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Pathfinder material appears to have some conflicts over how long it takes to drink a potion.

From the PRD page on Potions:

Drinking a potion or using an oil is a standard action. (...) Using a potion or oil provokes attacks of opportunity.

Potion Glutton feat says, however:

Benefit(s): You can drink potions, elixirs, or other potables as a swift action without provoking attacks of opportunity.

Normal: Drinking potions is a move action that provokes attacks of opportunity.

While the Accelerated Drinker trait says:

Benefit: You may drink a potion as a move action instead of a standard action as long as you start your turn with the potion in your hand.

What is correct? Standard or move action?

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2 Answers 2

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The feat Potion Glutton does, indeed, say in its normal entry that consuming a potion is a move action, and that's been the subject of some controversy as to whether that's intended or if the feat should be the subject of errata (and here and here).

I suspect that the feat's author likely just forgot the actual rule on deadline or accidentally mistyped that normal entry, and that potions still take a standard action to consume. I've found no developer commentary supporting a change to the action needed to consume a potion, but I've found none denying such a change, either. Yet changing consuming potions to a move action is important enough—especially at low levels where much of play takes place—that such a change likely would've been announced with more fanfare, instead of being buried in a setting-specific sourcebook in the normal entry of a feat available exclusively to worshipers of a neutral evil goddess.

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    \$\begingroup\$ As far as I know, the "normal" entry is strictly a reminder, and holds no rules weight whatsoever. \$\endgroup\$
    – fectin
    Feb 29, 2016 at 13:51
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    \$\begingroup\$ @fectin That would certainly make adjudicating this errant bit of text easier. Can you cite that? \$\endgroup\$ Feb 29, 2016 at 14:31
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    \$\begingroup\$ Not quickly at least. I thought it was in the feat section under the description of what "normal" means, but that's just copied from the 3.5 SRD. It must have been buried in some errata, but I'm not sure where. Either way, to argue that he normal section of a feat overrides the main text of the core book, you have to show that the normal section is primary. That seems facially false. \$\endgroup\$
    – fectin
    Mar 1, 2016 at 15:24
  • \$\begingroup\$ @fectin I don't think Paizo's been nearly as strict (or weird) with its errata policy as Wizards was during 3E. That is, I'm not altogether certain there are Pathfinder primary sources (in the 3E sense, anyway). The linked Reddit threads, for instance, make the case for latest printing of a rule overriding earlier printings of a rule, the context of that rule being unimportant. \$\endgroup\$ Mar 1, 2016 at 16:14
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    \$\begingroup\$ There has been no errata yet, but PFS guide says: Change the text of the potion glutton feat to the following, "Benefit: You can drink potions, elixirs, or other potables (but not extracts) as a move action without provoking an attack of opportunity. Normal: Drinking potions is a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity." \$\endgroup\$
    – ShadowKras
    Jan 19, 2018 at 23:54
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Though it has been some time since this question was originally answered, its worth noting that the Potion Glutton feat has been clarified in an official Paizo FAQ, quoted below.

Potion Glutton: The “Normal” line says that drinking potions is normally a move action. Isn’t it normally a standard action? And if so, the feat text seems to be based on the move action assumption, so what should I do?

Normally, drinking potions is a standard action, not a move action. To bring it in line with that, change the text of potion glutton to the following: “Benefit: You can drink potions, elixirs, or other potables (but not extracts) as a move action without provoking an attack of opportunity. Normal: Drinking potions is a standard action that provokes an attack of opportunity.”

This confirms that the normal action for drinking a potion is a Standard Action.

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