Why aren't potions labeled?

[Nail]

I mean, if you purchase a Versace dress, does it need a label?

Only if it's a cheap knock-off.

How do you tell if it's a fake? Usually misspelling will give it away.

Pssst! It's spelled "versace".

 

[pawsplay]

Only if it's a cheap knock-off.

How do you tell if it's a fake? Usually misspelling will give it away.

Pssst! It's spelled "versace".

Thanks! I still don't care.

 

[Hammerhead]

Thanks! I still don't care.

Comparing them to expensive cars or dresses or whatever is looking at apples and oranges. These are emergency items used in dangerous situations by a wealthy segment of society...if I were an adventurer, I would put labels on my potions, or color code them, or whatever.

However, if you only have one kind of potion, what's the point? Or if you plan on swindling people at a later date.

 

[Klaus]

Compare it to expensive medications. You don't want your friend wrongly administering a Potion of Reduce Self when you're into your negative HP, do you?

IRL, people buy expensive mediactions, and they are kept labeled. I see no reason why potions would be unlabeled in a campaign world. If I'm a hobgoblin captain and I'm handing out potions to my soldiers, I'll make sure they're lebeled in Goblin.

You can see in this picture how I envision potion flasks: http://www.enworld.org/Pozas/Pictures/Illustration/murky_depths.jpg

 

[Sejs]

Yeah, I know, it's one ounce, not much of to put a label on to, but maybe a symbol on the bottom?
Bull for Bull's Strength, Cat, Owl, etc for the appropriate spell.

This isn't poison, this is extract of ... llama! Urrgh!

 

[pawsplay]

Comparing them to expensive cars or dresses or whatever is looking at apples and oranges. These are emergency items used in dangerous situations by a wealthy segment of society...if I were an adventurer, I would put labels on my potions, or color code them, or whatever.

However, if you only have one kind of potion, what's the point? Or if you plan on swindling people at a later date.

Presumably, 15th level adventurers would label their own potions, assuming they haven't already acquired a magical, voice-activated beer hat. If you only own four potions, however, labeling them seems largely irrelevant.

 

[MarkB]

In my Eberron games, practically anyone able to trade with legitimate concerns will purchase their potions from House Jorasco, directly or indirectly, and all their potion vials are engraved with an identifying logo and the House crest - so if you kill an NPC in any town or city, chances are his potions will be in labelled Jorasco vials, with the official seals still intact.

However, the very ubiquity of House Jorasco potion vials means that they tend to get sold dirt-cheap second-hand to every amateur alchemist and back-room potion brewer in the Five Nations, and a lot of them won't be fussed what the labels are on them. They'll just tie tags to the bottles, or use their own colour coding on the vial or lid, and some will only produce one type of potion and so never bother to label it.

All of which means that if you find a House Jorasco vial without the original seal intact, don't believe the label - there could be anything in it.

 

[mvincent]

Comparing them to expensive cars or dresses or whatever is looking at apples and oranges. These are emergency items used in dangerous situations by a wealthy segment of society

Correct. I was actually thinking of military vehicles and laptops, so I should have said so. Let's compare it more to say, various expensive, military munitions (rockets). Medicals supplies are another good comparison, but we label those more clearly for other reasons (liability, drug interaction etc.) which might not be applicable in D&D worlds.

So, we are in an industrial society that expects (and can accommodate) labels on everything. A medieval bag of chips is unlikely to be clearly labeled. Regardless, military munitions are clearly labeled (for obvious reasons) but often with a number or moniker that might not make sense to those that are not in that particular military or branch. Also, military labels tend to wear off after even a few days of field use.

D&D worlds typically don't have the technology to easily label glass, and paper/cloth labels are certainly likely to fade and peal of with use. It may just be a pain to keep potions labeled.

Mind you, if D&D had a precedent for having labeled potions, I would instead be giving reasons for that. But the current status quo is unlabeled potions... so I'm merely providing plausible game-world reasons why this might be so. The real reason is a meta-game one (i.e. that's just how the game was designed)

if I were an adventurer, I would put labels on my potions, or color code them, or whatever.

Yet I've rarely seen it done. Would you still if you were told that you and your teammates could easily tell them apart based on color?

 

[Ranger REG]

I know it goes back to 1st and probably links to the ol' potion miscability tables, but why don't the brewers mark their potions?
Yeah, I know, it's one ounce, not much of to put a label on to, but maybe a symbol on the bottom?
Bull for Bull's Strength, Cat, Owl, etc for the appropriate spell.

I can understand secrecy, you don't want people who you don't know getting the correct potion.

But people do label ingredients. Wouldn't they label the end products, too?

Anybody label the potions?
Anybody have a good reason why not?

< NPC Thief >Yeah! Why won't you PC wizards label your stuff? You know how hard it is to loot from your corpse while there are other adventuring parties in the same dungeon. It would make it easier for me to pick the best potions you have without worry about drinking the wrong stuff.

While you're at it, why won't the US label their data? It would make it easier for North Korean spies to appropriate the proper data for building nuclear weapons.

Label, people, label!

 

[Scharlata]

Label, people, label!

I label potions sometimes.

Once, I let a dangerous vampire mislabel his emergency inflict serious wounds potions as cure serious wounds potions on purpose. He knew what they were and hoped for a retributive strike because adventurers wouldn't care to verify the label.

Enjoy!