n.b. Dweomer Day was originally a series in which I convert a spell from an earlier edition of D&D to 5E or update a homebrew spell from previous editions/campaigns, but I have decided to add magical items to the mix.
The potion of extra-healing is a magical item that existed in 1E and 2E AD&D but that did not appear in 3E when various items and effects were streamlined and made more consistent. It has not appeared in any edition since either. I reintroduced the item because while I understand the convenience of consistency, when it comes to magic I prefer a variety of possibilities and options. Not all items of a similar type need to work the same way and furthermore, items that require players to make a choice about how and when to best use them are more interesting to me.
In addition, something I remembered from the original version of U2 – Danger at Dunwater (the Ghosts of Saltmarsh version of which I am tackling in an upcoming installment of Revenants of Saltmarsh) was the chance for the PCs to acquire these potions. As such, when writing up my changes and additions to the adventure, I made sure to include version of the potion for 5E that the lizardfolk queen gifts to the PCs for their hunt of Thousand Teeth the god-touched dire crocodile. Of course, scanning the text of the original module revealed no such potion. It seems my memory was incorrect. Nevertheless, I decided to honor my apparent confabulation and create a version for the adventure.

Anyone who has spent time looking at my various creation and adaptations on this site or that knows me from the games I run, knows that I like to tweak and play with various magical items and monsters to give them flavor. I like the idea of potion of healing that can be broken up into multiple draughts but that heals a potentially greater amount if more than one of those draughts are imbibed at once. While the original version did not have much of a synergistic effect, I decided to increase it to provide a motivation to use an action to drink more than one draught.
I know that drinking a potion as a bonus action is a common house rule, but it is one I do not use in games. However, I decided that for this potion drinking the least effective amount would only require a bonus action, while drinking two or three draughts for increased effect would take an action.
Lastly, since this version of the potion of extra-healing was brewed by lizardfolk I decided to add a potential obstacle to its use. The herbs and other ingredients used by the lizardfolk are foul and quasi-purgative to non-lizardfolk. As such, if a non-lizardfolk drinks it they must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 10) to gulp it down, or else they spit it up, lose the draught(s) they were trying to drink, and are nauseated until the beginning of their next turn and unable to use reactions. The DM may rule that certain other species also do not need to make such a save, being immune to the side effect.
Making the save means the character in question can drink from the same gourd holding the potion without worry, but every new batch requires another save. Failing the save means any further attempts require the Constitution save be made at disadvantage until after they have had a long rest to shake off the resultant queasiness.
Click here for a PDF version of the Dunwater Potion of Extra- Healing.

Leave a comment