D&D 5E Where can I find Informaion on 5E Potions?

[Raxs_Slayer]

Hi All,

I've read through the DMs guide and the Players handbook, but I can't seem to find information regarding the potions Prices, Names and Effects n' Whatnot. Is it recorded anywhere?

 

[Kithas]

In the phb there is an entry for a healing potion and a price, it's with the adventuring supplies. In the Dm's guide there are several different potions mentioned in the magic items chapter. However the 'magic item economy' has been done away with in this system so they do not have a 'price'. If your dm sees fit to have them commonplace enough to be available in shops he should set a price for it based on supply/demand.

 

[Raxs_Slayer]

In the phb there is an entry for a healing potion and a price, it's with the adventuring supplies. In the Dm's guide there are several different potions mentioned in the magic items chapter. However the 'magic item economy' has been done away with in this system so they do not have a 'price'. If your dm sees fit to have them commonplace enough to be available in shops he should set a price for it based on supply/demand.

Cheers. I am a DM and literally just started off my first home-built campaign. I don't have much of an issue making my own potions, but I wanted to know some of the basics that do make frequent appearances in standard campaigns.

Thanks for the Info

 

[NotActuallyTim]

You might find this list helpful.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?424243-Sane-Magic-Item-Prices

 

[empireofchaos]

The problem with the potion-making rules is, they're ambiguous. If you follow the Magic Item crafting rules on p. 129 of the DMG, and you want to make a Potion of Invisibility (classed as a "Very Rare" item), it will cost you 50,000 g.p., and take you 2000 [sic] days to brew .If you follow the stipulation on p. 135 that one-shot items have half the cost of permanent items, that doesn't change things substantially.

If, on the other hand, you want to pen a spell scroll with the Invisibility spell on it (same effect, main difference would be that it takes an action to read a scroll, but a bonus action to quaff a potion), it would be classed as an "Uncommon" item (2nd level spell), cost you 500 g.p., and take you 20 days to manufacture (1/2 the time for one-shot items, as per p. 135).

So I "get" why they wanted to make Fly and Invisibility potions cost more than the others, but from any rational viewpoint, no NPC wizard is going to spend 3 years manufacturing an invis potion at this rate when she could simply write a mess of scrolls, or make house calls to whomever wants to become invisible. The rules according to the first reading are an example of poor design. If they wanted to make invisibility and fly that difficult to come by, they should have changed the levels of the spells in question for 5e. But they kept the level the same as in previous editions - they just jacked up the prices.

So I decided to follow the second path - potion prices are comparable to scroll prices. I don't take the argument that "PCs should be adventuring rather than mass producing potions" particularly seriously. First - 10 days a pop is hardly mass production. Second, being able to brew potions increases role-playing possibilities, not allowing PCs to do so in a reasonable time limits them. You can learn about where to procure materials, competitors' supply networks, unscrupulous producers, and a whole host of other interesting things.

So I threw together a price and component list for some basic arcane and druidic potions (derived from 1st and 2nd level spells) on the basis of the potion-brewing rules outlined in the Dresden Files (not a huge fan of the series, but I like the potion-making rules for D&D). The basic premise is, all potions have eight components - a liquid base (l), a component representing each of the five senses (si - sight, h - hearing, sm - smell, to - touch, ta - taste), a mental (m) component, and a spiritual component (sp).

Attaching the full list here.

EDIT: fixed typo.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

It's worth pointing out that the DMG Invisibility potions are considerably more powerful than a Spell Scroll of Invisibility. The main difference is not the action to drink, its the fact that the potion does not require you to concentrate on it.

Who can activate it and the action required to do so are a factor, and so if you're house ruling in spell potions that cast spells as normal, a potion should be more expensive than a scroll of the same spell.

However the potions in the DMG have special rules that make them worth much more than the equivalent spell.

 

[empireofchaos]

It's worth pointing out that the DMG Invisibility potions are considerably more powerful than a Spell Scroll of Invisibility. The main difference is not the action to drink, its the fact that the potion does not require you to concentrate on it.

Who can activate it and the action required to do so are a factor, and so if you're house ruling in spell potions that cast spells as normal, a potion should be more expensive than a scroll of the same spell.

However the potions in the DMG have special rules that make them worth much more than the equivalent spell.

I'm willing to accept that a potion of invisibility should be slightly more expensive than a scroll with an invisibility spell, for the reasons you point out. But the notion that the potion should cost 100 times more than the scroll is silly. The potion price I stipulate in my list, and the list in the link in the post above are all more or less resonant with invisibility potion costs in previous editions, and the new action and concentration rules (which are a fairly minor issue) excepted, invisibility isn't any more potent an effect than it was in earlier versions of the game.

 

[CapnZapp]

The given rules are completely useless for creating a rational modular item structure akin to 3E.

You would probably be better off starting with the 3E rules and modify them for the changed 5E parameters.

It would still be a herculean effort, which is why its absence is perhaps the greatest gap in using 5E to drive d20 era campaigns.

 

[NotActuallyTim]

I'm willing to accept that a potion of invisibility should be slightly more expensive than a scroll with an invisibility spell, for the reasons you point out. But the notion that the potion should cost 100 times more than the scroll is silly. The potion price I stipulate in my list, and the list in the link in the post above are all more or less resonant with invisibility potion costs in previous editions, and the new action and concentration rules (which are a fairly minor issue) excepted, invisibility isn't any more potent an effect than it was in earlier versions of the game.

Honestly, I don't think it's the effect that matters so much in the potion as much as the lack of concentration. Not needing concentration means that someone can be, say, invisible and summoning monsters at the same time. The ability to combine independent effects is much more powerful the any one effect ever could be.

 

[IgnatiusJ.Reilly]

Just to ward away confusion, potions require an action to use and the potion of invisibility requires concentration, as (no concentration required) is not listed within its description. But, yes, crafting cost and time required is rather prohibitive. Maybe if the PCs have too much gold and too much time.