We’ve all been there. The party’s alchemist fumbles a roll while brewing a vital Potion of Healing. Instead of saying it just fails, let’s make it spectacularly, hilariously wrong! Magic is a wild and unpredictable force, and creating potions or enchanting items should feel risky and exciting.

Here’s a random table to inject some chaotic fun into your game the next time a magical creation goes sideways. These mishaps are designed to create memorable story moments and roleplaying opportunities, not just simple penalties.

Magical Brewing Mishap Table

Roll a d20 when your crafter fumbles the check:

1. Sentient Potion: The potion gains sentience and a demanding personality. It will only work if offered tribute, like shiny gems or compliments.
2. Mana Butterflies: The brewing area is instantly filled with a swarm of harmless, shimmering butterflies made of pure mana.
3. Personality Swap: Whoever drinks the potion swaps two personality traits (e.g., brave and cautious) with the last person they spoke to for 1 hour.
4. Temporal Hiccup: A random object or creature within 10 feet is briefly aged or de-aged by 1d10 years.
5. Gravity Shift: Gravity in a 15-foot radius reverses for 1d4 rounds. Hang on tight!
6. Inanimate Animation: A nearby inanimate object (a broom, a stool, a cauldron) springs to life, acting either helpful or mischievous for the next hour.
7. Audible Aura: The potion emits a constant, audible hum that changes pitch and tone to match the imbiber’s emotional state.
8. Transmutation Troubles: A key ingredient in the potion transmutes into something else entirely—a live frog, a rare flower, or perhaps a small, valuable gem.
9. Sticky Situation: Everything within a 5-foot radius becomes coated in a sweet, incredibly sticky ectoplasm.
10. Ethereal Echo: The brewing area is filled with faint, ghostly whispers from another time or place for the next hour.
11. Color Catastrophe: A magical explosion of color dyes everything within 10 feet a random, vibrant hue. The effect lasts for 1d6 days.
12. Size Alteration: The imbiber’s head either shrinks or enlarges by 50% for 1d4 hours. This is purely cosmetic but very noticeable.
13. Animal Affinity: The user gains the ability to speak with and understand a specific type of animal (DM’s choice) for the next hour.
14. Musical Manifestation: An invisible, spectral bard appears and follows the imbiber for an hour, playing dramatic music appropriate to their actions.
15. Phantom Feast: The air fills with the smell of a delicious feast, and illusory food appears on all surfaces. It looks and smells real but vanishes upon touch.
16. Magnetic Mayhem: The potion becomes intensely magnetic. All unsecured metal objects within 15 feet are immediately pulled towards it.
17. Reverse Speech: For the next 1d6 hours, the imbiber can only speak backward.
18. Plant Growth Spurt: All nearby plants experience a sudden, aggressive growth spurt, attempting to entangle anyone in the area.
19. Emotional Amplification: The imbiber’s current primary emotion is amplified tenfold for 10 minutes, leading to dramatic overreactions.
20. Beneficial Backfire: The potion works perfectly, but also grants a minor, unexpected boon, like the ability to levitate one foot off the ground or see in the dark for a short time.

Is the Mishap Good or Bad?

For a little extra randomness, you can roll a d6 to see if the strange side effect is ultimately helpful or a hindrance.

1. Negative Effect (e.g., the animated broom is hostile)
2. No additional effect (the mishap is as written)
3. Positive Effect (e.g., the mana butterflies are a valuable reagent)

Feel free to use these magical mishaps as a starting point for new adventures and character quirks. Adapt them, expand on them, and watch your players react when their simple brewing session turns into an unforgettable event!