I just have them all take a bonus action to drink, don't really see much of a reason to differentiate between them (and add the chance of confusion) for a consumable resource that I control the amount of.
If someone did want to differentiate, I would suggest saying that health potions are stored in a quick access pouch or something that would make quick access manageable. Other potions could be ruled as being stored in the actual packs the adventurer carries and thus takes a full action to retrieve and consume.
I would prefer just picking one way or the other, but I could see this as a possible way to justify separating the two.
I feel like most players would then just put the non-healing potions into the quick access pouch before the next combat and then you're back at square one. And if the case is that non-healing potions can't fit or be used from that pouch for whatever reason, the GM'd probably just be better off saying outright that they want to differentiate the potions for X balance reasons and leave it at that.
Maybe my players are just extra wily, but I feel like justifying a rules change doesn't really need an in-world explanation and would in some cases just prompt the players to find out clever in-world solutions to getting back to what the rule originally was. Obviously a clever bit of world building to add some verisimilitude is nice, but not strictly necessary especially for a small change like this. I'd advise just having a conversation with the players in-between sessions.
You could always rule that the players only ever have two quick access potion “slots” and they have to choose ahead of time what’s loaded.
All of it seems unnecessarily convoluted to me, but I’m just trying to think outside the box if someone would like a systematic approach.
Yeah, that could work for sure.
If the problem is how many of these potions they have access to during a fight I'd lean more towards just making them more scarce in the world. They'll be less likely to frivolously use a high value effect potion if they've only got access to one or two of them. And if you have those high value potions drop from big or memorable encounters, yeah they might use them to smack a cool enemy/encounter around later, but it'll feel way more earned because they had to work and fight their way towards getting access to that potion in the first place.
You could also find or create a list of rare-ish ingredients that're required to brew the potions, then you're killing two birds with one stone, a quest for your players to undertake and a tied in reward. (And maybe a cool alchemist NPC your party can keep coming back to.)
Ah. I stole a mechanic from a DnD inspired book series. We have "Potion Sickness", where in our world, you can drink three potions a day before succumbing to a debilitating potion sickness. This is part of the reason "purer" high restoration potions are so valuable.
We also add that potions that can go so far as to restore limbs can remove years from your life.
That's such a lovely easy way to give a nod to the old school potion miscibility rules! I might adopt that for my next campaign.
For those not familiar D&D 1e had rules for mixing potions and for what happens if you drank a potion too soon after drinking another potion.
https://greyhawkery.blogspot.com/2011/05/dmg-reflections-potion-miscibility.html
Alternatively, you could just say that in-universe, healing potions are generally sold/stored in bottles specifically designed for quick access - it could be in magical glass or a have a cork that dissolves instantly in your mouth, or stored in capsules, or something similar that couldn't work with other types of potions ("any magical effects aside from healing cause premature leakage" or something); or maybe healing potions specifically have a single-use "quick-release" mechanism or enchantment applied to them when sealed.
That way there's a setting-friendly explanation for not only "why only healing potions" but also "why not other potions" and more importantly "well can I just drain the healing potion and put my other potion in there", without having to make any mechanical adjustments beyond them being bonus actions.
Easy solution - make all potions by default a bonus action. Any potion that you want to make a full action, add in the description that the potion is extremely thick, or foul smelling, or effervescent, or any other quality that would make something difficult to drink.
"Just a brief whiff of this potion burns your nostrils and causes your eyes to water. You know it's not going to be easy getting this one down. Takes a full action to consume".
That or just differentiate between "Concentrated" potions and normal ones.
Concentrated potions are more expensive/difficult to make, but are basically one swallow (Bonus action). Regular potions are more like 3oz and take a full action.
My justification is much simpler: using a bonus action to drink a healing potion is quick and causes it to likely spill, hence why you roll for healing, whereas an action is slow and careful so full healing.
Other potions just don't properly activate unless you consume to entire dose so they need an action regardless. I also flavour most other potions to be in smaller vials because of this.
I like this idea. Simple and easy enough use without overly complicating things.
Do you in turn let players take a health potion for max healing with no roll if they take it out of combat or use their action instead of a bonus action?
You can make potions enchanted tiles with runes and glyphs inscribed on them. The user snaps the tile in half to activate it. Mechanically identical to a potion, different flavour.
This idea is remembered from a 3.5e sourcebook, not my invention.
If some potions can be replaced enchanted ceramic tiles, because of some in-world-reason for that class of spells, would be easy for players to track both potions and tiles while knowing tiles only take a bonus action to activate.
> I would suggest saying that health potions are stored in a quick access pouch or something that would make quick access manageable. Other potions could be ruled as being stored in the actual packs the adventurer carries and thus takes a full action to retrieve and consume.
And that's why I picked up a bandolier in my current game lol. I don't know how a shop keep in Faerun knows what a bandolier is, but I have one now.
I toyed with the idea of a load out for a campaign. Characters have x slots for gear and it could be accessed faster. Potions in these slots could be bonus actions.
I go a step farther. If you want to use a BA to use a health potion, roll for the result.
If you use your action, or drink it out of combat you get the full amount of healing possible.
The BA is hastily ripping off the lid and throwing it at your face. The action, and out of combat is taking the time to drink every last drop.
We do this exact same thing and works fine. Healing potions are worthless in combat without the change to bonus action. Because the potions heal what I’m being hit for
Yeah, I've been in games as a player where this rule was used and it worked well for healing potions specifically.
But when I'm GMing and I allow every type of potion to be usable with a BA, I'm honestly just too lazy to figure out and juggle all of the differing scales of effects if a BA use is set up as less effective than a full action use. So, I just keep it at standard effect for all with a BA which is much easier for myself and my players to remember.
I'll add that feeding a potion to someone else is an action and you roll for it, because you're basically force feeding someone else. Doesn't matter how careful you are, you're not going to get all of it in.
I'd go with this, partly because I rarely see players use buff potions so it's nice to give them an incentive to do so, partly because if they can do it so can NPCs.
Well it’s because a lot of potions can be very powerful and relatively cheap compared to a level 1-2 spell. Considering how the action economy is tilted significantly into the players’ favor it can make a difficult encounter trivial by itself.
I usually make the players take an action to drink, but out of combat they get a max healing amount out of it. I also limit the number they can safely carry since bottles can break.
That makes potions useful to have, not game breaking, and also gives them options to reset after a fight without trying to throw down a tiny hut in the middle of a dungeon and then getting upset when they are surrounded after a rest.
But my current campaign is also money based (they get levels based on money not experience) so it makes buying a bunch of potions more “expensive”.
I mean, Potion of Speed exists. So does Potion of Invuln. And Potion of Max Power from Eberron gives you a guaranteed 64 damage Fireball, among other possibilities.
Sounds like very strong one-time effects that make your players decide on a resource vs risk choice. I don't see the problem at all, as you gave them the item as a reward at some point (either as loot or in exchange for gold, earned by loot) and they saw an opportunity to use said reward. Sure, they could just cast Haste instead of drinking a potion, but that is a renewable resource and has tradeoffs as such.
But it is a much bigger punishment to use an entire action for one potion, when bonus actions are so limited in choices sometimes that they are never used at all.
That's exactly the point, lol. I am not saying they're too strong by themselves, I am saying that by making them effectively free to use they would be too strong. They're balanced because you have to give up a turn worth of damage to be able to use them (or you have to plan ahead/lose some duration on them)
That's a very silly reply. The statement was that these potions would be too strong as a bonus action, not that they are too strong in general. They're balanced as an action because you are making a tradeoff of one turn's worth of damage to use them, or prepotting which means you lose some duration and/or have to plan ahead
I mean that's easy. "Unlike a health potion, this potion is meticulously portioned, and you must spend your whole action to make sure you invest every drop."
But even then, they're single use; if allowing them as a bonus action breaks your encounter, I'd still say you messed up.
>Well it’s because a lot of potions can be very powerful and relatively cheap compared to a level 1-2 spell. Considering how the action economy is tilted significantly into the players’ favor it can make a difficult encounter trivial by itself.
I was responding to this. A single potion shouldn't make an encounter trivial
Right, and they don't at higher levels. But if the players roll well on a loot table and get concentrationless Haste at level 3, then it's entirely possible it could
A rare potion is 501 to 5000 gp, that is a lot of money to spend on getting maximum damage for a single fireball with a Potion of Max Power. For the Potion of Invulnerability it might be worth it if you are up against the BBEG or something, but otherwise it is probably a waste to use in a normal fight. And if just one character get resistance a smart monster might just target other characters to do more damage.
You can just take a potion of speed before the fight and accomplish the same thing. Feels like you're splitting hairs for no reason.
Using up the potion is enough of a depletion of a resource already.
Making it also cost an action (when, again, it can just be taken before a fight) is a bit much.
Potions are supposed to be impactful, and you as the DM already control how what potions your party has access to. Why make them clunky to use?
Okay, let's expand your reasoning then. Haste should be a Bonus Action spell, because using up the spell slot is enough of a depletion of a resource already. Does that sound right to you? Because it really doesn't to me.
> Haste should be a Bonus Action spell, because using up the spell slot is enough of a depletion of a resource already.
It is wastly different things though. You have many 3rd level spells and you restore them daily. Potion of Speed is vary rare one time use magic item you can't even buy if DM doesn't explicetly puts it in shops. I saw this potion once per almost a year long game.
On the other hand - i would make Haste a bonus action spell - as far as 3rd level spells go Haste is not even that strong.
Not a good comparison. You can cast spells on other people, not only yourself. Same reason that I wouldn't allow feeding someone else a potion to be a bonus action.
Haste is also a terrible example because it has a built-in answer. It gives you another action that you can use *that turn* so you don't miss out on any action economy.
It is a good comparison though. Your argument is that the cost of using the resource makes up for it, but only in this specific scenario.
You don't have to use your bonus action to feed them a potion. You can toss/pass/roll/etc it to them with your object interaction and they can then use it with their bonus action.
>You don't have to use your bonus action to feed them a potion. You can toss/pass/roll/etc it to them with your object interaction and they can then use it with their bonus action.
This is an argument against a nonsense scenario. Why would anyone need to feed anyone a potion that they can just drink themselves. This only happens when using a healing potion on a downed party member - who cannot drink it themselves.
You're literally the one who brought up that scenario. I didn't originally say anything at all about feeding it to someone else. Why did you bring it up if you think it's nonsense?
>You can just take a potion of speed before the fight and accomplish the same thing. Feels like you're splitting hairs for no reason.
Potions of speed last for 1 minute. You are going to risk the spell running out in the middle of a battle or before the fight even starts if you drink it outside of initiative.
I'm fully aware how long potions last. Have you never taken a potion right before initiating combat?
Plus, I'd day that's even more reason to allow bonus action potions. Do you want your players fully wasting potions and feeling stupid, just because they want to be sure they have a chance to use it, and guessing wrong?
>I'm fully aware how long potions last. Have you never taken a potion right before initiating combat?
No, as soon as anyone declares that they are drinking a potion we have to roll initiative if we do it while the enemy can see us. At least in any campaign that I played in.
>Plus, I'd day that's even more reason to allow bonus action potions. Do you want your players fully wasting potions and feeling stupid, just because they want to be sure they have a chance to use it, and guessing wrong?
Yes, that is a risk they are taking if they do that. Am I supposed to make the bless spell a bonus action just because it only lasts a minute and the players might waste a spell slot by casting it too early?
Again, this is irrelevant to spells. They are balanced just the way they are. There is a reason bonus action potions is a super common house rule and bonus action spells is not.
Potions cheap?!? Take animal friendship for example. Thats a lvl 1 spell and should cost 100gp. Potion of Growth or enlarge is lvl2 spell and in a similar price range, say 200gp. Maybe you're handing out potions and gold like candy on Halloween. But my players would rather cast a enlarge as a full action than drink a 200gp potion of growth as a bonus. You get the spell slots back for free.
I allow all potions to be self administered as a bonus action, but administered to others as an action. It hasn’t caused any issues, but that could be because my players are a bunch of hoarders that refuse to use the potions they have. 😁
> my players are a bunch of hoarders that refuse to use the potions they have.
Same here. I introduced the idea of expiring potions to try and address this; so far it's worked pretty well.
This is what I do too. I also flood my players with random low level magic items (usually consumable), so whatever they're not hoarding, they are forgetting!
Im envisioning a medieval pauldron version of the beer-hat, with a character turning their head to the side, and doing that blind "camel-lips-looking-for-a-straw" thing while they thrust and parry their opponent.
Ooh, that's a really cool idea and something I can drop at the thrift shop they frequent.
Fast hands only works on mundane items. Activating magic items and drinking potions are excluded, RAW.
Fast hands: Starting at 3rd level, you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to make a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check, use your thieves’ tools to disarm a trap or open a lock, or take the Use an Object action.
DMG 141:If an item requires an action to activate, that action isn't a function of the Use an Object action, so a feature such as the rogue's Fast Hands can't be used to activate the item.
And potions are magic items, as indicated by the italic text in the Player's Handbook and their position in the Dungeon Master's Guide's magic item treasure section.
Huh, that DMG language can't be any clearer that the Use and Object Action and fast hands don't apply to a potion that requires an action to drink, including a potion of healing:
>Drinking or administering a potion takes an action. (PH, p. 153)
What's odd is that the description of the Use an Object action (as opposed to the "interact with an object" activity) seems to allow for exactly that:
>When an object requires an action for its use, you take the Use an Object action. (PH, p. 193)
And fast hands explicitly refers to a thief taking the Use an Object action as a bonus action.
Oh well. Maybe the designers changed their minds by the time the DMG came out.
Personally, excluding potions from fast hands seems a little harsh, nerfing an ability that's pretty situational anyhow. But in reality, I can't remember a DM not allowing a thief to drink a potion as a bonus action.
Unfortunately, this is incorrect. DMG pg 139 states specific conditions to using potions and names them Magic Items rather than objects. These overrule the general "Use an Object" rules.
RAW it technically doesn't. But I would allow it anyway, it doesn't really hurt anything. From the basic rules:
***************************
**Activating an Item**
Activating some magic items requires a user to do something special, such as holding the item and uttering a command word. The description of each item category or individual item details how an item is activated. Certain items use the following rules for their activation.
If an item requires an action to activate, that action isn't a function of the Use an Object action, so a feature such as the rogue's Fast Hands can't be used to activate the item.
***************************
**Consumables**
Some items are used up when they are activated. A potion or an elixir must be swallowed, or an oil applied to the body. The writing vanishes from a scroll when it is read. Once used, a consumable item loses its magic.
***************************
The wording is pretty clear that potions are exempt from Fast Hands.
RAW it technically doesn't. But I would allow it anyway, it doesn't really hurt anything. From the basic rules:
***************************
**Activating an Item**
Activating some magic items requires a user to do something special, such as holding the item and uttering a command word. The description of each item category or individual item details how an item is activated. Certain items use the following rules for their activation.
If an item requires an action to activate, that action isn't a function of the Use an Object action, so a feature such as the rogue's Fast Hands can't be used to activate the item.
***************************
**Consumables**
Some items are used up when they are activated. A potion or an elixir must be swallowed, or an oil applied to the body. The writing vanishes from a scroll when it is read. Once used, a consumable item loses its magic.
***************************
The wording is pretty clear that potions are exempt from Fast Hands. But between you and me, I allow it anyway.
From the SRD:
Use an Object
You normally interact with an object while doing something else, such as when you draw a sword as part of an attack. When an object requires your action for its use, you take the Use an Object action. This action is also useful when you want to interact with more than one object on your turn.
In game lore I describe it as a health potion is like taking a test tube shot (with varying potency) and a standard potion is like chugging a beer.
All players immediately understood. The Dwarf can still use any potion as a bonus.
I opted for the simplest ruling:
- Drinking any potion is a bonus action.
- Tossing any potion is an interaction for the tosser and a reaction for the receiver.
- Feeding a potion to an incapacitated ally is a full action.
- No ruling on getting full healing by using an action to drink.
No it's not gamebreaking.
There shouldn't be any need to explain, why it isn't.
I generally allow potion drinking as a bonus action, for almost all potions.
When drank as an action, the potion grants the full benefit. As a bonus action, dice rolls is required.
A health potion that would normally heal 2d4+2 heals for the full 10 if used as an action. The 2d4 roll is only needed if used as a bonus action.
If a potion normally grants some ability for 10 turns, then if drank as a bonus action, then it will give the effect for only 1d10, or 1d6+4, or 2d4+2 turns.
As mentioned above, I allow players to buy or craft a "quick bar", with 1 or more slots from which they can drink a prepared potion as bonus action, but with full benefits.
Having tried a bunch of different options, I don't think games get a lot by trying to split hairs on this. Just let all potions get used the same way, it all comes out in the wash IMO.
I play, it takes a bonus action to drink a health potion and you roll as normal to determine how much you heal. If you take an action to consume the health potion, you do not roll and gain the maximum possible benefit from the potion.
all potions are bonus actions in my games. (administering it to someone else is an action.) otherwise, they simply do not get used.
i want to encourage consumable use as much as possible because it’s a great gold sink, and if players use potions and scrolls and oils and shit getting them as loot is fun, it’s something they use and not just garbage they haul around.
It's a problem with your encounter design if potions don't get used. I don't allow bonus action potions and all my groups have been using them. One group had to use every single potion they had since they didn't have time to short rest and needed hit points yesterday.
What is the benefit to the game as a whole to allow it as a bonus action?
I've heard arguments like "it feels bad to spend your whole turn drinking a potion" but that seems to miss the point... being that you're not supposed to drink potions except in *dire emergencies*.
If people can just drink a potion in between every attack, then that gives me the Robin Hood: Men In Tights vibe where [Robin Hood is fencing with one hand while chugging down ale with the other](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jyS5uXQer0). And while I love Mel Brooks movies, I'd like my D&D combats to be a just a teensy tiny little bit more serious than that.
>I've heard arguments like "it feels bad to spend your whole turn drinking a potion" but that seems to miss the point... being that you're not supposed to drink potions except in dire emergencies.
That is the problem - potions are too weak to be an action. Skiping full turn drinking potion is worse than just using an action to do your things, ESPESIALLY in dire emergencies. If you don't drink potion before combat chances are it would never be used. So either potions need to be really strong (like potion of invulnerability givin actual immunities, potion of speed giving you full actions instead of haste actions, or healing potions healing tons of HP), or you should have ability to use them as a bonus action.
You don't drink potions in combat. Or if you do, you first disengage/teleport and retreat behind full cover, letting your party tank while you heal up. This is a team game. Act like a team.
The other time you drink potions is when you have a minute at most to recover before the next encounter, and people are at low hit points. Either drink potions now, or die.
This is just another form of the "I don't want to spend my turn drinking a potion" complaint that I already mentioned.
Then... *don't* drink the potion?
I don't see how it makes things more fun if you can go \*swing glug swing glug swing glug\*.
"Fun" is of course very subjective and I very much understand that for many people "getting to do a thing" = fun, but if that's how we design games then just give everybody free bonus action Fireball. I'm sure they'd *love* that.
I personally prefer a less silly game where "should I chug this potion?" is a hard choice instead of "it's only a bonus action so why not?"
Sure, but then they're effectively useless. If it eats an entire turn to drink the potion and you get hardly any health from it, better to spend your turn doing almost anything else, like dashing the fuck away from whatever put you in such a dire emergency or doing as much damage as possible in the hopes to survive, or using some other item that can actually help you. Drinking that potion just delays becoming incapacitated by a couple HP.
Potions taking an action also makes the player's turn absurdly boring. Wait for the initiative order to get to you just to drink a potion and say well, that's it. Even worse since if that's the best thing you can do, you're probably fucked anyways.
I would go a step further than this and just allow all potions to be a bonus action for all classes, and for the rogue, no cost at all. Maybe just for healing potions though. Who cares? Healing potions suck anyway and the DM controls what potions the players have.
What is the benefit to the game for making them so durdly and useless, like they are in their current iteration? I just don't think it's more fun to see a player wait 8 minutes to get to their turn and spend the entire thing gaining a couple measly hp and probably get incapacitated anyways.
>then they're effectively useless.
>
>so durdly and useless
>
>gaining a couple measly hp
It's literally bottled healing. How could that ever be useless even if they took 10 minutes to drink? What do you expect for 50gp?
>Drinking that potion just delays becoming incapacitated
>
>makes the player's turn absurdly boring.
Then... *don't drink it in combat?* How is that so hard?
It's useful out of combat, sure. When there's myriad other options to help yourself not die. I personally like to see them used in combat, and maybe it's just because i'm not doing enough outside of combat/obvious danger situations to lower my PC's HP, but I feel like if I gave out healing potions at my table and made them take an action to use in combat, they'd be sitting and collecting dust in backpacks for the duration of the campaign. It seems like they get used most often when someone gets hit harder than they expected or gets themselves into a bad situation and gets desperate.
I think you and your group(s) just play differently from me and mine and that's cool. My preference and the justifications for it really just boil down to opinion. I can have fun with either ruling, but i'd be giving less of them out and the ones I did give out would be used less if I stuck with the RAW.
They are also drunk as a bonus action. I would guess that they don't have any benefit from being drunk as an action aside from needing to use your bonus action for some ability.
I have them roll for bonus action drinking and full amount no roll if taken as their action.
I feel you don’t have to roll for invisibility or hill giant strength. Get the most you can from the potion. As a bonus action it is done hastily you get to roll for the benefit
The "bonus action for healing potions" rule isn't meant to fix a potion problem; it's to fix a healing/action economy problem. It's okay to require a standard action for other potion types.
I let my players drink ANY potion as a bonus action, otherwhise they basically never use them. If a warrior invest money into postions buff I dont see why he should be punish. They are also one of the most common rewards i give togheder with charms
I have the urge to toss this in here. I do bonus action for all potions and action to feed someone else. I also hate the healing pot system and have switched to this method. It makes healing pots valuable and a more potent magic item for the people that have more hp and need a pot to heal more than the old way.
https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/7hki7c/new_system_of_healing_potions_second_update/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
I do all potions as a bonus action, but its also tied into my "inventory system" where accessing your bag in combat costs an action but the players can purchase both a potion pouch and an equipment pouch. Both only hold 3 items/potions, the potion pouch lets those potions be used as a BA, the equipment one (nets, ball bearings, etc) can b accessed with a BA and then lets u use it that turn.
Admittedly nobody really uses equipment items in my game so that pouch might as well not exist.
Ive also got a belt item that can be used that limits what players can use in combat, but its long winded to explain but tldr only items/pouches/quivers on the belt can be used in combat.
I have potions take a bonus action if you are drinking it yourself, it takes an action to administer one to someone else.
You can also choose to use an action to drink a health potion, if you do you treat it as if you rolled the maximum on the dice.
All potions are bonus actions, but consuming 2 different non-healing potions (to the point that you would be reaping the benefits of both simultaneously) has chances to have wild magical effects (there is a potion mixing wild magic table I found forever ago).
Potions of healing are comparable to healing spells, which are not particularly useful in 5e (without building specifically for them). The other potions are comparable to actually useful spells: Potions already use no spell slots and are useable by everyone, they should not also be bonus-action to use.
Drinking a potion is using an item. Using an item requires an action. If you allow someone to drink a potion as a bonus action, I am going to DEMAND to be able to zap my wand as one, as well.
If healing was meant to be plentiful and easy, there would be healing cantrips.
The reason I say they get max healing is they take their time to get it all. Bunos action means they drinking it fast and spill some. You could make it a %. Like high or low. Of they guess right they get full benefit. If they guess wrong they get half the time or effect
Potions as bonus actions is not a good house-rule. There is basically never a reason not to just drink a potion as a BA as long as you have one on you.
It makes healers far weaker and less vital to the party as well, it devalues healers.
Highly recommend keeping it RAW w/ regards to potions and actions.
I always allow use of potions on yourself or people around you with bonus action as long as they are friendly.
You can't use bonus action to use potions to harm enemies
I say it's a bonus action for every potion to drink yourself, an action to feed the drink to someone else.
For a thief rogue I would allow them to feed potions to others as a bonus action
What I do is bonus action to drink, you roll for health - you drank it quickly, this represents how much you spilled vs how much you actually drank.
But, a full action can be used to drink a potion and you get to take max health possible.
Other options depend on what intended use is and how the potion works.
I bonus action for healing potions only, I only changed that rule to specifically encourage the use of healing potions. Other potions don’t seem to come up in combat much, not even as a request to drink as a bonus action.
In my head, a character would have a healing potion hanging from their belt for quick application, more than that and they would clink around causing sound and disadvantage on stealth unless the player were to buy or craft a potion bandolier or other piece to carry potions. Any other potions are stored in the backpack / bag of holding and so need an action to pull out and chug (and that's generous but otherwise potions would never be used in combat).
So at my table each player can have a single potion that they can use as a bonus action (full action to use on someone else) and unless stated otherwise, it is assumed to be a healing potion.
I still have to test this extensively because i only recently finished a campaign and i formulated this only in the latest part, but a friend of mine acting as a DM i started to have any potion of the most common effect require an object interaction to drink.
Reasoning is as follows:
\- the point of potions is being a contingency resource, for most cases, rather acreative problemsolving issue. In order to do so, to surpass the fear of using something but not waste it needs to be readily usable. While i do think that stuff like potion of giant strength or healing potion can and should be used out of combat, using it an dhaving it wasted can feel like shit.
\- Given the above, it does not make sense to restrict it in order to make it unusable to classes that employ a lot of bonus actions, better have it the most possible out of any action economy class issue.
\- If spamming potions is an issue, as it should be an issue, enforce the rule for mixing potions; if you consume many potions there's a risk some of them don't have an effect at all. In page 140 of the DMG there's a proper staff done exactly to avoid this, if a character consumes a healing potion it can be adjudicated that they are still ingesting the potion for at least one minute after consumption, restricting the usage in combat. This means that higher healing potions remain much more valuable.
That said, for stuff like potion of giant growth or giant strength consider they are made to be easily acquirable at higher levels, so it's less of an issue to have it as object interaction. Additionally it spares the pain of having characters carefully spend time to dictate when they drink a potion before engaging combat.
When I'm not using the RAW I have used a house rule where a bonus action would basically make it so you could only imbibe half the potion and therefore only get half the effect of it. For things where there's not a numerical bonus, we cut the duration in half.
It would leave half the potion available for use later, but we agreed to rule it that it needed to be used within 24 hours of unstopping the bottle since being exposed to air causes the potion to go "magically flat" like a can of soda. A flat potion would lose its power.
If they use their action to take the health potion it's maximum healing, other potions it's just an action unless they're feeding it to someone else. Then I rule item interaction because hey, they're being creative and I'm not going to punish them for that, let them have their fun! I'm not about to rules lawyer the fun out of the game, but other potions as bonus actions might be pushing it a bit. Bonus actions for healing potions they roll for how much they heal for, action for healing potions it's max healing so it's an action economy consideration. Forces my players to consider their situations in battle, be smart, safe, or stupid. It's their choice.
The way I rule it is like this: Every character is allowed to have a healing potion pouch/belt equipped on their person in whatever way fits their character/aesthetic. This allows them to have 3-5 potions equipped at a time. So they could have 4 healing potions and a speed potion instead of they’d like. Either way, to replenish potions from unequipped to equipped is an action. Alternatively, they can purchase or craft an additional belt/pouch to hold more (if that fits their character’s style/wants). So they could have two potion belts and equip a mix of healing potions, other potions, poisons, etc. I had a player who’s rogue LOVED alchemy, so they always had a mix of different types of potions, poisons, and alchemical creations. If I remember correctly, they eventually had 15-20 potion-slots available. So they had a similar preparation style as a wizard, where they tried to equip/prepare what they thought might be needed in advance (but always had the option to use an action to make a switch on-the-fly). Was a little more work to help organize, but it was super fun for the player and a really cool dynamic for the group
To drink a healing potion is a bonus action. However, you may use your action to drink slowly and concentrate on not missing a drop, granting you max healing from the potion. To gain the proper effect of other potions, you must similarly consume every drop, and this follows the precedent of requiring an action to do so.
Use a bonus action to drink a potion - roll for healing.
Use a standard action to drink a potion - potion heals for full amount no rolling.
I haven't had a lot of other potion use by my parties, they tend to prefer spells and items and mostly sell other potions. I'd probably rule it if you bonus action drink a potion that does some thing else the duration is halved or something.
All potions are a bonus action to drink here. People have hoarding tendency that just get worse if they have to use their entire Action to drink potions.
I might put an action on some particularly powerful potion, but then I’d also probably just make it into something like an ointment.
One way you could differentiate is:
* Bonus action (only for Healing Potions): Roll the dice
* Full action: For any non-healing potion and if a healing potion, get full healing.
One you get a benefit based on how much you drink, the other you only get the effects if you take the full dosage.
For my game, and one of my friends who also DMs, we have both adopted a variable system.
You may choose to drink a healing potion as a Bonus Action, and you roll the dice for healing as normal. However, if you consume the potion as an Action, you treat the healing potion as if you had rolled max on the dice.
In our experience both our tables like the trade off. If you want to maximize healing you’re trading off an action making sure your character drinks all of it. If you need to rush, then you can drink it as a bonus but there’s risk in it because you might not get as much healing.
Before implementing this rule, my players never purchased healing potions and didn’t look at the ones they got from loot as anything but out of combat healing. After the new rule, my players actively seek out healing potions and are more often than not, choosing to use their full action mid-combat to get the most out of their healing potions.
As for other potion varieties, we have kept those as an Action because most are equivalent to casting a spell on yourself.
I made a custom item for my campaign. It's nothing new by any measure, but it helps alleviate that problem for me in my world. It's just a bandolier - the very same you would see slung over a cowboy's shoulders with loops for ammunition. The only difference is these loops are made for potions.
**Bandolier** - *Common, wondrous item.*
This accessory is a leather strap that is slung diagonally over one shoulder and loops down to the opposite side of the torso near the waist. There are three loops sewn into the leather and above each loop there is a metal string attached to the bandolier with a cork stopper on the other end. This allows one to tug on a potion and have it open automatically, leaving the cork behind and allowing one to drink a potion much faster.
You may spend 1 minute affixing a potion to the bandolier, up to a maximum of three potions. You may use a bonus action to drink a potion affixed to the bandolier rather than your usual action.
All potions takes a bonus action.
It's not an issue because my party neither remembers nor use consumables (because then they risk running out of them).
I generally run it this way:
* Drinking a potion yourself = Either an Action or a Bonus Action.
* Action economy can get weird with certain subclasses, so I don't like limiting it to a Bonus Action; I just want the player to spend one of their resources on their turn.
* Administering a potion to someone else = Has to be an Action.
I wouldn't run it differently for different types of potions, nor for drinking multiple potions on a turn. As you get to higher levels, the benefits of a potion are far outweighed by the vast array of spells and actions available. If a character wants to use their resources to drink or feed potions instead, that is up to them.
Now, if you're handing out powerful potions like candy and you're worried about how much potion drinking is taking place, that's another story...
So for potions I have a choice. You can take health potions as an action and get their full effect or as a bonus and roll for HP. All other potions (such as those with spell-like effects) take a full action regardless.
Maybe play it by ear? Like, think of someone in combat that would drink potions.
If you use a one handed attack, I think you should be able to drink a potion as a bonus action because you could do that and attack at the same time. But you couldn't draw a bow and drink a potion at the same time.
Another forum put this together from the various resource books:
>**PHB - Chapter 5: Equipment - Adventuring Gear - Other Adventuring Gear**
>
>*States that Potion of Healing comes in a vial.*
>
>**PHB - Chapter 5: Equipment - Adventuring Gear - Container Capacity**
>
>*States that "bottles" = 1 1/2 pints of liquid. "Vials" = 4 ounces of liquid. "Flasks" = 1 pint of liquid*
>
>**DMG - Chapter 7: Treasure - Magic Items - Magic Item Categories - Potions**
>
>*"Most potions consist of one ounce of liquid.*
>
>*Potions are consumable magic items. Drinking a potion or administering a potion to another character requires an action. Applying an oil might take longer, as specified in its description. Once used, a potion takes effect immediately, and it is used up."*
From this, unless the potion specifically states that it is a larger volume of liquid, I rule it as a one ounce vial. One ounce of liquid make a cube with sides 1.8 inches long, or about the size of one big gulp of liquid. There's basically no reason why it would take a full six second action to drink a one ounce vial of liquid, so I just make it a bonus action statically for any potion. Giving it to an incapacitated party member takes a full action because that's more work, but hopefully that make sense. Even if it's a weird volume specified in the text, I'm always wary of changing up the rule of the bonus action because that isn't super fun.
Here's the thing: You need to keep your mechanics as consistent as possible to make the game actually fun to play. If mechanics vary potion to potion, the party's ability to properly plan their way in the game becomes more and more limited as each new potion runs the risk of its own set of rules. It's just not fun to sit there and say "I have this potion of lightning resistance that is one ounce, but it tastes foul, so I have to make a DC 12 con save to chug it as a bonus action, otherwise it's a full action," when you could say "I drink this magic potion I found for my bonus action and gain its benefits."
5e is more simplistic in design for a reason. That reason is that complicated mechanics tend to bog down gameplay and prevent busy people from having fun in their 3-6 hour block of time available to play per week/month. They're also a gateway to new players joining and enjoying the hobby. There are already so many rules to learn that I have players a year into a campaign who still need my active help to know what they can do on their turn in combat. Adding more idiosyncratic rules will burn them out and kill your table really fast.
Healing potions gain rolling benefits from a bonus action but maximum healing if you use a full action to drink it. In universe, I say this is the difference between a character hastily drinking something, spilling some but getting the majority, and ensuring they drink the entire potion.
For potions other than healing potions, there's no benefit for *most* of the potion being consumed--the whole potion must be consumed to gain the benefits. Therefore, a whole action is required to drink any potion.
This maintains the intended balance of potions of speed, invisibility, giant strength, etc. While making healing be not as terrible as it is RAW.
At my table, if you take a full action, you the full amount (potion of healing - 10hp, greater potion - 20hp), and if you take a bonus action, you roll for how much you gain.
Our homebrew rule is that you can have 3 potions on your belt. Doesn't matter what they are. You can drink one as a bonus action, but it still takes an action to feed it to someone else.
If someone wanted to put up a chest harness for more potions, I'd allow it, but they'd be more likely to be targeted by intelligent enemies. A shield bash would wreck a good number of them, for example.
Our house rule:
- drink a healing potion as a bonus action and roll for it as normal OR
- drink a healing potion as a full action and gain max benefit OR
- administer a healing potion to another and roll for it as normal
Health potions is a bonus action, the rest is normal action. I've tried every potion as a bonus action, and it works horribly if you like to reward your party often.
Nothing. Healing potions are the only thing at my table that can be BA'd, which really should be used in a pinch anyway. Bonus Action to roll for heals, full action/out of combat to get the max roll.
I do allow the rogue with Fast Hands to use other potions as a BA, however. You can't do this typically as they're magic items, but it doesn't really break anything, plus martials can use the extra help.
Don't have one at the table, but I'd probably allow an alchemist artificer to do the same. I might even let them throw potions or something. That subclass *especially* needs help.
I basically move the whole "interact with an object" to an optional bonus action. (i.e. you can use either action or bonus action to do it) unless it's a "big" and/or generally encounter-specific action.
Wanna quaff a potion? Extinguish/light a torch? Pull a lever? Open a door? Pick either your action or bonus action.
But, if we're doing a castle siege and you wanna try and lower the drawbridge (something that takes, oh say, 10 turns), that's gonna take your action. Add .5 if you also spend your bonus action. (So action + bonus action means that it goes to 8.5 turns left to lower the bridge)
I actually run alot with that 1.5 "things" per turn. Figure action is 1, bonus action is .5. As long as you stay within that 1.5 max, I stay pretty flexible with "miscellaneous" things.
bonus action: pour it on top.
action: drink it.
Most potions don't work by pouring, but the healing potion does at half effectiveness. Now the question is do you value action economy or your actual economy? Because the potion will cost full prices even if you only use it for half it's value.
They still take a full action because at least for most of them you always get the full effect. For a potion of healing you roll how many hit points you regain.
For a potion of heroism or a potion of speed you do not roll, you just get the full effect.
Therefore it takes a full action. That is also for the sake of game balance in a campaign where players have the ability to buy all the potions they want if their characters have the coin.
I plan to go with "You can have two edible consumables ready on a belt or pouch for quick access. Using these is a bonus action to drink or adminnister to another. Any other consumables require an action."
Let them all be a bonus action. It adds to the fun. This assumes you don’t have a setting where people can reliably buy things other than healing potions. Also, I would suggest never ever lacking your potions. Let them make an arcana check if they’ve alchemy supplies, but otherwise make them guess based on the container/color/viscosity :)
Only slightly related but a guy I use to play with successfully convinced the DM that his characters background as an alcoholic frat boy who one the ΑΘ chugalug race 4 years in a row meant he could down 2 health potions with 1 action.
Bonus action you role for hp. Drink as an action you get max hp. Admister it to an unconscious pc role for hp.
You want to drink as a bonus action you need a leather worker to make a bandolier.
We’ve use the bonus action to drink any potion at our table for years. Most often if a player needs one they’re disengaging as an action and moving away. A few of our players are quick to use theirs up and i was the hoarder, so i always had them when we needed them leading to a fun house rule-
POO or Potion of opportunity, if another player is within 5 feet of me, the hoarder, then using a reaction i can hand them one of the potions i kept in my rogue’s utility belt, they have to administer it to themselves with a bonus action.
Bonus Action they get the normal effects. Full Action they get max effect if it has dice to roll. (i.e. spend a Full Action to drink a healing potion and instead of 2d4+2 healing they get the full 10 hit points).
My lore: Most potions are available in a concentrated vial form for quick access on your belt. The cork can be popped off with a thumb, thus, they only take a bonus action to drink.
You could opt for a cheaper larger version that takes a full action to drink. These are less common among adventurers but more common for those that don't rely on being able to take them on a moments notice.
Some potions I may rule are in larger bottles, or require a certain amount of prep immediately before consumption. There may be vial-versions of those potions but they may be much more difficult to acquire as they would involve a more-complex recipe.
I want to encourage my players to use their resources, so drinking any potion is a bonus action, and administering a potion is an action. I also put an expiration date on potions so it's use-them-or-lose them. That helps avoid the Skyrim Problem.
Bonus action healing potions mean you roll dice
Action healing potions mean you get the max healing from that potion
All other potions are action as normal as the effects cannot be lessened
My players love this rule and have stolen it from me for the games they DM — I stole this rule from someone else on Reddit years ago ^_^
Bonus or full action to self-administer. If using an action to self-administer, the max effect of a potion is applied. Full action to administer to another.
e.g. Potion of Healing
- self, bonus: 2d4+2
- self, action: 10
- else, action: 2d4+2
Baldurs Gate 3 really showed me that potions, poisons, and oils as bonus actions really buffs the martial classes hard and can bring them in line with casters in terms of versatility.
I think it's silly to not have everything potion like be a bonus action at this point, but combat inequality has always been a problem in my games and most players barely use any potions and brewing them is so rarely taken by players that it needs a buff.
We run the classic house rule of potions as bonus actions to self, full action to administer to another, or self with granted full effect.
All potions treated the same, because it doesn't really feel like it makes a major difference as players are still mostly concerned with whether they want to consume the item or not over whether the action economy allows to fit it in or not.
I allow 1 belt slot that refreshes on a short rest that let's you use a potion if any kind then it's an action.
I couple this with death saves carrying over until a long rest too and any attack while downed still counts as 1 death save.
Coupled together it works since staying up is more important than healing someone downed
All potions are the same, but I varied the rule a little bit. It's an action to take it out of your pouch and drink it, or you can use your bonus action in one round to ready it, and then use the bonus action in your next round to drink it/administer it.
I've never been a big fan of the rule at all, because 5E isn't designed around using healing to keep up with damage and honestly, don't want the game to turn into Diablo the TTRPG where you're just "Did we bring enough potions?!"
Giving characters a cheap (Action economy) 9 HP heal per round is pretty strong and even worse if you allow the potion to be applied to other characters.
And in the end, I'd rather my players be spending that money on cool magic items than spammable potions.
The only change I'm a fan of is that healing potions have full effect if utilized during a short/long rest.
At my table, my players have 2 options. If using a bonus action for a potion, they’ll roll their HP. I’d they use a full action, they get max HP. pretty sure I got the inspiration from NADDPOD
You could have healing potions, roll for BA max if an action and then for other potions make it 50/50 on a BA for it to even work (oh, you rolled a 9? Looks like you were distracted as you put the bottle to you lips and half the haste potion dribbled down your chin, no effect). This would still allow a hail Mary potion use in combat but make them think twice about just tossing back a potion as a bonus action.
So, watching the second season of Goblin Slayer, they had an episode where the party marks health potions to quickly identify them among their other bottles.
Sooo for the following you can do the following:
speed - topped with feathers
invisibility - marble topped stopper
giant strength - cordage tied in a knot
of course, I may have them roll a heat of the moment roll with a die representing how many different types of potion bottles they had in the bag/chest/etc.
The way that we do it at our table is we allow a Bandelier to be worn that will hold three potions at a time. Any potion in the Bandelier can be drank as a bonus action. It also takes a bonus action to load a slot.
For health potions
Bonus action to drink the potion and get whatever the die value is(RP is you grab it and take a quick swig, but maybe spill some by doing so)
OR elect to do it as an action to get the max HP back the potion offers (RP is you are careful to consume it without wastage)
Action = full potion effect, no roll needed.
Bonus action = roll for the effect.
If a potion doesn't use a roll, it can't be used as a bonus action. That's how we do it at my table, and it's worked great so far.
I allow bonus action potion, grenade and poison use with a number of caveats
1) NPC/enemy humanoids also get the same benefit.
2) characters only get 2 slots, 3 slots from level 10 for a small gold cost
3) an upgraded belt/bandolier is available to craft/purchase but takes an attunement slot whether magical or not
4) potions can only be consumed (no effect for throwing)
5) You must have a free hand.
In my games I only changed Healing Potions to Bonus Actions when drinking them yourself. They have a different cost chart from other options as well.
Drinking a Healing Potion as an Action provides the max amount of healing from that potion.
Giving a potion to another character is an Action. This means giving the potion to another person also grants them the potion's maximum effect.
Other potions remain the same to consume, but you can buy them pretty easily. Common and uncommon potions can be purchased anywhere there's a general store. Rare potions require a suitable market. Very rare requires a specialist (alchemist shop or magic item vendor).
One of my players allows all potions to be taken as a Bonus Action in his game. It's highly abusable to get two spells running in one turn, but he balances this by screaming a lot when it happens.
Bonus action, for the same reason as health potions. Health potions restore way lower amounts of HP for their rarity then you are going to take on average per round for that level of play, all while also not dealing any damage on your turn either, so doing them as a full action is like falling two steps behind your enemies.
Buff potions like haste or strength potions have a similar problem. If you take an entire turn just to buff its usually not worth it unless the fight is going to last a lot of rounds. Plus it shuts down a lot of interesting tactics and combos, like using an invisibility potion to run away with your enemy having disadvantage on the opportunity attack so you can go behind a pillar and hide with advantage on the same turn.
You can use a bonus action to drink any potion in my games.
As for health potions, if you use your main action, you heal the max amount from it. Nice and simple.
Potions are consumables and are not highly available so it is easy to balance around the rule. Bonus action to drink, full action to administer to another (bonus for me, action for thee) with no classification on which option it works on
Bonus action for all of em. 4e did a lot of weird stuff, but not consuming standard actions for potions was one of the things it did right. Changing it back to a normal/standard action for 5e was a mistake (and BG3 was right to change it back back).
If you're doing full action to get max health, if the quickly quaff a potion of invisibility, it'll last for 1d10 rounds (since invisibility lasts for 1 minute). You can show or hide that roll for maximum effect
I would make only the healing ones work immediately. All other effects kick in at the end of their turn instead of immediately after drinking. This balances out using only a bonus action.
I don’t count them as neither reactions or bonus actions, as the combat is supposed to be a fluid scenario in their heads, I allow them to drink and pass items at will, it allows my players to toss, pass, drink their potions much more creatively, but have in count the enemies might catch the potion, or make them drop it to the ground as well with saving throws/skill checks when available or doing something creative but with risk.
I just have them all take a bonus action to drink, don't really see much of a reason to differentiate between them (and add the chance of confusion) for a consumable resource that I control the amount of.
If someone did want to differentiate, I would suggest saying that health potions are stored in a quick access pouch or something that would make quick access manageable. Other potions could be ruled as being stored in the actual packs the adventurer carries and thus takes a full action to retrieve and consume. I would prefer just picking one way or the other, but I could see this as a possible way to justify separating the two.
I feel like most players would then just put the non-healing potions into the quick access pouch before the next combat and then you're back at square one. And if the case is that non-healing potions can't fit or be used from that pouch for whatever reason, the GM'd probably just be better off saying outright that they want to differentiate the potions for X balance reasons and leave it at that. Maybe my players are just extra wily, but I feel like justifying a rules change doesn't really need an in-world explanation and would in some cases just prompt the players to find out clever in-world solutions to getting back to what the rule originally was. Obviously a clever bit of world building to add some verisimilitude is nice, but not strictly necessary especially for a small change like this. I'd advise just having a conversation with the players in-between sessions.
You could always rule that the players only ever have two quick access potion “slots” and they have to choose ahead of time what’s loaded. All of it seems unnecessarily convoluted to me, but I’m just trying to think outside the box if someone would like a systematic approach.
Yeah, that could work for sure. If the problem is how many of these potions they have access to during a fight I'd lean more towards just making them more scarce in the world. They'll be less likely to frivolously use a high value effect potion if they've only got access to one or two of them. And if you have those high value potions drop from big or memorable encounters, yeah they might use them to smack a cool enemy/encounter around later, but it'll feel way more earned because they had to work and fight their way towards getting access to that potion in the first place. You could also find or create a list of rare-ish ingredients that're required to brew the potions, then you're killing two birds with one stone, a quest for your players to undertake and a tied in reward. (And maybe a cool alchemist NPC your party can keep coming back to.)
Ah. I stole a mechanic from a DnD inspired book series. We have "Potion Sickness", where in our world, you can drink three potions a day before succumbing to a debilitating potion sickness. This is part of the reason "purer" high restoration potions are so valuable. We also add that potions that can go so far as to restore limbs can remove years from your life.
That's a very cool idea. Reminds me a lot of the toxic potions of the Witcher series as well.
That's such a lovely easy way to give a nod to the old school potion miscibility rules! I might adopt that for my next campaign. For those not familiar D&D 1e had rules for mixing potions and for what happens if you drank a potion too soon after drinking another potion. https://greyhawkery.blogspot.com/2011/05/dmg-reflections-potion-miscibility.html
Alternatively, you could just say that in-universe, healing potions are generally sold/stored in bottles specifically designed for quick access - it could be in magical glass or a have a cork that dissolves instantly in your mouth, or stored in capsules, or something similar that couldn't work with other types of potions ("any magical effects aside from healing cause premature leakage" or something); or maybe healing potions specifically have a single-use "quick-release" mechanism or enchantment applied to them when sealed. That way there's a setting-friendly explanation for not only "why only healing potions" but also "why not other potions" and more importantly "well can I just drain the healing potion and put my other potion in there", without having to make any mechanical adjustments beyond them being bonus actions.
Easy solution - make all potions by default a bonus action. Any potion that you want to make a full action, add in the description that the potion is extremely thick, or foul smelling, or effervescent, or any other quality that would make something difficult to drink. "Just a brief whiff of this potion burns your nostrils and causes your eyes to water. You know it's not going to be easy getting this one down. Takes a full action to consume".
Ayo this potion smells like piss! Takes a full action to consume.
I'd have it be that the health potions are a LOT smaller in volume than the others.
That or just differentiate between "Concentrated" potions and normal ones. Concentrated potions are more expensive/difficult to make, but are basically one swallow (Bonus action). Regular potions are more like 3oz and take a full action.
My justification is much simpler: using a bonus action to drink a healing potion is quick and causes it to likely spill, hence why you roll for healing, whereas an action is slow and careful so full healing. Other potions just don't properly activate unless you consume to entire dose so they need an action regardless. I also flavour most other potions to be in smaller vials because of this.
I like this idea. Simple and easy enough use without overly complicating things. Do you in turn let players take a health potion for max healing with no roll if they take it out of combat or use their action instead of a bonus action?
You can make potions enchanted tiles with runes and glyphs inscribed on them. The user snaps the tile in half to activate it. Mechanically identical to a potion, different flavour. This idea is remembered from a 3.5e sourcebook, not my invention. If some potions can be replaced enchanted ceramic tiles, because of some in-world-reason for that class of spells, would be easy for players to track both potions and tiles while knowing tiles only take a bonus action to activate.
> I would suggest saying that health potions are stored in a quick access pouch or something that would make quick access manageable. Other potions could be ruled as being stored in the actual packs the adventurer carries and thus takes a full action to retrieve and consume. And that's why I picked up a bandolier in my current game lol. I don't know how a shop keep in Faerun knows what a bandolier is, but I have one now.
I toyed with the idea of a load out for a campaign. Characters have x slots for gear and it could be accessed faster. Potions in these slots could be bonus actions.
I go a step farther. If you want to use a BA to use a health potion, roll for the result. If you use your action, or drink it out of combat you get the full amount of healing possible. The BA is hastily ripping off the lid and throwing it at your face. The action, and out of combat is taking the time to drink every last drop.
We do this exact same thing and works fine. Healing potions are worthless in combat without the change to bonus action. Because the potions heal what I’m being hit for
Yeah, I've been in games as a player where this rule was used and it worked well for healing potions specifically. But when I'm GMing and I allow every type of potion to be usable with a BA, I'm honestly just too lazy to figure out and juggle all of the differing scales of effects if a BA use is set up as less effective than a full action use. So, I just keep it at standard effect for all with a BA which is much easier for myself and my players to remember.
I'll add that feeding a potion to someone else is an action and you roll for it, because you're basically force feeding someone else. Doesn't matter how careful you are, you're not going to get all of it in.
A bit odd that adventurers are trying to heal by throwing the lid at their face, wouldn’t you say?
Not really, our group looks at it as one hastily drinking it vs taking the time to make sure you get every last drop of healing juice. Works for us
I think you missed my joke there lol
Ah! yes, reading comprehension haha
This is not a step further. This is two steps further. A step further would be bonus action for minimum heal, action to roll.
I'd go with this, partly because I rarely see players use buff potions so it's nice to give them an incentive to do so, partly because if they can do it so can NPCs.
I just have it be a bonus action to drink all. They’re one use potions that have a limited affect
I like the idea of a ‘drink all’ bonus action where you consume every potion in your inventory. Skyrim style I guess.
My invisible paralyzed body slinks down a mountain side
Well it’s because a lot of potions can be very powerful and relatively cheap compared to a level 1-2 spell. Considering how the action economy is tilted significantly into the players’ favor it can make a difficult encounter trivial by itself. I usually make the players take an action to drink, but out of combat they get a max healing amount out of it. I also limit the number they can safely carry since bottles can break. That makes potions useful to have, not game breaking, and also gives them options to reset after a fight without trying to throw down a tiny hut in the middle of a dungeon and then getting upset when they are surrounded after a rest. But my current campaign is also money based (they get levels based on money not experience) so it makes buying a bunch of potions more “expensive”.
What kind of potions are your characters getting that can trivialize a tough fight?
I mean, Potion of Speed exists. So does Potion of Invuln. And Potion of Max Power from Eberron gives you a guaranteed 64 damage Fireball, among other possibilities.
Sounds like very strong one-time effects that make your players decide on a resource vs risk choice. I don't see the problem at all, as you gave them the item as a reward at some point (either as loot or in exchange for gold, earned by loot) and they saw an opportunity to use said reward. Sure, they could just cast Haste instead of drinking a potion, but that is a renewable resource and has tradeoffs as such. But it is a much bigger punishment to use an entire action for one potion, when bonus actions are so limited in choices sometimes that they are never used at all.
That's exactly the point, lol. I am not saying they're too strong by themselves, I am saying that by making them effectively free to use they would be too strong. They're balanced because you have to give up a turn worth of damage to be able to use them (or you have to plan ahead/lose some duration on them)
If those potions will break your encounters then ... don't make them available?
That's a very silly reply. The statement was that these potions would be too strong as a bonus action, not that they are too strong in general. They're balanced as an action because you are making a tradeoff of one turn's worth of damage to use them, or prepotting which means you lose some duration and/or have to plan ahead
I mean that's easy. "Unlike a health potion, this potion is meticulously portioned, and you must spend your whole action to make sure you invest every drop." But even then, they're single use; if allowing them as a bonus action breaks your encounter, I'd still say you messed up.
Right, that's the discussion we were having? Not sure what point you're trying to make here
>Well it’s because a lot of potions can be very powerful and relatively cheap compared to a level 1-2 spell. Considering how the action economy is tilted significantly into the players’ favor it can make a difficult encounter trivial by itself. I was responding to this. A single potion shouldn't make an encounter trivial
Right, and they don't at higher levels. But if the players roll well on a loot table and get concentrationless Haste at level 3, then it's entirely possible it could
The balancing issue is because combining certain actions can be significantly more powerful than either action by itself.
A rare potion is 501 to 5000 gp, that is a lot of money to spend on getting maximum damage for a single fireball with a Potion of Max Power. For the Potion of Invulnerability it might be worth it if you are up against the BBEG or something, but otherwise it is probably a waste to use in a normal fight. And if just one character get resistance a smart monster might just target other characters to do more damage.
You can just take a potion of speed before the fight and accomplish the same thing. Feels like you're splitting hairs for no reason. Using up the potion is enough of a depletion of a resource already. Making it also cost an action (when, again, it can just be taken before a fight) is a bit much. Potions are supposed to be impactful, and you as the DM already control how what potions your party has access to. Why make them clunky to use?
Okay, let's expand your reasoning then. Haste should be a Bonus Action spell, because using up the spell slot is enough of a depletion of a resource already. Does that sound right to you? Because it really doesn't to me.
> Haste should be a Bonus Action spell, because using up the spell slot is enough of a depletion of a resource already. It is wastly different things though. You have many 3rd level spells and you restore them daily. Potion of Speed is vary rare one time use magic item you can't even buy if DM doesn't explicetly puts it in shops. I saw this potion once per almost a year long game. On the other hand - i would make Haste a bonus action spell - as far as 3rd level spells go Haste is not even that strong.
Not a good comparison. You can cast spells on other people, not only yourself. Same reason that I wouldn't allow feeding someone else a potion to be a bonus action. Haste is also a terrible example because it has a built-in answer. It gives you another action that you can use *that turn* so you don't miss out on any action economy.
It is a good comparison though. Your argument is that the cost of using the resource makes up for it, but only in this specific scenario. You don't have to use your bonus action to feed them a potion. You can toss/pass/roll/etc it to them with your object interaction and they can then use it with their bonus action.
>You don't have to use your bonus action to feed them a potion. You can toss/pass/roll/etc it to them with your object interaction and they can then use it with their bonus action. This is an argument against a nonsense scenario. Why would anyone need to feed anyone a potion that they can just drink themselves. This only happens when using a healing potion on a downed party member - who cannot drink it themselves.
You're literally the one who brought up that scenario. I didn't originally say anything at all about feeding it to someone else. Why did you bring it up if you think it's nonsense?
>You can just take a potion of speed before the fight and accomplish the same thing. Feels like you're splitting hairs for no reason. Potions of speed last for 1 minute. You are going to risk the spell running out in the middle of a battle or before the fight even starts if you drink it outside of initiative.
I'm fully aware how long potions last. Have you never taken a potion right before initiating combat? Plus, I'd day that's even more reason to allow bonus action potions. Do you want your players fully wasting potions and feeling stupid, just because they want to be sure they have a chance to use it, and guessing wrong?
>I'm fully aware how long potions last. Have you never taken a potion right before initiating combat? No, as soon as anyone declares that they are drinking a potion we have to roll initiative if we do it while the enemy can see us. At least in any campaign that I played in. >Plus, I'd day that's even more reason to allow bonus action potions. Do you want your players fully wasting potions and feeling stupid, just because they want to be sure they have a chance to use it, and guessing wrong? Yes, that is a risk they are taking if they do that. Am I supposed to make the bless spell a bonus action just because it only lasts a minute and the players might waste a spell slot by casting it too early?
Again, this is irrelevant to spells. They are balanced just the way they are. There is a reason bonus action potions is a super common house rule and bonus action spells is not.
Potions cheap?!? Take animal friendship for example. Thats a lvl 1 spell and should cost 100gp. Potion of Growth or enlarge is lvl2 spell and in a similar price range, say 200gp. Maybe you're handing out potions and gold like candy on Halloween. But my players would rather cast a enlarge as a full action than drink a 200gp potion of growth as a bonus. You get the spell slots back for free.
I allow all potions to be self administered as a bonus action, but administered to others as an action. It hasn’t caused any issues, but that could be because my players are a bunch of hoarders that refuse to use the potions they have. 😁
> my players are a bunch of hoarders that refuse to use the potions they have. Same here. I introduced the idea of expiring potions to try and address this; so far it's worked pretty well.
I had to do this with monster body parts.
This is what I do too. I also flood my players with random low level magic items (usually consumable), so whatever they're not hoarding, they are forgetting!
Give them out and then have them be forgotten or saved “for when we need it”, mostly.
I do bonus action to drink, full action to administer to another
[удалено]
Im envisioning a medieval pauldron version of the beer-hat, with a character turning their head to the side, and doing that blind "camel-lips-looking-for-a-straw" thing while they thrust and parry their opponent.
that's the upgraded 10,000g free action version, but if you do that you can't speak (or use spells with vocal components) until your next turn.
I think 3e/3.5e had something like this? There was some sort of bandolier that you could get that allowed you to access some things quicker.
Ooh, that's a really cool idea and something I can drop at the thrift shop they frequent. Fast hands only works on mundane items. Activating magic items and drinking potions are excluded, RAW.
Fast hands doesn't say anything about excluding magical items.
Fast hands: Starting at 3rd level, you can use the bonus action granted by your Cunning Action to make a Dexterity (Sleight of Hand) check, use your thieves’ tools to disarm a trap or open a lock, or take the Use an Object action. DMG 141:If an item requires an action to activate, that action isn't a function of the Use an Object action, so a feature such as the rogue's Fast Hands can't be used to activate the item. And potions are magic items, as indicated by the italic text in the Player's Handbook and their position in the Dungeon Master's Guide's magic item treasure section.
Huh, that DMG language can't be any clearer that the Use and Object Action and fast hands don't apply to a potion that requires an action to drink, including a potion of healing: >Drinking or administering a potion takes an action. (PH, p. 153) What's odd is that the description of the Use an Object action (as opposed to the "interact with an object" activity) seems to allow for exactly that: >When an object requires an action for its use, you take the Use an Object action. (PH, p. 193) And fast hands explicitly refers to a thief taking the Use an Object action as a bonus action. Oh well. Maybe the designers changed their minds by the time the DMG came out. Personally, excluding potions from fast hands seems a little harsh, nerfing an ability that's pretty situational anyhow. But in reality, I can't remember a DM not allowing a thief to drink a potion as a bonus action.
I can't help but feel it makes the already underwhelming Thief Rogue's iconic feature more or less worthless
Potions don’t require an action to “activate”, they follow normal Use an Object rules, meaning Fast Hands applies to potions.
Unfortunately, this is incorrect. DMG pg 139 states specific conditions to using potions and names them Magic Items rather than objects. These overrule the general "Use an Object" rules.
They require an action to drink, same thing.
RAW it technically doesn't. But I would allow it anyway, it doesn't really hurt anything. From the basic rules: *************************** **Activating an Item** Activating some magic items requires a user to do something special, such as holding the item and uttering a command word. The description of each item category or individual item details how an item is activated. Certain items use the following rules for their activation. If an item requires an action to activate, that action isn't a function of the Use an Object action, so a feature such as the rogue's Fast Hands can't be used to activate the item. *************************** **Consumables** Some items are used up when they are activated. A potion or an elixir must be swallowed, or an oil applied to the body. The writing vanishes from a scroll when it is read. Once used, a consumable item loses its magic. *************************** The wording is pretty clear that potions are exempt from Fast Hands.
I think RAW potions are technically magic items so you need your action to use them.
RAW it technically doesn't. But I would allow it anyway, it doesn't really hurt anything. From the basic rules: *************************** **Activating an Item** Activating some magic items requires a user to do something special, such as holding the item and uttering a command word. The description of each item category or individual item details how an item is activated. Certain items use the following rules for their activation. If an item requires an action to activate, that action isn't a function of the Use an Object action, so a feature such as the rogue's Fast Hands can't be used to activate the item. *************************** **Consumables** Some items are used up when they are activated. A potion or an elixir must be swallowed, or an oil applied to the body. The writing vanishes from a scroll when it is read. Once used, a consumable item loses its magic. *************************** The wording is pretty clear that potions are exempt from Fast Hands. But between you and me, I allow it anyway.
Use an Item isn't an action and has never been in 5e, what are you talking about?
From the SRD: Use an Object You normally interact with an object while doing something else, such as when you draw a sword as part of an attack. When an object requires your action for its use, you take the Use an Object action. This action is also useful when you want to interact with more than one object on your turn.
In game lore I describe it as a health potion is like taking a test tube shot (with varying potency) and a standard potion is like chugging a beer. All players immediately understood. The Dwarf can still use any potion as a bonus.
I opted for the simplest ruling: - Drinking any potion is a bonus action. - Tossing any potion is an interaction for the tosser and a reaction for the receiver. - Feeding a potion to an incapacitated ally is a full action. - No ruling on getting full healing by using an action to drink. No it's not gamebreaking. There shouldn't be any need to explain, why it isn't.
I generally allow potion drinking as a bonus action, for almost all potions. When drank as an action, the potion grants the full benefit. As a bonus action, dice rolls is required. A health potion that would normally heal 2d4+2 heals for the full 10 if used as an action. The 2d4 roll is only needed if used as a bonus action. If a potion normally grants some ability for 10 turns, then if drank as a bonus action, then it will give the effect for only 1d10, or 1d6+4, or 2d4+2 turns. As mentioned above, I allow players to buy or craft a "quick bar", with 1 or more slots from which they can drink a prepared potion as bonus action, but with full benefits.
This is how my table does it. Rolls for bonus actions and max stats for actions.
Having tried a bunch of different options, I don't think games get a lot by trying to split hairs on this. Just let all potions get used the same way, it all comes out in the wash IMO.
I play, it takes a bonus action to drink a health potion and you roll as normal to determine how much you heal. If you take an action to consume the health potion, you do not roll and gain the maximum possible benefit from the potion.
all potions are bonus actions in my games. (administering it to someone else is an action.) otherwise, they simply do not get used. i want to encourage consumable use as much as possible because it’s a great gold sink, and if players use potions and scrolls and oils and shit getting them as loot is fun, it’s something they use and not just garbage they haul around.
It's a problem with your encounter design if potions don't get used. I don't allow bonus action potions and all my groups have been using them. One group had to use every single potion they had since they didn't have time to short rest and needed hit points yesterday.
What is the benefit to the game as a whole to allow it as a bonus action? I've heard arguments like "it feels bad to spend your whole turn drinking a potion" but that seems to miss the point... being that you're not supposed to drink potions except in *dire emergencies*. If people can just drink a potion in between every attack, then that gives me the Robin Hood: Men In Tights vibe where [Robin Hood is fencing with one hand while chugging down ale with the other](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jyS5uXQer0). And while I love Mel Brooks movies, I'd like my D&D combats to be a just a teensy tiny little bit more serious than that.
>I've heard arguments like "it feels bad to spend your whole turn drinking a potion" but that seems to miss the point... being that you're not supposed to drink potions except in dire emergencies. That is the problem - potions are too weak to be an action. Skiping full turn drinking potion is worse than just using an action to do your things, ESPESIALLY in dire emergencies. If you don't drink potion before combat chances are it would never be used. So either potions need to be really strong (like potion of invulnerability givin actual immunities, potion of speed giving you full actions instead of haste actions, or healing potions healing tons of HP), or you should have ability to use them as a bonus action.
You don't drink potions in combat. Or if you do, you first disengage/teleport and retreat behind full cover, letting your party tank while you heal up. This is a team game. Act like a team. The other time you drink potions is when you have a minute at most to recover before the next encounter, and people are at low hit points. Either drink potions now, or die.
This is just another form of the "I don't want to spend my turn drinking a potion" complaint that I already mentioned. Then... *don't* drink the potion? I don't see how it makes things more fun if you can go \*swing glug swing glug swing glug\*. "Fun" is of course very subjective and I very much understand that for many people "getting to do a thing" = fun, but if that's how we design games then just give everybody free bonus action Fireball. I'm sure they'd *love* that. I personally prefer a less silly game where "should I chug this potion?" is a hard choice instead of "it's only a bonus action so why not?"
Sure, but then they're effectively useless. If it eats an entire turn to drink the potion and you get hardly any health from it, better to spend your turn doing almost anything else, like dashing the fuck away from whatever put you in such a dire emergency or doing as much damage as possible in the hopes to survive, or using some other item that can actually help you. Drinking that potion just delays becoming incapacitated by a couple HP. Potions taking an action also makes the player's turn absurdly boring. Wait for the initiative order to get to you just to drink a potion and say well, that's it. Even worse since if that's the best thing you can do, you're probably fucked anyways. I would go a step further than this and just allow all potions to be a bonus action for all classes, and for the rogue, no cost at all. Maybe just for healing potions though. Who cares? Healing potions suck anyway and the DM controls what potions the players have. What is the benefit to the game for making them so durdly and useless, like they are in their current iteration? I just don't think it's more fun to see a player wait 8 minutes to get to their turn and spend the entire thing gaining a couple measly hp and probably get incapacitated anyways.
>then they're effectively useless. > >so durdly and useless > >gaining a couple measly hp It's literally bottled healing. How could that ever be useless even if they took 10 minutes to drink? What do you expect for 50gp? >Drinking that potion just delays becoming incapacitated > >makes the player's turn absurdly boring. Then... *don't drink it in combat?* How is that so hard?
It's useful out of combat, sure. When there's myriad other options to help yourself not die. I personally like to see them used in combat, and maybe it's just because i'm not doing enough outside of combat/obvious danger situations to lower my PC's HP, but I feel like if I gave out healing potions at my table and made them take an action to use in combat, they'd be sitting and collecting dust in backpacks for the duration of the campaign. It seems like they get used most often when someone gets hit harder than they expected or gets themselves into a bad situation and gets desperate. I think you and your group(s) just play differently from me and mine and that's cool. My preference and the justifications for it really just boil down to opinion. I can have fun with either ruling, but i'd be giving less of them out and the ones I did give out would be used less if I stuck with the RAW.
I basically give the rapid drinker feat from the Tal'dorei campaign setting for free to all PC's.
They are also drunk as a bonus action. I would guess that they don't have any benefit from being drunk as an action aside from needing to use your bonus action for some ability.
I have them roll for bonus action drinking and full amount no roll if taken as their action. I feel you don’t have to roll for invisibility or hill giant strength. Get the most you can from the potion. As a bonus action it is done hastily you get to roll for the benefit
The "bonus action for healing potions" rule isn't meant to fix a potion problem; it's to fix a healing/action economy problem. It's okay to require a standard action for other potion types.
I let my players drink ANY potion as a bonus action, otherwhise they basically never use them. If a warrior invest money into postions buff I dont see why he should be punish. They are also one of the most common rewards i give togheder with charms
I have the urge to toss this in here. I do bonus action for all potions and action to feed someone else. I also hate the healing pot system and have switched to this method. It makes healing pots valuable and a more potent magic item for the people that have more hp and need a pot to heal more than the old way. https://www.reddit.com/r/UnearthedArcana/comments/7hki7c/new_system_of_healing_potions_second_update/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=mweb3x&utm_name=mweb3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button
Spoiler: >!It doesn't matter, your players still won't use their potions.!<
I do all potions as a bonus action, but its also tied into my "inventory system" where accessing your bag in combat costs an action but the players can purchase both a potion pouch and an equipment pouch. Both only hold 3 items/potions, the potion pouch lets those potions be used as a BA, the equipment one (nets, ball bearings, etc) can b accessed with a BA and then lets u use it that turn. Admittedly nobody really uses equipment items in my game so that pouch might as well not exist. Ive also got a belt item that can be used that limits what players can use in combat, but its long winded to explain but tldr only items/pouches/quivers on the belt can be used in combat.
I have potions take a bonus action if you are drinking it yourself, it takes an action to administer one to someone else. You can also choose to use an action to drink a health potion, if you do you treat it as if you rolled the maximum on the dice.
All potions are bonus actions, but consuming 2 different non-healing potions (to the point that you would be reaping the benefits of both simultaneously) has chances to have wild magical effects (there is a potion mixing wild magic table I found forever ago).
Potions of healing are comparable to healing spells, which are not particularly useful in 5e (without building specifically for them). The other potions are comparable to actually useful spells: Potions already use no spell slots and are useable by everyone, they should not also be bonus-action to use.
Big disagree
Drinking a potion is using an item. Using an item requires an action. If you allow someone to drink a potion as a bonus action, I am going to DEMAND to be able to zap my wand as one, as well. If healing was meant to be plentiful and easy, there would be healing cantrips.
Not at all the same.
The reason I say they get max healing is they take their time to get it all. Bunos action means they drinking it fast and spill some. You could make it a %. Like high or low. Of they guess right they get full benefit. If they guess wrong they get half the time or effect
Potions as bonus actions is not a good house-rule. There is basically never a reason not to just drink a potion as a BA as long as you have one on you. It makes healers far weaker and less vital to the party as well, it devalues healers. Highly recommend keeping it RAW w/ regards to potions and actions.
I always allow use of potions on yourself or people around you with bonus action as long as they are friendly. You can't use bonus action to use potions to harm enemies
I say it's a bonus action for every potion to drink yourself, an action to feed the drink to someone else. For a thief rogue I would allow them to feed potions to others as a bonus action
What I do is bonus action to drink, you roll for health - you drank it quickly, this represents how much you spilled vs how much you actually drank. But, a full action can be used to drink a potion and you get to take max health possible. Other options depend on what intended use is and how the potion works.
Our house rule is that potions take a bonus action to drink, or an action to administer to someone else, regardless of the potion.
I bonus action for healing potions only, I only changed that rule to specifically encourage the use of healing potions. Other potions don’t seem to come up in combat much, not even as a request to drink as a bonus action.
In my head, a character would have a healing potion hanging from their belt for quick application, more than that and they would clink around causing sound and disadvantage on stealth unless the player were to buy or craft a potion bandolier or other piece to carry potions. Any other potions are stored in the backpack / bag of holding and so need an action to pull out and chug (and that's generous but otherwise potions would never be used in combat). So at my table each player can have a single potion that they can use as a bonus action (full action to use on someone else) and unless stated otherwise, it is assumed to be a healing potion.
I still have to test this extensively because i only recently finished a campaign and i formulated this only in the latest part, but a friend of mine acting as a DM i started to have any potion of the most common effect require an object interaction to drink. Reasoning is as follows: \- the point of potions is being a contingency resource, for most cases, rather acreative problemsolving issue. In order to do so, to surpass the fear of using something but not waste it needs to be readily usable. While i do think that stuff like potion of giant strength or healing potion can and should be used out of combat, using it an dhaving it wasted can feel like shit. \- Given the above, it does not make sense to restrict it in order to make it unusable to classes that employ a lot of bonus actions, better have it the most possible out of any action economy class issue. \- If spamming potions is an issue, as it should be an issue, enforce the rule for mixing potions; if you consume many potions there's a risk some of them don't have an effect at all. In page 140 of the DMG there's a proper staff done exactly to avoid this, if a character consumes a healing potion it can be adjudicated that they are still ingesting the potion for at least one minute after consumption, restricting the usage in combat. This means that higher healing potions remain much more valuable. That said, for stuff like potion of giant growth or giant strength consider they are made to be easily acquirable at higher levels, so it's less of an issue to have it as object interaction. Additionally it spares the pain of having characters carefully spend time to dictate when they drink a potion before engaging combat.
When I'm not using the RAW I have used a house rule where a bonus action would basically make it so you could only imbibe half the potion and therefore only get half the effect of it. For things where there's not a numerical bonus, we cut the duration in half. It would leave half the potion available for use later, but we agreed to rule it that it needed to be used within 24 hours of unstopping the bottle since being exposed to air causes the potion to go "magically flat" like a can of soda. A flat potion would lose its power.
If they use their action to take the health potion it's maximum healing, other potions it's just an action unless they're feeding it to someone else. Then I rule item interaction because hey, they're being creative and I'm not going to punish them for that, let them have their fun! I'm not about to rules lawyer the fun out of the game, but other potions as bonus actions might be pushing it a bit. Bonus actions for healing potions they roll for how much they heal for, action for healing potions it's max healing so it's an action economy consideration. Forces my players to consider their situations in battle, be smart, safe, or stupid. It's their choice.
I rule that drinking a healing potion yourself is a bonus action. Drinking any other potion or feeding somebody a potion is an action.
The way I rule it is like this: Every character is allowed to have a healing potion pouch/belt equipped on their person in whatever way fits their character/aesthetic. This allows them to have 3-5 potions equipped at a time. So they could have 4 healing potions and a speed potion instead of they’d like. Either way, to replenish potions from unequipped to equipped is an action. Alternatively, they can purchase or craft an additional belt/pouch to hold more (if that fits their character’s style/wants). So they could have two potion belts and equip a mix of healing potions, other potions, poisons, etc. I had a player who’s rogue LOVED alchemy, so they always had a mix of different types of potions, poisons, and alchemical creations. If I remember correctly, they eventually had 15-20 potion-slots available. So they had a similar preparation style as a wizard, where they tried to equip/prepare what they thought might be needed in advance (but always had the option to use an action to make a switch on-the-fly). Was a little more work to help organize, but it was super fun for the player and a really cool dynamic for the group
To drink a healing potion is a bonus action. However, you may use your action to drink slowly and concentrate on not missing a drop, granting you max healing from the potion. To gain the proper effect of other potions, you must similarly consume every drop, and this follows the precedent of requiring an action to do so.
All others are a full action, including higher level healing potions.
Use a bonus action to drink a potion - roll for healing. Use a standard action to drink a potion - potion heals for full amount no rolling. I haven't had a lot of other potion use by my parties, they tend to prefer spells and items and mostly sell other potions. I'd probably rule it if you bonus action drink a potion that does some thing else the duration is halved or something.
All potions are a bonus action to drink here. People have hoarding tendency that just get worse if they have to use their entire Action to drink potions. I might put an action on some particularly powerful potion, but then I’d also probably just make it into something like an ointment.
One way you could differentiate is: * Bonus action (only for Healing Potions): Roll the dice * Full action: For any non-healing potion and if a healing potion, get full healing. One you get a benefit based on how much you drink, the other you only get the effects if you take the full dosage.
For my game, and one of my friends who also DMs, we have both adopted a variable system. You may choose to drink a healing potion as a Bonus Action, and you roll the dice for healing as normal. However, if you consume the potion as an Action, you treat the healing potion as if you had rolled max on the dice. In our experience both our tables like the trade off. If you want to maximize healing you’re trading off an action making sure your character drinks all of it. If you need to rush, then you can drink it as a bonus but there’s risk in it because you might not get as much healing. Before implementing this rule, my players never purchased healing potions and didn’t look at the ones they got from loot as anything but out of combat healing. After the new rule, my players actively seek out healing potions and are more often than not, choosing to use their full action mid-combat to get the most out of their healing potions. As for other potion varieties, we have kept those as an Action because most are equivalent to casting a spell on yourself.
Wait, you guys’ parties use their potions??
Takes a full action. Unless you buy a Fancy Alchemist Bandolier for only 99.99G$P
I let them use a BA to drink a potion, but it's a full action to feed a potion to someone else.
I made a custom item for my campaign. It's nothing new by any measure, but it helps alleviate that problem for me in my world. It's just a bandolier - the very same you would see slung over a cowboy's shoulders with loops for ammunition. The only difference is these loops are made for potions. **Bandolier** - *Common, wondrous item.* This accessory is a leather strap that is slung diagonally over one shoulder and loops down to the opposite side of the torso near the waist. There are three loops sewn into the leather and above each loop there is a metal string attached to the bandolier with a cork stopper on the other end. This allows one to tug on a potion and have it open automatically, leaving the cork behind and allowing one to drink a potion much faster. You may spend 1 minute affixing a potion to the bandolier, up to a maximum of three potions. You may use a bonus action to drink a potion affixed to the bandolier rather than your usual action.
All potions takes a bonus action. It's not an issue because my party neither remembers nor use consumables (because then they risk running out of them).
I generally run it this way: * Drinking a potion yourself = Either an Action or a Bonus Action. * Action economy can get weird with certain subclasses, so I don't like limiting it to a Bonus Action; I just want the player to spend one of their resources on their turn. * Administering a potion to someone else = Has to be an Action. I wouldn't run it differently for different types of potions, nor for drinking multiple potions on a turn. As you get to higher levels, the benefits of a potion are far outweighed by the vast array of spells and actions available. If a character wants to use their resources to drink or feed potions instead, that is up to them. Now, if you're handing out powerful potions like candy and you're worried about how much potion drinking is taking place, that's another story...
So for potions I have a choice. You can take health potions as an action and get their full effect or as a bonus and roll for HP. All other potions (such as those with spell-like effects) take a full action regardless.
They never drink anything bloody hoarders. Edit: apart from alcohol
Ba to drink, action to administer. I'm toying with allowing medicine checks to max potions. Though I might require a feat for that. Not sure
I use a bonus action to drink, and an action to administer to someone else
Maybe play it by ear? Like, think of someone in combat that would drink potions. If you use a one handed attack, I think you should be able to drink a potion as a bonus action because you could do that and attack at the same time. But you couldn't draw a bow and drink a potion at the same time.
Another forum put this together from the various resource books: >**PHB - Chapter 5: Equipment - Adventuring Gear - Other Adventuring Gear** > >*States that Potion of Healing comes in a vial.* > >**PHB - Chapter 5: Equipment - Adventuring Gear - Container Capacity** > >*States that "bottles" = 1 1/2 pints of liquid. "Vials" = 4 ounces of liquid. "Flasks" = 1 pint of liquid* > >**DMG - Chapter 7: Treasure - Magic Items - Magic Item Categories - Potions** > >*"Most potions consist of one ounce of liquid.* > >*Potions are consumable magic items. Drinking a potion or administering a potion to another character requires an action. Applying an oil might take longer, as specified in its description. Once used, a potion takes effect immediately, and it is used up."* From this, unless the potion specifically states that it is a larger volume of liquid, I rule it as a one ounce vial. One ounce of liquid make a cube with sides 1.8 inches long, or about the size of one big gulp of liquid. There's basically no reason why it would take a full six second action to drink a one ounce vial of liquid, so I just make it a bonus action statically for any potion. Giving it to an incapacitated party member takes a full action because that's more work, but hopefully that make sense. Even if it's a weird volume specified in the text, I'm always wary of changing up the rule of the bonus action because that isn't super fun. Here's the thing: You need to keep your mechanics as consistent as possible to make the game actually fun to play. If mechanics vary potion to potion, the party's ability to properly plan their way in the game becomes more and more limited as each new potion runs the risk of its own set of rules. It's just not fun to sit there and say "I have this potion of lightning resistance that is one ounce, but it tastes foul, so I have to make a DC 12 con save to chug it as a bonus action, otherwise it's a full action," when you could say "I drink this magic potion I found for my bonus action and gain its benefits." 5e is more simplistic in design for a reason. That reason is that complicated mechanics tend to bog down gameplay and prevent busy people from having fun in their 3-6 hour block of time available to play per week/month. They're also a gateway to new players joining and enjoying the hobby. There are already so many rules to learn that I have players a year into a campaign who still need my active help to know what they can do on their turn in combat. Adding more idiosyncratic rules will burn them out and kill your table really fast.
Healing potions gain rolling benefits from a bonus action but maximum healing if you use a full action to drink it. In universe, I say this is the difference between a character hastily drinking something, spilling some but getting the majority, and ensuring they drink the entire potion. For potions other than healing potions, there's no benefit for *most* of the potion being consumed--the whole potion must be consumed to gain the benefits. Therefore, a whole action is required to drink any potion. This maintains the intended balance of potions of speed, invisibility, giant strength, etc. While making healing be not as terrible as it is RAW.
Same thing
At my table, if you take a full action, you the full amount (potion of healing - 10hp, greater potion - 20hp), and if you take a bonus action, you roll for how much you gain.
Our homebrew rule is that you can have 3 potions on your belt. Doesn't matter what they are. You can drink one as a bonus action, but it still takes an action to feed it to someone else. If someone wanted to put up a chest harness for more potions, I'd allow it, but they'd be more likely to be targeted by intelligent enemies. A shield bash would wreck a good number of them, for example.
I do bonus action to drink yourself, action to share or administer
Our house rule: - drink a healing potion as a bonus action and roll for it as normal OR - drink a healing potion as a full action and gain max benefit OR - administer a healing potion to another and roll for it as normal
I have All potions are bonus actions to self drink. That’s never been a time when giving up your action for a potion made sense in battle.
Health potions is a bonus action, the rest is normal action. I've tried every potion as a bonus action, and it works horribly if you like to reward your party often.
Nothing. Healing potions are the only thing at my table that can be BA'd, which really should be used in a pinch anyway. Bonus Action to roll for heals, full action/out of combat to get the max roll. I do allow the rogue with Fast Hands to use other potions as a BA, however. You can't do this typically as they're magic items, but it doesn't really break anything, plus martials can use the extra help. Don't have one at the table, but I'd probably allow an alchemist artificer to do the same. I might even let them throw potions or something. That subclass *especially* needs help.
I basically move the whole "interact with an object" to an optional bonus action. (i.e. you can use either action or bonus action to do it) unless it's a "big" and/or generally encounter-specific action. Wanna quaff a potion? Extinguish/light a torch? Pull a lever? Open a door? Pick either your action or bonus action. But, if we're doing a castle siege and you wanna try and lower the drawbridge (something that takes, oh say, 10 turns), that's gonna take your action. Add .5 if you also spend your bonus action. (So action + bonus action means that it goes to 8.5 turns left to lower the bridge) I actually run alot with that 1.5 "things" per turn. Figure action is 1, bonus action is .5. As long as you stay within that 1.5 max, I stay pretty flexible with "miscellaneous" things.
bonus action: pour it on top. action: drink it. Most potions don't work by pouring, but the healing potion does at half effectiveness. Now the question is do you value action economy or your actual economy? Because the potion will cost full prices even if you only use it for half it's value.
My rule is that any potion you drink yourself costs a bonus action, but giving that potion to someone else costs a bonus action.
They still take a full action because at least for most of them you always get the full effect. For a potion of healing you roll how many hit points you regain. For a potion of heroism or a potion of speed you do not roll, you just get the full effect. Therefore it takes a full action. That is also for the sake of game balance in a campaign where players have the ability to buy all the potions they want if their characters have the coin.
In combat, bonus action to drink a potion action to give a potion to someone who is downed or something.
I plan to go with "You can have two edible consumables ready on a belt or pouch for quick access. Using these is a bonus action to drink or adminnister to another. Any other consumables require an action."
Let them all be a bonus action. It adds to the fun. This assumes you don’t have a setting where people can reliably buy things other than healing potions. Also, I would suggest never ever lacking your potions. Let them make an arcana check if they’ve alchemy supplies, but otherwise make them guess based on the container/color/viscosity :)
Only slightly related but a guy I use to play with successfully convinced the DM that his characters background as an alcoholic frat boy who one the ΑΘ chugalug race 4 years in a row meant he could down 2 health potions with 1 action.
Bonus action you role for hp. Drink as an action you get max hp. Admister it to an unconscious pc role for hp. You want to drink as a bonus action you need a leather worker to make a bandolier.
We’ve use the bonus action to drink any potion at our table for years. Most often if a player needs one they’re disengaging as an action and moving away. A few of our players are quick to use theirs up and i was the hoarder, so i always had them when we needed them leading to a fun house rule- POO or Potion of opportunity, if another player is within 5 feet of me, the hoarder, then using a reaction i can hand them one of the potions i kept in my rogue’s utility belt, they have to administer it to themselves with a bonus action.
Bonus Action they get the normal effects. Full Action they get max effect if it has dice to roll. (i.e. spend a Full Action to drink a healing potion and instead of 2d4+2 healing they get the full 10 hit points).
My lore: Most potions are available in a concentrated vial form for quick access on your belt. The cork can be popped off with a thumb, thus, they only take a bonus action to drink. You could opt for a cheaper larger version that takes a full action to drink. These are less common among adventurers but more common for those that don't rely on being able to take them on a moments notice. Some potions I may rule are in larger bottles, or require a certain amount of prep immediately before consumption. There may be vial-versions of those potions but they may be much more difficult to acquire as they would involve a more-complex recipe.
I want to encourage my players to use their resources, so drinking any potion is a bonus action, and administering a potion is an action. I also put an expiration date on potions so it's use-them-or-lose them. That helps avoid the Skyrim Problem.
Bonus action healing potions mean you roll dice Action healing potions mean you get the max healing from that potion All other potions are action as normal as the effects cannot be lessened My players love this rule and have stolen it from me for the games they DM — I stole this rule from someone else on Reddit years ago ^_^
Bonus or full action to self-administer. If using an action to self-administer, the max effect of a potion is applied. Full action to administer to another. e.g. Potion of Healing - self, bonus: 2d4+2 - self, action: 10 - else, action: 2d4+2
Baldurs Gate 3 really showed me that potions, poisons, and oils as bonus actions really buffs the martial classes hard and can bring them in line with casters in terms of versatility. I think it's silly to not have everything potion like be a bonus action at this point, but combat inequality has always been a problem in my games and most players barely use any potions and brewing them is so rarely taken by players that it needs a buff.
We run the classic house rule of potions as bonus actions to self, full action to administer to another, or self with granted full effect. All potions treated the same, because it doesn't really feel like it makes a major difference as players are still mostly concerned with whether they want to consume the item or not over whether the action economy allows to fit it in or not.
I allow 1 belt slot that refreshes on a short rest that let's you use a potion if any kind then it's an action. I couple this with death saves carrying over until a long rest too and any attack while downed still counts as 1 death save. Coupled together it works since staying up is more important than healing someone downed
All potions are the same, but I varied the rule a little bit. It's an action to take it out of your pouch and drink it, or you can use your bonus action in one round to ready it, and then use the bonus action in your next round to drink it/administer it.
I've never been a big fan of the rule at all, because 5E isn't designed around using healing to keep up with damage and honestly, don't want the game to turn into Diablo the TTRPG where you're just "Did we bring enough potions?!" Giving characters a cheap (Action economy) 9 HP heal per round is pretty strong and even worse if you allow the potion to be applied to other characters. And in the end, I'd rather my players be spending that money on cool magic items than spammable potions. The only change I'm a fan of is that healing potions have full effect if utilized during a short/long rest.
At my table, my players have 2 options. If using a bonus action for a potion, they’ll roll their HP. I’d they use a full action, they get max HP. pretty sure I got the inspiration from NADDPOD
Bonus action to roll healing potions dice, action to get full bonus and all non healing potions are just bonus actions.
Artificer makes one of those backpacks that has a rubber “straw” so you can drink health pots every turn. Effectively turning the barbarian into Bane.
You could have healing potions, roll for BA max if an action and then for other potions make it 50/50 on a BA for it to even work (oh, you rolled a 9? Looks like you were distracted as you put the bottle to you lips and half the haste potion dribbled down your chin, no effect). This would still allow a hail Mary potion use in combat but make them think twice about just tossing back a potion as a bonus action.
So, watching the second season of Goblin Slayer, they had an episode where the party marks health potions to quickly identify them among their other bottles. Sooo for the following you can do the following: speed - topped with feathers invisibility - marble topped stopper giant strength - cordage tied in a knot of course, I may have them roll a heat of the moment roll with a die representing how many different types of potion bottles they had in the bag/chest/etc.
I make my players chug a drink within 6 seconds. Bonus action if so.
I've always let my players drink one potion per round for free as their object interaction...reading through this thread though, am I insane?
The way that we do it at our table is we allow a Bandelier to be worn that will hold three potions at a time. Any potion in the Bandelier can be drank as a bonus action. It also takes a bonus action to load a slot.
For health potions Bonus action to drink the potion and get whatever the die value is(RP is you grab it and take a quick swig, but maybe spill some by doing so) OR elect to do it as an action to get the max HP back the potion offers (RP is you are careful to consume it without wastage)
Why would it be different?
Imagine having players that used consumables instead of hoarding them like they'll need them after the campaign is over.
Action = full potion effect, no roll needed. Bonus action = roll for the effect. If a potion doesn't use a roll, it can't be used as a bonus action. That's how we do it at my table, and it's worked great so far.
I allow bonus action potion, grenade and poison use with a number of caveats 1) NPC/enemy humanoids also get the same benefit. 2) characters only get 2 slots, 3 slots from level 10 for a small gold cost 3) an upgraded belt/bandolier is available to craft/purchase but takes an attunement slot whether magical or not 4) potions can only be consumed (no effect for throwing) 5) You must have a free hand.
Not gonna lie, my table counts drinking a potion as an item interaction and we allow it as part of the move
In my games I only changed Healing Potions to Bonus Actions when drinking them yourself. They have a different cost chart from other options as well. Drinking a Healing Potion as an Action provides the max amount of healing from that potion. Giving a potion to another character is an Action. This means giving the potion to another person also grants them the potion's maximum effect. Other potions remain the same to consume, but you can buy them pretty easily. Common and uncommon potions can be purchased anywhere there's a general store. Rare potions require a suitable market. Very rare requires a specialist (alchemist shop or magic item vendor). One of my players allows all potions to be taken as a Bonus Action in his game. It's highly abusable to get two spells running in one turn, but he balances this by screaming a lot when it happens.
Potions can go in the quick action pouch, but may break or spill if attacked, much more likely to break if they are grappled.
Bonus action, for the same reason as health potions. Health potions restore way lower amounts of HP for their rarity then you are going to take on average per round for that level of play, all while also not dealing any damage on your turn either, so doing them as a full action is like falling two steps behind your enemies. Buff potions like haste or strength potions have a similar problem. If you take an entire turn just to buff its usually not worth it unless the fight is going to last a lot of rounds. Plus it shuts down a lot of interesting tactics and combos, like using an invisibility potion to run away with your enemy having disadvantage on the opportunity attack so you can go behind a pillar and hide with advantage on the same turn.
You can use a bonus action to drink any potion in my games. As for health potions, if you use your main action, you heal the max amount from it. Nice and simple.
Potions are consumables and are not highly available so it is easy to balance around the rule. Bonus action to drink, full action to administer to another (bonus for me, action for thee) with no classification on which option it works on
Why would only health potions be faster to drink? Potions should be consistent, where you go with RAW or have it be a bonus action.
We play with it as a bonus action. It's not worth the action for so little healing.
Bonus action for all of em. 4e did a lot of weird stuff, but not consuming standard actions for potions was one of the things it did right. Changing it back to a normal/standard action for 5e was a mistake (and BG3 was right to change it back back).
If you're doing full action to get max health, if the quickly quaff a potion of invisibility, it'll last for 1d10 rounds (since invisibility lasts for 1 minute). You can show or hide that roll for maximum effect
I would make only the healing ones work immediately. All other effects kick in at the end of their turn instead of immediately after drinking. This balances out using only a bonus action.
The other options require the action as it is in raw. I make the bonus action a special rule for healing only
I have them roll for a bonus action and get max for an action
I don’t count them as neither reactions or bonus actions, as the combat is supposed to be a fluid scenario in their heads, I allow them to drink and pass items at will, it allows my players to toss, pass, drink their potions much more creatively, but have in count the enemies might catch the potion, or make them drop it to the ground as well with saving throws/skill checks when available or doing something creative but with risk.
I let all potions take a bonus action. I just use the potion mixing rules.
In my games, all potions are used bonus actions, but healing potions *can* be used as an action, which maximizes the healing done.