Potions are an essential part of wizarding life, especially in the halls of St. Mungo’s Hospital for Magical Maladies and Injuries. Although Potions is a core class for young witches and wizards during their years at Hogwarts, it’s not everyone’s cup of tea. Brewing your own potions is not required. It’s an optional pursuit for the wizards who are so inclined.
Brewing Requirements
Potion brewing does not require any dice rolls and therefore does not require HM supervision. If the requirements are fulfilled, a PC can brew a potion in the background. All you need to instantly brew a potion is:
- Access to a properly equipped potions laboratory
- A potioneer’s kit in your possession
- Knowledge of the potion’s recipe
- The ingredients specified in the recipe
A potions laboratory must be equipped with a cauldron, stirring rods, a source of heat, and a source of water. All Hogwarts students have access to the Potions classroom, but extracurricular use may require permission from the Potions Master.
A potioneer’s kit is included in the Hogwarts shopping list. It includes a set of brass scales, silver knife, cutting board, mortar and pestle, measuring cups, eye dropper and vials, jars and flasks, as well as some staple ingredients that aren’t included in recipes.
Learning Recipes
Approximately half of all recipes are learned in the standard Hogwarts curriculum. At the beginning of every school year, the new Potions textbook includes five potion recipes.
If a student wants to learn additional recipes, they must:
- Search the Hogwarts library in their spare time
- Seek more advanced potioneers to tutor them
- Go on adventures to prove themselves worthy of ancient knowledge
Alternatively, if a brewed potion is acquired, an aspiring potioneer can attempt to deconstruct that potion. This requires a potions laboratory, a potioneer’s kit, casting specialis revelio and a Wisdom (Potion-Making) ability check. The potion is destroyed by this process, but if the check is successful, the potioneer learns the potion’s recipe.
Obtaining Ingredients
Different tools will be required to harvest different kinds of ingredients. As a general rule, plant-based ingredients will require the use of herbologist’s tools, while harvesting ingredients from animals and magical beasts will use the potioneer’s kit.
Your own skill with these tools will determine the quality of the obtained ingredient:
- Poor ingredients - Rough or unskilled harvesting
- Normal ingredients - Standard quality
- Superior ingredients - Skilled, careful work
Potion Effectiveness
A potion’s effectiveness is dependent on the brewer’s technical skill and the preparation of the ingredients. Proficiency in Wisdom (Potion-Making) and proficiency with the potioneer’s kit are not necessary, but will improve the effectiveness of your potions.
Potion Quality Table
| Proficiency | Poor Ingredients | Normal Ingredients | Superior Ingredients |
|---|---|---|---|
| None | Flawed | Flawed | Normal |
| One | Flawed | Normal | Normal |
| Both | Normal | Normal | Exceptional |
Recipe List by Year
These are the recipes included in each Hogwarts year’s Potions class curriculum.
First Year Potions
- Antidote of Common Poisons
- Blemish Blitzer
- Confusing Concoction
- Forgetfulness Potion
- Herbicide Potion
Second Year Potions
- Doxycide
- Dreamless Sleep Potion
- Elixir to Induce Euphoria
- Sleeping Draught
- Swelling Solution
Third Year Potions
- Antidote of Uncommon Poisons
- Baneberry Poison
- Girding Potion
- Shrinking Solution
- Wiggenweld Potion
Fourth Year Potions
- Aging Potion
- Fire Protection Potion
- Garrotting Gas
- Pepperup Potion
- Wound-Cleaning Potion
Fifth Year Potions
- Befuddlement Draught
- Draught of Peace
- Murtlap Essence
- Noxious Potion
- Strengthening Solution
Sixth Year Potions
- Draught of Living Death
- Erumpent Potion
- Memory Potion
- Polyjuice Potion
- Skele-Gro
Seventh Year Potions
- Essence of Insanity
- Invisibility Potion
- Mandrake Restorative Draught
- Weedosoros
- Wit-Sharpening Potion
Sample Recipes
First Year Potions
Antidote of Common Poisons
- 1 bundle of galanthus nivalis
- 1 cluster of mistletoe berries
- 1 flask of honeywater
- 1 vial of billywig stings
Blemish Blitzer
- 1 bundle of nettles
- 1 flask of bubotuber pus
- 1 flask of flobberworm mucus
- 1 porcupine quill
Confusing Concoction
- 1 bundle of gurdyroots
- 2 bundles of lovage
- 1 flask of ethanol
Forgetfulness Potion
- 1 bundle of lovage
- 1 cluster of mistletoe berries
- 2 flasks of Lethe River water
Herbicide Potion
- 1 flask of flobberworm mucus
- 1 powdered lionfish spine
- 1 powdered streeler shell
- 1 vial of doxy eggs
Second Year Potions
Sleeping Draught
- 1 bundle of angel’s trumpet
- 1 bundle of scurvy grass
- 1 flask of flobberworm mucus
Swelling Solution
- 1 bat spleen
- 1 bundle of nettles
- 1 flask of pufferfish eyes
- 1 vial of exploding ginger eyelashes
Advanced Potions
Draught of Living Death (6th Year)
- 2 bundles of valerian roots
- 1 powdered root of asphodel
- 1 sloth brain
- 2 sopophorous beans
- 1 vial of African sea salt
Polyjuice Potion (6th Year)
- 1 boomslang skin
- 1 bundle of full-moon fluxweed
- 2 bundles of knotgrass
- 1 flask of lacewing flies
- 1 powdered bicorn horn
- 1 sopophorous bean
For complete potion descriptions and effects, see the Items compendium section.