Healing elixir: potential for abuse?

Ancalagon · Sep 23, 2017

Hello

So in the starter spell unearthed arcana, wotc published a first level wizard spell that essentially creates a 24h lasting healing potion.

Now traditionally wizards have few options for healing; usually it's "fake healing" (temp hitpoints) or life draining. So if you are going to give wizards real healing, this is the way to go I think, thematically it fits.

But (and as far as I can tell, no one else has pointed this out here, which surprises me), the 24 hour duration has a potential for abuse.

Scenario 1. Party is heading into very dangerous area. Warlock says "let's get ready properly". Casts the spell twice, short rest, does it again...

Scenario 2: it's 8 pm, the party is in a safe place, but in the morning is heading in that dangerous area. Wizard "ok I have seven spell slots left, let me dump them all in healing elixirs before I take my short rest".

So the wizard or warlock can become a fairly beefy healer with this!

Essentially it allows the transfer/preservation of spell slots and could lead to a lot of stored healing elixirs. In other words it is a great way to use "wasted " slots.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using EN World mobile app

Gardens & Goblins · Sep 23, 2017

Hmm. As the material components are, 'Alchemist Supplies', as the DM you could set a limit to how many potions could be made from said supplies.

Of course, it's not stated that the supplies are consumed.

Still, it is playtest material - some arbitration is to be expected, depending on the needs of the table.

jaelis · Sep 23, 2017

I think that is by design. If you restricted to say a 1 hour duration I think players would skip it and just leave the healing to the clerics.

Kobold Stew · Sep 23, 2017

Ancalagon said:
But (and as far as I can tell, no one else has pointed this out here, which surprises me), the 24 hour duration has a potential for abuse.

Ahem.

Kobold Stew said:
Healing Elixer.
Replaces goodberry as the way to burn through remaining spell slots at the end of the day.

As for material components: because the spell specifies no gp cost, any focus or component pouch can replace the alchemical supplies.

Ancalagon · Sep 23, 2017

Kobold Stew said:
Ahem.

As for material components: because the spell specifies no gp cost, any focus or component pouch can replace the alchemical supplies.

Ah I didn't see that in my search, sory!

It does add the wrinkle of also being abused by warlocks...

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using EN World mobile app

Satyrn · Sep 23, 2017

You could restrict this like the Healer feat - add in a note that a character can only benefit from one elixer per rest (short or long as you prefer) .

pukunui · Sep 23, 2017

I briefly flirted with this spell when I was playing a wizard/arcana cleric. Scenario 2 in the OP was what occurred to me. It felt cheesy, and we really had no need of so many healing potions, so I ended up swapping the spell out for something else.

cbwjm · Sep 23, 2017

I think that I would require alchemy supplies which, since the supplies themselves do have a gold cost to buy can't be replaced by an arcane focus. The idea where the supplies have limited charges would be a good one. It could open up a subset of alchemy spells which require alchemy supplies to use.

Mort · Sep 23, 2017

Ancalagon said:
Scenario 1. Party is heading into very dangerous area. Warlock says "let's get ready properly". Casts the spell twice, short rest, does it again...

Honestly, the Warlock has so (relatively) few spells known, especially early on, that I would consider this more a feature than a bug. A warlock spending his slots on healing generally means the party must be really hurting for it and need all the help they can get.

Ancalagon said:
Scenario 2: it's 8 pm, the party is in a safe place, but in the morning is heading in that dangerous area. Wizard "ok I have seven spell slots left, let me dump them all in healing elixirs before I take my short rest".

So the wizard or warlock can become a fairly beefy healer with this!

Essentially it allows the transfer/preservation of spell slots and could lead to a lot of stored healing elixirs. In other words it is a great way to use "wasted " slots.

This scenario is a bit cheesy as it takes advantage of a quirk in the resting mechanic.

That said, it's actually quite risky. The wizard is really banking on the fact that they're in a safe spot! If it's not as safe as he thinks, a random encounter perhaps, his resources are now massively depleted and he has put himself and the party in big trouble. This is particularly true at the low levels this spell is most useful as the, camp away from danger spells (rope trick, tiny hut, etc) are not yet a thing.

Sent from my SM-G930W8 using EN World mobile app[/QUOTE]

Sent from my SM-G930V using EN World mobile app

mellored · Sep 23, 2017

1: If you have the time to cast, rest, cast, rest, cast, rest.... you could just take a long rest instead.
2: Walking into a dungeon with a few extra HP in your back pocket won't break things.

Just let them be "clever". You can always add an extra monster if things are too easy.

Healing elixir: potential for abuse?

Ancalagon

Dusty Dragon

Gardens & Goblins

First Post

jaelis

Oh this is where the title goes?

Kobold Stew

Last Guy in the Airlock

Ancalagon

Dusty Dragon

Satyrn

First Post

pukunui

Legend

cbwjm

Seb-wejem

Mort

Legend

mellored

Legend

Similar Threads