Cool Potion Bottle

[jaker2003]

Okay, I was playing Fate, and found the Healing Charms in the game. (Healing Charms work like potions, but have 8 charges) I was inspired, and made this:

Magic Potion Bottle (cure light wounds): This ornate glass bottle holds up to 10 doses of a healing potion. The bottle refills itself every night, restoring 1 dose. If undisturbed, it will eventually refill itself completely. Individual doses of the healing potion may be redistributed into smaller potion vials without penalty. A newly created bottle has a full 10 charges.
Faint conjuration; CL 1st; Brew Potion, Craft Wondrous Item, cure light wounds; Price 1,200gp or Cost 300gp + 144XP; Weight 1 lb.

[sblock= Price Notes: ]
Source: "Table 7-33: Estimating Magic Item Gold Piece Values", p.285, DMG
(*) 1/day: create 'potion of cure light wounds' = use activated, charges per day, spell has XP cost (because it is actually creating a potion, and not just casting the spell) = (lvl1 x CL1 x 2,000gp) / (5/1 a day) + (5gp x 2XP x 50) = (2,000gp/5)+(500gp) = 900gp
(*) 10 charges: 'potion of cure light wounds' = use activated, charged, spell has XP cost (because it is actually creating a potion, and not just casting the spell) = ((lvl1 x CL1 x 2,000gp) / 2) / 5 + (5gp x 2XP x 10charges) = (2,000gp/2)/5+(100gp) = 300gp

Costs: The creation costs for the Magic Potion Bottle are the same price, but the XP is paid directly instead of being added into the price as a gp value.
(*) 1/day: create 'potion of cure light wounds' = (2,000gp/5) = 400gp + 100XP
(*) 10 charges: 'potion of cure light wounds' = (2,000gp/2)/5 = 200gp + 20XP
The above gp values are halved and added together = 200+100 = 300gp
The XP cost is calculated = (400+200= 600gp)/25 = 24XP
The new XP cost is added to the previous XP costs = 24XP+120XP = 144XP[/sblock]

 

[Angel Tarragon]

Conceptually cool.

 

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

Similar to an of idea I've had, a vial that would allow you to turn water into a healing potion or holy water just by filling it and casting the appropriate spell. It acts like a focus. I never priced it, though. Conceptually I like items like these as opposed to one shot healing colas.

 

[FreeXenon]

This has a good recipe for a opportunistic PC to take advantage of. Lets say that the PC can either make their own vials to minimize cost, has a steady supply of vials, or does not mind springing for the vials.

With this all in had they can be a steady CLW Potion factory able to sell or trade them as they see fit. Albeit it is only CLW in this example, but still, this has trouble written on it.

Striking this line "Individual doses of the healing potion may be redistributed into smaller potion vials without penalty." gets rid of the problem, and you may want to add verbiage that says 'Pouring the potion into another container results in inert water.', which in and of itself could be abused a little bit, or that 'Pouring the potions cannot be done as it only pours when put to the appropriate wound or orifice.' or something strange like that.

Other than that I like the idea. Very cool!

 

[Traken]

So, you can use all 10 charges at one time, but it would take 10 days for it to completely refill?

Other than the obvious money this could make, it sounds like a decent idea for a party without healing support.

 

[Jondor_Battlehammer]

A toned down version would be to have a vial that creates a CLW only once per day. This would have a base price of 400gp, and only be abusable over the long term. Having a vial of 10 CLW potions ready and waiting at the start of every adventure is worth way more than 600gp, even at higher levels. With a minute of down time it would heal ~60 HP. Thats equal to two CSW potions at 1,500gp, and it will replenish in time.

The single potion vial would have to be used eight times to break even with an equal number of individual potions, and would not grant the ability to down ten charges all at once. This would be less unbalancing on a per adventure basis, and be less useful at higher levels. I don't think a party would reasonably make more than a couple of these at low levels due to cost (400gp is a lot at even third level), and wouldn't make any at higher levels. They may make more potent vials , but these are far more costly and their would still likely be only one or two in the party.

I get the theme you are trying to go for, I do the same in my game. In D&D, however, HPs are a greater currency than gold. The healing token from Fate seems like nothing more than a micro wand without the spell trigger requirement.

 

[Nifft]

Striking this line "Individual doses of the healing potion may be redistributed into smaller potion vials without penalty." gets rid of the problem, and you may want to add verbiage that says 'Pouring the potion into another container results in inert water.'

So long as the Decanter of Endless Water exists, this would be a non-problematic solution that fixes all balance issues.

Cheers, -- N

 

[jaker2003]

Similar to an of idea I've had, a vial that would allow you to turn water into a healing potion or holy water just by filling it and casting the appropriate spell. It acts like a focus. I never priced it, though. Conceptually I like items like these as opposed to one shot healing colas.

If you wanted an item that would let you use your bless water spell without the silver dust, I price that at 2,500gp.

okay, if you don't want characters to use this item to get rich, and want to limit it to 8 charges, the new price is 560gp, Cost 280gp + 22XP
(*) 1/day: cure light wounds = use activated, charges per day = (lvl1 x CL1 x 2,000gp) / (5/1 a day) = (2,000gp/5) = 400gp
(*) 8 charges: cure light wounds = use activated, charged = ((lvl1 x CL1 x 2,000gp) / 2) x 8/50charges = (2,000gp/2)x(0.16) = 160gp

 

[MissingDividends]

I like the idea, but the pricing is off.

Tome and Blood (page 74) has a more detailed pricing chart (the numbers work out the same as the DMG, but Tome and Blood tends to explain what each thing means in a bit more detail). You might start there for some more information. There are a variety of other helpful resources out there.

Using the table there, I get 1250GP for a single dose refilling container.

[sblock=The Math]
Spell, Use Activated
Spell Level x Caster Level X 2000
1 x 1 x 2000
2000
Experience
XP x 5 x Charges
2 XP Per Potion
Daily Limit, so determine as 50 charges
2 x 5 x 50
500
Charges Per Day
Divide by (5-charges)
Divide by 4
No Space Limitation
Times 2
(2000+500)/4*2=1250
[/sblock]

From here, it gets tricky... the pricing system supports a maximum of 3 charges daily, and that isn't quite what we're looking for anyway (it doesn't account for the fact that it just stores the stuff beyond the first day). So, we have to get a bit creative with the description of the item (and fix the "potion factory" effect).

What it's doing is creating one dose a day (hence the 1/day calculation), and storing it after that. Why does it need to store it after that? Maybe the doses go bad in, say, 10 days (seemed like a good number; it's how many it stores.. maybe there's a connection).

This still seems a bit unbalanced, so perhaps the container isn't designed so that you can drink straight from it. This simply means that you have to fill a smaller container, and drink from there.

So, we now have a CLW Potion Generator which generates one potion daily and stores up to ten at a time. The potion can not be consumed directly from the container (has to be transfered to a smaller container, effectively doubling the time it takes to down a potion, bringing a substantial amount of balance back to the item) and spoils 10 days after being removed.

This works out to be 25 times the cost of a potion.
For completeness:
Carafe of Cure Light Wounds (1d6+1): 1250 GP (Potion: 50 GP)
Carafe of Cure Moderate Wounds (2d6+3): 7500 GP (Potion: 300 GP)
[sblock=The Math]
Spell, Use Activated
Spell Level x Caster Level X 2000
2 x 3 x 2000
12000
Experience
XP x 5 x Charges
12 XP Per Potion
Daily Limit, so determine as 50 charges
12 x 5 x 50
3000
Charges Per Day
Divide by (5-charges)
Divide by 4
No Space Limitation
Times 2
(12000+3000)/4*2=7500
[/sblock]Carafe of Cure Serious Wounds (3d6+5):18750 GP (Potion: 750 GP)
[sblock=The Math]
Spell, Use Activated
Spell Level x Caster Level X 2000
3 x 5 x 2000
30000
Experience
XP x 5 x Charges
30 XP Per Potion
Daily Limit, so determine as 50 charges
30 x 5 x 50
7500
Charges Per Day
Divide by (5-charges)
Divide by 4
No Space Limitation
Times 2
(30000+7500)/4*2=18750
[/sblock]Carafe of Cure Critical Wounds (4d6+7): 35000 GP (Potion: 1400 GP)
[sblock=The Math]
Spell, Use Activated
Spell Level x Caster Level X 2000
4 x 7 x 2000
56000
Experience
XP x 5 x Charges
56 XP Per Potion
Daily Limit, so determine as 50 charges
56 x 5 x 50
14000
Charges Per Day
Divide by (5-charges)
Divide by 4
No Space Limitation
Times 2
(56000+14000)/4*2=35000
[/sblock]
Carafe of Cure Wounds
This ten ounce ornately decorated carafe produces one ounce of liquid nightly. This liquid acts as a Potion of Cure Wounds of the appropriate severity. It can be stored in the carafe indefinitely (the carafe will never overflow), but once removed, it breaks down (becoming distilled water) after ten days. Because of the shape of the container, liquid cannot be consumed from it directly, but must be first poured into an intermediary container such as a vial (standard action, provokes Attack of Opportunity).
Price: 1250 GP (Light), 7500 GP (Moderate), 18750 GP (Serious), 35000 GP (Critical)

[Edit: Small Typo]

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

In our old 1E campaign we used to allow "bota bags" of healing potions. Wineskins could be filled with 10 healing or 10 extra healing or even 10 HEAL potions. The dice for all these potions would be rolled and totalled. Then the actual total would be averaged and each "potion" drunk from the skin would deduct that average from the total points with the last drink being generally weaker for being the "leftover" points.