Brewing potions and the time it takes

[Shoga]

Me and another player were having a discussion on brewing potions for his Alchemist and he brought to my attention a contradiction in the rules. I tried doing a search but didn't find anything answering our questions.

Brew Potion Feat, page 119 Core book

"Brewing a potion takes 2 hours if its base price is 250 gp or less, otherwise brewing a potion takes 1 day for each 1,000 gp in its base price."

Page 549 Core Book

"Regardless of the time needed for construction, a caster can create no more than one magic item per day"

Does this mean he can only do one potion in a day? Or could he do 4 if the cost is 250g or less?

Edit: I went back to the rules in the PF core and found this statement which I feel covers the issue. Thought I would bring it to the table just in case.

page 549 PF core

"The creator also needs a fairly quiet, comfortable, and well lit place in which to work. Any place suitable for preparing spells is suitable for making items. Creating an item requires 8 hours of work per 1,000 gp in the item’s base price (or fraction thereof ), with a minimum of at least 8 hours. >>Potions and scrolls are an exception to this rule;<< they can take as little as 2 hours to create (if their base price is 250 gp or less). Scrolls and potions whose base price is more than 250 gp, but less than 1,000 gp, take 8 hours to create, just like any other magic item."

"Potions and Scrolls are an exception to this rule."

and so, brewing 4 potions costing 250gp or less each can be done in 8 hrs (1 day).

[Mr. Damage]

May need a house rule but it is very reasonable to just assign a 2 hour block for every 250 gp in price for items that aren't priced in even thousands.

I say go for your idea that brewing 4 potions costing 250gp or less each can be done in 8 hrs (1 day).

[Maldollen]

Shoga wrote:

Page 549 Core Book

"Regardless of the time needed for construction, a caster can create no more than one magic item per day"

That is your answer.

Potions and scrolls can take less than 8 hours to make, but "regardless of the time needed for construction, a caster can create no more than one magic item per day." Nothing else can even take less than one day (8 hours) to make, so that line you quoted is specific to the case of potions and scrolls taking less time.

[Starglim]

Maldollen wrote:

Shoga wrote:

Page 549 Core Book

"Regardless of the time needed for construction, a caster can create no more than one magic item per day"

That is your answer.

Potions and scrolls can take less than 8 hours to make, but "regardless of the time needed for construction, a caster can create no more than one magic item per day." Nothing else can even take less than one day (8 hours) to make, so that line you quoted is specific to the case of potions and scrolls taking less time.

I agree, there's no contradiction here. He can brew a potion costing less than 250gp in 2 hours, then go to the pub for 6 hours, because he can't create another magic item that day.

Perhaps he could also work on another magic item for 6 hours, but couldn't finish it, depending on how we define "create an item".

[BigNorseWolf]

Yup, sorry. Your alchemist can knock out a potion of CLW before breakfast, but for some reason can't do anything with the rest of his day.

[Shoga]

hmm, seems kinda screwy.. oh well... I had a thought... I dimly recall the possibility to make a "batch" of the same potions with a modifier to the creation DC. I could be thinking a different game but I think it was back in 2nd ed.. anyone remember anything like that?

[BigNorseWolf]

Shoga wrote:

hmm, seems kinda screwy.. oh well... I had a thought... I dimly recall the possibility to make a "batch" of the same potions with a modifier to the creation DC. I could be thinking a different game but I think it was back in 2nd ed.. anyone remember anything like that?

There's an option to make items at twice the speed by adding 5 to the DC, but you're still stuck at one per day.

Meaning you brew a potion of CLW at roughly the same pace you make tea.. but then can't make anything else that day.