, highly fire resistant, and not instantly destroyed by a drop of water.

If I were designing a magical consumable food item, I'd probably go with something like crackers or cookies. They last a long time without refrigeration, pack easily, you can put them in self-sealing metal tins that don't require rubber or cork or anything that could easily degrade, popping one quickly is at least conceivable, you don't have a separate container for every single item that has to be dealt with, just dropping the container from a few feet isn't going to utterly obliterate everything inside it, you can hide them on your person far more easily than you could potions, and unlike potions, they can easily pass for an ordinary snack, assuming no magical detection of course.

[Bohandas]

After reading your post, it occurs to me that potions as they're usually presented are pretty much the worst possible delivery method for magic power that I can imagine in a dangerous adventuring context. They're fragile, bulky, round, smooth, heavy, and expensive. Carrying, packing, transporting them; even the idea of stopping to un-cork, drink, and then either toss or stow the empty bottle, in the middle of a fight, is utterly absurd. I think only scrolls are worse; at least glass has the advantage of being largely inert, highly fire resistant, and not instantly destroyed by a drop of water.

Agreed. The only way it would be even remotely practical in combat would be if it was in one of those beer drinking hats, and even thennthe hat would need to be strapped on and the potion would need to be in something sturdier than a glass bottle

[NichG]

So, a thought just hit me: from video games and anime, I'm really used to the idea of potions as a staple for heroes / adventurers / what have you.

The most common potion is, of course, the Healing potion. And numerous IP, including D&D, have this covered.

The next most common potion is the Mana potion. But I'm drawing a blank on any IP whose RPGs actually contain such (Unless perhaps the Diablo expansion had Mana potions?).

Then there's Stamina potions. And... I guess more modern IP, with various Stimulants qualify? Anything beyond that?

After that... it's rarer potions, like speed potions or invisibility potions or other crazy concoctions. What would Harry Potter be without Polyjuice, or Dresden be without its plot coupons? What are y'all's feelings about these various miscellaneous tools in consumable form?

Part of the reason I ask is, I'm personally more fond of mana potions than I am of miscellaneous potions, yet, in RPGs, the latter is far more common than the former (where "more common" might mean "actually exists). I'm even in theory a fan of investigating mysterious items... but that feels like wasted effort for a 1-shot potion. Maybe that's just me. I'm... neutral (?) about buying plot coupons - that is, I'm not used to it, but I'm willing to accept "we need to (craft or) buy items of water breathing in order to complete this quest" as a reasonable thought process for PCs / reasonable way to allow arbitrary parties to progress through a story line as good RPG design.

At this point I'm rambling, but what do y'all think of potions? Have you seen any of the elusive Mana or Stamina potions in RPGs? Any RPGs where potions really rock, really help bring the RPG together? Any places where you hate potions? Any particular potions ideas you really love?

I never end up using them in any CRPG (or TTRPG) where they're fundamentally consumable temporary things. Except I guess Elder Scrolls where you make them in far greater numbers than you'll ever use to grind Alchemy...

But the way they're handled in Witcher for example is kind of nice - there, 'potions' are basically swappable buffs that are free to refresh but which you can only have a certain maximum at a time before the toxicity builds up. I could definitely see that in a TTRPG.

Alternately, if you go more on the 'elixir' side of things, where potions are unique consumables with *permanent* effects, I could see it. Like, a potion that can regenerate a limb in a system where there isn't a spell for that; or a potion that makes you permanently become a werewolf, or permanently become immune to fire at the cost of having a fire elemental taking up a quadrant of your soul, or things like that. That kind of potion I sort of like - a way to have a (potentially somewhat unpredictable) permanent alteration of your character in exchange for consuming a one-use resource. More like a xianxia 'eat this pill and level up' kind of consumable than a 'here's a spell in a bottle, but seriously just have your cleric cast it on you' thing.

[Khedrac]

Have you seen any of the elusive Mana or Stamina potions in RPGs?

It occurs to me that I have seen mana potions in a game - a Live Action RPG (The realm) that I played at University. Mana potions were an important resource (I don't recall if healing potions were even available) though a lot of us carried "dehydrated mana potions" i.e. a mint as something easier to carry and consume.

Live Action gaming also led to the time on a weekend away were the high-level party took a break mid-adventure - all the characters were full health, mana and stamina but the players were exhausted...

[Anonymouswizard]

Diablo has had mana potions since the first game, not sure what expansion you're referring to.

After reading your post, it occurs to me that potions as they're usually presented are pretty much the worst possible delivery method for magic power that I can imagine in a dangerous adventuring context. They're fragile, bulky, round, smooth, heavy, and expensive. Carrying, packing, transporting them; even the idea of stopping to un-cork, drink, and then either toss or stow the empty bottle, in the middle of a fight, is utterly absurd. I think only scrolls are worse; at least glass has the advantage of being largely inert, highly fire resistant, and not instantly destroyed by a drop of water.

If I were designing a magical consumable food item, I'd probably go with something like crackers or cookies. They last a long time without refrigeration, pack easily, you can put them in self-sealing metal tins that don't require rubber or cork or anything that could easily degrade, popping one quickly is at least conceivable, you don't have a separate container for every single item that has to be dealt with, just dropping the container from a few feet isn't going to utterly obliterate everything inside it, you can hide them on your person far more easily than you could potions, and unlike potions, they can easily pass for an ordinary snack, assuming no magical detection of course.

Complete Arcane for 3.5 had some alternatives to potions (and scrolls), the two of which that I can remember were magic tiles (snap to use) and magic fruit (eat to use). I'd honestly go for the latter, the infused potion was supposed to last a lot longer, you generally infuse fruit sections so it doesn't take long to scoff one, and you can fit several in a container. Tiles are a pretty cool image, but more likely to go off unintentionally (on the plus side your bag has full ho and mp).

I never end up using them in any CRPG (or TTRPG) where they're fundamentally consumable temporary things. Except I guess Elder Scrolls where you make them in far greater numbers than you'll ever use to grind Alchemy...

In general potions in CRPGs occupy a weird place. I use healing potions a lot in early Persona, SP potions in late game boss fights, and otherwise they're just there for emergencies. In WRPGs I have every fighter carry a few healing potions in case the healer can't get to them, but rarely use the other kinds.

But the way they're handled in Witcher fAlternately, if you go more on the 'elixir' side of things, where potions are unique consumables with *permanent* effects, I could see it. Like, a potion that can regenerate a limb in a system where there isn't a spell for that; or a potion that makes you permanently become a werewolf, or permanently become immune to fire at the cost of having a fire elemental taking up a quadrant of your soul, or things like that. That kind of potion I sort of like - a way to have a (potentially somewhat unpredictable) permanent alteration of your character in exchange for consuming a one-use resource. More like a xianxia 'eat this pill and level up' kind of consumable than a 'here's a spell in a bottle, but seriously just have your cleric cast it on you' thing.

I think shortish term potions work better with abstract resources. Like the Elixir endowment in Hunter: the Vigil, where you get to carry a certain number of potions and have to define what they are, but they get refreshed between adventures. Make having potions more if a character thing than an equipment thing, so using one becomes more like using a spell.

[Spore]

Maybe that's just me. I'm... neutral (?) about buying plot coupons - that is, I'm not used to it, but I'm willing to accept "we need to (craft or) buy items of water breathing in order to complete this quest" as a reasonable thought process for PCs / reasonable way to allow arbitrary parties to progress through a story line as good RPG design.

They are neat options for the DM or storyteller to patch up missing powers for a certain plot point. Party needs a detour to the underwater city of the Tritons? Waterbreathing potions. We are fighting a vampire? Potion of immunity to charms. But the only way potions are used is when they are worth next to NOTHING for merchants, and provide a huge benefit in situ. Why should I use a potion that heals 5 HP worth 50 gold pieces when I get my 78HP back in a long rest?

But overall, aside from fixing healing to not have to involve a healbot character I am not a fan of potions without the proper character setup. For Witcher Geralt, alchemy is part of his character. For a Batmanesque character, their superpower is planning ahead (and being rich!). I am a huge fan of potions that do not replicate spells 1 to 1. Because it is a separate mechanic. If I want a mage armor spell I need to pay a wizard to apply it. if I want a shield spell, I get a shield brooch. If I want a protective potion, I get a potion that makes me immune to petrification

[truemane]

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