Sniffing Potions

[Voxumo]

I am posting this at the request of someone who I believe doesn't have a forum account.

They are suggesting there should be the ability to sniff potion items similar to sniffing of food items, so that those with the appropriate skill level might be able to identity unlabeled concoctions, or at the very least identify ingredients in the concoctions.

[The_Last_Good_Dragon]

Do not like this. Potions are meant, as far as I know, to be somewhat volatile and unpredictable. There's even a quit quote about this. There are, I believe, some ways other than 'label' to keep track of what potion is what, at least to some extent.

[Taunya]

It makes sense to me. You can lace a food or drink with a potion, and then sniff that to find out what's in it, so why should you not be able to sniff it straight from the original bottle? Should apply to pills as well or anything else that you can lace things with.

[chronodbu]

Would have to agree with Dragon here. The thing about potions is that they're arcane creations. While a potion might include various ingredients, that's not to say those ingredients wouldn't be completely transformed following the process. I don't really like the idea of being able to sniff them to identify them, mostly because it takes away the danger and mystery to them. I might not be against maybe a spell though. Like a neutral spell of identify that could be used on potions and magecrafted items.

As for pills, don't really agree here. You can't really tell a pill by its smell except in very rare circumstances. You generally tell pills apart by color and size.

[Taunya]

Not all potions are arcane. I'd say most aren't. Most potions are stuff from medicine or herbalism, and again all you have to do to sniff them is lace something with them, so why not be able to sniff the source item?

Some of my pills in RL have very distinct smells, enough that I'd be able to identify them. Heck, take a whiff from a bottle of aspirin, then ibuprofen, and tell me you can't tell any difference. And again, if you lace an item with a pill, you can sniff that, so why can't you sniff the source item?

I generally just lace something with the item if I need hints on what it might be, but it has always struck me as odd.

[Voxumo]

I should clarify that, as as Taunya, pointed out this was more so in reference to the potion base item, which even items made from herbalism, are classified as potions. This is what the person I posted this for was talking about, poisons and medicines moreso than magical potions.

[Temi]

I don't think magical potions would really show more precisely than something off. It would more be useful for poisons/medicines. I don't know that I'm really opposed to this.

[chronodbu]

Oh, I thought we were talking about magical potions. Even without being activated, they're still created through a magical process through magecraft.

Medicine and poisons are definitely something that would be cool to see it done with though.

[The_Last_Good_Dragon]

I think my concern would be people using knowledge in an OOC fashion; I frankly don't expect that the use of poisons and potions is extensive as-is, and anything that keeps threat higher is something I'd usually favor. If, for example, sniffing a mundane potion revealed elements about its construction, but magical ones did not, that'd be tantamount to showing off what is and isn't magical — which seems against the spirit of the game, if nothing else. If all potions revealed their components or purpose or type or what-have-you, then players will abuse that knowledge. If that knowledge is already revealed with the sniff command of laced food/drink, I'd think that the information in that case should be somewhat dialed back ... I feel like sniffing should just reveal IF something is laced, rather than anything descriptive about what the food or drink item is poisoned with.. The sort of 'You want to find out? Take a bite.' situation.

I'd be super in-favor of a spell that identified a mundane or magical potion (maybe only either if the caster had the skill levels required to make it themselves).

[Taunya]

If, for example, sniffing a mundane potion revealed elements about its construction, but magical ones did not, that'd be tantamount to showing off what is and isn't magical — which seems against the spirit of the game, if nothing else. If all potions revealed their components or purpose or type or what-have-you, then players will abuse that knowledge. If that knowledge is already revealed with the sniff command of laced food/drink, I'd think that the information in that case should be somewhat dialed back ... I feel like sniffing should just reveal IF something is laced, rather than anything descriptive about what the food or drink item is poisoned with.. The sort of 'You want to find out? Take a bite.' situation.

Currently sniff is based on medicine/herbalism, and a bit of luck I believe. There's no guarantee that you'll even know something is off with a laced item by sniffing. When your medicine/herbalism is high enough that you have a chance to completely succeed, you'll see something like '$n catches whiff of (the main ingredient from the concoction- whatever it adds to 'tolerance')', which can help narrow it down. My medicine/herbalism is reasonably high, but I usually only get: '$n smells something off about it.' It's not something just anyone can do, and it's a pretty steady source of RP for the physicians in identifying laced food/drinks.

                            Helpfile for Sniff

Class: Command
Syntax: sniff <food or drink>

The sniff command allows a player to check and see if they are skilled
enough to determine if a food or drink item may have been laced with
something.

See also: LACE, CONCOCT, POLICY DEADLY

(Subject area: commands               Last modified: Sat Jan 18 15:30:34 2014)