Re: Identifying potions from memory

tussock wrote:
WDS wrote:

In practice people label things in my world. It is silly that nothing
is labeled, especially potions.

The modern world comes with labels because the containers are all standardised and repeatedly purchased with the product (plus, free advertising space, which it's not when they're hand-painted).

Worlds where crafts are all hand made have no need for labels at all, things look different enough already, and you'd fill your own containers rather than rebuying them with the product each time anyway.

Same for potions, really. At the very least they're safer if only the end-user and his closest allies can recognise what's in them. You don't want your enemies making use of the things too quickly.


To the original question, if you've used them before, you recognise them if you take the time to sip. It should be fairly obvious in play. Like, if you've had a red dragon breathe fire on you, you don't need a knowledge check to know they breathe fire.


This is even more true if you're playing in a 1E-themed (or, if you prefer, Vancian) world where magic is a jealously guarded secret, with individual magicians hoarding their spells and knowledge, to be traded at great cost or point of death. In such a case, you'd find it even more likely that there might not be a standard labelling system.

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