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If I brew a potion of lightning bolt, what happens when someone drinks it?

  • Lightning bolt strikes them?
  • They can cast a lightning bolt?
  • They emit lightning that strikes where they point?
  • Nothing happens?

Same thing with vampiric touch: Would the consumer covert their hit points to temporary hit points? Would that mean that drinking a healing potion after the potion of vampiric touch gives the character full hp + temporary hp without touching anyone?

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Please ask one question per question. This will get various answers not addressing many of your sub-q's. – mxyzplk♦ Aug 31 '12 at 15:12
One post, one question. I removed the "bonus" questions, but feel free to ask them separately so that they may be answered, voted on, and generate rep on their own merits. Thanks! – SevenSidedDie Aug 31 '12 at 16:42

1 Answer

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By my reading of the rules, a potion of Lightning Bolt would not be a legal potion. The rules on potions state:

The drinker of a potion is both the effective target and the caster of the effect

This wording, and the content of the list of potions given makes me believe that only spells with a Target can be put into potions. Lightning Bolt doesn't have a Target, only a Range and Area.

If you allow potions of Lightning Bolt anyway, the most likely way that they would work would be to hit the imbiber with a lightning bolt. Whether or not it hits any other targets would be pure DM fiat.

Bonus 1: An unconscious person drinking any potion has teh same effect as a conscious person drinking that potion.

Vampiric Touch is a much more practical spell to put into a potion, since it has a Target. It works just as you say; you drink the potion, take damage, gain temporary HP, and then can heal yourself back up to full with the extra temporary HP.

Bonus 2: There isn't anything specific on this that I can find, but it's likely that you can put metamagic feats on potions, as long as the total spell level is less than 3. For example, you could Empower a first level spell, since the total spell level is 3. Quicken definitely wouldn't work, however: you're not casting a spell, you're drinking a potion. The spell's casting time is totally ignored, and replaced with the standard action to drink a potion.

Bonus 3: By RAW, no. It is a standard action to drink a potion, and there's no RAW way to dump a bunch of potions in one tub to drink more quickly. Houserules on this are common, but it basically comes down to what your DM agrees to.

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So i can double my hp. :D good. – huseyin tugrul buyukisik Aug 31 '12 at 14:36
Probably not double, the spell doesn't do quite enough damage for that, but yeah. Also, there's probably better ways to get more temporary hp. A 20th level Vampiric Touch potion that gives you 10d6 temporary HP costs 1500gp, which is not very economical. – DuckTapeal Aug 31 '12 at 14:40
But if your life depends on it and there is a salvage :D. gold is not important for me. Experience is important ^^ – huseyin tugrul buyukisik Aug 31 '12 at 14:42

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