D&D (2024) Taking a healing potion as a bonus action?

[CleverNickName]

potion usually has an ounce of liquid. that is less than a small shooter to drink.
they also usually come with cork that you can remove with just a thumb.

and I have seen guys drink 0,5L of beer in 3 seconds.

This was a single-serving size bottle of Maker's Mark, 50mL bottle (1.6 fluid ounces).

The issue isn't how fast I can swallow or how quickly I can pop the cork; the neck of the bottle just isn't large enough to let the liquid escape quickly...it does that glug-glug-glug thing for several seconds until it empties. Try it yourself at home. It has nothing to do with my own speed or agility, it's all fluid mechanics.

But maybe in your game world--where magic and dragons and mermaids are real--bottled fluids behave differently. Maybe all of the potion vials are shaped like Mason jars, instead of Erlenmeyer flasks. Don't let anybody tell you what's possible in six seconds! Characters can summon lightning with a snap of their fingers, so drinking a potion in the middle of combat with a sword in one hand and a shield in the other should be no trouble at all. Don't let my own suspension of disbelief govern your game.

 

[Horwath]

This was a single-serving size bottle of Maker's Mark, 50mL bottle (1.6 fluid ounces).

The issue isn't how fast I can swallow or how quickly I can pop the cork; the neck of the bottle just isn't large enough to let the liquid escape quickly...it does that glug-glug-glug thing for several seconds until it empties. Try it yourself at home. It has nothing to do with my own speed or agility, it's all fluid mechanics.

true, but some consideration must be made to shape of the container.
neck has to be the widest part of the vial so fluid can flow more freely.

also, viscosity should matter also, do not make very viscous potions if it can be helped.

 

[CleverNickName]

true, but some consideration must be made to shape of the container.
neck has to be the widest part of the vial so fluid can flow more freely.

also, viscosity should matter also, do not make very viscous potions if it can be helped.

Try it at home with a variety of bottles and fluids. I'm genuinely curious to see if an ounce of liquid, in a sealed vial, can make it from a person's front pocket to their belly in six seconds. Because I've tried several times and can't make it happen.

 

[Staffan]

that is why it should be removed to Bonus action. ALL effects that just heal.

I'd rather go the other way and have healing (and other buffs) take an action, but have a significant impact. For example, the main use of the heal spell in Pathfinder 2 is as a 2-action spell (out of three you have each turn) and heals for about half a frontliner's max hp. That's a big chonky heal, and you generally don't feel bad about taking a round to do it.

 

[Staffan]

potion usually has an ounce of liquid. that is less than a small shooter to drink.
they also usually come with cork that you can remove with just a thumb.

and I have seen guys drink 0,5L of beer in 3 seconds.

Speed-drinking beer usually involves getting some whirling action going on in the bottle so you have air going in at the same time as the beer is going out. The typically depicted potion vials generally don't have necks wide enough for that.

That said, unless the bottle shape is necessary for the magic somehow, I could easily see potion "bottles" evolving toward basically becoming lidded shot glasses, and you definitely don't need six seconds to down a shot.

 

[TheSword]

The risk should still be there, but it's just a simple fact, healing is a boring mechanic.

it's worse than simple "auto attack", attack can at least miss or crit.

that is why it should be removed to Bonus action. ALL effects that just heal.

Lay on hands should be Bonus action also. Just the healing part. If you use it to remove conditions, then it should be an Action.
Same with ALL healing spells, if it's just restoring HP, Bonus action. If it removes conditions or give other bonuses: then an Action.

Also, I agree that dropping to 0 HP should give some penalty.
Like exhaustion level that gets removes if you are healed to 50% of max HP.

I’d like healing to mean something. Everyone has enough hp as it is in this game, we don’t need healing potion batteries to extend problem.

If it’s boring, don’t do it. Fight the battle instead.

I don’t want the game to turn into Diablo with healing potion spam being baked into the game. There is a reason the game was altered so in-combat healing wasn’t required as a matter of course.

 

[CleverNickName]

I only have two house rules for healing potions:

1. Healing potions always heal the maximum amount possible (but cost 50% more).
2. Administering a potion to an unconscious person requires a DC 13 Medicine check (failure wastes the potion.)

 

[Benjamin Olson]

Try it at home with a variety of bottles and fluids. I'm genuinely curious to see if an ounce of liquid, in a sealed vial, can make it from a person's front pocket to their belly in six seconds. Because I've tried several times and can't make it happen.

Seems like you just need a moderately wider mouth on the vial. Think less "tiny liquor bottle" and more "test tube" or "spice jar".

But, fluid dynamics aside, the listed weights of a healing potion is half a pound. Factoring in the weight of the container that's got to be 5-6 fluid ounces of some sort of strange liquid.

 

[Horwath]

Seems like you just need a moderately wider mouth on the vial. Think less "tiny liquor bottle" and more "test tube" or "spice jar".

But, fluid dynamics aside, the listed weights of a healing potion is half a pound. Factoring in the weight of the container that's got to be 5-6 fluid ounces of some sort of strange liquid.

Physical Description​

A typical potion or oil consists of 1 ounce of liquid held in a ceramic or glass vial fitted with a tight stopper. The stoppered container is usually no more than 1 inch wide and 2 inches high. The vial has AC 13, 1 hit point, hardness 1, and a break DC of 12. Vials hold 1 ounce of liquid.

think I will keep the 3.5e version of potions weights, that edition was at least better for fine details.

and visuals close to small lab test tube:

1 ounce vial

 

[Lazvon]

and visuals close to small lab test tube:​

View attachment 260732

This is what I have always pictured they are as well. At least for the last 30+ years.