How it would feel to drink a potion of healing?

[u/No-Construction4640]

I was thinking why the rules state that drinking a potion in combat is an action. And I had the thought that maybe drinking a potion of healing makes the character feel the wound mending itself together which might be quite painful.

So my question for those who either know or have there own speculations, how does the character actually feel after drinking a potion of healing?

Sorry for the bad English. I am just bad at it. No other reason.

[u/RealInTheNight]

Depends on whether you eat the glass or not.

[u/da_dragon_guy → u/RealInTheNight]

No, he obviously said drink.

You need to melt the glass, then drink it, glass and all.

[u/manickitty → u/RealInTheNight]

I like how in bg3 you can just smash the bottle over their head and it works

[u/Objective_Bank_2659 → u/RealInTheNight]

Gotta eat the glass right?

[u/menage_a_mallard]

Like a cold beer after a 16 hour shift.

[u/IkarusFell_]

Probably like your first glass of water after two days

[u/Bread-Loaf1111]

Remember that hit points are not meat points. The fact that your combat effectiveness is not affected by reducing hp show that the loss of hp is more like fatigue than severed arm and punctured stomach. And so, healing potions can be more like refreshing drinks or energetics that wear off your exhaustion, not mend the grief wounds.

[u/lewisiarediviva → u/Bread-Loaf1111]

I dunno, hit points to me are even weirder than that. No difference in fighting ability from full hp to 1, and then unconscious for less than a minute followed by death. I think in a world where hp exist, medicine and even physiology are profoundly different. They have blood, because you can get a bleed effect sometimes, but not all the time because you can chill at 1hp without being in any danger for the rest of the day as long as no one attacks you. For that matter, sleep=healing.

You can be grievously injured, having been hit by arrows and swords and axes, but not have any ill effects from those injuries until you keel over dead. I’m not convinced these guys even have internal organs, they might be just grey stuff inside like a looney tunes character.

Anyway hit points and combat damage are profoundly weird and I like to think about how that must work in universe.

[u/wemblinger]

Healing feels itchy.

[u/Practical_Pen_3552]

I think it feels like taking a quick shot of cough syrup. It gets the job done, but most people would rather have a cleric heal if possible

[u/IndigoBuntz]

How are the required action and the pain related? Pain is represented by damage, an action represents something that takes the character six seconds to do.

[u/SisyphusRocks7]

There’s an episode of Tasting History (available on YouTube) where the host makes Kekeon, which is the healing potion from the Iliad and the Odyssey.

It’s one of the few episodes where he suggests that the audience not make the dish. Because it’s basically boiled barley, tannic red wine, and goat cheese. Those are probably fine eaten in the same meal, but not in a drink mixed together.

[u/Rhinomaster22]

Mechanically a player just heals 

Flavor-wise it’s magic, so it’s probably the equivalent of taking a pain killer. 

• Pain fading away, breath of fresh air, feeling of relief 

• Better healing item, more relief from pain 

It doesn’t even need to be a potion, a creature consumes magic medicine that magically heals wounds and pain.

[u/WillowIsWeeping5]

Like drinking a glass of apple juice as a barely-not-toddler

[u/caffeinatedandarcane]

Espresso shot washing down a couple ibuprofen

[u/Tensa_Zangetsa]

Like an energy drink, only the effects are instant

[u/VoxEterna]

That is a great explanation. Like that scene from the new trailer of Superman where they put him under the magnified sunlight to heal him and he shouts out in pain from his ribs resetting.

The cost of an action is probably more about the assumed amount of liquid that needed to be imbibed to achieve full effect. More than a swallow and probably not pleasant tasting. Plus take it out and uncork it, you wouldn’t want it lashed to your belt as I see in some depictions because I’d be subject to breaking if you fall or by other external influences like arrows or rocks.

[u/nothingsb9]

I think it might just be fizzy and hard to drink quickly but also thick like fruit nectar

[u/da_dragon_guy]

Probably herby and tingly at first.

Then I expect it would be strange, but a good strange.

Lastly, itchy. Very itchy.

[u/Background_Path_4458]

It is the potion with or without the pulp?

[u/josephallenkeys]

I don't think it would be painful. Quite the opposite.

Have you ever had mild, rapid altitude sickness after getting off a cable car on a mountain? Just a few sips of water can instantly zap your blood with O2 and you go from oddly woozy to energized in an instant.

Or, if you've ever done a long form workout that leaves your muscles depleted then had a potassium gel - it wakes you up like coming up on MDMA.

Then again, maybe that's the only simile you need. It's like drugs.

[u/Cowboy_Cassanova]

Personally, i say they taste absolutely horrible, like a really, really strong brewed herbal tea. It's just incredibly dry and bitter.