How to Craft Healing Potions for D&D 5e

[@clickbaitgamer2749]

as someone whos currently trying to make crafting more accessible and rewarding, i thank you kindly

[@nickd1218]

You could look at it as a "fermentation" period where the time component doesn't change but player input is unnecessary so you can create hundreds or thousands of potions at the same time, provided you have the funds and spell slots, where all you need to do is start the process and then leave it to finish reacting on its own, otherwise homebrewing a fermentation/aging spell that specifically works on non-living things to reduce time requirements seems like a good option

[@clickbaitgamer2749]

​@@nickd1218 currently working with a system of my own creation that allows the players to craft potions and items, only requirement being the needed facilities, proficiencies, and the time/materials needed for potions they all take a different amount of time based on their rarity potion material cost is also dependent on the wanted potion For items the time it takes is based on the "quality" of an item for example a journeyman item may grant a +1 to Ac as a shield, or +1 to melee damage on a weapon And the base cost is based on a list of materials and their values against the items weight EX plate weights 65lb 65/5 13 13x4 (Modifier for heavy armor) 52 units of raw materials are needed 52x10 (base cost of iron) 520gp and a base time investment of 12 hours in game time compared to the base cost of plate being around 1500gp This system will obviously get streamlined as i play around with it more

[@joshreid1822]

I'm all for making crafting more obtainable... but as I'm watching this and reading comments a question pops in my head.... shouldn't crafting be pretty unobtainable?? I mean... think about it... how hard is it to manage your "todo" list IRL with a full time job and for some dealing with school too.... so how would you player have such an easy time crafting... think about how much time you would have to brew beer so to speak... if you were working, and say going to school... now compare that to your players... who full time job may be adventuring... then they may have to sit down and study spells of fighting techniques... AND be sure to eat and sleep... their time would more than likely limited......... again I'm all for making it easier l... just a little food for thought

[@clickbaitgamer2749]

@@joshreid1822 just to insert a small amount of realism it would be more practical for an adventuring party to have a variety of useful skills from hunting, brewing, weapon repair, and more that would contribute just as much to the adventure as fighting or casting. Outside of that giving your players more variety in what they can spend their time doing is never a bad idea. preparation is also key in some encounters and having the ability to take a week or 2 to brew potions and experiment with different ideas could make the encounter much more enjoyable then if it were a simple slug fest. One thing ive noticed is the people that have been playing for years are the ones who appreciate new innovative mechanics the most, whether that be new boss mechanics, adding crafting, or adding more variety in how combat mechanics work, spicing the game up never hurt. also these downtime activities in my experience only ever take an hour max to resolve and the party is always happier and more prepared for what comes next afterwards

[@overgrowthj4612]

@@clickbaitgamer2749 I hear you, but at that point, why are you using dnd 5e? I'm sure there are plenty of other systems that draw focus away from solely combat, with more realistic adventuring mechanics. A majority of 5e's rules are about combat, and it lacking those more realistic mechanics is a design choice in my opinion, to make it simpler and easier to pick up.. I can understand wanting to spice things up as a veteran player, but if you're dedicated enough to come up with these modifications for 5e, I feel like you'd better spend that time learning and playing a new system.

[@kc_cobra]

When I make jams, chutneys, home brews, etc. I can easily double the recipe so I have plenty to use at a later date. I wonder if it would be possible to batch cook a bunch & decanter it out so I'd have several in the same time it'd take to make one potion.

[@nihtgengalastnamegoeshere7526]

Making potions in batches makes MORE sense, if you ask me.

[@zebaklongfang9344]

one can speak to the DM... by Xanatar, you work 50 gp worth of items on a workweek (5 work days) and multiple characters can combine effort, multiplying that value (or adding) by the same number... so, with one assistant, you could spend a workweek and have 10 basic potions (about 1 each "half day").. the assistant may need the same item proficiency to be able to help... and if anything help you lessening the cost of said potion, you could batch a bigger amount each day (a class feature or, say, you got a better component that adds X value to the craft without increasing the time ). or if the DM rewards being creative, a dexterous familiar or homonculi, unseen servants, another character and a hired assistant or apprentice, plus Galders Tower (LLK) could make a mobile potionshop working about 4.. 5 greater potions (lvl II) week... or one worth one downtime day.

[@khzhak]

@@zebaklongfang9344 I could see parallels between healing potions and alcohol. Must have sterile containers, once it starts, it just needs to be kept in a dark cool place for a bit, stronger ones are more like a mash that gets distilled magically somehow with specialized equipment, etc.

[@B00kman]

And then you get a visit: Hello, Im from the Crafters guild. You owe us 1,000GP for the permit and approvals are not guaranteed.

[@haku8135]

That's the thing. It's D&D. You can do whatever you damn well please as the DM, or if the DM allows it. In my world that I'm making, potions are very complicated, and crafting even the simplest potion takes a lot of know how and skills and tools, and specific ingredients. However, if you do have those skills, you can do some incredible things. One such example is making healing potions. So long as you can get your hands on these particular plants and you have the tools and some spare time, you could in theory make enough basic healing potions to hand out to your entire team. If you come across some rarer materials, maybe even MONSTER parts, you could make higher tier healing potions, or other types of potions. Like an invisibility potion for example. In my world, if you kill a dragon, you can harvest parts from it and make THOUSANDS upon thousands of gold pieces, without even TOUCHING the Dragon's hoard. JUST with its body you could make thousands. You could make way MORE than that if you're an alchemist cause dragon parts can make POWERFUL potions. I even have a special magic item that's similar to a bag of holding, but it's specifically for storing monster parts as it keeps them preserved. Also works on cupcakes. Monster harvesting is that big a part of my world.

[@Vespuchian]

4:40 "What is this, red wine that needs to age?" Depending on how you do it, yeah, probably. I've always assumed the time for potions was about how long the ingredients had to rest/steep/ferment/age/mature etc. before they reached the desired potency. So you only need a day to make the potion itself, but it won't be _ready_ until next week/month. I do like the video's rules for 'quick potions' during a long rest, I'll probably use them or a variation thereof in future. Our group also agreed on rough rules for Batch Crafting potions. Just raise the material costs proportional to how many you're making and then you just need a big enough pot to do it in. No different from making one gallon or fifty of homebrew beer. I mean yeah, you can brew your beer one bottle at a time, but why?

[@jasonreed7522]

The reference to home brewed alcohol, litterally just steal the time tables for that and transfer to potion brewing. The process is a lot of: do a bunch of work with very sterile equipment, and then set it in a cool dark room for a month, rinse and repeat. So for potions i could easily see the same concepts being applied, step 1 make a slurry of the base (anything from water to maple syrup to moonshine) and some core healing herbs and cast cure wounds, bring to a boil for 30 minutes and rack into sterile carboid, let sit for however long (based on potion level). Next step aerate, recast healing spell, rerack, let sit for same timeframe, and finally aerate again, rerack, filter, cast, bottle. (Or distill for higher levels) Let age of 1 week. I suppose a good method could be compare each level of potion to an alcohol of similar potency and "fancyness" to model the process after. The point of this is that instead of spending 1000 days making a single amazing potion you now must have: 1. Time management to follow the process. (Not every BBEG will let you get back home in time to keep your brewery going, and its unlikely you can hire someone else to do it for you) 2. Specialty equipment 3. Aquire quality ingredients 4. Batch potion making, if you are good you could even sell the extra for a profit. 5. Interesting consequences for failure. (Home brewing goes wrong, if you miss your time table or botch a roll or substitute an ingredient its DM's discretion but the batch being wasted and tossed is such a waste of potential for "mystery potions" that could have unkown effects.) Also once players get good at brewing healing potions who's to say they can't make other potions, maybe they cast "inflict wounds" instead of "cure wounds" and now have a magical poison that with a little food coloring looks like a healing potion, just a thought ;)

[@TheSensei88]

@@jasonreed7522 This is how i'd absolutely rule it. Could still allow the "improvised 8 hours healing potion" but it would be a like "1d4+1", usefull but not the real deal.

[@jasonreed7522]

@@TheSensei88 improvised 1d4+1 pots definitely have a use case, as an AED or at super low levels. Any healing will wake a downed player so if all you need is to give them a quick dose of 2-5HP its a good item to distribute across the party, less useful for preventing downs in the first place. I would definitely theme it as you can prep as many as you have spell slots and ingredients for per long rest. And flavor wise overnight pickles could be a decent idea. Vinegar + herbs + appropriate healing spell + 8hrs = overnight potions of 1d4+1, slogan: "its better than nothing". Alternatively you can spend a day making a synthetic basic healing potion that uses chemistry instead of biology to make the potion, but only 1 at a time vs batch making with brewing. (Think of it like Dr Stone's biological path vs mineral based sulpha drug path to antibiotics, one is much more reliable in a pinch than the other to safely manufacture)

[@VorpalDerringer]

3:28 That's what winter is for. But 100 days does seem very excessive for only 8d4 healing. Might as well make ten 4d4 potions.

[@skywolfbat]

It's all about that turn economy; do you want to spend two turns downing two 4d4 potions, or one turn downing 8d4 worth of one potion and the other turn kicking orc butt?

[@russellstephens3580]

@@skywolfbat Because of the way 5e's hp mechanics work tho, two 4d4 potions are potentially more valuable tho, because that's 2 times you can bring a party member back from 0 hp rather than 1.

[@KikinCh1kin]

Yeah i would much rather have 40d4 healing than 8d4 even if it takes me multiple actions to heal the 8d4 the fact i get literally 10 times the amount is too good not to take. Of course to an extent, it has to be a reasonable amount of healing for my level but it can even be a little low and i would still take it. It the same reason goodberry juggling is good

[@PH03NIX96]

@@russellstephens3580 I'd rather give the mage that went down the 8d4 potion so he can take another hit before going down again. If you give him the 4d4 potion well whoops sorry bud the orc hit you for 20 damage. Now both the Wizard and person giving the potion wasted 2 entire turns.

[@russellstephens3580]

@@PH03NIX96 I mean, you've kinda made my point without realising it. The average for 8d4 is 20, so most of the time, that orc doing 20 damage is STILL dropping the wizard, you've both spent your action economy and now you've got no potions left. Dang, sure wish I had another one in my pocket right now.

[@Blinky_Dorf]

Pathfinder handles potion crafting very well. An excerpt from the system: "Brewing a potion takes 2 hours if its base price is 250 gp or less, otherwise brewing a potion takes 1 day for each 1,000 gp in its base price." Perfectly reasonable, and there are feats that reduce crafting times even further. Now, an alchemist can make potions in their evening downtime, or even during rests between fights.

[@Blinky_Dorf]

@@sinthariasinestra9777 This is the mindset that keeps people from playing it. It's very easy to let new players get overwhelmed with all the extra content, but it's actually really similar to 5e (ability scores, the d20 dice system, skills, feats and items). I've found that introducing new players to Pathfinder features one at a time, and waiting until they are used to them before moving on and adding more, is pretty effective at staving off the content overload that tends to scare people away from the older, crunchier systems. My players that came from either no tabletop experience, or only 5e experience took only about 5-10 sessions to be able to play effectively and keep track of the changes.

[@ANDELE3025]

@@sinthariasinestra9777 You do know that the 2h-1d for cheap potions feat (depending on source of the feature) and general potion rules is a 3e thing pf took over (being 3.45e essentially). Just as how PF2e is 4.5e.

[@ANDELE3025]

@@sinthariasinestra9777 Your claim that people dont play PF due to being wordy, its not played because 3.5 and pf2e exist for both people that like mechanical side + build depth (since it was initially a expansion to the transition of 3.0 to 3.5 before being superseded in every way as .5 actually god heavy book support) and story/setting + base class split (and 4e) respectively.

[@tripple-a6031]

I wouldn't say that a system that only says you have to pay x amount of gp and time to brew a potion handles it well.

[@Blinky_Dorf]

@@tripple-a6031 It's also an abstraction of resources. GP costs in Pathfinder are represented as materials and reagents equal in value to X, which leaves it open to GM interpretation. As the video here suggests, taking a year to produce a high-quality potion is ridiculous, but a week of downtime spent making something exceptional is, at least in my opinion, perfectly reasonable. Additionally, if you really want to get nitty-gritty with alchemy, there's an alternate ruleset available where you have to have specific amounts of different materials, prepare them with certain tools, and render them into their final products with different "cooking" methods, which take varying amounts of time. Edit: I forgot to mention that Pathfinder also requires access to a laboratory to craft potions. There are travel-sized versions as well, albeit less effective.

[@dynamicworlds1]

Another way to alter the time requirement is to alter the "uninterrupted" part, which makes sense when we're talking about "brewing" potions. A good portion of the time in normal brewing is just sitting back and letting it do it's thing.

[@HelicopterShark]

Yeah this is how I do it. My alchemist artificer (I'll ignore artificer bonus here) has a brew box. My perspective is that it takes the same overall time to craft I can just break it up into the 2 hour light activity of a long rest all the alchemist does is agitate the potion out of its settled state to continue the brewing. Now we run that every 3 adventuring days I will have worked up the equivalent to 8 hours of work (2.6hrs/day) going with 3 feels easier than 4 as you could just add 20 minutes to the start and end of the rest (which is where spell preps usually happen) also means if we time wave a week of travel we just call it 2 crafting days (1 day off in a 7 day week world is reasonable) An appropriate skill check is done every full crafting day, there's usually no chance of complete failure (maybe at real low levels), but if a check is super low it just requires burning a little extra materials to save the brew. (I stock up on raw materials) Once the artificer gets to reduce the time required for crafting, I don't do that for common potions, instead just the number of like potions that can be crafted at the same time.

[@Indian0Lore]

Like when you make wine, mead, or beer. Sure it takes a month. But I’m only really doing something the first day and a day in the middle and the last day.

[@EzraMiner]

on 154 of the player's hand book under Herbalism Kit it clearly states "This kit contains a variety of instruments such as clippers, mortar and pestle, and pouches and vials used by herbalists to create remedies and potions. Proficiency with this kit lets you add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make to identify or apply herbs. Also, proficiency with this kit is required to create antitoxin and any potion of healing."

[@MrAllen1049]

Exactly let them roll to reduce time by increasing the dc or other factors.

[@Ixarus6713]

A simple solution, create batches. Players choose to craft potions in either: standard batch of 10 - 1 long rest, greater batch of 10 - 2 long rests, superior batch of 10 - 3 long rests, ultra mega batch of 10 - 4 long rests. You can multiply or divide if required and the players receive a satisfactory amount of potions, if they should get less or more or don't have the money, change it. At 25 x 10 you end up at 250gp which seems reasonable for 10 healing potions, your players could even start a shop where they sell them for the book price (50) If they sell 5 batches of 10 standard, that's around about 1250gp!

[@cloud5buster]

There, that's something that's actually reasonable and convenient for an adventurer to use.

[@Sentay0]

My favorite gameplay concept is when healing potions have some sort of drawback to prevent guzzling. In the Witcher franchise all healing potions use strong alcohol as a base component and thus too many can result in you becoming intoxicated. I can't remember where but one game had healing potions heal by magically accelerating your metabolism meaning you'd be absolutely starving after healing and you'd hemorrhage weight (basically all adventurers where gaunt dudes with noticeable ribs). In several borderline scifi games healing potions equivalents have a slightly toxic component and overindulging can result in overdosing, requiring other medical operations or components to stabilize you.

[@swapertxking]

As someone who makes a lot of liquid foodstuff in his personal time, I genuinely feel that the current crafting rules favor less single use items, but instead batches in pints to gallons.

[@hopelesslydull7588]

The problem is they don't explain how to make in bulk, presumably because they're avoiding the overabundance of healing. I agree with you, and making them in bulk should reduce the cost per unit a bit, but it should increase the difficulty. Far easier to burn a stock pot full of roux than a saucepan.

[@ldalexandrite]

When we were playing Pathfinder with my friends, the “healing and antiseptic salve” making used the “ingredient” rule. (they’re not as strong as a healing potion but they definitely came in clutch in some situations). You required herbalist kit proficiency, multiple ingredients and a high medicine skill. And it didn’t require you to know a spell to craft them. I was playing as a Barbarian with very high wisdom. And I had proficiency in both cooking utensils and herbalism kit (my barbarian was a pharmacist in his tribe). So it was my barbarian who crafted the healing consumables for your party! And because we didn’t have a cleric, my barbarian was essentially the main healer. XD It was so fun both in roleplay standpoint and in gameplay mechanics. And I was very happy to put those tools in actual use We are now playing DnD 5e. We haven’t talked about potion making yet, but will definitely apply your video’s ideas! And maybe mix it with Pathfinder logic too

[@KageRyuu6]

Nah the real issue is the ridiculous short and long rest rules, frankly the optional rules to make that a day and week respectively should have been the standard rules not the optional ones.

[@iamme5301]

Thanks so much for this my party has been wanting a system just like these

[@masterthedungeon]

Glad we could help!

[@gortab]

Adding to this, perhaps a person can substitute the spellcasting component of potion brewing with aging it? Basically, if a player has the required ingredient (ie, a healroot for a basic potion, greater healroot for a greater potion, etc) and can cast spell needed then they can make the given potion over a long rest. Alternatly, if they can't cast the spell, or if it's an NPC doing the brewing, then they can still brew the potion but it takes longer to 'age'. So they can brew up a basic potion in a day, a greater potion in a week, etc. However... the aging process doesn't have be carefully maintained by the player or NPC. They can spend a few hours preparing the ingredients and bottling it up, but then they just have to place the unaged bottles somewhere dark and cool for a while so the magic can activate or whatever. Someplace like a chest. If the party doesn't have a healer but they have the recipe for healing potions, they can get a bunch of healroot, spend some time cooking them up and bottling the liquid, and then let the resulting potions age for 24 hours to get their healing potions. Or, if they get a greater healroot and have the recipe they can cook that up and keep the bottle somewhere to get a greater healing potion in a week. Or... you could have various NPC out in the world who prepare these potions, bottle them up, and then keep them securely locked up in chests or buried in places dark and cool for the potions to age properly. Sure, a basic healing potion would only take a day or so to brew and there's no problem, but greater potions would need the bottles kept somewhere for a week, or two, or three. If someone was brewing these potions and then left them in a secure place to age, that just provides more opportunities for the players to run into them. Perhaps they come across a town that was raided and in one of the houses they find some potions in the basement of a place that were put there to age but the raid happened before the brewer could collect them. Or, if a potion takes a really long time to age, the brewer might make a few, put them in a box, bury them in a hole, and keep a map of the spot for if they need to dig it up in the future. They could give the players directions to dig it up as a reward, to give them supplies for fighting a group of bandits, or the players just come across the map during their scrounging.

[@The1337Duke]

It's a good idea, but I'd tweak it a bit. If a player asked me if they could age potions I'd say sure, but it would take a great deal longer to age them than to make them. This would make it easier to hand out potions as loot, without having to justify why there would be such a powerful potion at that location. Potions aren't wine though. Any old cool cellar wouldn't do the ttrick. It would need to be aged in an enviroment with a lot of ambient magic, like at the bottom of a magical well, in a dragon's hoard, or beneath powerful magical laylines, where feary rings usually pop up. Fey lords would probably have a wealth of powerful potions stored in their cellars, since the faywild is basically one big magic soup. The nature of the ambient magic in the region you store the potion in would also play into the final product. Spirits takes on different characteristics depending on the barrel it's been aged in, so different flavours of ambient magic would affect potions differently. A basic strength potion would age into a potion of fire giants strength if it's stored in a magically active volcano. A poison stored by a natural pathway to the shadowfell would become necrotic and potent. A healing potion stored in a feary ring would maybe become more potent, or turn into a potion of sleep, or a "dream" spell. If my players tried stashing tens of weak magic potions and return to them though, i'd absolutely make them work for it. Inevetably, they would either be stolen upon their return, initiating a "find the asshats that stole our potions" type quest, or the stash would now be guarded by magical creatures that inevateble congregate around magical locations conducive to the aging of potions. The party could even be hired by proffesional potion brewers, to retrive their 12 year stash of potions that are guarded by creatures drawn to the ambient magic of the location they were stored in.

[@Papercut337]

My best friend’s wife (she plays too) makes Health, Mana, and Ether potions for large sessions. They’re each a proprietary blend of Red, Blue, and Purple Kool Aid respectively. We also call them liquid diabetes lol Edit: Ether is the name of a potion in Final Fantasy that replenishes both health points and magic points.

[@Doran_Runeblite]

I get the Mana potions, but what are the Ether potions for? Regaining Stamina?

[@stm7810]

@@Doran_Runeblite they're a compromise between both, since Aether is a powerful life force throughout the universe you can use it to get a bit of health and a bit of magic, at least in most games. in DnD that would probably be half a healing potion with recovery of a first level spell slot.

[@Doran_Runeblite]

@@stm7810 ahhh neat. Wait, did you play the same game as the first commenter? Is this a different TTRPG I haven't heard of or just homebrew D&D?

[@stm7810]

@@Doran_Runeblite I didn't play, I was just making a logical conclusion based on myths, other games and DnD mechanics.

[@tripple-a6031]

Ether are the mana potions of Final Fantasy, Elixirs are the ones that heal both HP and MP.

[@boredgamergirl661]

I've working on a potion crafting system. I usually focus on crafting recipies. Usually I think it is better that the recipies use the same few common materials. This makes less tedious finding 'that' root that you need for your potion as you probably have it. The hard part is chosing what you want to make with your limited supplies. That are my usual design chocies but rn I want to make a system that can have as much depth as the players wants it to have. I am taking inspiration from other PC games like Big Pharma, that is simple to understand but can have a lot of depth. I am focusing in materials, how they interact between them, and the processes you can apply them. The bare idea I have is that there are three types of ingredients: materials, catalysts and additives. The materials are the barers of the effects of the potions (Can have more than one), the catalysts interact with the materials to create new effects, change or upgrade them, and the additives add, boost or change the properties in a predicatble way not dependant of the material. The processes can change the properties of the materials so you can play with them and mix them with other materials. That is my bare idea. This way making simple potions or poisons can be made just triggering the effects of the materials with a simple proccess like brewing, where you don't even need to understand the system and can do fine with just a recipe. But you can make very good potions or develope your own recipies with if you want to.

[@jasonreed7522]

I think taking inspiration from irl brewing is a good source, all the components are very common, but the process is work with a precise time table and specialty equipment. And you can definitely keep all the component system you have with materials (sugar/grape juice), catalysts (yeast), and adatives (spices) while stylizing the brewing process after alcohol, with simpler processes for lower teirs and for superior potions you may really have to leave it in a barrel for a year somewhere conducive to the process. And for basics maybe you can just distill it at the point you normally bottle and age making it more of a cheap vodka than a top shelf brandy.

[@L3gitNinjaMonkey]

This kind of reminds me of the Minecraft potion brewing system, I like it

[@nairocamilo]

Hey, just wanna say: loved your article, "Can You Pet the Dog", from the website Great discussion and an excellent breakdown of what we can learn in the _videogame : tabletop game_ spectrum

[@kurtacus3581]

Thats so funny, i had a homebrew item called Healer's Root that has exactly the same function as yours. Only i added another homebrew rule that a healer's root can be consumed as a bonus actions and provide 1d4+CON modifier in healing. I also thought about making it 1d4+1 in healing but i liked the idea of your con mod being used for something other that your HP total. And it made it feel a bit fair to those who invest points in con and gave them a bit more healing because they had higher health pools to fill

[@ChargeQM]

For some groups I played with, I would have included a downside for consuming several in a row, like con save or be sickened. Nothing major, but enough that you would want to consider whether it is worth it

[@kurtacus3581]

@@ChargeQM I could see healers root being abused but honestly when you get to higher levels its such small amounts of healing that it never really impacts the game too much. My players basically only use it in an emergency to use an action to dash or disengage and then bonus action heal.

[@PS64Subs]

I had a similar thought, if the root is the basis for a healing, why not make it give healing? of course, Lesser to that of that of a Lesser healing potion [if one exists] and one of a basic model of healing potion. I do like the idea that an alchemical ingredient is only the start of the process, it in itself has the properties you're looking for, it's up to you to brew it in a way that makes it more powerful. also, an idea i had for Lesser Healing potions, they're more compact, less weighty and potent, and can't be used as a substitution to sate thirst, unlike an actual potion.

[@Bacon8t0r]

Reminds me of this one homebrew crafting book I found. It expands everything out. I gather herbs to make assorted potions, my one friend buys bolts of cloth/scraps looted clothes to make tailored outfits and plush toys etc. It even has monster part harvesting , blacksmithing and jewelry crafting. Something base 5e needs to branch into. (it's kinda why I love the crafting system in Divinity so much)

[@micahiwaasa9304]

Survival checks to find a magical item ingredient?! There's proof that the Nature skill is a total total mistake, the neverest called for check in the game. If not here, when?

[@Jakzul1]

And what about fetching ingredients from anyother source?. 😼 Troll's blood is canonically used to make potions. 🧐 Maybe using different ingredients and a really good roll get some additional effects to the potion. 😳 Spended potions may gets a wildmagic's chart roll. 👺 And using too frequently potions gives you a level of poisoning, like in the Witcher. 🤯 Just in case you want down time to matter a lot more in your games. 🥳

[@masterthedungeon]

These are all great ideas!

[@allthatisj8900]

Wow. Why the hell haven't I thought of that amazing, but simple Witcher idea?

[@Jakzul1]

@@allthatisj8900 some ideas could be, binding the toxicity lvl with the number of potions comsumed. maybe getting 3 lvls could give you the consecuences of 1 or 2 points of exhaustion, or make you lose 1 point of AC + 1 point of proficiency for each toxicity lvl. or directly your proficiency bonus becomes zero until you get rest. 😳✨

[@Battleguild]

@@Jakzul1 The number of potions you can consume per long rest based on your Constitution Mod? Drinking beyond that requires a DC 15 Constitution Saving Throw or gain a level of Exhaustion. The DC increases by 2 for each potion consumed past the limit.

[@TheVocalButcher]

Got a new player that REALLY wants to lean into the fact they are a healer and craft potions. This vid has been VERY helpful!

[@seancoyote]

Normal pricing of a craft goes like this, Material cost + Labor cost + overhead(shop) = Cost(Cost of the craftsman) Cost x 2 = Wholesale price (basically the cost to the merchant, and the profit of the craftsman) Wholesale x 2 = Retail Cost (what a customer pays and the profit of the merchant) So basically 25 gp isn't accurate, it assumes skilled labor and overhead is non existent, 25 gold should be the cost when hiring an NPC cleric and setting up a place for them to brew and supplying them with ingredients. IE the system is made for you to not do this because it wouldn't be very profitable to go into potion making compared to just about any other investment.

[@DavidZMediaisAwesome]

I’m not going to lie, I’ve been a DM for about a year now and I didn’t know healing potions were an actual part of D&D. My players always just relied on healing spells instead.

[@snobgoblinDK]

Excellent video, very high quality of both voice work, content and graphics. Subscribed :)

[@kwaksea]

To be honest I am pretty sure Designers werent think hard about Crafting System just like Wild Shape or Conjuring Spells (especially Animal one) Just out of curiosity, can requiring hour be divided by people working on the project?

[@masterthedungeon]

There's nothing about it in the rules, but using the help action does give a player advantage on their roll. But if you and your players want to implement divided crafting time based on the people involved, there's no reason you can't at your own table.

[@ChadZLumenarcus]

If it was easy, everyone would do it. In this case, setting up shop and industry to produce potions would be the goal. This is like saying a combat vet should be able to craft tanks in their down time. It would be advantageous to find and befriend whoever is producing the which opens up a lot of narrative and quest possibilities.

[@willieoelkers5568]

Exactly. Everyone wants it to be like Skyrim where you just smash the requisite pieces together and instantly have any kind of item. Which is fine for a single player sandbox RPG video game, but makes the high end stuff way too accessible in a system like D&D. If you need the item for a specific story purpose, the DM will of course create their own system for obtaining it, and they are likewise free to work out an alternative method if you just want to get your hands on a specific item. The downtime crafting rules exist more as an option to fill downtime if it arises within a given campaign, rather than something players should really plan on having in any given campaign.

[@elbruces]

I love this. Another possible element to add might be fermentation. You can make the potions quickly, but they'll need a certain amount of extra time to wait before they become functional. That way it takes a some advance planning to keep your stock up.

[@Torthrodhel]

Advertisement: "9 out of 10 adventurers recommend potions of healing!" Alchemist artificer: "I must be the 10th adventurer." Also advertisement: "The 10th adventurer is deceased." Alchemist subclass power level: "... accurate."

[@techpriestemily]

That's a pretty great potion crafting framework you have there. I absolutely *despise* 5e's current "crafting" system. I'm currently planning on a switch to PF2e, so I'll be seeing what they think crafting is about, but I still might bring that framework with me.

[@Torkkar]

ok this is a nice homebrew but for my table I use my Pharmacological almanac witch lists & categorizes the properties of herbal plants, Monster parts & Organs, and Potion bases such as Seed oils, Toad bile/oil, various types of water, blood, & magical liquids like minecraft thermal foundation mods pyrothium & cryothium. for my system you simply need to do the following, 1 on active phase before long rests/camping/short rests player may use survival checks to forage herbs & plants or hunt small game no larger that a deer but no heavier than a Common wild boar (don't want to have them triggering proper fights) in order to gather materials = to their player level + 1 D6 Multiplier (1D20 IF player harvests from an owned farm or is lord of a fiefdom) 2, Player use knowledge nature to identify herbs & other ingredients (if farming as before this is skipped or an easier check freshness rules). 3, during long rest crafting player may craft a batch of healing potions IF they have a cauldron, + containers enough to hold the potions. This method crafts Batch potions that are slightly weaker than standard potions but are readily craftable in most biomes based on MY preference to have several healing effect herbs per biome split between herbs, flowers, mushrooms, & mosses.

[@MatLCF]

- A work week is 5 days, not 7, so you could make a Supreme one in 20 days. - I don't think there are level requirements on Xanathar, or at the very least not for potion brewing. Bonus: It's stated in the book that a character needs an herbalism kit, but that multiple characters (who have the same proficiency) can speed up the process by working together, with the DM having the final call on how many people can work at the same time. In the PHB there are a list of services that you can hire, among them skilled hirelings, which are basically NPCs that work on something that requires proficiency (Including tools, such as the herbalism kit), with their base price being 2gp/day. I'm sure you can see where this is going: You can either go full production line or simply make batches at the time (If your DM argues that the potion needs to boil slowly or something like that). Now, as a DM, you can still shoot this down, and as a bonus get some nice plot hooks: Maybe said hirelings are skilled enough to help but not to do this on their own, so you need to stay close to them all the time (Unless you're willing to pay lots of extra for a particularly good one to take your place - And even then you better have a non-compete clause, or he may end up taking all the other hirelings from you); Maybe there are few skilled hireling herbalists nearby and they're already busy (Perhaps a quest could make them put helping you whenever you're in town as a priority - A rare ingredient to make a potion that can cure an even rarer condition that someone he loves has?); Maybe you managed to hire a lot of them, but you potions start to produce unexpected/weakened effects, as one of such hirelings is trying to sabotage you from the inside, but there are so many it's hard to pinpoint who (Is he jealous? Was he hired by an enemy? - Yay, internal intrigue!). You could also just greatly increase the prices of such hirelings, but tbh that feels like the most boring option IMO.

[@Avabees]

I looked at the cost and time required to make holy water or potions and immediately ruled them out as an option in our group. I dont think any of the party has ever had more than 20 gold at one time

[@Abornarazine]

IMHO: Crafting is intentionally time gated because players are supposed to look arty the requirements and go "... naw, let's get back to the story. " Your player characters are just that, played characters. They sre not NPC's. Story wise when we see our characters this it's supposed to be the greatest most exciting times of their lives. Not the day in day out. Also Gygax said your game is supposed to always be on, and days that pass in real life, should pass in game.

[@TheUnhousedWanderer]

Herbalism/Alchemist kits to collect and/or craft potions. Brewing doesn't need to take more than a few short rests, assuming you have a static space to set up a "lab." DM Binder has some info on this, but we should all probably homebrew our own.

[@burningshine5524]

Great video! Though, i would personally drop the "Cure wounds" spell from recipe as well as make roll against DC using alchemy set (so bonus if you are profficent), rather than spellcasting.

[@korvincarry3268]

Yoinking this type of system for ALL SORTS of crafting. As someone who loves crafting useful consumables or items that can be utilized where even spells may fall short or have unintended effects, ive been trying to make a better system but couldnt quite figure out what i wanted. Now i do!

[@nascenticity]

i actually really like the idea of pointing being like wine that needs to age. you could end up with a much better balance between time spent and the actual payoff if there’s some kind of fermentation process that takes the same amount of time regardless of what quantity of potion you’re brewing. but that 1000 day brewing time suddenly makes a lot more sense if you can get an entire barrel out of it (maybe with periodic skill checks required to make sure the process has no ill effects or accidents) rather than just one measly potion. i could see it leading to some interesting narrative stuff too, since it would encourage the players to set up a home base and return to it regularly to check on their potion still :D

[@roymaxson5985]

If you know the lore about the ancient elven spell weaving. You can place up to 100 items in a single spell when creating a magic item. If you can catch and cage a troll. You can draw out as much regenerating troll blood as you need. One down side to this. The trolls blood will cause the consumer to appear more troll like in appearance. If you fill 100 potion bottles and place them in a transmutation circle. The player can attempt to magically alter the base material of the potion. Essentially changing DNA via magic. What ever 100 empty bottles cost, a quest to capture a young troll, endless pleaser from repeatedly stabbing the troll over and over and over until you have what you need. Some time to practice this method of spell weaving, and a willing test subject to test the potion. It’s almost free. But we should limit them from drinking 100 health potions a day. It can’t be that good for you. So let’s say the potions are bigger when they heal more. If we say you can drink up to one or two superior potions of healing a day. You must take a short or long rest before you can drink another one or two superior healing potions. This way the players can mix and match the potions as they need them and when they have them. If you follow the weight system. The players won’t be able to carry that many potions. This means they will have to leave many of them behind at home base. Weaving that type of magic should cost a spell slot per strength of the potion. And should take no less than eight hours. This works on many items and spells. But transmutation circles are not always fit for the job. Only when you are trying to mess with the bass code of DNA or other material. There are other types of magic circles for different types of spell weaving. Enjoy and happy crafting!

[@skipmage]

alternatively you can allow potions to be brewed in batches, instead of brewing a single beer you brew fifty or so; and industrial suppliers brew thousands and in doesn't take any longer to brew those extras because the time on all is the same. Also, the size of the potions has always irked me. If the potion is twice as big, and heals twice as much, then aren't I just getting the same heal juice? And if it's the same healing potion in a Supreme as a common just a larger bottle then WHY? Why is it rarer? Why does it take so much longer to craft? Why are the base materials so much more expensive, if I'm buying in bulk I should get a discount (a fifty pound sack of flour is not fifty times as expensive as a one pound bag of flour.) Why do I even need access to the spell? One of the reasons to make potions is to gain access to effects you wouldn't have otherwise. Why do I need to be a higher level? cooking a big pot of spaghetti is not significantly different to cooking a single serve (Do farmers need to hit a certain level before they can farm the 200 head of cattle they inherited?) Consider this, why would any NPC spend about 20 years of their life mastering alchemy, just to then spend the rest of their life three years at a time to make one supreme potion? And there would have to be hundreds of these people locked away in hermitages across the continent. Talk about cottage industry.

[@omarlife-less7811]

How to create your armor and / or shields from scratch? example: "shield of thorns", resists x points of damage before being destroyed, it is weak to fire and ice attacks, if the enemy attacks through physical contact, it loses x points of life.

[@SusCalvin]

You used to have an armourer in your retinue. The armourer could support a number of goons in maintaining their stuff, you got to have one when your goons started to grow to a platoon. An armourer with supplies and time could also churn out kit for you over time, more if they had a few non-armourer assistants. So at your stronghold you could have a workshop doing nothing but kitting out your companies of goons.

[@EveloGrave]

I absolutely love love love alchemy in history. I am really glad my DM put in Herbalism and Alchemy homebrew set it is comprehensive and has a large variety of herbs, potions, and poisons. Ill link it below highly recommend.

[@TheGlader2]

I created my own potion creation system, I nabbed the idea from Mystical Agriculture, a minecraft mod. Basically 8 ingredients are required to make any potion and the ingredients can either be bought in shops or grown or found in nature.

[@maniacmagge2568]

My rules is that items and potions require 4 steps. 1- item prep (container or make item for enchantment) 2- Focus (use of Sigils, spell script or circles to channel magic) 3- catylyst (a special ingredient or material like residuum to spark the enchantment) 4- Time (the more powerful an item is the more magic it needs to intake: every long rest spend time to focus more magic to complete item) For my players it allows them to make items as they please and requires them to take the effort in buying or harvesting materials like dragons blood for a protection orb or the ashes of a fire elemental for a flame sword

[@otbaht]

i personally take 10 percent off crafting of items compared to its value because why would anyone use herbs to make potions when theirs no profit as potions are 50g and ingredients are 50g? it makes no sense so I do 10 percent less and the time cost is where the profit comes in. but that's just me.

[@Ironoclasty]

I worked up a system that makes several of the factors in potion creation variable based on the recipe. A randomly generated recipe may allow the creation of a very cheap potion that takes longer than usual to brew with a higher DC, or an quick and easy potion that requires something rare or difficult to obtain (like a beholder stalk eye, or a sunflower grown from holy water, or a gallon of rainwater collected in light of a full moon, or something similar). So interested PCs will constantly be hunting for a better formula (or create one themselves over the course of experimentation that will cost them almost as much as it would to buy a recipe from an alchemist). Currency doesn't need to be gold coins, after all.

[@uberfuzzy]

Our DM went the scroll crafting like route and would let you sort of force imbue the spells into the liquid if you didn’t have any of the cooking components. It would take roughly double the slot levels to create a potion (aka 2 casts of cure wounds=1potion, there was a chart). This also allowed healers something to do with daily spell slots on long periods of rest/travel. It also explained how non-adventuring NPC with spell abilities could make money, all those bored clerics in the church just turned into a potion factory.

[@yamatohekatsue9143]

I thought the alchemists artificer has rules for making up to 3 or 4 potions that heal 2d4 + INT and later add an extra 2d6 + INT. They make these every long rest giving 2d4 + 2d6 + INT + INT granted their potions don't stack as in every day they make 3 new potions and the old ones get thrown out Also Xanathars has rules for using herbalism kit to make potions of healing as well as using alchemy kits to enhance potions of healing The enhancement last for an hour and it makes the potion heal for maximum healing

[@thenovicedm7966]

Where in Xanathar's (specifically) did you find the "alchemy kit to enhance potions of healing" ? I'm trying to wrap my head around this atm since I'm working with a DM that believes only Healing Kits work for creation of Healing Potions. He allows Alchemist kit for many other potions.....just not healing. Can you site the resource please ?

[@yamatohekatsue9143]

@@thenovicedm7966 it should be under alternate uses for skills give me a bit to try and look it up

[@yamatohekatsue9143]

@@thenovicedm7966 PG 130 talks about using herbist kits to make them for 25 gp and it takes one day Pg 78 I think talks about alchemists supplies to make acid alchemists fire antivenom perfume and soap for 50 gp The enchancing potions is an artificer alchemist thing from eberron rising from the last war I was looking it up and typing and nothing posted so Im doing it by memory instead of pulling the PDF again

[@angelalewis3645]

I love this so so much. In a recent video, Matt Colville pointed out that rolling to hit is basically rolling to see if you get a turn that round or not. This is a way to counter that! If you’re using one of yesterday’s spell slots, to prepare a healing potion for tomorrow, it’s a way to give you one more healing spell slot (in a sense) for tomorrow that you wouldn’t otherwise have.

[@BigCowProductions]

I use a modified version of Dael Kingsmill's alchemy system. You don't need to know the spell, just need to find the information and items and craft. But what you find is dependent on your survival/nature check

[@nairocamilo]

High Heals... God, I love you guys

[@masterthedungeon]

Right back atcha.

[@wadewilson3309]

not in my game. my dm refuses to make healing potions common. they are expensive.

[@chromegaman]

The way I read making potions, you could brew the potion and cork it during a long rest, but it needs a certain amount of time to cool or ferment to become effective. This would also give DMs an option to have certain potions "go bad" after some time, which can add to inventory controls.

[@cameronlancefrii7356]

I think it's worth noting that Xanathar's time tables uses work weeks, which is 5 8 hour days. Obviously, a day's work is just 8 hours. This leaves you with weekends off, as well as another 8 hours of the day to spend. And if you don't need to sleep, you have another 8 hours in a day to play with. Playing with having time like this can increase what your characters can accomplish. I also run "travel days" where you spend 8 hours walking, 8 hours relaxing and/or setting up camp, and then actually resting for 8 hours. Of course, you can force march, and each hour of extra travel requires an increasingly difficult con check. Or was it save? I don't remember, but it's how travel officially works in dnd. Go to the library and do some research, then head home and work the forge. A light activity pairs nicely with a heavy one. Maybe require a certain con score to do 2 heavy activities per day, like if you have 15 con you can be a blacksmith for 16 hours a day instead of 8. This is getting long, but if you still find crafting to be taking too long, you can borrow my simple homebrew rule: Crafting time is based on proficiency level. The base times listed are for a proficiency of 2. So at level 5 when your proficiency bonus becomes 3, you can make 50% more progress a day. Proficiency bonus of 4? You've literally doubled your work output. 1 minor healing potion per day? Nah, if you've got the materials, you've mastered the art of getting two of those bad boys out in a day. This simple change also adds value to picking up expertise in tools. Some classes get them. Rune Knights with a fire rune have expertise in all tools. In Tasha's cauldron of everything, under the patrons section, members of a crafting guild get to use guild facilities for crafting and receive expertise while using the guild's tools and facilities as a perk of that patron. Expertise doubles your proficiency, so a level 1 character would be producing twice the listed amount per day. You still need to pay for materials or find them, so I don't think it gets too out of hand.

[@acetraker1988]

Insert a certain Anime Character that crafted a lot of Healing Potions.

[@GeebzGBZ]

I personally have my own system for this, it involves something akin to the heal root, and all that, 25gp even for a normal healing potion, though higher tier potions require rarer ingredients. It takes a long rest to make a healing potion, no spell slots required, even a martial wants to make one they use their Con, which under 5e is the cooking stat based off the Chef feat, and instead of being magically made, it's based around survival or nature typically, and uses Cook's Utensils/Brewer's Supplies as well as Alchemist's Supplies or Herbalist's. When it comes to casters they can choose to do the nonmagical method, or a magical method, which uses their spellcasting modifier and uses either arcana/medicine/survival skill proficiency and Alchemist's Supplies/Herbalist's Kit. If you have both a tool proficiency and a skill proficiency you get advantage in the check, rewards redundancy as consistency. Finally there are two more smaller stipulations, Artificers are better at crafting and can craft 2 consumables at once with the materials of one, and Alchemist Artificers pay only 12.5gp in materials to make a potion. (This is specifically to buff Alchemists, since otherwise they are quite bad compared to other Artificers.) There are of course level restrictions as well for when you can craft potions, though there are magically enhanced tools and such that reduce level requirements, time spent, and such.

[@mikeharrison6039]

I know this isn’t super related but I don’t like telling my players what a potion is. So my thing is I describe the potion (eg a healing potion is a red potion that smells like freshly baked bread) and my players have to figure out what it is.

[@VorpalDerringer]

I treat potions the same way as monsters. Common monsters the PCs know about--trolls, ogres, orcs, gelatinous cubes...healing potions, invisibility, fly, but I have loads of OSR potions that do all kinds of things that the PCs have to figure out what they do by sipping them.

[@masterthedungeon]

That's a totally legit way to play. We often do the same if players find a random potion in a dungeon.

[@perhapsyes2493]

A suggestion for the 'success check': Profiency bonus! We have tool profs, so this would be a place where proficiency for the alchemist kit is finally useful. Or in my own experience, smith's tools. I'm playing an artificer with a smithing backstory, and going by RAW, crafting my own armor (which I would have done numerous times already during my lifetime) would take me an unreasonable amount of time. Even with the discount on crafting we get through level perks.

[@NPC-Sisyphus]

This only works for in person games but make the DM a drink XD. Depending on how good it is will determine either the quality or quantity of health potions.

[@DarkAuraLord]

As a DM, I approve of this method greatly.

[@AwkwardlySatisfying]

Your custom potion crafting guidelines are SO fantastic!!

[@kori228]

video games: haha crafting go brrrr DnD: become old and bankrupt

[@IanAnimatesBagels]

For those who consume potions en mass, here's a variation to the new rules provided in the video: On a long rest make an arcana check (DC:12 for normal healing potions) on a failure, the ingredient is destroyed and you have to stop making potions for the night. On a success, the ingredient is consumed, the bottle is filled, and you can make another arcana check for the next potion, given that you have the ingredients and bottle space. You make the check with advantage if you are proficient in the tools that you are using (alchemist's OR brewer's supplies). I also recommend removing the cure wounds and spell slot requirement, because if you're crafting healing potions that usually means you don't have a designated healer in the first place. Tip for DMs, the easiest way to limit this system is by controlling the amount of bottles the players have access to. Classic Zelda game style. For lore reasons, say potions are super acidic or something and you need strong enameled glass to contain them. You can also take a page from some classic mods and introduce the bottle, jar, flask system. Bottles are the default and get one potion charge when the potion is crafted. Jars are rare, but you can usually find one or two in a lvl 3-10 party. Jars store two charges of a potion when it's crafted, meaning you can drink from it twice, but it only costs one ingredient to craft. Flasks are even rarer, showing up at ~lvl 15 give or take a few levels. Flasks hold 3 charges per potion crafted. For ingredients, I recommend using something similar to xanathar's normal magic item crafting rules, and let the players hunt down monsters for parts. Ingredients for basic healing potions should be found on specific (DM's choice) monsters of CR 1-3. Upon defeat, the players can try to harvest the materials with 3 survival checks (~DC 10+CR). for each success, they get ~1d4+CR materials. These are all suggestions, and are meant more to inspire than to dictate

[@nopeuarentgettingmyname7887]

Bottles sound like Dead Cells, eh?

[@IanAnimatesBagels]

@@nopeuarentgettingmyname7887 It's a common mechanic, I think the original mod was inspired by Estus Flasks in the souls series

[@WynterLegend]

"Healroot's rarity or availability can limit the amount of potions your party can craft." until your party's druid begins to grow more of them with plant growth. Then your artificer provides portable, irrigated growing boxes on the side of your wagon, and a full Alchemy/Herbalism lab in the back. Then the Rogue decides to flood the market, devaluing healing potions, driving down the cost...

[@atreides213]

Plant growth only affects ‘normal plants’. Healroot can just not be normal.

[@WynterLegend]

​@@atreides213 "If you cast this spell over 8 hours, you enrich the land. *All* plants in a half-mile radius centered on a point within range become enriched for 1 year. The plants yield twice the normal amount of food when harvested." Source: PHB, page 266. Available in the SRD. By doing this, then transplanting some of the crop into the Wagon's growing boxes, you'll have some on the go, and a stockpile when you return to your stronghold/personal farm. With how open crafting is, other options exist to accelerate growth, potency, and robustness of the plants. Be it a capsule that goes over the growing box to protect it from parasites, to a fully enchanted box, *using* the Plant Growth spell. If it can be done in 3.5x and Pathfinder, it can be done with a system that is more open. Besides, if magic can bend reality, but can't get a root to grow faster, then there's a conflict within the narrative and the rules. This doesn't = endless free potions. It just means when you want to make a potion, you don't have to go scrounging for Healroot. Diminishing the price of something that is readily abundant is nothing new. Neither is players finding absurd exploits within the rules.

[@firewaterwindproductiontea4328]

Thank you, this is a great jumping off point! Currently trying to add crafting into a campaign, but there's so little information out there

[@graveyardshift2100]

You can make one with the herbalism kit without needing to be able to cast any spells.

[@eduardoclark]

Oh, thank you. Scrolled a lot to see if someone had said this. Kinda surprised this was overlooked.

[@fpassow1]

Maybe the classes in the rules are designed to be highly specialized as adventurers. And most healing potions are created by unwritten non-adventuring classes who can make them at lower levels, but lack other factors which would help them survive in a dungeon. They will never learn fireball, and live safe, happy lives making potions. PC classes can make potions, too. But for a given level, they might be about as good at it as an equal level NPC Potion Master is at combat magic. That said, I think there's a lot of fun to be had by making adventurers a bit more like normal people with normal lives. Over the years, D&D has created adventuring as a normal profession. But it might be fun to play people with normal professions who sometimes go on adventures.

[@seandarbe2521]

You forgot skill with herbalism kits is required for potions of healing, source players handbook under herbalism kit it's in the tool section.

[@eddyeldridge7427]

did those rules also require cure wounds?

[@seandarbe2521]

@@eddyeldridge7427 It does not go over potion making in the players handbook.

[@PhilosoShysGameChannel]

If you apply this all to training horses for war... It's JUST npc magic! There are no rules for any animal training whatsoever... Not beast aster ranger stuff... But actually... Npc's training horses for battle or whatever... COMMONERS ONLY! It's literally impossible for pc's

[@twitchster77]

Pffft! I could quit drinking my precious healing potions anytime I wanted to! I don't have a problem. YOU DO! >:( ...now give me my dang healing potion! Just 1 more!!

[@rachaelfinlayson8407]

What flavor are healing potions

[@nickdavin903]

I have a campaign I'm making where foraging and hunting monsters for materials is high key used to make magic items. Looking at spells for materials is a good way to look for materials

[@leopomon7091]

Okay...so I took a look at the Xanathar's Guide to Everything...pg 130, "...Potions of healing fall into a special category for item crafting, separate from other magic items. A character who has proficiency with the herbalism kit can create these potions. The times and costs for doing so are summarized on the Potion of Healing Creation table." According to the hard copy book I have...healing potion costs 1 day and 25 gold, greater is 1 workweek and 100gold, superior is 3 workweeks 1000gold, and supreme is 4 workweeks and 10000gp. So as the book says, as long as you can use and have an herbalism's kit, time and material cost, you don't need anything else. Finally the time aspect...in a homebrew campaign, you literally have all the in game time in the world to do what you want. Just have the other players do training equal to the workweek cost of make potions of greater lvl or higher.

[@SylviaMoonbeam1127]

I would argue that, as an additional option to proficiency with alchemist supplies and/or a Healer's Kit, I would also add the option for the Chef Feat. While not as useful in the moment as a common potion of healing, the additional HP gained during a short rest, or treats that provide temporary HP are close enough to how potions work to be comparable. If anything, I'm surprised WOTC didn't just cut out the middle man and let the chef feat let you make a common healing potion as part of a rest.

[@PaulGaither]

I am a little surprised that time wasn't taken to speak on and setting. 1. As Matt Colville has discussed in his wonderful videos, the "base/core" D&D setting is post-apocalyptic. That is to say, after the fall of one or more great empires which had the capacity to make Vorpal blades, a network of teleportation circles and so forth. That the adventures are exploring the carcass of such a fallen society (or multiple societies built upon the ruins of those which came before) where these magical items were once crafted. 2. Potion makers are typically not adventures. They are ones whose "business" or livelihood is based on making batches upon batches of various positions and concoctions. "Who has time to make this stuff?" The NPC's. That's who. Masters and apprentices who can operate such establishments year in and year out and in batches. The local farming village isn't expected to have Superior healing potions in the local apothecary. However, in a city where goods and services flow freely, where adventuring parties come and go in larger numbers and the city's military has regular need of such goods, one can expect some level of herbalists and potion makers who dedicate themselves to such work. 3. Yes, a satisfying crafting system can be a lot of fun for players. However, one has to ask why a PC wants to essentially become an NPC... and the answer is often that they want to circumvent the economy in one form or fashion. "100gp for a potion? I can make it myself for half that cost! Wait, it takes how long to do that? How much effort? Bargh!!! This should be easier/faster/cheaper!" That has the same energy as hiring a specialist and then complaining how much their services cost.

[@Void_Dragon]

I made a small homebrew rule: If your character is a druid, they can find 1 ginseng herb per long rest, which when consumed, gives you 1d4+0 healing and weighs 0.5lb/ginseng. This is so they have some healing at starter levels when basic potion of healing is 50gc which is steep early game. They usually go crazy on trying to farm it, so later levels I tell the player that they made the plant go extinct from picking too many. 😂

[@joetalks.]

in my game I've also introduced a homebrew item: "Cure Wounds Concentrate". Allows players with Alchemy tools start brewing without needing the spell right away.

[@GEARscience]

I actually ran something very similar to your suggestion (down to even calling the item needed a heal root), with some differences. I had a player who took the cooking tool proficiency, and I didn't want them to feel like they wasted it, so I let them create "potion pastries" as something you can do with cooking tools. Each pastry required one "main" item and miscellaneous herb. For healing potions, the main item was the heal root, but other potion pastries could be made with rarer items. The party could take 2 hours to forage for items, and I'd allow them to roll on a table of items. Players with proficiency in survival were allowed to roll on the table a number of times up to their survival modifier/2. When cooking the pastry during a long rest, the player rolled for the pastry's potency (x.05, x1, or x2 modifier) and for how long the pastry would keep. (1d6 * 8 hours). The latter prevented them from making a bunch of potions and never having to worry about healing, and it made each potion a lot more personal having to do this little mini game to make them.

[@j.c.cannon2112]

I always figured that healing potion strength is basically just healing per volume and the process of making stronger potions is basically just distilling and condensing the potions slowly, so that you can stop at any time with the brewing and have the potions strength be dependent on the time you spent. so using the updated values from xanathar's if you start off brewing a greater healing potion but have to stop before the time finishes, instead of losing it all you could just take 4 common potions. (i usually base the amount off of the gold spent on materials.) as someone else said as well most crafting or brewing is rarely done for singular items, but for batches. so the time frames instead of creating one potion could be for 5 potions, giving more incentive to wait around for the potions to brew. I also see some crafting as "non active" crafting this is basically points in the crafting process that don't really require a person for the crafting to continue, like potions boiling/fermenting. this means that after all of the active parts are done, such as mixing ingredients and casting the spell, your character is free to do other things, including starting another batch of potions. this ups the amount of potions that can be made in the time limit while still making health potions seem like a special resource that needs to be used wisely rather than as a replacement healing spell (which is what they become when crafting is easier).

[@austinx8320]

I would love a link in the description to a pdf or article yall have made describing these rules. Wonderful art and narration btw. I'm officially fully subbed.

[@skywolfbat]

I've been considering something like this for a D&D/Pathfinder (Haven't decided system yet) game I'm going to be running soon; my only big change from what MtD suggests as the alt rule is that I see no reason to cast the Cure Wounds spell. While brewing would be a specialized skill set, you don't have to be a cleric or a druid to create these potions of simple healing, but instead dedicate yourself to the art of being a potion brewer. For the purposes of spell level in the cost calculation, just use the equivalent spell level, or as a fast rule half the dice you roll.

[@masterthedungeon]

Definitely customize the homebrew for whatever fits your game best!

[@AgentForest]

Playing my Warlock, I found that scroll crafting really helped with my limited spell slots. I could make scrolls for my non-scaling early spells that were useful but not worth a 5th level, pact slot. Unfortunately, making anything above a 1st level spell required some serious time investments. I had a few 2nd level prepared, but those took 3 days each to make. After that, I'd need a week of downtime for 3rd level, and beyond that, it was just unreasonable. I almost never had time for anything but 1st level, and even that needed at least opportunities to arise. I wouldn't mind if the cost became harder to meet with special ingredients, if I could just make them during long rests. But yeah, if anyone is planning to play a Warlock anytime soon, I highly recommend grabbing that Arcana proficiency so you can craft scrolls. Being able to drop a 1-hour Hex without using a spell slot leaves them open for more game-changing, impactful spells should the fight call for it.

[@mattnerdy7236]

Hello MTD, do you know I have asked for years from other YT to make a video like this one. I always get the same kind of answer, they say they will but never do. There is some kind of fear involved with making these types of videos or they just didn't know how to handle it. I've only been here a short time and already you have made a video that I really wanted and I didn't even have to ask. Thank you MTD, you have a wonderful day!

[@masterthedungeon]

Thank you, we're glad our videos are what you're looking for!

[@PsychesGamingAddiction]

I like the Homebrew idea, but honestly in games where time is not that big of an issue i like the xanathar/dmg rules for most craftable items (especially "real" magic items, not just potions, since spitting out craftable items at a blinding fast pace is in some games immersion braking. I advocate on making the Players work for their goodies (as long as its fair), 5e already makes them inhumanly powerful demigods anyway xD so some challenge in their path is fine in my book

[@JMSouchak]

You guys would love the games Merchant's & Markets and Hammers & Anvils!

[@advkow]

I've never gotten to play this game before but yeah...crating is impossible given the rules. They tried to fix them but...eh, it's still not really viable at the pacing most DMs use.

[@FioreFire]

Probably my favorite part of D&D: Don't like a rule or mechanic? Ignore it and make new ones!

[@TheRealBlackGinger]

A basic potions heals a max of 10, a supreme a max of 60. So why is the supreme potion 500x more expensive but only 6 timed more potent?

[@CristianLopez-mn1os]

Nice homebrew bro, i like it

[@MaxSMoke777]

It's an industrial thing. Like a can of Coke. If I make one, it's going to take a week. But if the Coke Cola company makes a can, it takes 1 second.

[@susic1819]

Xanathar's guide has a variant of this rule which is much better. It takes 1 day to craft a normal healing potion and it costs 25 gold pieces. The prerequisite is literally just having the money, time and a proficiency with a herbalism kit. I don't think you even need Arcana proficiency for the normal Potion of Healing.

[@cloud5buster]

The brain-dead assumption that powerful potions take longer is the real killer for these systems. I'd make all potions take two hours and just upgrade the component costs. There's literally no real-world pharmaceutical that takes 28 man-days per dose to create (if it takes near that long, it's typically created in large batches, which the system doesn't allow). As the video mentions, the downtime requirements are just killer for any actual adventurer. Even as written, you are far, far better just creating boatloads of base healing potions than to ever attempt the higher level ones. In most combats, it's far more important to just get someone up from zero than to have 35-45 points of healing (on average, and depending on which system).

[@leopomon7091]

2:18; but wait...doesn't the herbalism kit allow you to make healing potions for less requirements?

[@ncamon]

Anything that is outside of the realm of standard adventuring gets left by the wayside. Even stealth rules are not that clear. The crafting rules in the Base game are fine if you only have it for flavor for your character who is traveling. The 5gp progress a day with tools you can travel with make a bit of sense. This leaves out those that want it as a major part of their character, or even set up a workshop in whatever hub town they call home. The rules wouldn't make sense for any craftsmen npcs if they had to follow the same rules. Plate armor would only ever be made on order with advanced payments if a smith had to follow those rules, even with apprentices. The rules stated for crafting potions as they are from XGE is enough if all you have is the alchmist's kit if you craft them at camp or in your inn room. If someone is wanting to invest to do more, I want to work with that. A proper workshop with better or larger equipment can do more. Maybe reduce the cost of the materials by having better equipment to prepare the herbs and things to make the potions. A larger cauldron to let you make more than just one at a time. All these things would cost resources.

[@EchoMirage72]

1. Players could buy or build a Guildhall of some description and hire 5 skilled Hirelings. Each could do different things (one of which is brewing), or they could all do the same thing, which would speed up the production of healing potions, or a combination of different activities. 2. Use the cost of Crafting a Magic Item table (half the cost maybe for potion brewers) for the cost of hiring the required Hireling. 3. It gets even better. As a Life Cleric at 1st level you can boost your healing spell by 2+Spell Level. So a 1st Level Cure Wounds spell would be 2d4+5 instead of 2d4+2 4. Use batch brewing rules. 5. Come up with a system of transportation from the Hirelings to the players for endless healing potions without the need for them to go to the shops. By my math just 1 3rd Level Cleric in 20 work days on average could brew 120 healing potions. Costing about 3000 gp. Healing ~1560-840 damage.

[@HadiNuf]

What sucks for my group is that we don't have a lot of gold or are given gold often enough by our DM. I think we might have 60 gold between our whole party. Considering the accessibility of healing potions I think that healing potions should have alternative build processes and costs. Like what if there's a herbal regeneration potion that requires a medicine check and only heals 1d4 + 2, but only heals 2 points per turn until the healing amount runs out? The cost could be more easily found herbal components that cost only 2 gp. But I still feel that healing potions should be cheaper. In the economy of a D&D world, how can a single bottle of healing cost 25 to 50 gp. A single coin may have 1 ounce of gold, and that costs $50. That means a potions costs $1250 relatively, at least. Now let's look at the cost of a greatsword, which is 50 gp in the game, in the real world. I'm seeing greatswords online for between $50 to $200 starting price. Reverse translating the prices gets us 1 to 4 gp, which aligns with what I think it should cost. Add on the fact that it is a consumable, therefore lowering the price. So the prices need to come down! DOWN WITH BIG POTION!!! That or we just need to be given more gold lol.

[@andrewdreasler428]

3:14 Right there the economies of the more powerful healing potions falls apart. In the time it takes to make one Greater Healing Potion (4d4+4) you can make five Healing Potions ((2d4+2)x5 = (10d4+10)), so unless the DM is limiting the number of potions the party can carry (as if they couldn't just hire another porter), the basic healing potion would be the only one worth making.

[@fhuber7507]

We used to force downtime by requiring "training time" to gain level. And we allowed only class appropriate PCs to craft potions. Healing was clerics, invisibility was wizard for example. What keeps PCs from crafting is cramming all the adventures into a sequence with no significant downtime. The Hobbit (while written after LotR) occurred 60 years before LoTr. And The Hobbit took right at 1 year. (but only had a few days described) DMs not noting "you take 6 months to make this journey" are short changing the players.

[@gordongraham2064]

I disagree! People already complain that there's nothing to spend money on in 5e. The time constraints of established rules may make it impractical for most groups, but surely that just makes healing potions a desirable expenditure? There's a certain "damned if you do, damned if you don't" quality to the design. If you say you can't craft healing potions, folks will object: "SOMEONE makes these potions. Why can't I?" If you say potions take days to brew, folks will object: "I don't have time to do that! I'm battling evil here!" If you acquiesce that potions can be brewed in the course of adventuring, folks will say "Why would I ever spend gold on potions? I can just craft them. Why do we even pick up gold, anyway?"

[@tkc1129]

I feel like potions should have expiration dates somehow. But they should be easier to make, as you said. Because what else would an Herbalism Kit be for?

[@SusCalvin]

My guess would be opium. You could play a non-magical apothecary in WFRP, a game where non-magical healing was the norm in most of the world. On the other hand, you could provide effective treatment as an apothecary or barber-surgeon.

[@Zarvain]

Before Covid I use to play 3/3.5 and Pathfinder with friends, never got into 5e. Those time restraints just sound insane, like they people who wrote this edition really didn't want players to craft jack but where afraid not to include rules for crafting so went "Nah lets just make this so unappealing that no-one will ever want to try it." There it takes 1 8-hour work day per 1000 gold of the items value to craft. So a +5 vorpal sword, a 200,000 gp enchantment, would cost 100,000 in materials ant take 200 days, which do NOT even have to be consecutive you can take a break to do an adventure (page 283 dmg) and finish it up when you get back. You just can't start a new item until you finish the one you are working on. 1,000 days to craft ANYTHING!?! Legendary or not artifacts didn't take that long to make! And they can't even be attempted by players or only as a part of a story arch!