Newbies ask the darnest things

[Troy]

Potions take time and resources each time you want to make them, while an enchanted item has to be recharged.

It's the difference between buying more ammo for a gun and having to build a new gun from scratch every time you wanted to shoot someone.

The way it's presented in the book, it doesn't seem like you have to do much of that sort of thing unless you are telling that part of the story. The way I read it, we begin a session and I state I have potions X, Y, Z on me. Also, I can spent a Fate Point and have potion X on me without having stated it beforehand, or do the same thing with a successful declaration on a Lore roll. Is that not how it works?

[Taran]

Yes, you are correct

[cold_breaker]

The way it's presented in the book, it doesn't seem like you have to do much of that sort of thing unless you are telling that part of the story. The way I read it, we begin a session and I state I have potions X, Y, Z on me. Also, I can spent a Fate Point and have potion X on me without having stated it beforehand, or do the same thing with a successful declaration on a Lore roll. Is that not how it works?

Yes, and no. You're glossing over the hard bits.

The whole point of keeping slots open for potions is essentially to have variable enchanted items that you can use to make the right tool for the circumstances. If you start out with X,Y, and Z potions then you effectively give that advantage up. So, no real advantage or disadvantage to doing that I suppose, short of being able to change them from one story to the next.

As for declarations? Well, you've glossed over the key word there: successfully. The declaration needs to succeed - which means that it has to make sense. You can't just coincidentally have a climbing potion when you're surprised with a mountian trek in the middle of an adventure.

Essentially, potion slots give you an advantage when you have time to think ahead. If they're played any other way, you're effectively munchkining as far as I'm concerned.

[GryMor]

Yes, and no. You're glossing over the hard bits.

The whole point of keeping slots open for potions is essentially to have variable enchanted items that you can use to make the right tool for the circumstances. If you start out with X,Y, and Z potions then you effectively give that advantage up. So, no real advantage or disadvantage to doing that I suppose, short of being able to change them from one story to the next.

As for declarations? Well, you've glossed over the key word there: successfully. The declaration needs to succeed - which means that it has to make sense. You can't just coincidentally have a climbing potion when you're surprised with a mountian trek in the middle of an adventure.

Essentially, potion slots give you an advantage when you have time to think ahead. If they're played any other way, you're effectively munchkining as far as I'm concerned.

Open potion slots allow the CHARACTER to think ahead. This is represented by a successful Lore declaration (either roll or fate point) at the time of use If you actually have time to whip something up, you don't need the declaration at all. This is the 'deceleration as flashback' and achronal narrative aspect of Fate being used to maximal dramatic effect.

Also, it helps if you can see the future and have aspects like 'Crazy Prepared'

[Tedronai]

Conventional Enchanted Items can be used beyond the uses paid for via enchanted item slots, specializations, and foci by spending a point of mental stress.

[Mr. Death]

Open potion slots allow the CHARACTER to think ahead. This is represented by a successful Lore declaration (either roll or fate point) at the time of use If you actually have time to whip something up, you don't need the declaration at all. This is the 'deceleration as flashback' and achronal narrative aspect of Fate being used to maximal dramatic effect.

Also, it helps if you can see the future and have aspects like 'Crazy Prepared'

It still has to make sense, though--the 'new potions every session' thing assumes time passing between sessions for the potions to be made.

Say a session ends with the wizard having his potion slots filled up with X, Y, and Z potion. If the next session begins five minutes later in-universe, then they can't have changed to A, B, and C potion. Likewise, if a session ends with said wizard having established that he's out of potions, the next one can't have his stock refilled unless enough time has passed.

[Wordmaker]

I run pretty loose with the potions-crafter in my current campaign. I let him make declarations for potions he needs. I see it as being similar to the rule in Feng Shui where a character with the Gadgets skill can not only build items in-play, but also roll to have "just the thing" when a particular situation arises.

[Haru]

Potions vs. enchanted items is, as some already said, a decision between versatility and security. Enchanted items always work. And depending on how good you are at making them, they will work a lot better than your average evocation for about the same cost. A potion, even if you have it prepared explicitly, will be gone after the deed, and there is nothing you can do about it. If you don't have it prepared, you might not get to use it at all.

Now for some things, potions make sense. A spell to open a specific door, for example, you won't use that again, and you probably don't have much time to create it anyway. Both factors against the enchanted item but for the potion. And this works very well retroactively.

I won't let somebody roll on a potion or spend a fate point, if it makes sense they'd have prepared something like this. Water breathing potion for an adventure on the sea? Sure. If it's something where I have difficulty believing that the character would have prepared something like this, I let him roll, depending on how improbable I feel his potion is. If I think that there is no chance in hell he would have prepared himself for something this obscure, I'll let him spend a fate point for it. That way it stays within what the character would do, but if he really wants to, he can be lucky and have just what he needs. Maybe he took the potion he wanted by mistake, while reaching for another one.

[McNulty]

A question came up in my group regarding the potions.. how long does it take to concoct one? The RAW is bit vague on the subject (on purpose I think), and my take is that it doesn't usually matter, but there can be occasions when timing is be crucial. Any good rule of thumb for these?

[Wordmaker]

If you pass the declaration, no time at all. For concocting specific potions in-play, I usually say it takes a scene to make them.

[Mr. Death]

I think it takes a couple hours of simmering, according to the novels. Storm Front goes into detail on what making them entails.

[cold_breaker]

A question came up in my group regarding the potions.. how long does it take to concoct one? The RAW is bit vague on the subject (on purpose I think), and my take is that it doesn't usually matter, but there can be occasions when timing is be crucial. Any good rule of thumb for these?

Not sure if it's RAW, but I'd stick by the Thaumaturgy rules for simply casting the potions effect as a spell. So, probably not long considering how week the spell would be if you cast it the long way around.

[GryMor]

I think it takes a couple hours of simmering, according to the novels. Storm Front goes into detail on what making them entails.

My mechanical interpretation of that was Harry buffing his potions via tagging at the point of creation. There are occasions where he whips up a (DFRPG mechanical) potion in a shorter period of time.

[Wordmaker]

Or it was Harry's player (Jim  ) figuring that he might need a potion or two for later and, so he wouldn't have to worry about the declaration later, decided to outright describe making them.

And the GM then used a compel to force Harry to make a love potion for Bob, which ended up causing particular problems later...

[InFerrumVeritas]

I know it was said, but it may have gotten lost if you were just reading about how difficult declarations should be.

Enchanted items can be used an additional time for one point of mental stress.  This means that you can probably squeeze a few uses out of them every scene if needed (in addition to the /session uses).  This is a HUGE advantage over potions.