$20 one time for a well developed app that I use multiple hours a day is inexpensive.
I pay almost as much to multiple streaming services PER MONTH for a shitty experience and sometimes not a completely ad-free experience.
Anyway, in all honesty I chose the $1.99/mo because it gives the dev $24/yr into perpetuity. I also donate to instances. I also use Connect and Jerboa and Liftoff. It’s whatever.
In BG3 you can put a potion on the ground between multiple people and hit it, and everyone splashed is healed. So, yes, the whole magic aspect of your explanation and not needing to actually swallow it seems to make sense (in BG3).