Improved Reflexes Potion

[Zexar]

I'm trying to do a wizard with a little bit of a "witchy" tradition, so I thought that potions should be her speciality; Biomancy effects to give her a small edge in combat, like applying the "Improved Reflexes" aspect for a short period.

The thing is, do this potion applies a mild consecuence when it finishes? I have doubts, because it seems a very small effect, but reading this and that might suggest the opposite.

Any thoughts?

[dragoonbuster]

I would put it this way:

By definition, no, the potion doesn't need you to take consequences. If your character specializes in Biomancy, they're going to be good enough to create a potion like this and not hurt themselves in the process. Good role-play suggests you could take a Mild Physical Consequence after it ends in exchange for a +2 boost to the potion's strength, similar to the pre-compel ("crafting debt" I call it) concept the book talks about.

You should just discuss with your GM/table and decide what you prefer, then stick to it.

[Haru]

Well, it depends on a lot of things. First and foremost, your Lore skill. Magical aspects have the rule that they need 3 shifts to be created as fragile and 4 shifts to last a bit longer. If your Lore, or rather effective Lore, if you have potion brewing specialization and/or focus items, is below that, you need to somehow account for the difference. One way to do so could be to take a consequence and pay that way. That's definitely an option.

Another way to go could be to get some rare ingredients as aspects and tag them for a +2 on the potions power. That's something that potions, other than regular enchanted items, can do.

If your Lore is high enough, you can just brew the potion and it does what you want, no additional stuff needed.

If you want to brew an improved version of this, you could go with one that grants the "inhuman speed" power for one scene. Typically, this can be done with the "temporary upgrades" rule, where you have to spend fate points to get a power for one scene. Depending on your GM, he may allow you to substitute free invokes for that, or split it up, have one free invoke from the potion and spend a fate point to get the power for a scene. There's a lot of stuff you can do with that.