Brewing Up a Potion Purchase

We needed another NPC Merchant for our work game so we thought we’d share the love and see if it’s handy and inspirational for others.

Just as we created “The Pointy End” weapon shop run by the ratchety Killian Scar, this time we needed a village pit stop for the party to pick up potions, poultices, and other herbalist-style items. This magic venue is going to become a favorite hot spot of the group as they continue to crawl back into town after their latest mission beat-down.

DM Ben mentioned he likes to do a gamer group email thread so that the guys can do some of that “busy work” like buying potions between sessions. The party just cleared out “The Fissure” mission in Acquisitions Incorporated DnD 5e module so they are in desperate need of all sorts of restocks.

To keep things simple, you can use the most-excellent magic items list on TheThievesGuild.com website. It includes a handy filter option where you can add “Potion” and in return, receive only a list of possible potions and their gp cost. DM Ben requires the group to ask for their magic items and then he reserves the right to reply back and say, “Sorry, that item is out of stock” in case it is too powerful/will throw the game out of balance.

There can and will still be fun encounters and one-shots from our new potion store (see below) but DM Ben doesn’t want to tie up precious game time just for buying some of the essentials like potions of healing.

Now every establishment needs a name so once again we perused HouseofLolth.com and their delightful “325 DnD Shop Name Ideas for your Game” list. They’ve broken out all sorts of potential business monikers by store type (in our case: Herbalist/Apothecary).

“One, Two, Tree” just lept out at us as the perfect name! And its proprietor will naturally be called, “Keanu Leaves” who is an old, retired surfer dude. He decided to hang up his wand and open up this quaint elixir shop right on the seaside in the city of Waterdeep.

Our miniature comes from Brite Minis whose steal-of-a-Patreon gives you access to a backlog of alllll sorts of townfolk miniatures. We also needed an accent piece of scatter terrain so we printed this cool bottle shelf by STL Miniatures. It’s from their whimsical Winemakers set. These two 3D RPG-printed pieces are a match made in heaven.

Lastly, besides potions, we wanted Keanu Leaves to sell a few natural rubs that could help the group in a bind. One idea came from this DnD poultices forum thread. We used their inspirational chatter to concoct “Keanu’s Pungent Punch” (20 gp) which provides 2d4 temporary HPs once per long rest. This muddled mix does have a few downsides though. It’s pretty pervasive so this stinky rub causes disadvantage on stealth checks while applied. It also has lots of pointy grubs in it so it may leave a scar.

The other product we’re going to sell comes courtesy of the DnD maestros over at Flute’s Loot. Their alchemist field guide talks about a pink mushroom called “Calcena” that can aid medicine checks. Ol’ Keanu can turn this particular organic material into a cream that can be applied on the lips of a dying person to give advantage on a Medicine (Wisdom) check (to stabilize the subject). This handy vivifying cream will only run you 35 gp – what a steal. Coincidentally, our dwarf picked some of this very mushroom on a recent quest and is going to show it to Keanu in the hopes he can do something with it.

And for even more mushroom-foraging ideas, be sure to check out “100 Mushrooms and Their Effects” by DnDSpeak.com. It’s a really fun d100 table for your next forest walk.

And just like that, we’re all set! DM Ben always likes to have a couple of magic items for sale for whenever the party slides back into town to regroup so this new “One, Two, Tree” Potion and Herbalist shop run by Keanu Leaves will do nicely, don’t ya think?!