D&D 4E New Potions (4E)

[eloquentaction]

Anyone else feel like they added potions as an afterthought?

I added the following. Feel free to tell me what you think:

Potion of Barkskin
This potion smells and tastes like tree bark. As you choke it down, your skin hardens and becomes tougher.
Potion 150gp
Power (Consumable * Encounter): Movement Action. Drink this potion and spend a healing surge. Instead of the Hit Points you would normally gain, you gain +2 power bonus to AC and Fortitude defenses until the end of your next round. This bonus then decreases by one for your next round until the bonus reaches 0.
Increase to +3 at 11th level, +4 at 21st level.

Potion of Heroism
This potion smells of sweat and blood. As you consume it, you can feel the distant call of battle flow through your body.
Potion 500gp
Power (Consumable * Encounter): Movement Action. Drink this potion and spend a healing surge. All melee attacks gain a +2 power bonus until the end of your next round. This bonus then decreases by 1 for the next round until it reaches 0.

Dawn's Vigor -- Level 15
As you pop the cork on this potion, you can almost feel the touch of dawn's light on your skin.
Potion 2500gp
Power (Consumable * Healing): Standard Action. Drink this potion and spend a magic item use. You regain the use of one Daily power you have previously used.

Respite
This potion tastes of coffee grounds, bitter roots and week old fruit. Choking it down, you feel a rush of energy.
Potion 125gp
Power (Consumable * Healing): Standard Action. Drink this potion and spend a healing surge. You regain the use of one Encounter power you have previously used.

Spider Climb
This potion tastes fine... until you feel the still live spiders trying to crawl back up your throat.
Potion 50gp
Power (Consumable * Encounter): Movement Action. Drink this potion and spend a healing surge. You gain a +5 power bonus to your Athletics skill solely for the use of determining your ability to Climb. Further, you gain a Climb Speed (as a Spider) equal to your normal movement Speed.

Saving Grace
This potion tastes like flowers...
Potion 50gp
Power (Consumable * Healing): Standard Action. Drink this potion and spend a healing surge. You may make an immediate save against all ongoing effects at +2.

Fire Bomb
You're pretty sure you don't want to drink this potion.
Potion 150gp
Power (Consumable * Area Burst 1 up to 10 squares): Standard Action. Shake this vial and spend a Healing Surge. You throw this vial into the square indicated. As the vial breaks, it afflicts all creatures within a Burst 1 with +8 vs. Reflex attack. Damage is 1d6 fire with 3 ongoing fire damage (save ends).

Acid Bomb
This potion looks like the contents of your stomach after a long drinking binge...
Potion 150gp
Power (Consumable * Area Burst 1 up to 10 squares): Standard Action. Shake this vial and spend a Healing Surge. You throw this vial into the square indicated. As the vial breaks, it attacks the primary target at +10 vs. Reflex for 2d8 acid damage and ongoing 4 acid damage (save ends). Creatures adjacent to the target are attacked at +6 vs. Reflex with 4 acid damage.

Dragon's Thunder
This potion looks more like a fine black sand. Wonder what's in it?
Potion 150gp
Power (Consumable * Close Blast 2): Standard Action. You shake this potion and spend a Healing Surge, popping the cork with the vial pointed at your target. All within a Close Blast 2 are attacked at +8 vs. Reflex or suffer 1d8 fire damage and are slowed (save ends) until the end of your next round from the smoke.

Far Light
It looks like firefly's are caught in this one.
Potion 50gp
Power (Consumable * Area Burst 3 within 20 squares): Minor Action. You shake this vial and throw it. The area where you throw it is illuminated with a ghostly greenish light illuminating everything within 3 squares of the impact.
Special: This effect does not counteract powers that darken an area.


These are some of the one's off the top of my head.

Please let me know if you think I'm on crack...

-- Hirahito

 

[Dunamin]

Anyone else feel like they added potions as an afterthought?

No, I think they actually made a solid collection and consciously reserved all but basic healing potions for Adventurer's Vault. Which bothers me a bit, because I wish they'd given us just a brief but diverse selection in the PHB.

Yours look nicely, though - I like how they also work on healing surges to prevent the buffing madness of 3E.

 

[Syrsuro]

I dunno. I'm not sure I like them as written.

I don't like the idea of using wealth as a control mechanism. And, based on how they have handled the 4E rules, neither do they. Items like the potion of barkskin or the potion of heroism seem to fly in the face of their design strategies (which is why these potions aren't already in the game).

IMHO, a much better approach was that suggested in an earlier thread where a Potion of Clarity (similar to Dawn's Vigor but, ironically, too cheap) was proposed. In addition to it's cost that potion also expended a daily magic item use - a limited resource and the one that is used to balance the daily item powers granted by magic items. And one that is more restricted than a healing surge.

I think that items which grant a power-like benefit (as in most of the above) need to be balanced by this mechanism.

I also think that because you attempted to use the 3.x "balanced by high cost" approach you created items that are priced so expensively that no one would ever buy them (and if they found them, they'd rather have cash or the equivalent value in a permanent item). After all - which would you rather have: A single potion of heriosm or a permanent level 7 magic item?

Bottom Line: The idea is good, but the cost is both too high (in gold) and too low (in resources).

I'd cut the price of most of them to a fraction of their suggested cost and make them (except for saving grace) use up a daily magic item use to balance their use.

Carl

 

[eloquentaction]

Carl -

You're correct about the gold cost. Too high.

But I disagree on the requiring a Magic Item Use on a potion. There are several magic items that already can be renewed by using a Healing Surge, including the 4 potions already in the game. I did add Magic Item use on one of the potions because it was just too powerful otherwise.

The ranged effects... not sure. It seems you could tie them to a Healing Surge use as well, saying it takes some of your magic / personal energy to activate the magic in the potion. I can definitely see that, actually.

I appreciate your input, and agree they need to be balanced (they were written off the cuff), but disagree in the need for them to use a Magic Item use.

I'll rewrite them in a bit and edit the above post.

-- Hirahito

 

[eloquentaction]

Changed these for balance issues.

Check the top post to see what's changed.

-- Hirahito