Before I move on to other topics, I'd like to post a tool I built to help DMs easily create potion descriptions (taste, color, odor and texture) unique to a particular campaign. You can download my Potion Description Generator, which is an Excel spreadsheet that lets you generate random descriptions for all potions covered by the Open Gaming License.
Unfortunately, limitations of the license prohibit me from adding potions for spells from other books, such as the Spell Compendium, but you can easily add them to your downloaded copy of the generator. Then you'll have them for all your campaigns going forward. Feel free to change any of items on the four lookup tabs if you don't like them or add your own. The formulas should pick up your additions as long as you enter an ID number and keep those tabs sorted by ID number (rather than by the description column).
Instructions are at the top of the first sheet. Basically, you just double-click a cell to enter edit mode, then press Enter without making any changes to create brand new descriptions. You can copy and paste these descriptions (Edit, Paste Special, Values) onto another sheet to preserve these random descriptions and use that tab for your campaign. If you later start another campaign and want new descriptions, just generate a fresh set on the first tab. And of course you can insert rows to add more potions or create multiple descriptions for the same potion, if you like.
There's also a Symbol column that is almost never filled in that you can use to enter a description of a symbol that might – I'd say 60% to 100% of the time depending on where the PCs find the potion – carry another visual clue as to the identity of a potion. You might want to use this hint because clever players might be able to figure out what a potion does the first time they find it. Using color, taste, odor and texture won't help players identify a potion the first time they encounter it.
Have fun, and let me know what you think!
