Dungeons & Dragons Makes Popular Homebrew Rule Official in 2024 Core Rulebooks

Dungeons & Dragons is making a popular homebrew rule an “official” part of its ruleset. Wizards of the Coast has started to roll out previews for the 2024 Core Rulebooks coming out for Dungeons & Dragons later this year. The new rulebooks provide extensive updates for Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition ruleset, although designers are quick to point out that they aren’t changing editions for the game. During last week’s previews, D&D game designers Jeremy Crawford and Chris Perkins pointed out some of the changes that will appear in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, including a small but notable change to how players consume health potions in combat. In the new ruleset, players can now spend a Bonus Action to drink a potion on their turn instead of using a full Action.

Currently, D&D’s 5th Edition ruleset states that players have to spend an Action to drink a potion while within combat. This rule is an unpopular one since many players feel that only drinking an action is a waste of a turn given how many other abilities also require an action to activate. For years, many Dungeon Masters have used the homebrewed alternative ruleset of allowing players to spend a Bonus Action to consume a health potion. Even large Actual Play series like Critical Role currently use the “Bonus Action to consume potion” rule, as it provides players with a short burst of healing while also freeing up their action to use one of their character’s many other abilities. 

In a video previewing the change, Crawford specifically noted that consuming a health potion would be a Bonus Action. It’s unclear if that means that other potions would still require a full Action to drink. Still, the new rule is one way that Wizards seems to be improving Dungeons & Dragons with its new ruleset. 

The new Player’s Handbook comes out on September 17th.