Potion Components

While I acquired a PDF of Judges Guild's Ready Ref Sheets from RPGNow a while back, I recently realized that dead-tree versions are for sale, in great condition, for three bucks, over here, so I bought two.

One of the entries I'm on the fence about using is the Wizard' Guide, which goes into how much it costs to make magic weapons, armor, wands, rings and potions from which it gives an algorithm to calculate how much an item can be bought for (100 gold x MU level x weeks it takes to make, all on top of the manufacturing costs). It does make potions more expensive than most other systems I've seen (a Vorpal Blade, in this system, costs 100 gold x MU level x 124 weeks + 36200 gold!), but still adds a "magic can be bought" flavor I'm interested in keeping out of my game as much as possible.

One thing it does have, though, that I find immensely inspiring and is the first thing from the Ready Ref Sheets that I incorporated into my game, is that the potions have a single major component that must be obtained along with the regular costs of potion distillation. This creates a great reason why apprentice magic users are out adventuring at low levels: their master wants to create such-and-such a potion and believes that the major component of that potion is available in whatever wilderness or dungeon the apprentice magic user has been sent. (In my game, magic users who are not involved in a guild or magic academy are apprentices to a higher level magic user until they reach fifth level.)

So, here's the list of potions and their major components. If you want to know how long it takes to distill a potion and how much it costs, seriously, go buy yourself a copy of the Ready Ref Sheets. It's well worth the $3 + shipping.

Potion: Component
Growth: Giant Centipede
Diminuation: Snake Eggs
Giant Strength: Hair of Giant Type
Invisibility: Phase Spider's Eye
Gaseous Form: Vampire Dust
Polymorph: Doppleganger Teeth
Speed: Roc Egg
Levitation: Stirge Proboscis
Flying: Pixie Dust
ESP: Owl Bear Feathers
Delusion: Wart Hog Snout
Healing: Aztheleas Plant
Longevity: Mastodon Tusk
Extra Healing: Unicorn Horn
Oil of Slipperiness: Giant Eel
Clairvoyance: Wolverines (plural?!)
Animal Control: Giant Skunk
Undead Control: Mummy Dust
Plant Control: Green Slime (!)
Human Control: Dryad Hair
Giant Control: Hair of Giant Type
Dragon Control: Horn of Dragon Type
Invulnerability: Giant Slug
Fire Resistance: Hell Hound Teeth
Treasure Finding: Beholder Eye
Heroism: (Blank, but I'm assuming it's Hydra Teeth like the next entry)
Super-Heroism: Hydra Teeth
Oil of Etherealness: Sea Monster Oil (apparently it doesn't matter what kind of Sea Monster?)
Water Breathing: Crocodile
Poison Antidote: Same as Poison (yep, the poisons all have components too- go buy this, seriously!)
Dust of Sneezing: Pepper Plant
Dust of Appearance: Displacer Beast Tentacles
Dust of Paralyzation: Purple Lotus
Dust of Sneezing and Choking: 2 Yellow Lotus (in light of the "2" specified here, it looks like it really is plural wolverines that are required for a potion of Clairvoyance)
Dust of Disappearance: Shredded Elven Cloak (!)
Philtre of Healing: Lammasu Feathers
Tanglefoot Nuts: Tanglefoot Plants (does anyone know what these are?)
Web Nuts: Giant Spider (are "nuts" just small items that you can throw down and they'll explode, releasing whatever their flavor is- tanglefoot goop or webs or something?)
Holy Water (apparently a potion that requires a week of distillation by a Magic User, unless one interprets this to be a "potion of Holy Water," in which case I have no idea what it's supposed to do better than Holy Water…): Patriarch Blessing (this makes Holy Water even more difficult to make than in Raggi's LotFP:WFRP!)
Salve of Healing: Rust Monster Claw (!)
Powder of Unconsciousness: Yellow Lotus
Dust of Death: Black Lotus