Are Potions Labelled in Your Game?

[Jürgen Hubert]

Nope, they are not labelled. To this very day, my players think that they have a "Potion of Invisibility", when in reality it is just a "Potion of Invisibility from those Alchemical Zombies I have created."

That's what you get when you listen to the less than coherent instructions of a drug-addicted alchemist. I can't wait for the day when they finally try it out...

 

[Turanil]

Potions in our group are never labelled. Sure, they can be identified pretty easily (Spellcraft DC 25, 1 minute) but once this has been done, it is assumed that it can be found and used as needed.

How do you guys deal with potions?

Of course it depends on circumstances, but generally most potions are already labelled. Most of the time, a NPC who has some potions will label them as to remember what they are, especially if they intend to keep the magical potions for a long time. So, PCs who discover potions usually just need to be able to read / understand the label. Only in rare cases would an evil NPC inscribes "Healing Elixir" on a vial of ingestive poison, then let it somewhere it could be easily grabbed up by a "thief" (including most adventurers).

Once PCs have found potions and figured what these potions are, I don't care whether they tell me if they label them or not; I just assume they do.

 

[The Thayan Menace]

Potion Label House Rules

In our current FRCS campaign, we use the following house rules:


Approximately 40% of all potions will have an identification label, appropriate to their native locale. Most labels are easily understood by anyone proficient in their language of manufacture (usually Common) or by those familiar with the culture that produces them (e.g., many experienced travelers of Faerun understand Thayan enclave symbols and Sembian mercantile labels).

In order to understand foreign symbols or obscure arcane labels, a PC must make a successful Decipher Script roll (DC 20); the DM secretly rolls this check. A failed skill check may produce an incorrect conclusion about the labeled item; in this case, the DM secretly rolls a Wisdom check (DC 5) to determine if the PC in question is completely wrong about the nature of the potion (see the PHB, p. 71).

 

[S'mon]

I have potions labelled, usually with a sigil like a cat or bull's head, a healing rune, etc.

 

[MonsterMash]

Sometimes it'll be distinctive colours, smells and appearance of the potion, othertimes the colour of the vial or a inscription on symbol on it. If its an NPC alchemist who brews stuff up then things might be labelled, but with things like 'Formula 5' or similar that isn't obvious to anyone else.

 

[cmanos]

I love labelling potions wrong.....The first time a character drinks a *AHEM* potion of Heal and drops dead from the poison coursing thorugh his veins, the rest of the party will think twice about trusting anything they don't explicitly label themselves.

 

[IronWolf]

So far none of the potions have been labelled, but I try to keep the color of the potion consistant. After reading some things here though I am tempted to have color variations along the way and have some of the potions be labelled.

 

[Psion]

I figure that for the people that use them, there would be some sort of distinquishing characteristic.

But there is no such thing as quick laser printer labels in D&D. The potions should be as distinquishable to the owner as certain items around our household would be to us... which may not be too helpful ("The garage key is the one with the blue dot on it, the back door key is the craftsman with the rubber liner, etc.)

 

[diaglo]

My character usually marks his potions with his own personally created symbols. That way I can identify them, but my enemies can't. I've had potions stolen from me in the past.

ditto.

 

[Ravenknight]

I permit the use of "Read Magic" to identify a potion´s runemarked label.