Potions, Tells, & Deadly Spells by Abby L. Vandiver

A character can guess the nature of the potion by recognizing its taste (example: if Bob the Fighter tastes a healing potion, the GM will will describe its peculiar taste, and the character will subsequently recognize the same potion by recognizing the taste).

However, as the previous scenario this doesn't seem to work very well with all-or-nothing effects.

A character can guess the nature of the potion by experiencing a 'descriptive' version of its effect through a sip (example: if Bob the Fighter tastes a healing potion, he will feel 'refreshed', or the GM will describe how bruises disappear and small cuts rapidly heal - but with no mechanical effect).

What happens when Bob the Fighter tastes a potion that changes permanently the color of his hair? It changes the color temporarily? It changes the color permanently, but only slightly? Furthermore, it doesn't work too well with potion with all-or-nothing effects. So there is still the problem to count remaining uses/remaining effect after a sip.

Let's say Bob the Fighter is down a few hit points, and doesn't want to waste a full potion: he can decide to drink a few sips to regain a couple of hit points. This is possibly better than the previous version, since if Bob the Fighter wants to elicit the full effect, he must drink the whole potion however, it doesn't address completely the problem.

A character can guess the nature of the potion by experiencing a milder version of its effect through a sip (example: if Bob the Fighter tastes a healing potion, he will be healed by a only few hit points).

Furthermore, it would make difficult to count remaining uses (how many 'sips' are there in a potion?). This would extend the durability of the potion to multiple uses, invalidating the equation 1 potion = 1 use. Thus, nothing would stop Bob the Fighter to drink only a small sip of a beneficial potion every time he needs its effects, rather than the entire potion.

A character discovers the effect of the potion by experiencing them through a sip (example: if Bob the Fighter tastes a healing potion, he will be healed): the logical consequence here is that a sip is sufficient to elicit the full effect of the potion.

These are the possible scenarios I can think of: However, I find that there are conceptual problems with it. This method is attractive to me for the potential fun involved in experimenting with unknown effects. A classic method of identifying potions (especially in OSR games) is by sipping them.

Potions, Tells, & Deadly Spells by Abby L. Vandiver