D&D 5E (2014) Thoughts on bonus action potions?

[Sword of Spirit]

Our game is 2014, but I have reviewed the 2024 PHB and DMG and selected some things as inspiration for house rules. Mostly individual elements, like upgrading the damage to a particular spell, or adding a weaker version of an extra clasd feature. In general, the core of our game, house rules aside, is solidly 2014.

My immediate reaction to the idea of potions as a bonus action wasn't terribly positive. I'm just imagining a potion of healing Camelback added to game that's already easy mode and wondering why I would want that.

But then I started thinking. Our group doesn't like to spend consumable resources. Part of that is because you often end up with the situation where something is too good to waste right until it crosses the line to too weak to bother. There isn't much in the way of the right time to use a consumable. And I was thinking that a not insignificant part of that in D&D is due to the action economy. Giving up a turn to drink that potion of hill giant strength is rarely going to be worth the gains unless the fight goes for a lot of rounds. So if you didn't think of it before combat started, and have the opportunity, you aren't likely to use it. In other words, potions are either something you drink before you start an ambush that you think will be a tough fight, or an out of combat healing solution when you are in fire straights and out of your healing class features that you get back for free after a long rest.

But...if you have it that potion of hill giant strength in a convenient little sleeve on your belt, then when you find yourself in an unplanned tight situation, you might easily decide that a bonus action is worth getting the boost for that fight.

Plus, as a fun bonus, there's a chance the Potion Miscability table might come up occasionally.

So, for those with experience both ways, what do you think. Do potions as a bonus action get used more in fun ways, or is it just healing Camelback that makes the game easier?

 

[DEFCON 1]

I have always allowed for the personal use of Potions of Healing to be a Bonus action, while giving someone else a Potion of Healing (say to wake up someone who was unconscious) remained a regular action. It has always been fine for me.

As for other potions... in my games there have never been enough "in-combat during combat" potions out there besides healing that people wanted to take that it ever felt like the rules for it all were getting in the way. Most of the time all the other potions were done either outside of combat, or wanting to be consumed right away at the beginning of a fight... and for that I never had a problem with making a player use their very first action to down a combat potion (like Aid or to to boost strength).

If potions do not get used at your table all that often, then trying out this house rule during your game can only be a good learning experience.

 

[TiQuinn]

My experience was that as character levels increased, the importance of using a potion or healing during combat fell far, far behind ending the fight definitively as fast as possible. The reasons for that were:

• The average combat regardless of who won was over in three to four rounds. I played in two long campaigns that went to 20th level and 15th level and both played out the same on this point.
• At higher level, the need to challenge the PCs grew, which meant escalating amounts of damage being dealt out for both the PCs and the monsters.
• Healing spells do not keep up with the level of damage output. You healed 30 hit points (number pulled out of air) but you were often taking more than that in damage in the same round. The net effect was you were better off trying to pile on damage or incapacitate the thing doing damage to you rather than heal.
• Potions that took a round to drink were just never a consideration. It was worse than trying to heal. You drank a potion, took the damage that round, and the net bonus of drinking the potion did not stack up to that.
• When we introduced potions as bonus actions, people drank more potions. Again, not all the time - potions sometimes didn't make sense versus one's subclass abilities. I would still say more potions were drank in problem solving situations overall than they were in combat.

Finally, may I just say, I think "easy mode" is relative.

 

[sevenbastard]

Im against. Both from a realism standpoint and from a game balance standpoint.

 

[mellored]

What i switched to.

Potions refill at the start of every day. Thus no worry about wasting them. Obviously I give out far fewer of them than normal.

Drinking as an action gives a bigger boost than a bonus action. For instant effect (healing) the action is maximum or rolled as a bonus action (bonus 2d8 -> action 16).
For ongoing effects, the duration is longer as an action (1 minute -> 10 minutes).

 

[Clint_L]

I allowed healing potions for personal use as a bonus action long before 2024. My reasoning was that healing potions are weak and it's usually not a fun turn or particularly useful, so sacrificing the entire action for it was basically never worth it. Whereas a little top-off for a bonus action that might have been wasted anyway - sure. Players would do that. And I like them to use healing potions regularly because it's a good resource sink.

But feeding a potion to another character is an action. Why? Well, in the story of the game it's much more complicated than just quaffing one yourself. But it's also a more rewarding turn: you've just pulled someone back from the brink of death and potentially returned them to the fight. That's a worthwhile action, and a choice players often would make.

 

[Stalker0]

Potions as a bonus action was such a popular 5e houserule, that is why they updated 2024 to make it canon. It makes consumables actually worth using.

 

[pawsplay]

Arguably, using an accessible potion should have been an Interaction in the first place.

 

[aco175]

What some of the others said on healing potions. You can take yours as a bonus action and roll, or as your action and get max healing. This has led to more of the PCs taking their action for max over before with never wanting to do this and not getting to attack. There is less bonus action healing in my game than I would have thought.

Other potions as a bonus have not been implemented as much. I thought about bonus action to get effects for only 1d6 rounds instead of the whole hour. This seems ok, but most things would be taken in combat and only needed for a few rounds anyways. I guess with a STR potion you would get a few encounters over a hour, but most things like invisibility is only needed for a round to get past someone and advantage attack them.

 

[billd91]

I switched to potions as a bonus action in the midst of the 5e.2014 campaign I was running in order to get players to use their consumables more often - and not just healing potions. It helped, so I consider it a worthwhile rule change.