Larian Studios Forums Baldur's Gate III Baldur's Gate III - Suggestions & Feedback Potion throwing

I think you should be able to administer a potion i.e. make someone drink it as an action, but the throwing is just a silly nonsensical gimmick that steps on the toes of Healing Word hard.

Like I said earlier somewhere, it would be cool if mobile characters with Disengage skills like Rogues could have that extra perk of being good combat medics, running swiftly up to a downed PC to administer a potion. That's much more of a tactic than everyone including enemies just throwing potions left and right.

Downed PC's should also be more consequential than the next character just getting them right back up into the fight by quickly tossing a potion.

Healing word is a bonus action. Throw potion is an action.

If an enemy wants to refrain from having a critical hit against someone in my party and instead toss one of their few healing potions on a friend for 1d8 healing, that's really not bothering me a whole lot. But of course there's the potential for crazy things once we reach higher levels and enemies have of full healing and start action surging and whatnot. Still, with what we're seeing in EA, I really don't mind the potion tossing at all.

I will say, however, that surface effects can be a bit of a problem for all concentration spells. It seems to me that if an enemy tosses a potion of fire or acid at a concentrating character, that character has to first do a concentration check for the bottle impact, then a concentration check right away for the surface effect. That's a concentration check at disadvantage and, in my opinion, it is too strong.

But simply being able to toss potions at friends is just wacky fun and giggles that really doesn't bother me. Not like the inventory in BG1 and 2 was locked during combat, so some wacky things that aren't entirely according to rules is okay, even in a serious Baldur's Gate title. I do think there should be a penalty for just splashing the potion onto a character instead of properly consuming it, though. Reduce healing potions to always only doing quarter health recovery when throw, maybe.

+ 1 I completely agree. I can’t give someone medicine by smashing the bottle over their head. The entire concept is stupid. Not to mention you can use a greater healing potion to mass heal your entire party. It is game breaking and makes healing spells pointless. You can do an entire play through without a healer at all just by having a ranged character lob bottles everywhere.

I have to admit that the "throwing" potion is quite stupid, even the concept of it. That basically nullifies the need for healing from clerics on both, enemy and party sides, not to mention, the distance once can throw that thing, like. wow, it goes really far and ofc defies any logic when someone throws it in a distance that even arrows can't reach.

I personally think they are doing this because they are sticking to the four party only system. At this time you could play a party of all weak low level wizards. To get full content there will be play throughs that don’t have a true cleric or wizard or whatever. If you did a true play through Tav will end up being a replacement of either Gale, Shadowheart, Laezel, or Asterion. To get a none typical class (ie warlock)in they had to add game mechanics that any character can do to balance out. Replace a warlock with Shadowheart and boom you need a way to heal in battle. This will be more evident as damage and levels increase.

You just described a long ranged Healer. Class is not the issue. SOMEONE needs to heal that downed character... On that particular turn Character A acted like a Tank. The next turn Character A acted like a healer. And I'm left wondering how ONLY the Cleric can heal? Why not throw a potion? POTION THROWER build => => someone has to play HEALER even in a party full of Fighters. Why does it have to be a cleric?

Every classes can heal in 5e.
Most of them have features or spells to heal themselves or their allies and everyone can put a healing potion in someone else's mouth.

But healing liquid on the ground never heal the characters that walk on it. Because it would be ridiculous.

Every class can administer a healing potion to another character in D&D. But it requires them to be at touch range to pour the potion down someone's throat.

The throwing is what is too much and steps on the toes of classes who can magically heal from a distance. Unless the goal is to make classes bland and pointless. Which is obviously a mistake since that's the whole point of a class based system = having your own unique class abilities that bring something new to the party.

If class abilities can be duplicated easily by homebrew consumables like scrolls and potions it makes all the classes feel bland and boring.

I like this mechanic because it adds a lot of unpredictability to the fight, which is good.
Is that not raw? I don't really care.

What unpredictability ?

A goblin that heal another one (or two) rather than a goblin healing himself with a potion or another one using a ranged healing spell ?

At the moment combats are just longer because surfaces create healing AOE and less tactical because they even don't have to move / because they all have ranged healing AOE potions.

E.G a fighter engaged with a goblin won't prevent him to heal anyone arround them with a sucessfull AOO.
E.G focus the healers first is a common but close to useless strategy in BG3. Everyone is a better healer than healers themselves.

Administer a potion would still allow everyone carrying potions to heal but potions would remain potions rather than OP healing AOE and everyone would not be able to heal at range.

Maybe Larian could create healing arrows for archers rather than allowing everyone throw potions......?
(Please don't)

But think of all the new "took an arrow in the knee" meme possibilities!

I agree. Imagine, I was about to die, then I took an arrow in the knee.

Actually, Larian should make foods heal again. Just think about all the endless possibilities of tossing old eggs, too ripe tomatoes, and other such foodstuffs at downed party members.

"You sleeping on the job again, Astarion? Here, have a potato! And another one! And one more!"

Even better with the booze bottles, obviously.

I just played yesterday again ...
And i must admint i didnt notice how many (yup, many) potions was flying around in my previous gameplay.

I liked it more in previous patch tho ...
When someone throwed a potion, first he get some small dmg (1d4 i believe) bludgeoning damage ... bcs vial hit him in the face.
Then he get some small heal 1d8 if im not misstaken.

That potentialy reduced healing from potion throwing to the point i was concidering it bad deal. :-/
I mean ... i dont mind potion throwing, but it was better before, when there was some risk involved ...

I applaud Larian for thinking outside the box. But sometimes their ideas just... miss. The potion throwing just needs to go. It's too silly. And let Healing Word have It's niche.

I just experienced something and i feel the urge to say that i really dont like this!

Wyll was throwing potion to Aradin ...
But Wyll missed ...
Therefore aradin gets zero damage from throwed vial ...
Yet Aradin gets full healing from potion. -_-



I was presuming that we are working here with the fact that we allways get both damage and healing, so this method allways less efective than regular healing ... so i would expect that if we miss, we simply loose our potion and nothing will happen.
This way to get all the benefits, yet none harm seem really stupid. :-/

I have an idea that could theoretically please everyone.

Throw is used to transfer the potion. The recipient still has to drink it. That's how potions work.

It can't miss since it's not an attack. The recipient always catches the potion or it could be an easy DC 5 Dex check. Fail the check and the potion breaks and is wasted. Some risk should be involved in throwing glass bottles around in combat.

This doesn't step on the toes of Healing Word because it still needs to be consumed by the new owner and cost their Bonus Action, and things can happen before they get a turn. And it just makes sense, while Larian's multi-use drinkable gas cloud bomb fun potions do not.

Of course this assumes that Magic Pockets would be disabled in combat or it would be pointless to transfer potions in any other way. Which should be since sharing items without any kind of action cost is ridiculous to begin with.

That would make the most sense, however at the moment one can transfer items no matter the distance and for no action point. If Magic Pockets were disabled during combat, that sounds like a brilliant idea.

However, I am pretty sure healing by throwing isn't designed to be that way, per say, but is the result of how systems were designed. Making it so a thrown healing potion is transfered to the inventory would make sense (logic and gameplay wise) but would be an exception in how the item is supposed to work system wise.

The potion throwing is completely out of control in patch 6. The mercs in the fight against the goblins right outside the grove are throwing potions left and right at eachother. No one is drinking potions. It's just about throwing them at people now.

Seems like NPC are so exited by this option so they dont even realize how uneffective it is for them to spend two actions to heal each other, instead of attack and simply drink the same potion themselves. :-/