D&D 5E Using the "Bonus Action Potion Houserule" with Cure Wounds/Healing Word

[Mannahnin]

No, that is how I took it. After all, if downing a flagon of ale or stuffing food in your mouth is a free interaction, drinking a potion should be as long as you already have it out and in hand.

For most instances, however, the free interaction involves getting the potion out, and then the Action is used to drink it (or wait until your next turn and drink it for free....).

I always see drinking a potion treated as an Action (barring house rules) due to the rules explicitly saying so, but I follow you now.

 

[DND_Reborn]

And yes, I realize, not letting people grab potions or smash bottles in combat is bending verisimilitude, but as I said, allowing that sort of thing led to more problems in the long run for me.

I allow creatures to make disarm attempts against creatures holding spell foci, potions, etc. in hand. I find it adds another element to combat.

Orc attempts to disarm rogue holding a potion by making a weapon attack against the rogue's Dexterity (Acrobatics) check and succeeds. The potion is dropped at the rogue's feet. The orc then uses his free interaction to pick it up.

I always see drinking a potion treated as an Action (barring house rules) due to the rules explicitly saying so, but I follow you now.

Yeah, I am fine with people doing the Action giving the rule in DMG under potions and when I play at other tables I go with it.

However, giving the examples in I highlighted in the free interaction section, it seems a bit silly IF the potion is already in hand. Regardless, administering a potion to another creature is still an Action in my games.

 

[Seramus]

How about "pop the cork"? I assume that everyone handwaves it, but if we were simulationist (and I am absolutely NOT simulationist) I would think that popping the cork could be the slowest part of the job. I mean, you'd really need TWO free hands for that. Otherwise you'd probably be spilling potion on yourself regularly.

Of course, when you jump down that rabbit hole, you wind up with a LOT of things in D&D that we regularly handwave that would be a pain to deal with if you were really the adventurer. Six seconds is not a lot of time for some things, and an eternity for others.

I use my teeth to "pop the cork." If I break a tooth, it grows back overnight.

 

[DND_Reborn]

I use my teeth to "pop the cork." If I break a tooth, it grows back overnight.

And people think there isn't enough healing in 5E?

 

[jmartkdr2]

And people think there isn't enough healing in 5E?

I think the idea that there isn't enough healing overall is a strawman; people have realized you can't play a dedicated healer in any fun way: you can't keep allies up in combat no matter how hard you try and you can't add much to out-of-combat healing.

This is because they wanted to make sure no one needs to be a healer.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

Yeah, lack of clutch healing isn't the same as lack of healing. Popup healing being more efficient action-wise results in a weird narrative that (at least for me) isn't satisfying fiction.

 

[DND_Reborn]

people have realized you can't play a dedicated healer in any fun way

I can't agree with this. I have played a dedicated healer and greatly enjoyed it. But, IME, you really have to be hyper-focused on it to have a chance.

you can't keep allies up in combat no matter how hard you try

Certainly not all of them, all the time... But you can keep some up, some of the time.

you can't add much to out-of-combat healing.

Actually, you can add quite a bit really, but probably not enough to replace (or keep up with) short-rest spending HD...

Let's see: at 7th level, a use of the Healer feat will add about 14.5 hp on average. Done twice a day for 29 hp.

For a d8 HD PC, with CON +2, average per HD spent on a short-rest is 6.5, is 52 hp the first day. But then the PC only recovers half its HD, so the next day can only recover 26 hp on average---less than the benefits of the Healer feat.

If your take the Life Domain as well, then with spells it adds up quickly--but then it is the trade-off between in-combat and out-of-combat healing.

Anyway, there is tons of healing, it is just doesn't keep up well in-combat, but was never meant to.

 

[FitzTheRuke]

That feel like making too many things discrete actions: drawing an arrow, knocking an arrow, then using your action to shoot? Do we need one item interaction to unsheathe a sword and a second to grip it properly? How many interactions to use a spell component?

Unless your goal is to prevent pcs from drinking potions, popping the cork as a separate interaction feels like it's against the spirit and letter of the rules.

Oh, I agree. I am not advocating anyone enforcing any ruling like that, other than to point out that there's reason to think that drinking or administering a potion might take more effort than downing a flagon.

I don't have a problem with it being an action. But I would be fine with it being a free object interaction if there's reason for it to be in hand and open, though!