Top 10 5E D&D Homebrew Magic Items by a Factor of Three — Potions

Sometimes I discover a bunch of awesome stuff and others not so much but I always enjoy browsing the homebrew content for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons found at D&D Beyond. I’ve gone over all the schools of magic, subclasses for every class, feats and several other categories of 5E D&D content and most recently began looking at magic items. Alphabetical is the order of the day. I already looked at all the homebrew armor for 5E D&D. Now it’s time for potions, of which you’ll find over 9,514 at DDB. We get a kick out of checking out the 5E D&D content folks come up with and sharing their homebrew creations so let’s get into it.

Magic items (potions) at D&D Beyond

Before getting started it’s important to note you can create homebrew content for private use and share your homebrew content publicly at DDB at no cost — there’s no subscription required to access these services. However if you want to add any of the homebrew magic items like the potions mentioned below or any other homebrew content you come across to your 5E D&D collection you must subscribe at the Hero Tier or above. There’s a lot you can do at DDB for free. Check out what you can do here.

The DDB homebrew collection uses several statistics to track entries. Views shows how many eyeballs any particular homebrew creation received, Adds shows the number of times a creation was added to someone’s collection and Rating is an upvote/downvote system. Since there are over 9,514 potions in the collection I’m going to share the top 10 highest rated, most viewed and most added selections and to see what’s out there along with any crossover between these three lists.

Top 10 highest rating potions

1. Pocket Sand. First up isn’t a magic item at all and instead offers what it says on the tin — a handful of debris functioning as a contact poison. Disappointing.
2. Expired Healing Potion. The language needs some fixing but overall a fun twist on ubiquitous potions of healing. This does the job but there’s some risk involved.
3. Failed Poison. Another nonmagical poison, what gives? Essentially this is a table for a house rule about failed crafting attempts.
4. Potion of Chicken. Now we’re getting somewhere. An honest to goodness magical potion with unusual effects. I’d certainly use something like this in my games.
5. Potion of Mana. This seems more appropriate for a game using the optional Spell Points in the Dungeon Master’s Guide. For an uncommon potion this effect is extremely powerful. There’s been talk of similar potions in Steven’s world, which is the setting for our current Tuesday night campaign, but we’ve yet to discover one.
6. Angel’s Tear. Finally! A bona fide potion with appropriately legendary effects. The language is a little wonky in terms of polished mechanics but the intention is clear. I’m digging this one.
7. Ale of Flying Fist. Powerful magical food? That’s my steaze y’all.
8. Antidote. A step up from the antitoxin found in the equipment section of the Player’s Handbook. Exciting! (Not.)
9. Raw Pixie Dust. A long way to go for a handful of situationally useful effects. Is it me today or are these potions really lackluster so far? The Pixie Dust table in Storm King’s Thunder or another table makes more sense to me.
10. Potion of Mana (Greater). Woulda been better to incorporate this into No. 5 on this list with variable rarity.

Top 10 most viewed potions

1. Raw Pixie Dust.
2. Pocket Sand.
3. Potion of Lesser Healing. This fills a niche, sure, but is it a niche in need of filling?
4. Expired Healing Potion.
5. Arcanite Cigars. Creative item with fun and useful effects. But a potion? Come on homebrew designers! This makes more sense as a wand, or charms.
6. Potion of Sleep. A solid magic item not very useful for characters themselves but certainly could come in handy for lots of situations. I might have incorporated mechanics closer to the sleep spell myself.
7. Potion of Dragon Breath. Cool concept and expansion on the potion of fire breath theme. The scaling makes me wary though. Have you seen what Ancient Dragons can dish out with their breath weapons?!
8. Alebender’s Dwarven Draught of Thunder. Thunderwave in a bottle basically.
9. Albert’s Flask. This is a wondrous item, not a potion.
10. Potion of Regeneration. At some point in 1DeathMaster3’s campaign a character lost a limb and then lo and behold this potion was discovered later. At least, this course correction tale is what I’m choosing to believe about this niche potion.

Top 10 most added potions

1. Pocket Sand.
2. Expired Healing Potion.
3. Angel’s Tear.
4. Ale of Flying Fist.
5. Potion of Mana.
6. Failed Poison.
7. Antidote.
8. Raw Pixie Dust.
9. Acid Bomb. Are potions in 5E D&D so rarely used that they’ve lost all meaning? Wow this week’s Top 10 homebrew is a real let down. Maybe the very last item can turn things around. Fingers crossed.
10. Bottled Lightning. Almost! Barring the ludicrous damage, dire need for an editing polish and fact this is a wondrous item rather than a potion this is not bad.

Potions rising to the top

Considering a not insignificant number of these 19 magic potions are neither magical nor potions leaves me underwhelmed to say the least. Even allowing for some wiggle room with the DMG definition of potions they ought to be magical or supernatural in some way.

“Different kinds of magical liquids are grouped in the category of potions: brews made from enchanted herbs, water from magical fountains or sacred springs, and oils that are applied to a creature or object. Most potions consist of one ounce of liquid. Potions are consumable magic items. Drinking a potion or administering a potion to another character requires an action. Applying an oil might take longer, as specified in its description. Once used, a potion takes effect immediately, and it is used up.” — from the 5E D&D DMG

Over the decades I’ve grown into quite a fan of consumables. There was certainly a time when I hoarded such things whether in a video game or D&D but my outlook swung the other way in large part due to Cypher System. This RPG features consumable items as a core part of the game system, which take their name from the title itself. Because the system only allows a limited number of cyphers a character can carry at a time it behooves players to use them more frequently with the understanding more of them await discovery. Protip: include lots of consumables in your 5E D&D games and encourage players to use them!

From the slim pickings across these three lists only three potions appeal to me as a designer and player. I like potion of chicken mostly because it creates a weird situation and I imagine at least a little storytelling juice can be extracted from within. There’s also potion of sleep, which could facilitate no small number of interesting scenarios. It also helps I’ve been immersed in playing Greedfall lately and sleep potions factor into several quests. Angel’s tear gets the nod though. Despite some wonky language this homebrew 5E D&D potion provides a powerful effect and also suggests some intriguing story potential.

5E D&D potions resources

I mention our own forays into homebrew content creation for 5E D&D several times to plant the seed in your mind. Now you’re wondering, “What kind of homebrew content do you create, Nerdarchy? I’m extremely interested!” In addition to the monthly rewards our Patreon supporters receive we’ve presented tons of material in our videos and right here at Nerdarchy the Website ready to drop right into your games too. Another place we frequently create new content for Dungeon Masters and players to drop right into games is Nerdarchy the Newsletter and you’ll also get several gifts including $9.99 in store credit so you can add whatever you like there to your own collection when you sign up. Here’s a selection of content focused on or including potions in a significant way:

• • • D&D Ideas — Potions
    • Powerful Potions and Mutated Trolls Await Within Wyestone Horror
    • Want more 5E D&D potions? Look No Further Than The Emporium of Uncanny Magic
    • Out of the Box D&D Encounters, Series 2, #29 – “Drinking Problem” features the adorable Potion Pal
    • D&D Ideas — Beacons includes the beacon in a bottle
    • D&D Ideas — Heaven includes nectar of the gods
    • D&D Ideas — Petrification includes the potion of physical resistance
    • D&D Ideas — Blood and Bone includes the vial of angel’s blood
    • Beardomancy includes both the potion of detanglement and tonic of hair growth (the latter seen in the most recent episode of Untraditionally Arcane when the party found themselves tangled up in the Beard Dimension!)
    • Order of the Wizened includes nanny’s milk

*Featured image — The classic potion of healing of course makes an appearance in Magic: The Gathering’s Adventures in the Forgotten Realms expansion. I find it quite useful along with Ingenious Smith, a card from the set also featuring prominently in the Deckna deck I enjoy playing quite a lot! [Art by Pauline Voss]

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