Tonics

How do we deal with players hoarding healing potions? I came up with a solution a few years back, but only barely touched on since it's inception- limited shelf life Tonics. Originally written up in the Dirt Simple Alchemy post, I wanted to revisit the concept after reading the Goblin Punch post here.

Tonics
You ever like how fantasy games have magic potions made out of like three mushroom caps, a handful of clay dirt, and a bat wing and yet they have this perfect bright red color and usually don't taste like absolute shit? That's part of the magic, actually.

When specific ingredients are mixed together in a cauldron and boiled, stirred with a wand, and readied by a skilled hedge mage or witch: a Tonic is created. The chunks of whatever is within the brew smooth out and disappear into a consistent glowing fluid, which can then be poured into an appropriate flask. It's like fantasy Gatorade. This is also the reason that healing potions (tonics) are all consistent despite being made with different batch sizes and with different qualities of ingredients and the like, it doesn't actually matter how big your cauldron is or the size of your vial, the magic is one "dose" no matter how you slice it. Once you fill a single vial with the brew, the rest of the cauldron turns back into gross dirty soup-water. This also gives a nice and easy way of knowing when the tonic has gone bad- just look at it. If it looks like a bunch of gross shit floating in a beaker, then you know it's gone off and isn't good anymore.

Once a tonic has been created, it has a shelf life of approximately one day, one week for traveling campaigns, or one season for more time-abstracted games. The time setting here is abstracted, but is in essence supposed to be for one session. At the end of the session, any tonics not used go bad and lose their magic. You can't hoard them.

Characters can make tonics if they want to and they have the skills and ingredients. This makes time very valuable when exploring, but spending a bunch of time gathering ingredients and brewing tonics always comes at a cost; random encounters and torchlight dwindling away must be considered against the value of brewing some more useful tonics for future encounters. The dry ingredients used to make tonics are also almost always cheaper and more light-weight then the tonics themselves (but you need a source of water, fire, and something to cook them in- if you lost your cauldron to the rust monster you might have to improvise with the shell of the massive turtle you killed earlier in the dungeon), giving an incentive to pack up tonic ingredients for longer exploration trips- because while you can make as many tonics as you want with time allowing, they will all go away at the end of the session.

You can also buy tonics from shop keepers and herbalists in villages. Because tonics only take about a turn (10 minutes) to make, you could also abstract this and let players buy as many tonics as they want from the local healer before going off into the dungeon. This is part of your preparation phase, without the inherent problem of players being able to hoard healing potions, just buy as many as you think you need. You can also get specific here, tonics don't just heal, they can do any effect really. Tonics can be antidotes, strength potions, "fire" potions that can cast light or make your weapons go inflamed for a damage boost, invisibility, freezing liquid, acid- whatever you want really. The idea here is to provide a use it or lose it tool that isn't as reliable and permanent as a spell or recharging magic item- because they have space and material limitations. You can only carry so many tonics, and they go away after your exploration.

Potions vs Tonics
Tonics are magic potions. The reason I'm calling them Tonics and not Potions is so people don't feel ripped off when they go bad and to separate them from capital P Potions that could act like magic items or treasures with a one time use. You could still call these potions if you really want, I just figured potions as something to hoard was so ingrained in the popular consciousness that a different name would help with this. This way, finding a Potion as a magic treasure can be considered a great find, same as a magic sword or spellbook. I'm imagining a Potion of Healing to be much like a Potion of Youth or a Potion of Gold or something similar- it probably fully heals you, restores all your limbs, removes your trauma and ability score damage, etc. etc.

Tonics in Gameplay
The main idea behind Tonics is to manipulate player psychology and provide an in-universe mechanic for more interesting healing and preparation for tabletop dungeon crawling. No longer is healing a class specific feature, anyone can order a village alchemist to make them some tonics to act as the mistake allowance and shared HP pool for the whole party. Not only this, tonics also discourage certain behaviors (overly risk averse), while encouraging other ones (experimentation and preparation). For example, the players know their special tonics will run out at the end of the session anyway, so why not experiment and see if healing potion is like acid for the undead? Why not pour some fire potion on a mushroom to see if it mutates into an exploding shroom? It also creates a certain amount of time pressure and scarcity inherent to the mechanics. 

Why doesn't everyone have access to magic healing in the fantasy world? That's simple- the resources and knowledge used to make tonics isn't unlimited, and the tonics themselves can't be hoarded. You can't assume every knight or soldier will be able to carry healing potions with them, or that the king has a supply of cure poison under his throne's pillow- you still need healers, magicians, or old wise men to actually work their craft. It creates a less gamified fantasy world and one that feels more believable and lived in, with the conveniences and mechanics that allow the dungeon crawling adventure fantasy to still work.

Of course, this doesn't actually solve some of the problems listed with Arnold's original post. How do you stop people from just bringing in unlimited healing? Well I'd do it by saying that potions are really heavy, being liquid, and also being something you can't really sneak around with since they, you know, glow in the dark and are carried in glass bottles. Plus the expense of buying them. Technically nothing stops you from having hirelings carry them, but nothing stops you from hiring a private army to do your dungeon delving for you- if you have enough resources. Personally, I think most players will be satisfied with just mentally calculating how much healing they think they may need, how many antidotes or resist fire potions or paralysis cures or sleeping draughts or whatever else they think they'll need, invest the gold at the start of a delve, and enjoy using the resources they have prepared for. Of course your players may be a bit too clever for that, in which case, you'll you have to come up with something better. I just wanted to share my version of potion-based-magic that I think works pretty well.

[Class] Nurser

Class inspired by this picture. Art by Astral-Requin

Nurser

HD- d6

AC- Base 12 from shark skin, Max 14

The Nursers appear as bipedal, land-dwelling sharks. Nursers are usually very gentle and lovers of peace. They can only speak by sucking air through grooves in their teeth and can barely make noise above a whisper; this makes spell incantations beyond them and as such they cannot use Wizardry. Nursers are in touch with all children in the world and have an innate desire to protect them. Nursers get +1 to reaction checks with any mortal child, and at level two they get +1 to reaction checks with intelligent monster and creature children as well. Nursers can never intentionally harm a child without making a very difficult save.

While not skilled in spellcraft, Nursers are very skilled in alchemy and the making of homemade cures and potions. They can identify ingredients and mix potions exactly as a Sage can equal to their level. If the potions are stored in a glass bottle, the potion gains an additional +1 day of shelf life before expiring per Nurser level. Nursers can also make artificial milk through cooking and alchemy since they do not lactate; Nurser children are born being able to eat little tiny adorable bite sized chunks of whatever adults can eat.

At level 10, the Nurser is considered a Caretaker and can open up an orphanage in a major town or city. The Orphanage has a 50% chance to gain 1d2 children every season, usually from parents lost from war, disease, or eaten by monsters. The Orphanage costs money to run, and will require money from your personal store or by shaming rich and powerful locals to help support it. 1 in every 6 children raised in the Orphanage will become powerful wizards or adventurers and will send back a gift in gold or treasure worth 1d10x1000 standard coins.

Additionally; the level 10 Nurser gains improved alchemy skill. If you're using Dirt Simple Alchemy, you can add 5 different types of ingredients with the same effect along with slow month-long simmering the broth and other efforts over a season to create a potion that has 1d6 of that effect which has an unlimited shelf life. If you are using an alternate system, allow expense of gold, XP, or a rare resource over a season to create unlimited shelf life potions. These potions often end up in treasure hoards and personal vaults many years after the Nurser has died and all under their care have grown old and had children of their own.

Chimera & Crossbreed Creation Rules

The Mighty Bear-Centipede

Every being is given a general classification. Each degree of separation adds +2 to the DC of the check and another +500 coins to the cost of the experiment per being produced.

Elemental

Mineraloids

Plants & Fungus

Animals*

Ghosts & Spirits

Abstract Ideas & Gods

All animals are considered classified under an animal order. Insects include all bugs and spiders. Mammals include dogs, cats, bears, pigs, and so on. Reptiles include both reptiles and amphibians, Fish include all fish and whales, and Avians include all birds and humans. After all, what is man but a flightless biped?

Within the same animal group; the degree of separation is considered 0. Meaning giving a dolphin the head and electricity of an eel is considered a base DC and cost.

To go from one animal group to another, such as to breed a man with a boar to create tusked warrior men, would be 1 degree of seperation. To go from out of the animal order into plants or ghosts would be a degree of separation as well.

Crossbreeding

Magical crossbreeding requires an example of each classification as well as time and resources. The difficulty of a crossbreeding starts at a base DC of 10 + degrees of separation. You add ½ of your magic user level to this roll.

Costs

Individual (Sterile)- 2,000 coins

Individual (Fertile)- 5,000 coins + Azoth

Breeding Pair (Fertile)- 12,000 + Azoth

Group of 2d6 (Sterile)- 10,000 coins

Group of 2d6 (Fertile)- 25,000 coins + 1d6 Azoth

Magic Roll

In order to create your magic chimera, you need to roll vs a DC. On a success, the chimeras are created at roughly adult age, and have a average lifespan of the averages between all the forms they were made of. For things that don't have a lifespan, the creatures tend to be extremely long lived; add +500 years if they're crossed with mineraloids or elementals, and add +1000 years if crossed with ghosts/abstract.

The average DC of a crossbreed magic roll is 10. It takes a number of seasons equal to the DC of your creation in order to create your order, +1 additional season per Azoth required. On a failed roll, the beings are still created but must roll on the failed table to see what happens.

Azoth

Azoth is the magical force needed to create true life and things with fertility. It is said that female virgins of the mortal races of exceptional magic or purity may have Azoth within their womb, but normal living things do not contain enough Azoth to be extracted and used for experimentation.

Azoth must then be created in a laboratory, either through a philosopher's stone and many years of dry/wet composting or by finding it in the wild. Untouched valleys within mountains, magical unicorn horns, and parts of gods and goddesses of life have all been known to contain Azoth.

Example Crossbreeding

An enterprising Wizard wants to mix his human servants with stones to make them tirelessly strong and immune to his own animated blade traps. This is 2 degrees of separation, but they do not need to be fertile, so the DC of the roll is 14, would take 14 seasons, and for a group would cost 11,000 coins. These stony humanoids would have a lifespan of roughly 600 or so years; possibly long enough to escape the Wizard and go out into the world as oddities.

Failed Crossbreeding Table – 1d4

[1] Turn to ash, never born. Can recycle 1 Azoth if used in their creation.

[2] Turns into corrosive oozes after 1d6 weeks.

[3] Prone to mutations, mentally and emotionally unstable.

[4] Become prodigal, hateful, and cunning. Wish to destroy or enslave their creator.

50 Alchemical Uses for Dragons

[1] Juiced Dragon liver- increases the longevity of a potion's shelf life.

[2] Squeezed Dragon eyeball. Juices can be used to polish beakers which improve clarity, also improves potion color and taste.

[3] Webbing between the Dragon's toes. Can be boiled, pulled, and mixed with a potion to create potion gum. Potion activates over time as chewed.

[4] Few shavings of Dragon horn- when added to any potion grants an attack bonus.

[5] Dragon teeth. When melted into a stirred elixir creates a totally flame proof potion. Lasts one hour per tooth.

[6] Dragon mane. Hairs can be burnt into red hot ash, then cooled into dust. Dust can be mixed into a lotion that restores youthful appearance, or can be spread on a baby's cheeks to grow a beard. Expensive, but a favorite prank.

[7] Dragon egg yolk. Gives any potion a jelly-like consistency. Mixed with a fire or acid potion to create a terrifying throwing bomb.

[8] Dragon lymph nodes. String-bean sized, added to a salt concoction and allowed to soak for three years. Turns regular chameleon or transparency potions into true invisibility.

[9] Minced Dragon gums. When added to a potion the drinker has an increased susceptibility to hypnotic suggestions.

[10] Dragon shoulderblades. Carved into a mortar and bowl; increases purity of ingredients both when processed as well as drunk.

[11] Dragon claw tips, snipped off and swallowed with any personality or charisma boosting potion. Allows for easy deescalation of tense negotiations, or grants mental clarity for legal debate.

[12] Dragon medulla oblongata. Must be boiled, shrunk down to a much smaller size, and dipped in a special lacquer every night for a full year. Creates a necklace that grants the user incredible longevity and improved physical health when combined with dragon youth potions.

[13] Dragon testicles. In a potion; the drinker gets 1d10 years younger. Very valuable.

[14] Dragon tail rind. If stewed in a cauldron grants a saving throw against any wasting disease to those who smell its fumes.

[15] Dragon tail tip. If not sharpened into a weapon can instead be broken into shards and added to potions to grant a strong boost to agility and reflex time.

[16] Fertalized Dragon egg. Embryo inside is taken out and put into a jar and pickled in a brine solution. Froth that bubbles from the embryo can be rubbed on a pregnant woman's stomach to cure her developing child of defects. Every year the embryo produces enough froth on the top of the bottle to make one dose.

[17] Dragon muscles. Pounded to a pulp and made into a potion that grants incredible strength. Makes muscles bright red and wretch under the skin, its also mildly addictive.

[18] Dragon's nose septum. Added to a potion which grants the drinker a few inches of height permanently.

[19] Dragon scales elixir. The scales have to be melted with acid first. Grant incredibly hard skin and a resiliency to all mundane blades, but hands compulsively grip gold and precious gems.

[20] Dragon gallbladder stones. Added to medicines to destroy invisible imps.

[21] Dragon leg muscles. The grease from this can be used in slipper lubricants.

[22] Pickled Dragon toes. Used in potions that restore stats and attributes.

[23] Dragon heart. Grants the drinker incredible fire resistance, but each dose lowers Wisdom.

[24] Dragon nerves. Bundled into a potion and sifted to create an ever-counting potion. You can count as high as you want and remember all numbers without losing focus for a whole day.

[25] Dragon pancreas. If pulped and turned into a chunky mixture, makes for an unpleasant cure-all for disease and poison.

[26] Dragon intestines. If a potion mixture is passed through a cured passage of intestines, it loses its taste, thus allowing for potions and elixirs to be stealthily put into food and drink.

[27] Dragon eye; polished and sanded. Made into glass-like sphere that can hold a potion and only activates with a special key-word set by a Sorcerer at the time of the potion's creation.

[28] Dragon pre-frontal cortex. Must be simmered over a hot flame for two or more years. Draws out one third level or lower spell from what the dragon knew, if the dragon had spells.

[29] Dragon gizzard stones. If sanded down to a smaller size and swallowed; grants the user the ability to eat almost anything without problem. Very difficult to pass.

[30] Dragon egg shells, cracked into small pieces and made into a broth along with herbs and flowers. Greatly improves the taste of any meal.

[31] Dragon's voicebox. If folded inside out and a potion is allowed to soak within can substitute some moderately rare potion reagents. Only works for a few weeks before rotting away.

[32] Dragon flame sac & juices. Extremely reactive and dangerous to handle. Primary ingredient and only known source of gunpowder, dragon napalm, and ever-burning lanterns.

[33] Dragon bladder. Make into potion that allows the drinker to go without water for two weeks.

[34] Dragon blood. Can make extremely simple healing potions with them.

[35] Dragon bones. When used stirring potions and crumbled into them increases potency and shelf life of potions made with them.

[36] Dragon appendix. Must be used in combination with basic weeds and leaves to turn them into actually useful potion ingredients.

[37] Dragon wing membrane. Stretched and used as a lid for potions and lotions gives them nearly infinite shelf life. If grilled and added to a potion, causes levitation effect on concentration.

[38] Dragon lips. If mixed with lard can be made into a type of lipstick that inflicts Charm effect on anyone the wearer kisses.

[39] Dragon spines. Must be crushed by a very hard and heavy stone to be put down into size. Powder can be applied dry to an arrow to let it penetrate any armor weaker then lesser mithril.

[40] Dragon fetal scales. Formless gray circles that dissolve once the dragon is properly born, so can only be taken from a fertilized dragon egg. Potions made from this can be used to regenerate limbs, but causes mutations in the newly grown parts.

[41] Dragon lungs. Shredded and turned into a potion allows for underwater breathing.

[42] Dragon fire itself, captured in a lantern or candle. Very hot, pure burning flame that quickly melts or boils things for use in making potions.

[43] Dragon stomach acid. Important caustic agent used for polishing magic gems, as well as breaking down other tough alchemy agents like stones.

[44] Phlegm from a sick dragon. Used for several strong remedies to diseases; handling it has a 1 in 6 chance risk of catching dragon flu.

[45] Dragon dung. Useful fertilizer. One of the types of compost pure enough to grow invisibility mushrooms.

[46] Dragon joints. If made into a gel and applied to a person's feet grants bonus to stealth, if applied to hands grants bonus to lockpicking checks.

[47] Dragon horn. Mixed in with any potion that influences emotion or libido greatly boosts the effect.

[48] Dragon tongue. Pickled and fermented into a juice that grants the user incredible charisma for one hour. Byproducts of this potion can be used to make a rare and expensive wine.

[49] Dragon quills can dipped in ink and potion ingredients to create “rune” potions; activate when read on the person who read them.

[50] Dragon thyroid. If dried and used in combination with other processes can be used as a component of the philosopher's stone.

Dirt Simple Alchemy

Heavily inspired by the newest Zelda; Breath of the Wild, this potion system is meant to simplify some of the thoughts I had on how I wanted to do alchemy. I can't take all the credit for this, as some of the ideas were brainstormed by anonymous contributors.

Dirt Simple Potions

In order to create a potion, it requires an open flame, water, a flask or vial, and a cauldron. Ingredients must be mixed together. Each ingredient has an effect; Each type of ingredient grants a 1d6 roll to determine the potion's strengths for that effect. Each additional ingredient of the same type grants just +1 to the roll for that effect.

For example; If you make a potion with 3 healing shrooms, a healing butterfly wing, and an attack boosting chili pepper; you would roll 2d6+2 for Healing and 1d6 to calculate your attack bonus. This effect roll is how powerful the potion is when drunk or applied to a weapon in the case for poison.

When mixed; the ingredients in the potion disappear into a colorful, often glowing liquid that is clearly supernatural. Potions only have one day of 'shelf-life' before they lose their magic and turn back into a useless ingredient slurry. Potions with ongoing effects grant the drinker their power for one exploration turn, which is not related to their shelf life.

Whenever foraging or shopping for potion ingredients, roll on each list to see what you find. You don't know what they do if you find them in the wild unless you're a Sage of appropriate level or unless you have a book that can tell you- otherwise you'll have to experiment. Inferior ingredients only grant 1d4 for rolling their effects, Rare reagents like from high HD monsters can have 1d8 or higher for their potion effects.

Ingredients- Roll 1d6

[1] Herb or Fruit

[2] Animal Flesh or Bone

[3] Mushroom or Mold

[4] Insect or Arachnid

[5] Monster Part or Egg

[6] Powder or Salt

Effect- Roll 1d10

[1] Attack- For every 5 points of X; grants +1 to hit

[2] Protection- For every 5 points of X; grants +1 AC

[3] Elemental Resistance- Absorbs X of an Elemental Damage. The Elemental this ingredient resists is tied to its location and the creature; ie Fire Drake teeth grant Fire resistance, Moss from a swamp grants acid resistance, etc. Or determine randomly- (1d4- Fire, Cold, Lightning, Acid)

[4] Sensing- You gain the ability to see in the dark to a number of feet equal to X times 5. You also gain the ability the 'hear' loud sounds through walls, floor, or ceiling such as the sound of miners striking at rock or rushing water. Range of this ability is roughly equal to X feet.

[5] Mana- You can recover a spent spell slot in spell level equal to X or less. If you're using another system, count this as restoring +X mana points or adding +X to the next spellcrafting check.

[6] Healing- Restore X Health. If fed to a dying character with -X or more health, save to be revived

[7] Cure- Fights against the disease as though you had X days of bed rest. Incurable diseases are instead delayed by X days. Restores X points of attribute damage.

[8] Antidote- Reduce X Poison Damage from what you are suffering. Not a resistance; must be drank after you are poisoned. On save vs death poison, add +½ of X to your saving throw.

[9] Poison- Adds +X Poison Damage on first strike if applied to a sharp weapon or arrow. Target gets a save to resist the poison. Poison damage is rolled after the hit is confirmed.

[10] Stability- Adds +X number of days this potion will keep before spoiling.

Potion Errata

Due to how strong some of these effects can be, especially with multiple potion ingredients of the same type, that is the reason for the potions short shelf-life. Stability-effect ingredients can be added to make them better and last longer of course.

Ingredients of the same effect and type have lesser effects then adding in multiple ingredients of the same effect but different type. However it doesn't make much sense for a bear's molar that can cure disease and camel fat halfway across the world that can also cure disease to be considered the “same” ingredient. You can choose to have each biome have its own set of ingredients that are counted as different ingredients in different biomes.

If you're the type to have weird, mutational, or potential dangerous potions with side effects then consider having a random saving throw whenever a tonic is ingested and have the player roll on the effects table if they fail the save. Whatever effect they roll is instead reversed for them; so if they roll Attack they fumble all of their attacks horribly, or they suddenly become very flammable and they'll take X bonus fire damage if so much as a torch brushes up against them.

Of course, these rules don't have to ever be the extent of your potions or tonic making adventures. Let players soak an ent's bark in a tonic and ingest it to gain barkskin for their protection tonics, or make it so any potion mixed with a dragon's heart becomes permanent, or can be poured out into a strange alchemical homunculus. But you were already thinking of doing that, weren't you?