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As I asked in a past question, when you drink a potion of magic missile you end up getting hit by the spells effect. Depending on the effect in the potion, this is fine to not fine.

But is there any way to make potions of magic missile useful where you are the drinker but get to use the spell to attack others? I know about Volatile Vaporizer pills and Vaporous Potion crafting, but these dont allow you to benefit from effects like alchemical allocation.

Mostly I was hoping to have a potion of MM and alchemical allocation and always have a MM thats usable. Or with the Potion Glutton get a MM every round for a swift action.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I think your question might be better phrased to address the actual issue: What's the least resource-intensive way to have available a magic missile effect that takes a swift action to use? Then offer a preference for potions. I mean, that is what you want, right? Or is this more specifically a potion optimization question, like Is there any combination of game elements that allows a potion to be used so that it meets these criteria? \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 1, 2019 at 13:31
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    \$\begingroup\$ @HeyICanChan When I asked the question I was just trying to figure out a way to make offensive potions useful that didnt use the above or require fire immunity and drinking potions of fireball. MM was more my example spell. \$\endgroup\$
    – Fering
    Commented Oct 1, 2019 at 13:52
  • \$\begingroup\$ presumably you are not interested in effects that are useful because you actually like taking fire/force/lightning/acid/etc damage? (example: a shambling mound chugging potions of shocking grasp) \$\endgroup\$
    – Ben Barden
    Commented Oct 1, 2019 at 15:12
  • \$\begingroup\$ Side note; Shambling mound + friendly Will-o-Wisp is a great encounter \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 1, 2019 at 17:04
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Ifusaso (Ye gods, shambling mounds and will-o'-wisps! I am baffled: Why have I never inflicted that pairing upon my players?!) \$\endgroup\$ Commented Oct 1, 2019 at 17:11

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Pathfinder is full of options... sorta.

First, I don't believe the fireball trick works. Fireball does not target "one or more creatures or objects" and therefore isn't viable for being turned into a potion.

Still, there are some things that sort-of work:

  • Possession. If you can gain control of their body in some fashion, and then take actions drinking attack potions. THe simplest form of this is likely Beguiling Gift. Not really what you're looking for, I suspect.
  • Share Pain, Forced: You take half the damage, they take half the damage. Doesn't work if you're immune to the damage in question, but says nothing about whatever else you might have set up to, say, rapidly heal from same or get bennies for being hit repeatedly by a specific damage type.
  • Body Capacitance: cast the spell, then take a bunch of lightning damage, then share it with your foes. Sadly, only works on whatever the largest single instance of lightning damage was - you can't powerguzzle shocking grasp to build up to a really big hit.
  • Use Contagion to give yourself a disease, which you can then share through the standard means
  • Draconic Reservoir will absorb the damage you take of (pick element) and let you use that to infuse your blows
  • If your GM allows you to add metamagic to potions in any way, then the Bouncing Spell metamagic might work, as long as you could consistently resist and/or save against the spells in question.
  • Arguably, a Rod of Absorption or Staff of the Magi coudl be used to absorb the spell attack from the potion, letting you unleash the result on your foes with a later action.

I'm certain there are more, at or about that level of "well, sorta". Pathfinder has a lot of options. I suspect that there's nothing out there that's exactly what you're looking for, however.

I spent a fair bit of time looking for spells that would initially attack you (I got up through the Fs, searching on a comprehensive database for PFS-legal spells up through 3rd level), It appears that that's not how they do things - anything that can be retargeted in an ongoing sense is either a "grant the target the ability to do X" (like Call Lightning) or a persistent effect that can then be controlled after it is conjured. None of them were a specific target where the target could be reassigned. Such a thing is not technically impossible, but you'd likely have to design the spell yourself, or find it as a third party/homebrew.

You might be better off focusing on spells that grant the target an attack (like, say, call lightning) rather than ones that are trying to attack you. Also, if you're going to get serious about this stuff, you might want to consider Amplify Elixir.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Amplify elixir is on my list, but getting the means working is what I need first. The comment about spells like call lightning is an interesting thought. \$\endgroup\$
    – Fering
    Commented Oct 1, 2019 at 16:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ In a tavern locally known for its extremely spicy dishes, my players will find a Potion of Fireball in the condiments shelf. I think it fits well enough into the narrative to use my GM authority to override the rules. Now I need to decide what will happen if the players are nuts enough to try and drink it (and I bet some of them are). \$\endgroup\$ Commented Sep 18, 2020 at 9:15
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Firstly, you're not after potions, you're after oils. Magic oils are spells in a rub-on form, for use on objects or other targets that can't drink potions (such as constructs).
Ask your GM if you can make oils using the Brew Potion feat, because as written there's no mechanism to produce them, they just appear in the world as treasure.


Secondly, oils don't have a use in combat, strictly speaking, but could feasibly be applied when you might use a coup de grace. Ask your GM, because again, the rules are quite narrow.

Alternately, you might consider casting the beguiling gift spell. This spell serves to trick a creature into accepting your poison apple and biting from it (with the apple in this case being a potion).


(Side note: Potions or oils of fireball (mentioned in a comment) are illegal, because that's an area spell, not a target spell.)

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