Potion of Growth 5e: Enlarge Without Concentration, and Why 2024 Cut It Short

A Potion of Growth 5e gives you the "enlarge" effect of the Enlarge/Reduce spell with no Concentration: you grow one size category, gain Advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws, and deal an extra 1d4 damage with your enlarged weapons. It's an uncommon potion. The big edition change is duration: 1d4 hours in the 2014 rules, 10 minutes in 2024. Drinking it takes an action in 2014 and a Bonus Action in 2024. It's a good pre-fight buff for a Strength-based martial character, and the 2024 version is strictly a combat potion.

Table of Contents

• •Potion of Growth Rules Text
• •How the Potion of Growth Works
• •Potion of Growth: 2014 vs 2024
• •Who Should Use a Potion of Growth?
• •Potion of Growth for DMs
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Potion of Growth Rules Text

SRD 5.1 (2014), then SRD 5.2.1 (2024).

How the Potion of Growth Works

What "enlarge" does

The potion borrows the Enlarge half of the Enlarge/Reduce spell. Everything you wear and carry grows with you. The two editions of the spell differ:

Anything you drop goes back to normal size immediately, in both editions. In 2024, a thrown weapon or piece of ammunition also shrinks back right after it hits or misses.

What being Large changes

A Medium character becomes Large and occupies a 10-by-10-foot space. Several rules key off size:

• •Grappling and shoving: you can grapple or shove a creature up to one size larger than you. As a Large creature, that means Huge creatures such as a Hill Giant or a Treant. Advantage on Strength checks helps the 2014 grapple contest; in 2024 the target makes a save against your DC, so the Advantage doesn't apply to your grapples, but it does help you escape grapples and resist shoves.
• •Carrying capacity: doubles for each size above Medium in both SRDs (Strength × 30 for a Large creature in 2024).
• •Tight spaces: a 10-foot-wide creature doesn't fit everywhere a 5-foot one does.

Reach doesn't change; the spell doesn't say it does.

The damage boost

The extra 1d4 (2.5 on average) applies to each hit. A Fighter making two attacks a round gains about 5 damage per round if both hit; at three attacks, 7.5. In 2024, the bonus also works with Unarmed Strikes, which matters for Monks.

Drinking it

The potion is consumable and one use. In 2014, drinking or giving it to someone takes an action. In 2024, it takes a Bonus Action, so you can drink it and attack in the same turn. No Concentration means a spellcaster can drink it and still concentrate on another spell.

Stacking with the spell, and tight spaces

Both SRDs' Combining Spell Effects rule says the effects of the same spell cast more than once don't add together; the most potent applies while the durations overlap. The potion doesn't cast the spell, though: the magic item rules say potions bypass the casting and confer the spell's effect, so the rule doesn't strictly reach a potion plus a casting. DM ruling: treat them as the same spell's effect anyway, so drinking a Potion of Growth while already enlarged by the spell doesn't take you up two sizes, and you stay Large until the later duration ends.

In a room too small for you, the 2014 spell answers directly: you reach the largest size the space allows. The 2024 spell drops that sentence, and the 2024 Rules Glossary has no general rule for growing in a cramped space. DM ruling: use the 2014 answer in 2024 games too.

Potion of Growth: 2014 vs 2024

What this means:

• •2014: 1d4 hours averages 2.5 hours, long enough to drink it before entering a dungeon level and keep it through several fights. Drinking in combat costs a full action.
• •2024: 10 minutes covers one or two fights. Drinking it mid-combat is cheap (a Bonus Action), so the right time to drink it is when initiative is rolled, not beforehand.

The 2024 Potion of Diminution, the Reduce counterpart, still lasts 1d4 hours. Only Growth was cut down.

Who Should Use a Potion of Growth?

Strength fighters, barbarians and paladins get everything: extra damage on each hit, Advantage on Strength checks, and bigger grapple targets. A grappler who can hold a Huge creature changes how fights against giants go.

Monks in 2024 get the extra 1d4 on Unarmed Strikes, which they make several times a turn.

Casters gain little from the damage but can use the Strength Advantage to resist being shoved or grappled.

Compare it with the other ways to get bigger or stronger:

Growth and Giant Strength work together; one changes size, the other the Strength score.

When it's a trap: in narrow tunnels, and for characters who rely on Dexterity. Size buys nothing for a Rogue with a rapier except the 1d4.

Potion of Growth for DMs

Where it turns up. An uncommon potion fits anywhere from early levels on: a giant's larder, an alchemist's shop or a dead warrior's belt.

What it changes. In 2014, the long duration makes a Strength character Large for most of an adventuring day. Plan dungeon layouts with that in mind. In 2024, it's one fight. Either way, a Large grappler can pin creatures that would normally be too big, so a giant boss can be held in place.

Pricing. The 2024 SRD values an uncommon item at 400 GP and halves that for consumables, so 200 GP. The 2014 SRD has no prices. The shop price calculator helps price a potion shop.

At the table. Note when the potion was drunk. With 1d4 hours, roll the duration secretly or openly, but write it down.

Hooks.

• •A town's champion drinks Potions of Growth before every duel and has never lost. The supplier wants the party to switch the next one for something else.
• •An alchemist sells a red-swirling potion as a Potion of Growth. It's a Potion of Diminution, and the label is the only difference.

How many potions the party has left, and who drank which, is easy to lose between sessions. Loreify records the game and keeps the loot list in the recap.

Frequently Asked Questions

How long does a Potion of Growth last?

1d4 hours in the 2014 rules and 10 minutes in the 2024 rules. Neither version requires Concentration.

Does a Potion of Growth require Concentration?

No. Both versions say "no concentration required", so you can drink it and keep concentrating on a spell.

How big do you get with a Potion of Growth?

One size category larger: a Medium creature becomes Large. In the 2014 rules your dimensions double and your weight is multiplied by 8; if there isn't room, you grow as much as the space allows.

How much extra damage does a Potion of Growth add?

1d4 on each hit with your enlarged weapons. In 2024, Unarmed Strikes get it too.

How much is a Potion of Growth worth?

200 GP under the 2024 SRD: half the 400 GP value of an uncommon item, since it's a consumable. The 2014 SRD has no magic item prices.

Item text: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Analysis, rulings and ideas are Loreify's own.