Containers for magic potions and scrolls in Dungeons and Dragons

Even the most common scroll or potion has a crafting cost of 25 gp (according to the Xanathar's Guide to Everything). According to this article, using the conversion of 1 cp = 1 euro (or 1 $), we could evaluate this as 2,500 Euros (or $); we can also compare this value to the cost of hiring an unskilled hireling, which is 2 sp/day (according to DnD Player's Handbook); so, with 25 gp we could by the services of such an hireling for 125 days, which is approximately 4 months.

Therefore, the sensible wizard (or cleric) will use something very durable to keep those potions and those scrolls.

How much will this wizard spend in the container? It would not be unreasonable to spend between 5% and 10% of the price of the crafting cost of the magicwork. The minimum is a glass of vial, or a scroll case, which are going to cost 1 gp.

I have devised the following table, based on the rarity of the magic work contained. For each category of magicwork, I will list what I think could be the minimum cost for the container, the maximum cost, the material, and if the container is magical, what is going to be rarity of the container. These are going to be guidelines, and it could be that a common potion of healing is actually being stored inside a very rare bottle.

Rarity of the magicworkMinimum costMaximum costMaterial of the containerRarity of the container
Common1 gp2 gpglass, wood, ceramic, leathernon magic
Uncommon5 gp10 gpcopper, steelnon magic
Rare50 gp100 gpsilver, gold, adamantineCommon
Very rare500 gp1000 gpas aboveUncommon
Legendary2500 gp5000 gpas aboveRare

Containers for common magicworks are going to be crafted out of glass, ceramic, wood, leather. Uncommon will be of metal, like copper or steel. Containers for rare, very rare and legendary magicworks could be made of even more precious (and durable) materials, and could even be magicworks themselves.

The magic container will have properties which are useful for protecting the content; for example, there could be a "Clumsy wizard bottle", which is a bottle which can't fall faster than 60 feet per round, and which never takes damage from falling.

Crafting such containers would be the task of the apprentices, or the younger members of the academy, the guild or the religious order. Such an organization will have one or more custom designs for those containers. As a side note, which I will develop further in a different article, an organization is going to be specialized in a few specific potions, and tightly watch the formulas required to brew them. As most rare containers could be valuable magicworks themselves, it's entirely possible that an institution is going to buy one such container to store another potion or another scroll, to reuse it. Usually, a container will be reused properly, to store the type of potion which was meant for, initially. However, there is always a small chance that the container will be used for a different type of potion; the more valuable the container, the higher the possibility: 5% for common containers, 10% for uncommon, 15% for rare ones.

Image by Amy Art-Dreams

Location: Dublin, Ireland

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