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Potion of Heroism 5e: Bless Without Concentration and 10 Temporary Hit Points
A Potion of Heroism is a rare potion that gives you 10 Temporary Hit Points and the effect of the Bless spell, both lasting 1 hour, with no Concentration needed. Bless adds 1d4 to every attack roll and saving throw you make. In the 2014 rules drinking it takes an action; in 2024 it's a Bonus Action. It only affects the drinker. It's best saved for a hard fight where you'll be making a lot of attacks or a dangerous saving throw.
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Potion of Heroism Rules Text
Potion of Heroism
2014 rules
Potion, rare
RareNo attunement
For 1 hour after drinking it, you gain 10 temporary hit points that last for 1 hour. For the same duration, you are under the effect of the bless spell (no concentration required). This blue potion bubbles and steams as if boiling.
When you drink this potion, you gain 10 Temporary Hit Points that last for 1 hour. For the same duration, you are under the effect of the Bless spell (no Concentration required).
This potion's blue liquid bubbles and steams as if boiling.
Bless normally lasts up to 1 minute and needs the caster's Concentration. The potion skips both limits: you're under its effect for a full hour and nothing can break it by breaking Concentration, because there isn't any.
Each attack roll and saving throw gets +1d4, an average of 2.5. Against a target you'd normally hit on a 10 or higher (55 percent), adding a d4 raises that to 67.5 percent: you hit on a 9+ with a d4 of 1, 8+ with a 2, and so on, and those four chances average out to 13.5 in 20. The same d4 goes on every saving throw for the hour: Hold Person, a dragon's breath, Banishment.
10 Temporary Hit Points
Temporary Hit Points absorb damage before your real Hit Points. They don't stack: if you already have some, you choose which set to keep. They aren't healing, so the potion won't wake up a creature at 0 Hit Points. Both editions give them a 1-hour limit here.
Doesn't stack with a cleric's Bless
The potion puts you "under the effect of the Bless spell" without anyone casting it; both SRDs' magic item rules say potions "bypass the casting of a spell and confer the spell's effects." The rule on combining spell effects is worded around castings: the same spell cast multiple times doesn't combine, and its example is two clerics blessing one target, who still rolls one bonus die. Neither text says whether a potion's Bless counts as one of those castings. DM ruling: it does, so with the potion and a cleric's Bless active you roll one d4, which matches the rule's own Bless example. The temporary hit points apply either way. The better play: drink the potion, and the cleric blesses three other people.
Drinking it in combat
•2014: drinking a potion takes an action, so the turn you drink it is a turn you don't attack.
•2024: drinking or administering a potion is a Bonus Action. You can drink and attack on the same turn, and you can pour it down an ally's throat as a Bonus Action too.
Because it lasts an hour, the cheapest time to drink it is before initiative, if the party knows a fight is coming.
Potion of Heroism: 2014 vs 2024
2014 (SRD 5.1)
2024 (SRD 5.2.1)
Rarity
Rare
Rare
Effect
10 temporary hit points and Bless (no concentration), 1 hour
Same
Drinking
An action
A Bonus Action
Value
No price in the SRD
2,000 GP (rare consumable)
The potion didn't change; the action economy around it did. In 2024 a fighter can drink it and still take the Attack action that turn, so it costs almost nothing to use mid-fight.
Is the Potion of Heroism Worth It?
For a martial character facing a boss, yes. Compare it with a healing potion of the same rarity:
The superior healing potion restores almost three times as much, but only once. Heroism's value comes from the d4 on every roll for an hour. A fighter making three attacks a round over a five-round fight rolls fifteen attacks, each about 12 percentage points more likely to hit against a typical target.
Who gets the most out of it: characters who attack many times per turn, characters with poor saving throws (a fighter's Wisdom save against Hold Person), and characters whose party has no cleric or paladin to cast Bless.
When it's a waste: drinking it when the cleric is already blessing you, or out of combat where the hour runs out with nothing to roll.
Potion of Heroism for DMs
Where it turns up. In a temple storeroom, a knight's saddlebag or a hoard guarded by something big enough that the party will want it. Its blue liquid "bubbles and steams as if boiling", which makes it easy to describe without naming it.
What it changes. One fight. It's rare but consumable, so handing out one or two doesn't unbalance anything.
Pricing. The 2024 SRD values a rare item at 4,000 GP and halves that for a consumable, so 2,000 GP. The 2014 SRD gives no prices. The shop price calculator does the halving for you.
Hooks.
•A town's champion is due to fight a monster at dawn. The alchemist who brewed his Potion of Heroism has vanished, and the bottle on his table is steaming the wrong color.
•A captured cultist carries a Potion of Heroism and tries to drink it the moment he's untied.
Who's still carrying which potion is the kind of thing that's gone by next session. Loreify records the game and writes the recap, loot included.
Frequently Asked Questions
What does a Potion of Heroism do in 5e?
For 1 hour you have 10 temporary hit points and the effect of the Bless spell, adding 1d4 to your attack rolls and saving throws. No Concentration is required, in both the 2014 and 2024 rules.
Does Potion of Heroism stack with Bless?
Not reliably. Effects of the same spell cast twice don't combine, but the potion confers Bless without a casting, and the rules don't say which way that cuts. Treating it as the same spell, one d4, matches the rule's own two-Bless example. The temporary hit points apply either way.
Is drinking a Potion of Heroism an action or a bonus action?
An action in the 2014 rules. A Bonus Action in 2024, which applies to drinking any potion or giving one to another creature.
Does Potion of Heroism require concentration?
No. The potion gives you Bless's effect with no Concentration, so taking damage or casting another Concentration spell doesn't end it.
How much is a Potion of Heroism worth?
2,000 GP under the 2024 SRD: rare items are worth 4,000 GP and consumables are worth half. The 2014 SRD has no 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.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.