Lots of times I've seen pills needing work to be absorbed properly, some to the point of being harmful if the work fails. Potions don't have that. Also I have trouble swallowing even normal pills. I dunno but maybe something is wrong with the way I swallow or something. I often choke on food, to the point that I keep something to drink next to me whenever I eat anything, just in case. .... I also often choke on water. But at least a bit of liquid down the wrong pipe is much less likely to kill me than something solid. So I vote potions. ...... but why?
if alcohol pump through butt will gain greater absorption because it goes straight to intestine should those stuff gain better absorption too??
... you mean so you use less medicine for the same effect? If it's really like that, then I guess that makes sense...
Depends on the taste lol That’s why I prefer syrups sometimes over tablets for my medicines Only if they’re sweet tho Also, I’ll need to chug down a bunch of water when I gotta have pills
I really don't get why people are saying that they can choke on pills. I have been taking medicinal pills since I was young, and aside from the early days I could not possibly see how you can choke on them. Aside from the aforementioned practical advantages of small and solid, there is also the fact that many common potions are infamous for their disgusting taste. Even if this is not the case, then there are also the aforementioned disadvantages of the potions being a liquid needing to be stored in a container. Regarding the container: I really don't understand why a lot of stories have the potions stored in a glass vial instead of literally any other possible container. When it comes to pros and cons, you all seems to have already stated them. However, some of those arguments were driven by "how cool they would look". Of course I understand that potions give more flair, but I am not someone who thinks about fashion when I am in a battlefield, so I would choose the pills. The only reason I would ever choose potion over pills is if they could be applied on external flesh wounds, but common low-grade potions don't seem to have that effect.
Snorting powder is not really a good choice in many -if not all- cases, since it activates the effects of any drug / medicine faster than it should be. Injections are rather slower way to let the drug / medicine flow through the body, considering many stories have their pills and potions work in a way that it will spread through the whole body once ingested. ...okay, I agree with this comment. I have eaten way too many pills in my whole lifetime, but even then comes the question: "How bad does a potion taste?"
Hm... This post appears to be the only one so far to convince me well to choose potions over pills. However, that is only when you compare reality with fantasy. I do not know whether @Eishun's scenario was one where you remain on Earth or get transported into another world. If we are talking about the pills from xianxia and wuxia, then we would not be talking about the pills from our Earth. As many have said this before, many pills will usually dissolve in the mouth according to their description. It is not something that is realistically possible, but we are talking about fictional existences of pills and potions in the first place. As for pills turning to dust upon application of pressure: while that is true, it does not occur more often the destruction of potion's glass vials. @grish99 made a point about how potions don't have to be stored in glass per se, yet this is often still the case. I would love it if he makes that short story about someone drinking a potion from a goatskin bottle, but then I would be afraid that people would complain that drinking from a skin bottle is "less cooler" than drinking from a vial. --whoops, I am sidetracking. As I was saying, while the pills would have to be stored in a container as well, at least the pills are partially intact and consumable unlike the potions whose body is liquid. I do however like the point that potions are easier to digest than pills ...even if said pills dissolve quickly in some or most stories.
Glass bottle as storage medium for potions is a fairly new invention. While the Romans did use lead glass bottles to store wine, that's also more durable than the glass bottles we commonly see today. You see, lead makes glass tougher. Nowadays, people don't want lead in their glass because of fear of lead poisoning, but lead is glass is chemically stable and will not leach into drinks store inside. Anyway, Ai-chan was talking about ceramic bottles as a storage medium, which is still in use today. Like these, which are very hard to break if fired right. There are porcelain bottles that still survive from the days of Islamic civilizations. Portraying glass bottles as potion storage medium is merely for being classy, as crystal bottles are prettier. For durability, you use glazed ceramics. Glass bottles are a trope of Japanese works. Western works such as Baldur's Gate mostly use ceramic bottles.
Hm.. but at this point, wouldn't we be talking about the containers instead of the items? I mean if we're talking about the containers, then I see no problems about them aside from their weight. If the weight is small enough to be negligible and durable, then... I would need to re-think everything all over again. *ten seconds later* Okay, so it's basically all about the time it takes for the item to take effect rather than the time to put it in your mouth or its containers' durability. Seeing as both potions and pills are fantasy items, I can't possibly know how fast they work on average. Hence, I cannot give my final answer. (P.S. I could not see the last image until I quoted it.)
Well, when you talk about potions, you can't avoid talking about the containers. People have been dismissing potions due to it needing glass containers, which is not true, as this is a Japanese trope. In western games and fictions, ceramic bottles are preferable, such as what you get in Baldur's Gate, the majority of the potions were inside ceramic bottles. The problem with the OP is that it asked a very general question, when all fiction has their own way of making potions and pills work for their world. In shianshia, pills do not need water, dissolve right away on the tongue and has magical power that outstrips its small size. Definitely this is not logical, but who are we to say that? Similarly, potions that give instant healing effect is also illogical, but that's part of the story's setting, who are we as readers to dispute that? We can't use the standards of shianshia as they favour pills and each story has different standards. Similarly, we can't use the standard of Japanese stories, as their potions are also made to be superior than pills. You can't argue which is better between mithril and spidersilk, because they're from different categories altogether and different stories give different settings. That's why, to argue which one is better, you need to start with a common ground. That common ground is the real world and real world logic. But the OP did ask about western style fantasy, so it's not glass bottles that are in use, but ceramic bottles instead.
Up until here, everything is fine and all but... Even though the OP mentioned western based fantasy, it did not ask about them. It asked us which ones we prefer, and preferences are subjective. I have stated that I would have chosen the pill for realism, but I have also stated that I would choose the potion because just like @Si Kucing, I have eaten too many medicinal pills to choose potion over pill. (Though I would love it if the taste of potions is not bitter.) Well... as you said before, we don't have a way to measure them, so I guess there really is no better one compared to the other.
hmm... I didn't think that far. I didn't consider whether we would remain here or migrate to a fantasy world. How about we just assume that wherever we are, the world has crystal-making technology so we can get sturdy crystal vials?
Well, even so it would only be a matter of preference of fashion and the potential of the item. The latter is immeasurable, so all what is left is the former ...and seeing as the majority have chosen for the potion, it appears that you got your answer.
I'd go with potions, mainly because throwing a potion filled with a nitroglicerine-like thingie within it against my enemies would be fun~ ... Not like I'd try to ever make enemies though, merchant life is the way to go! >.<
I've heard that the anus is the fastest way to absorb liquid, and is practical in emergency cases. So why not dump the liquid in one's anus instead of drinking it. I've heard you can get drunk (of alcohol) faster that way. And army medics claim that if they don't have needles for an IV, they recommend just sticking the IV tube in somebodies butt.
I still don't know why they always need to use small breakable container when it come to potion, I mean why not pour all the potion on water canteen or you know, place like liquor canteen made out of steel. I guess the con is just overdose but definitely easier. a swig for every wound.