Basic Fantasy RPG Forums

Does anyone have vendors in their campaign that sell potions such as cure light wounds or shield etc? And if so what would be the going rate for them? I looked for anything in the rules or supplements to help out but came up empty.

It all depends on how much gold you tend to hand out. I'm very tight fisted with gold so even at 100gp, a potion of healing is expensive. If potions are scarce in your game then charge them high but if they are sold on every street corner charge them cheap. Choose how much gold you want to strip from your players without them bellyaching to much. Most peasants live on a few silver a week so my player's characters have learned to live on a few gold a week. They eat better food and have better living quarters. What they spend doesn't affect the economy much in the long term in my campaigns. That is another facet you have to consider when setting your price in your game. How is all the treasure found by your player's characters are going to affect your campaign's economy?

In my game most potions are rare and not normally found being sold in a store. Cure light wounds and other potions that heal or cure afflictions are usually controlled by temples of healing gods or such. The other potions are found at a mage's tower and they are notorious at not selling their stuff but bartering it for things they need for their research. This allows me to send the players off on adventures that they would normally ignore.

Well here is my actual scenario. On their first adventure in the Stronghold of Quasqueton (A little B1 anyone?) they found a potion filled with a strange gas. They never opened it (thank goodness!) but took it to a magic shop to get it identified. He did Identify it but made a deal with the party that if they gave him the potion and he was able to figure out how it was made, he would sell them additional potions of it for a discount. I'm just trying to get an idea of what it should go for.I was thinking 75gp a bottle (assuming he sells them normally for 100gp)

Here is the potion straight from the book:

Jester’s Gas:
If the cork is removed, the gas within will immediately issue forth with a whoosh. The vapors are pungent and fast-acting, and all characters with-in ten feet must make an immediate save vs. poison or be affected by laughing gas, The gas itself is not poisonous, but will cause any characters failing their saving throw to immediately lapse into uncontrollable raucous laughter for 1d4 melee rounds (check each individually). During this time, the characters will have a 50% chance of dropping anything they are holding or carrying and will rock with spasms of great laughter, staggering about the room, chuckling and bellowing with great glee. Characters under the influence of the gas will not respond to any efforts by others to snap them out of its effects (even slapping the face will do no more than cause more laughing), although if a dispel magic spell is thrown, it will make them sober immediately. Otherwise, the only way to stop the laughter is to wait for the effects to wear off.

See here: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=339 for a similar previous discussion on buying/selling magic items.

Thanx Joe.. I searched 'potion' specifically which is probably why I didn't find it..

From reading the Potion piece in the Core Rules..

I will use a Cure Light Wounds as an example...

Its a level 1 spell so its cost is 50gp/day

It will take 8 days (7+level of spell) so 8 days

8 * 50gp = 400gp per potion

But a Level 14 Cleric trying to raise money for his church with a 15 Wisdom wants to make 5 at a time (that gives him a 75% chance)

it will take 12 days (7+level of spell + Additional doses)

12 * 50 = 600/5 =120gp per potion.. So if they are made in bulk by a high level caster, the price of them is definitely cheaper.

Anyways this definitely helps..

I didn't think about that part since I didn't know what the situation was that involved the question. Sorry about not pointing you to that section of the rules.