Our new series, Potion Commotion, looks at a few staple potions in the game and plays around with them. We’ll look at taking the standard abilities and offering them with either boosts or limitations, providing new versions of these old classics for all levels of play!

In this first installment, we’ll play around with a mainstay of the game: the potion of invisibility.

Invisibility for the Masses

The potion of invisibility has been in every version of D&D, and rest assured, it will appear in Tales of the Valiant later this year. The potion’s power might seem underwhelming for a very rare item, but consider that the invisibility spell requires concentration to maintain—the potion does not. And the utility for invisibility makes it something a GM thinks twice about handing out freely.

A less useful variation on the standard potion of invisibility would open up the space where GMs can give it out sooner in a campaign—less rare but more limited.

One variant example already exists. The potion of transparency, a common magic item from the Vault of Magic, was designed to be a low-power mimicry of invisibility magic. True to its name, it doesn’t make you truly invisible, just transparent. This transparency does make the imbiber harder to see, thus making it easier to avoid enemies by using the Stealth skill. It’s handy for its rarity level, but a far cry from the true version of the potion.

Another way to make a lesser versions of a potion of invisibility is to cut the duration down. A 10-minute version would be a rare magic item, while a 1-minute duration would be uncommon. These easy changes make it appropriate for lower level PCs that are ready to go on a moment’s notice.

The Invisible Spectrum

But let’s look at other ways to alter the conditions under which invisibility functions. Instead of “invisibility for X amount of time,” what if we make the change to “invisible only when Y?”

For purposes of these changes, assume that the potion works as described in the standard entry, except where noted in the following text.

• potion of stationary invisibility (rare)
  You are invisible as long as you don’t use any form of movement. You become visible at the beginning of any movement you take during your turn, and regain invisibility at the end of your move. You can still take actions on your turn while invisible, except for attacking or casting a spell.

• potion of mobile invisibility (rare)
  You are only invisible when moving. You become invisible the moment you begin a move on your turn, becoming visible again at the end of your move.

• potion of terrain invisibility (uncommon)
  You are invisible only in the terrain for which the potion was brewed (such as desert, forest, underground, or urban). If you exit the terrain while invisible, the potion’s effects end. Alternatively, the magic could work by attuning itself to the environment in which it is drunk, rather than one ordained by its maker.

• potion of selective invisibility (rare)
  You are invisible only to a particular creature type (such as Aberrations, Beasts, Elementals, or Undead). The type is determined when the potion is found. Alternatively, you could have the potion designed so the drinker must choose the creature type when they imbibe the potion. The selective invisibility could also be more restrictive, only working on a certain subtype of creature, such as Humanoid (Human) or Fiend (Devil). In this case, the the rarity would drop to uncommon.

• potion of initial invisibility (uncommon)
  Anything you wear or carry turns invisible with you, as normal. Anything you pick up after becoming invisible does not, including items you drop or put down and then pick back up later.

• potion of illuminated invisibility (rare)
  You are invisible only in areas of bright light. You become visible if you move into an area of dim light, darkness, or magical darkness, or if the light conditions in your area change to dim light, darkness, or magical darkness. You regain invisibility if you return to bright light.

• potion of eclipsed invisibility (rare)
  You are invisible only in dim light, darkness, or magical darkness. You become visible if you move into an area of bright light, or if the light conditions in your area change to bright light. You regain invisibility if you return to something darker than bright light.

• potion of focused invisibility (rare)
  You are invisible for up to 1 hour, as long as you maintain focus as a bonus action. If you break concentration for any reason, you become visible. So long as any of the potion’s duration remains, you can use a bonus action on your turn to re-engage your focus and become invisible again.

Better Things

Finally, while the standard potion of invisibility is already very useful, an adventurer may want something even better. For this, we’ll need a legendary item. Like the spell for which it is named, you remain invisible for the entire duration of the potion, even while attacking or casting spells.

POTION OF GREATER INVISIBILITY

Potion, Legendary

This potion’s container looks empty but feels as though it holds liquid. At times, even the vessel appears hazy and immaterial. When you drink it, you become invisible for 1 minute. Anything you wear or carry is invisible with you.