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The Dresden Files => DFRPG => Topic started by: Ren on July 30, 2011, 12:35:49 PM
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Is there a thread anywhere for sample potions that people have come up with in their games? If not I'd like to start one as I have an upcoming game that involves several allied NPC's making potions for the Player characters prior to going into an Upcoming Battle but I'd like to get some ideas for Potions that could be made for them.
So far this is all I've managed to come up with;
- Restoration; clears all Mental Stress Boxes; one-shot and may not take another for at least 24 hours
- Speed; +4 Initiatives, +2 Athletics; lasts for 3 Rounds
Other ideas/suggestions are welcome.
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Well, potions are just bottled spells, literally, so a potions list would be covered by a spell list already.
- Speed; +4 Initiatives, +2 Athletics; lasts for 3 Rounds
Would you mind telling me how you calculated that? I get to at least 27 shifts of power, possibly more, which is extremely powerful for 1 potion.
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The wiki in my signature might be helpful.
I also really have to wonder how those examples were made. How many shifts of power went into each?
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Is there a thread anywhere for sample potions that people have come up with in their games? If not I'd like to start one as I have an upcoming game that involves several allied NPC's making potions for the Player characters prior to going into an Upcoming Battle but I'd like to get some ideas for Potions that could be made for them.
So far this is all I've managed to come up with;
- Restoration; clears all Mental Stress Boxes; one-shot and may not take another for at least 24 hours
- Speed; +4 Initiatives, +2 Athletics; lasts for 3 Rounds
Other ideas/suggestions are welcome.
For the restoration spell, I'd look at the vampiric powers with The Taste of Death. It gives you a limited "free" recovery.
The speed potion is all sorts of broken. Potions are bottled spells, as has been stated. Spells don't add to skill rolls, they replace them. So you don't make a potion that gives you +2 bonus to athletics, you make one that gives you an athletics result of 8, for example. Also, since it's a bottled spell, you have to determine what that athletics result is for. An athletics defense is one potion, while an athletics movement is another.
See pages YS279-280 for more info on potions.
-EF
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Is there a thread anywhere for sample potions that people have come up with in their games? If not I'd like to start one as I have an upcoming game that involves several allied NPC's making potions for the Player characters prior to going into an Upcoming Battle but I'd like to get some ideas for Potions that could be made for them.
So far this is all I've managed to come up with;
- Restoration; clears all Mental Stress Boxes; one-shot and may not take another for at least 24 hours
- Speed; +4 Initiatives, +2 Athletics; lasts for 3 Rounds
Other ideas/suggestions are welcome.
These aren't really possible.
Initiative: Potion that allows you to act on (for example) Fantastic Initiative would be 6 shifts.
These would be single use effects, in this instance.
"Healing" potions shouldn't really be possible, IMO. Especially not clearing stress. Reducing a consequence should be all the potion is capable of (or suppressing them for a scene). You're looking at 8 shifts to go from moderate to mild. The absolute most I would allow is clearing away a mild consequence, but that'd be 6 shifts.
I've got one though:
Magical Conduit
Effect: A crystal is hung around the wearer's neck and attuned to their magical energy. It acts like a fuse, absorbing backlash. It can suppress 5 shifts worth of backlash from uncontrolled magic and lasts one scene.
Note: This potion was made with 5 shifts. Increasing the number of shifts can increase the amount of backlash absorbed.
NOTE: For the OP, one good way to think of magic, especially if you're coming from another system, is that it is essentially capable of just a couple mechanical effects (which can in turn translate to a lot of very versatile effects in game).
Magic can place (or remove/suppress) aspects and replace skill rolls. That's more or less it (although this can translate to a lot and there are some exceptions within the examples). It doesn't provide bonuses to rolls (although aspects can be tagged or invoked to do so).
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There's this one. It's not great though.
http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,22464.0.html
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"Healing" potions shouldn't really be possible, IMO. Especially not clearing stress. Reducing a consequence should be all the potion is capable of (or suppressing them for a scene). You're looking at 8 shifts to go from moderate to mild. The absolute most I would allow is clearing away a mild consequence, but that'd be 6 shifts.
Well, there's always the Altering Consequences (http://www.jimbutcheronline.com/bb/index.php/topic,27009.0.html) option, which would technically be within the rules, since you're not accelerating how fast someone recovers from a consequence, just changing the nature of the consequence someone is recovering from. If you used this option, you'd probably need a potion with at least a number of shifts equal to the level of consequence you are treating.
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I don't really see anything overtly wrong with a Stress Healing Potion, per se. The way I read it, it's extra spell casting potential. As has been recently pointed out to me in a post, consequences have happened and stress has not... it is potential. I don't know about allowing a potion like that in my own game, but I would do based on the Reiki Healing Spell and since it's just clearing out stress (which goes away at the end of a battle anyway), I would allow it to immediately clear the stress boxes indicated.
I'm going to start with the base complexity of the Reiki Healing Spell, 4. In this context, it would be the number of actual stress boxes that a caster with a Conviction of +4 or +5 would have. Then I would add on the numbers of the stress boxes to be reduced. So he can clear away up to 4 points of stress when taking the potion (either the 4 box or 3+1 or 2+1) then it's a base of 4 plus 4 for the stress. An 8 shift potion is possible for a Submerged caster, but not without tagging aspects or putting a little extra oomph into it from somewhere else. If he wanted to have a potion that just completely cleared his Mental Stress track, I'd put it at a 14 (4 base for the number of actual stress boxes and then 10 (1+2+3+4) for what each stress box represents.
That would probably be out of the league of most non-specialized crafting thaumaturgists.
Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm a little verklempt. Talk amongst yourselves.
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I don't really see anything overtly wrong with a Stress Healing Potion, per se. The way I read it, it's extra spell casting potential.
From my point of view, that extra spell casting is the problem.
That would probably be out of the league of most non-specialized crafting thaumaturgists.
Ten to twenty shifts in prepared thaumaturgy are trivial. So few (probably no) casters could do what you describe as a declared potion but anyone can with time to prepare.
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Heck I just had some ideas for Potions, I didn't so much do math for them; I'll have to look into the math then it seems.
I was more looking for ideas for Potions rather than exact math. Though for the people who are making the potions a 20+ Shift would be more than possible (Community of retired Wizards).
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From my point of view, that extra spell casting is the problem.
If it's a problem for you, don't use it. I don't see any reason why Ren can't use it though. :)
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Extra spellcasting is a big deal.
Too big for a single item slot, I think.
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Hmm, Could the opposite potion be made? A Psychomancy potion that causes mental stress? And would it be breaking a Law to use it, if it works like a grenade, and doesn't allow direct invasion of another's mind by your own?