Like Chagga, Energy Drinks, and Breathing Fire

You can find the ever-growing list of “Better Than Nothing” items  over on the right. Read ’em, like ’em, share ’em, and comment.  Inspired by /u/ajchafe and their post on reddit.com/r/dndnext (credit where due).

Fingersmoke

Brendel coughed a rough, brown plume out over the fire while Gus and Bornia laughed their throaty and condescending laugh. It tasted like wet hay and the green things you find sometimes in that stew they make down Southways–like pepper, but not.

Anyhow, tasted awful and Brendel couldn’t think for the life of him why anyone would ever try it. While horking and spitting (and puffing, damn them if he’d let them see how thin his bite was over a smoke), the flavor muted… the smell as well. All the smells, really. The world went smooth, clean. The air felt close and his feet felt light. He saw Gus grinning and yet couldn’t hear a word he was saying. Silent. Smooth. The tiny, reedy greeting of the enormous shadow surrounding his companions however… that was clear as a bell.

Fingersmoke is a concoction made from cleaves of a rare brown fungus and some magical treatment over the course of several weeks–drying and infusing and soaking and tanning in a very particular set of small ritualistic manuevers. Arcane DC20, Nature DC20, Dex DC20–one each week. Failure on any result in wasting the batch entirely. Success yields one pouch of crumbly, brown smokable fibers.

Smoking it requires a Constitution Save DC10. On a success, the effects are merely pleasant, mildly euphoric–like several good drinks. On a failure, on gains the ability to see, hear, and speak (and understand) spirits of the departed. Language is no barrier, they cannot become invisible to you, even telepathic conversations are “audible” to you. In turn, they can see, hear, and understand you. The effect lasts for one hour. In addition, you suffer one point of exhaustion. Should the exhaustion go away (through “restoration” magic or other means), the effect does as well.

 

Draught of Perfect Health

The beast lay dead, growing cold and smelling like five different species of crap. Kalie, the Diviner, had taken the worst of its attention along with Sir Hoot-the band’s loud and brash corsair. The thing’s fangs were sharp, and both groaned as they stood, large wounds from the bite weeping blood and puss. But, where the old swashbuckler looked as though he might keel over and die any moment–green and sickly–the wizard only seemed to grow more animated and solid with each passing moment.

Sarah, their priestess, limped over to them both to bless and cleanse their bodies of the cruel venom in their systems when Kalie rolled her eyes and motioned for the cleric to take care of the now moaning and passing out brigand. And just as certainly, the Diviner hunched down in some bushes to “relieve herself” thinking all the time that Hoot was hardly worth the trouble of saving too often.

The potion requires several very expensive and rare components (a rare spice combination worth 5g, an unworked silver nugget in its natural state, fresh rain no older than a day, blood from three willing priests, a touch of opium stolen from another, etc). From there, it’s an Arcane DC20 to conduct the brewing accurately, with the right inducements and some specific castings of prestidigitation. The result is a draft (good for one person) of a potion that heightens the natural metabolism of the creature that takes it to impossible levels.

The downsides are a need to eat 10x more often than normal (and use the bathroom, for that matter). The need to consume at least 5 gallons of water daily. One must move 5ft. on any turn one has free movement. All Perception checks are disadvantaged (passive perception is down -5). The subject is twitchy, impatient, and cannot (out of combat) sit still for more than a moment or two.

The upside is a resistance to disease and poison, and ignoring the secondary effects of either (as your body simply processes and passes anything ingested or infected too quickly to take hold over the whole system). Primary (first save) effects still happen. This also grants the ability to spend 1 HD at any time between rests for HP as though you were in a short rest–but only one. Effects last until the next long rest (which takes 50% longer to complete for subject).

Dragonswill

The little man stumbled out of the bushes while the goblins plotted their attack in the dirt. Bumbling and tripping over himself, the halfling seemed to barely notice the horde of creatures staring in abject fascination and disbelief–they’d been planning on ambushing these outlanders in only a few hours, after the sun went down. and here! This one seemed drunk almost! First one and then another goblin looked around the group smirking and motioning over to the now panting and wheezing halfling… so easy. They looked around, cleverly, for sign of his friends–but nothing. Just one lonely, sick looking thing. One chuckled with spear in hand as he beckoned everyone to “watch this”. They all walked, warily, up and surrounded Merle who was nearly ready to heave his lunch up. As they closed, the clearly ill halfling grinned a sick grin at them, opened his mouth, and vomited up a conflagration–the forest fire took eight days to burn itself out

System: Dragonswill is made from a combination of deep arcane secrets regarding both evocation and abjuration, a delicate thing. Arcane DC25 and an hour of working spells into the vial of pure glandular extract of a red dragon. Upon drinking the potion, the drinker has 1d4 rounds before being considered “Poisoned” (as per the condition), and then another 1d4 rounds (after that) before the concoction starts consuming them from the inside.  The two numbers are written down by the DM after rolling (in secret), and can be confirmed after the fact).

After they are poisoned, though, they may spend an action to vomit forth a 15ft cone of burning, smoldering, white-hot bloody napalm in front of themselves. Dex Save DC10. The number of rounds since ingesting the potion = the number of d8’s of damage dealt. Anything failing the save also catches fire and takes 1d4 each round until they put out the flames and shake the flaming goo off. Failure to expunge the flame turns the damage inward, no save.