Infinite Potions

Summary
Adding detailed descriptions to special items in your game can help immerse your players. For example,
when PCs discover a potion, initially it isn’t a Potion of Healing or Potion of Invisibility. It is a potion that
is a certain color, has a given consistency, has a particular smell and taste (if a PC tests it) and comes in
one of many types of flasks.

If you keep some consistency, interested players can guess at a potion’s purpose just as their characters
would. (Assuming a character doesn’t have a lot of arcane knowledge.) Of course, potions with the same
purpose can be made in different ways and the resulting properties can vary. Or sometimes potions with
different purposes can have overlapping properties. For example, alchemists who study at one school
may make Potions of Strength that are blue gray, fizzy, and taste like almonds. But alchemists at another
school may make Potions of Water Breathing that are blue gray, fizzy, and taste like almonds.

Whether you keep a one-to-one relationship between each type of potion and its properties or not,
detailing potions' properties can add a little bit of depth and fun to your game sessions.

Further this document includes rules for expired or bad potions if you wish to consider those problems.

By Joe Wetzel

Will Sarazin (order #8511822)

 Examples
The following are several example potions. If you need a quick potion description, use one from this list,
perhaps making a substitution for one property.

1. Thick chestnut colored potion that tastes and smells like fish and tomato in a clay, tubular top, 3″
long, 1″ in diameter, spherical bottom 6″ in diameter flask.

2. Thin and bubbly, translucent red violet colored potion that smells like ginger and mustard and
tastes like snake with a ginger and mustard aftertaste in a steel, tubular top, 3″ long, 1″ in
diameter, triangular bottom 6″ on a side flask.

3. Clumpy white potion with teal blue drops that smells like chives but tastes like pickled venison
and mushrooms in a steel, tubular top, 3″ long, 1″ in diameter, triangular bottom 6″ on a side
flask. The potion is old... while it works, the subject feels itchy for the next 8 hours.

4. Jelly carnation pink potion that has no smell but tastes like kiwi and ginger in a clay, tubular top,
3″ long, 1″ in diameter, spherical bottom 6″ in diameter flask. The potion was made by a novice
and is only half as effective (Pick one: duration, hit points healed, etc.)

5. Fizzy translucent plum potion that smells like kiwi but tastes like beef in a steel, tubular top, 2″
long, 1″ in diameter, rectangular bottom 6″ x 8″ x 2″ flask.

6. Thin red-orange potion that smells like fish and licorice and tastes as you'd expect in a glass,
tubular top, 2″ long, 1″ in diameter, rectangular bottom 6″ x 8″ x 2″ flask.

7. Oily plum floating above white that smells like banana but tastes like chicken with a mushroom
aftertaste in a steel, tubular top, 2″ long, 1″ in diameter, rectangular bottom 6″ x 8″ x 2″ flask.

8. Watery teal blue potion that smells like apple, jasmine, and raspberry and tastes like all three but
with the jasmine dominant in a glass, tubular top, 3″ long, 1″ in diameter, triangular bottom 6″ on
a side flask.

9. Bubbly translucent almond potion that smells like coffee but tastes like onion and garlic with a
coffee aftertaste in a clay, tubular, 10″ long, 1″ in diameter flask.

10. Fizzy periwinkle potion that smells and tastes like banana in a steel, tubular top, 3″ long, 1″ in
diameter, Spherical bottom 6″ in diameter

11. Thick midnight blue potion that smells ginger but tastes like fish in a glass, tubular top, 3″ long, 1″
in diameter, triangular bottom 6″ on a side flask.

12. Oily lemon colored potion that has no smell but tastes like ginger and licorice in a steel, tubular,
10″ long, 2″ in diameter flask.

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 Creating a Potion
The pages that follow include tables to describe potions. The first table covers the color, followed by a
table for the description, then a table to determine the consistency and finally the fourth table describes
the potion's mix of smells and tastes.

To get started describing a new potion, roll on each of these tables. The results of table 1 may tell you to
roll again on that table. Table 4 (smells & tastes) will tell you how many times to roll on a table 5 to
determine the potion's specific tastes and smells.

Finally, if the potion may be particularly old or created by an inexperienced sage use the tables on pages
6 and 7 to determine if the potion has no effect or to develop potential alternate effects.

Specific Potion Walk-Through

A roll on Table 1 of column 5 and row 1 results in an aquamarine potion. Rolling a 5 on Table 2 gives a
Steel, Tubular, 10″ long, 2″ in diameter flask. An 11 for consistency (Table 3) tells us to roll twice more so
a 3 and an 8 result in a fizzy and thin potion. Next, a 7 on table 4 results in “No smell, but roll roll three
times for taste. The potion is a mix of all three flavors.” So rolling three times on table 5 and getting row
6 column 1 is ham, row 12 column 8 is tomato and row 11 column 5 is raspberry. The final result is: A
then, fizzy aquamarine potion with no smell but tastes like a mix of ham, tomato and raspberry in a steel,
tubular, 10″ long, 2″ in diameter flask.

If you want to consider if it is expired/poorly made add the following rolls: an 11 on table 7 states “the
potion acts as expected, but has a side effect.” So we roll on table 8 and get a 2, which means the
subject's eyes glow and a 6 on a d6 indicates the glow is yellow. Finally a 1 on table 9 says the effect only
lasts 5 minutes.

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 Potion Properties Tables
Table 1: Potion Colors.
d12 1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10 11-12
1 Almond Apricot Aquamarine Asparagus Banana Black
2 Blue Blue Gray Blue Violet Blush Brick Red Brown
3 Burnt Orange Canary Carnation Pink Chestnut Dandelion Eggplant
4 Fern Fuchsia Gold Gray Green Green Yellow
5 Inchworm Indigo Jungle Green Lavender Lemon Mahogany
6 Maize Mango Maroon Midnight Blue Mulberry Olive Green
7 Orange Orange Red Orchid Peach Periwinkle Pine Green
8 Plum Raw Umber Red Red Orange Robin’s Egg Blue Salmon
9 Scarlet Sea Green Silver Sky Blue Sunset Orange Tan
10 Teal Blue Tumbleweed Violet (Purple) Violet Red White Yellow
Two colors interspersed
Translucent. Roll again for
11 Clear throughout but separate. Roll
translucency color.
two more times.
One primary color with Two colors where one floats
Two colors that change every
12 interspersed drops of another above the other. Roll again for
minute or so. Roll again for each.
color. Roll again for each. each.

Table 2: Flask Descriptions.

d12 Flask Description
1 Glass, tubular, 10″ long, 1″ in diameter
2 Glass, tubular top, 3″ long, 1″ in diameter, Spherical bottom 6″ in diameter
3 Glass, tubular top, 3″ long, 1″ in diameter, triangular bottom 6″ on a side
4 Glass, tubular top, 2″ long, 1″ in diameter, rectangular bottom 6″ x 8″ x 2″
5 Steel, tubular, 10″ long, 2″ in diameter
6 Steel, tubular top, 3″ long, 1″ in diameter, Spherical bottom 6″ in diameter
7 Steel, tubular top, 3″ long, 1″ in diameter, triangular bottom 6″ on a side
8 Steel, tubular top, 2″ long, 1″ in diameter, rectangular bottom 6″ x 8″ x 2″
9 Clay, tubular, 10″ long, 1″ in diameter
10 Clay, tubular top, 3″ long, 1″ in diameter, Spherical bottom 6″ in diameter
11 Clay, tubular top, 3″ long, 1″ in diameter, triangular bottom 6″ on a side
12 Clay, tubular top, 2″ long, 1″ in diameter, rectangular bottom 6″ x 8″ x 2″

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 Table 3: Consistency.
d12 Consistency
1 Bubbly
2 Clumpy
3 Fizzy
4 Gassy
5 Jelly
6 Oily
7 Runny
8 Thin
9 Thick
10 Watery
11-12 Roll twice; re-roll this result if it occurs again.

Table 4: Smell/Taste Composition. (All results reference rolling on table 4.)

d12 Smell/Taste Composition
1 Roll once. The smell and the taste are the same.
2 Roll twice for smell. The taste is a combination of the same ingredients.
3 Roll three times for smell. The taste is a combination of the same ingredients.
4 Roll once for smell and once for taste. Oddly one smell is powerful but a different taste comes
through.
5 Roll once for smell and twice for taste. The potion starts with one taste and finishes with another.
6 No smell, but roll twice for taste. The potion is a mix of those two flavors.
7 No smell, but roll roll three times for taste. The potion is a mix of all three flavors.
8 Roll for three flavors. The potion is a mix of all three. The smell is a combination of the three, but
one dominates.
9 Roll once for smell and twice for taste. The potion has one main flavor, but a different aftertaste.
10 Roll twice for smell but it is tasteless. The two ingredients one smells cancel out as flavors.
11 Roll for three flavors. Taste shifts from one to the second and finishes with the third. Pick any of
the three for smell.
12 Roll for three flavors. Taste combines the first two but leaves the third as an aftertaste. Pick any
of the three for smell.

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 Table 5: Smells/Tastes.
d12 1-2 3-4 5-6 7-8 9-10 11-12
1 Apple Apple Banana Banana Beans, Green Beans, Lima
2 Beef Beef Blueberry Blueberry Cabbage Chicken
3 Chicken Chicken Chives Chutney Chutney Cinnamon
4 Cinnamon Coffee Corn Cucumber Fish Ginger
5 Ginger Garlic Garlic Grape Grape Ham
6 Ham Honey Honey Jasmine Jasmine Kiwi
7 Kiwi Lettuce Lemon Lemon Licorice Licorice
8 Licorice Mushroom Mustard Mustard Nuts Olives
9 Onion Onion Orange Orange Peach Peach
10 Pine Pork Pork Pumpkin Pumpkin Rabbit
11 Rabbit Radish Raspberry Raspberry Salt Salt
12 Snake Squash Strawberry Tomato Venison Venison

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 Expired/Defective Potions
Many of these potions could be locked away for years or even hundreds of years… so could these potions
expire over time? Sure, through magic one could say they stay potent forever. But it is more fun to say
that while they last a very long time, they can expire causing the potion to:

• Have no effect.

• Have a diminished effect.

• Have a heightened effect.

• Have a strange side effect.

• Be poisonous. (Note that this “little bit of fun” for the GM doesn’t and shouldn’t cause a “save or
die” situation, so the poisonous effects listed here are limited.)

A poor alchemist can also explain why a potion (even one just brewed) might not have the expected
results.

Before getting into the random tables, depending on your game system, consider giving characters a
chance to notice that a particular potion has expired and may have no effect or have a side effect or
especially that it may be poisonous. This can be accomplished through an Alchemy or Spellcraft skill
check or an equivalent method in your game system.

To get started, simply roll on table 6. (You may wish to alter the percentages based on age of the potion
or the location where the potion was found.) If directed, roll on table 7 or 8. If you do roll on table 7 or
8, also roll on table 9 to determine the duration.
Table 6: Is The Effect Altered?
d100 Normal or Expired Effect?
1-2 Expired and poisonous. See the “Poison Effects” table.
3-4 Expired and it only has a strange effect. See the “Strange/Side Effects” table.
5-6 Expired but it simply has no effect.
Expired but it still has 1/2 the expected result. The GM should adjust the effect by changing the
7-10 duration, amount healed, etc. For example: the invisibility lasts only one hour instead of two
hours or only 1d4+1 hit points are healed instead of 1d8+1.
11-12 The potion acts as expected, but has a side effect. See the “Strange/Side Effects” table.
13-95 The potion acts as expected.
Strangely the expired potion proves to be more effective. The duration is doubled, the healing is
96-00
doubled, etc.

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 Table 7: Poison Effects.
d12 Poisionous Effect
A physical ability score or equivalent (GM’s discretion) is reduced by 20%. (Note: this can not result
1-5 in death through a rules side effect such as lowered hit points due to a lowered constitution-like
score.)
6-9 1 Limb is paralyzed (1d4: 1=left arm, 2=right arm, 3=left leg, 4=right leg.)
10 Blindness.
11 Deafness.
12 Subject becomes mute.

Table 8: Strange Effects.

d12 Strange Effect
1 Subject’s skin tone changes. (1d6: 1=blue, 2=Green, 3=Orange, 4=Purple, 5=Red, 6=Yellow.)
2 Subject’s eyes glow. (1d6: 1=blue, 2=Green, 3=Orange, 4=Purple, 5=Red, 6=Yellow.)
3 Rapid body hair growth.
4 Subject loses sensation of taste.
5 Subject loses sensation of smell.
6 Subject remains drunk.
7 Subject feels itchy.
8 Subject talks in a very high pitch or very low gravelly voice.
9 Subject sweats profusely.
10 Subject sneezes for half a minute every 5 minutes or so.
11 Subject becomes very thirsty.
12 Two side effects: Roll twice more.

Table 9: Poison/Strange Effect Durations.

d6 Duration
1-2 5 minutes
3-4 1 hour
5 8 hours.
6 1 day.

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