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Make Your Own Healing Potion Rollers

Lets take a moment to talk about the humble healing potion, the giver of hit points and the stabiliser of comrades. That 50g price point may put them just out of reach early on in the game but when you get to the point of being able to afford your first healing potion, it feels like your group transforms from a rag-tag bunch to a real adventuring party. Ready for anything and ready to go!

These healing potions are available in store currently but if you want to create your own, I’ll show you how I made a custom roller for one of my fellow players to use in their campaign.

There are a few bit you will definitely need and a few bits that are optional flourishes but how extravagant you go might also depend on your campaign setting and where you got the potion from. 

Was it bought from a herbalist in a small village making them because of a dire need? If so, these might be more basic in labelling and detail.
Was it bought in a large town, where they are making money from adventurers passing through? Then these ones might be more stylised and have the shop name on them….

Stuff you are going to need!

To get started, you will need to gather up the essentials which are:

A jar with a lid of some sort
— Needs to have an inner diameter of at least 4.5 cms and a opening of at least 2.5 cms. This will allow two dice to roll and settle flat in the bottom of the jar and also enable you to get them in there in the first place!

Two d4’s
— Make sure that they are no longer than 2 cms along one side.

 If yours are larger (e.g. giant dice) measure the length of one of them, double it then add 0.5 cms to that total. 

For example: one d4 measures 3cms along one side so 3+3 = 6 cms. Then add 0.5 to that so your total diameter will be 6.5 cms.

So for the photo, 2+2 = 4, add 0.05 to give you 4.5. This is the diameter required of you jar/bottle.

Optional items:

Twine
Stickers/paper
Glue/Superglue
Resin and pigments

Now this might not seem like a lot if you just use the essentials but if you go for the resin option, that stuff isn’t cheap and it takes about 24 hours to harden properly (depending on the cure time of your resin, temperature you’re casting in etc) so you will have to wait to finish them off if you go down that route!

Getting started...

The roller I made was a little bit different than the ones I currently sell as it was requested to contain 4 d4’s with a removable lid so it could be used as a potion of healing and a greater potion of healing. 
This is going to show you how I did that particular commission but you can adjust it to suit your needs as you go!

1- Dice

Get your dice together. As explained, this jar calls for 4 d4’s.

It doesn’t matter if you have the number reading from the top or the bottom as long as there is enough room to read them if you choose to put a label on the jar.

I have chosen bottom read ones as the big label that was needed would have meant that the points wouldn’t have been seen on one side of the jar. 

2- Jar

Before you do anything else, make sure that your dice fit in your jar!

As this was a commission ‘on the fly’ I used what I had to hand so this is a 4.5 cm jar which juuuusssst fits 4 x d4 in there. 

As the request was also for a roller where the dice could be removed, this wasn’t too much of an issue as the dice would be poured out into a tray but for 4 x d4 I would use a 5cm diameter jar so there is plenty of room for them to settle across the bottom of it. 

3- Pigments 

Get your pigments together before you start mixing your resin!

I used a generic red liquid pigment for the base colour and a gold iridescent mica powder to bring in the description of a potion of healing from the DM’s guide which states that the “potions red liquid glimmers when agitated.”

4- Resin

Mix up your resin as per the directions on the box. I usually make about 40 ml to fill the bottom of my jars. You can always test it out with water to begin with to see what looks right (and avoid any left over unused resin) but make sure you dry the jar out thoroughly before you pour in the resin or it won’t cure properly. 

Pour it in very carefully to avoid getting drips down the sides of the jar. I use a silicone jug with a little spout and catch drops with the wooden lolly stick I use to stir it.

5- Lid

As this lid was not going to be superglued in place I used a little eye screw on the top to be able to thread some twine through it and then tie it on the jar neck before wrapping it around . This was it can be uncorked without the lid getting lost!

6- Assemble the bottle

Once the resin has cured (usually about 24 hours)  put your dice in there, pop the cork back in and give it a shake to make sure you are happy with how it all rolls. Once you’re happy with everything you can then  seal the bottle if you’re not planning on emptying out the dice to roll them.

This would be enough to create a basic roller that will get the job done but you can spruce it up even further with twine around the neck of the bottle/jar (as seen in the image for the commission) and labels.

7- Labels

Usually I would put one label on there which gives the name of the potion and what you need to do to find out the healing done (eg: 2 x d4 + 2) but as this one was slightly more specialist I had two labels.

The one on the front is the name and the ‘maker’ which was placed quite high up so you can clearly see the dice and one on the back which in told you what to do in a rpg type way. 

You can use a template to design these as you want and then print them on pre-cut stickers or onto paper and then stick them on with permanent adhesive (I use a Pritt glue roller for this)

Once everything is put together you will have a healing potion roller that is usable and also display worthy! 

Dungeons and dragons potion of healing dice roller healing potion
2d4 Healing Potion Dice Rollers, available from Crit Happens Dice. Click the image to view.
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