YouTuber Bob World Builder has shown that downing DnD potions is not as easy as it looks, suggesting that your average DnD adventurer must have something very strange going on with their mouths.
Time works in mysterious ways in Dungeons and Dragons, and the way it works has changed over the years. We’ve gone from combat rounds taking a whole minute, to – in DnD 5e – lasting just six seconds. With such speedy combat rounds, it’s surprising the amount of stuff a player can get done in a turn.
In a recent challenge video, YouTuber Bob World Builder has shown, for instance, that it’s almost impossible to get a potion down you in a single round, especially if you have to get it out of a backpack first.
In the video, the challenge-takers tackle a one ounce health potion first, because the Dungeon Master’s Guide states that most potions consist of one ounce of liquid. After just about succeeding, they progress to a four ounce potion, arguing that in the Player’s Handbook, a Potion of Healing comes in a ‘vial’ container, defined as 4oz liquid.
This proves to be extremely challenging, and none of them come anywhere close when fumbling around for the potion in a bag of adventuring gear. As Bob points out, many players home rule that potion consumption is a bonus action, perhaps inspired by videogames where healing items are usually instant. In the video, the team proves that being able to move, attack, take a potion out, and drink it in six seconds is not humanly possible.
Amusing as it is to think of adventurers desperately chugging their healing items like a student on (UK) fresher’s week, Bob concludes that for extra immersion, DnD health potions should take at least a full action to drink, and only be one ounce in size.
Source: Wargamer
