But then either the group is either making an informed decision and choosing a direction because they knew what was there or it's a DM directed campaign.
I recently had this discussion with my group, asking them what they wanted and gave them options. They threw the metaphorical ball back and told me to do whatever I wanted.
That's fine by me, they'll still have plenty of options to direct the campaign if they want.
Or maybe they're made for those of us who wish to roleplay characters who have different skills and life experiences from ourselves and be able to express that without method acting our way through things and actually learn 20 years of 15th century sailing knowledge to play a sailor who is good at the boat things?
Like maybe we ARE playing, just apparently not the way that doesn't get us insulted all the time for no good reason.
My players challenged me on this rule so many times that I finally got sick of it. I called a break, and went to the pantry and got one of these little 100ml bottles of Amaretto from the liquor cabinet (not sure where I got it, I think it was a stocking stuffer from pre-pandemic years?) I asked everyone if they agreed that this was a suitable replica for a D&D potion. "Sure," they said, "of course. The right size, the right shape, right amount of fluid," etc.
I asked one of them to get their phone out and open up the stopwatch. "Time me, on my mark. Okay?" I put the bottle in my front pants pocket, and then fetched a knife from the kitchen.
"Go!" I said.
Guess how long it took me to get the potion out of my pocket, open it, and drink the bottle's contents, without dropping the knife in my dominant hand.
Almost a full minute. Ten full rounds. Any faster and I'm sure I would have either cut myself or spilled it.
That should have put the matter to rest. But no, suddenly the bottle wasn't a proper replica for a D&D potion. Or it was in the wrong pocket. Or the knife was the wrong length/weight/shape/etc. But more to my point: nobody's ever been able to do it in six seconds, using any combination of bottle, knife, or pocket.
While I agree that a potion taking a full action is the actual rule, in practice I find it just makes using potions a thing that does not happen, since they're basically never worth an action.
While I agree that a potion taking a full action is the actual rule, in practice I find it just makes using potions a thing that does not happen, since they're basically never worth an action.
I'm not a fan of the way that healing works in D&D, and healing potions aren't helping. Potions either let the player say "...and I instantly heal myself, too" as a bonus action, or they barely get used at all and everyone just glares at the cleric whenever they take damage.
And so you give them an inch, and they take a mile: you allow potions to be used as a bonus action, and suddenly everyone has six Potions of Haste in their inventory and they continue to glare at the cleric whenever they take damage.
I don't have any solutions, but I'm all ears if someone else does.
I'm not a fan of the way that healing works in D&D, and healing potions aren't helping. Potions either let the player say "...and I instantly heal myself, too" as a bonus action, or they barely get used at all and everyone just glares at the cleric whenever they take damage.
And so you give them an inch, and they take a mile: you allow potions to be used as a bonus action, and suddenly everyone has six Potions of Haste in their inventory and they continue to glare at the cleric whenever they take damage.
I don't have any solutions, but I'm all ears if someone else does.
