D&D 5E Looking for feedback on my cooking homebrew system

[RoiC.]

I've came up with homebrew cooking system intended for my group's barbarian, a chef from another dimension, mostly taking on inspiration half-cover.com's gourmand feat. Might be worth mentioning that we're playing Tomb of Annihilation, and that it takes place mostly in the jungles of Chult, where a lot of food sources are available, but most of them are not very consistent. I pretty much like what I came up with, as it's fairly simplistic, leaves a lot of room for roleplaying and description, and offers small, but useful enhancements, that would make it overall a fun, colorful addition, without throwing things off balance. I feel like there's still a lot of improvments and balancing to do, so every piece of feedback would be appreciated. Here goes:

• Only [Barbarian PC] can cook meals that give a mechanical bonus, but he can get advantage on his rolls from anyone with proficiency in Cook's Utensils.
  • (So far, no one in the party other than him is proficient with Cook's Utensils)
• A meal can only be cooked during a long rest, and only once. The meal's bonuses start taking effect once the long rest has ended.
• Every meal requires 1 pound of fresh food per character, with fresh food being food foraged in the last 3 days.
  • (I was thinking of adding some gold cost too, but I'm not sure if it's really necessary)
• The dishes themselves can be whatever [Barbarian PC] chooses to prepare based on the avilable ingredients, with the mechanical bonus being chosen from a list and requires passing a certain DC. The cooking check would be proficiency+Dex/Int/Wis modifier (depending on the dish being prepared).
  • If [Barbarian PC] fails the check, the food would still be edible - unless he fails by 5 or more, than the food is spoiled.
  • If [Barbarian PC] rolls a natural 20 on the cooking check, the bonus recieves a specific enhancement.
• Exotic ingredients give out unique bonuses (for example, a beholder's central eye, a green dragon's heart and so on)
• Eating humanoids and undead doesn't give out any bonuses. Eating humanoids gives shakes (probably a Con save or the effect of 1st level exhaustion for 1 hours), eating undead gives Xd12 necrotic damage.

List of bonuses

• DC 12: 1 Temp HP per character level (doubled on a critical)
• DC 14: +5 ft. speed for 8 hours (+10 ft. on a critical)
• DC 16: 1 more hit die regenerated after a long rest (2 on a critical)
• DC 18: +1 on mental/physical Saving Throws for 8 hours (+1 on all Saving Throws on a crit).
• DC 20: Well-Fed Die - You get one d6 that you can add to a weapon attack/damage roll, or any skill check/saving throw of a physical nature (based on Str/Dex/Con). Lasts for 24 hour (becomes a d10 on a critical).
• DC 22: You can choose any two bonuses (each get their specific boost on a critical).

Like I said, I think it requires some more work, so any opinions, ideas, suggestions and whatever advice comes to mind, I'd be happy to hear it.

 

[R_J_K75]

Exotic ingredients give out unique bonuses (for example, a beholder's central eye, a green dragon's heart and so on)

Id add something regarding rendering, harvesting and field dressing exotic ingredients from monstrous creatures. Say if the barbarian fails significantly during the rendering or cooking something bad might happen. There was a rendering non-weapon proficiency in 2nd ed in either the complete barbarians handbook or the complete rangers handbook which might give you some ideas.

 

[RoiC.]

Id add something regarding rendering, harvesting and field dressing exotic ingredients from monstrous creatures. Say if the barbarian fails significantly during the rendering or cooking something bad might happen. There was a rendering non-weapon proficiency in 2nd ed in either the complete barbarians handbook or the complete rangers handbook which might give you some ideas.

Thank you very much for your feedback! That's something I might look into in the future, but I don't think I'll go into something more complicated then a Survival (Wisdom)/(Dexterity) check, as long as he describes well enough what's he doing (or, even better, if he asks his ranger party member for help with that). I think as long as he roleplays the situation well enough, there's no reason not to keep the system simple. Then again, there's nothing very interesting with bizzare fumbles, and it is something that this particular player is very fond of, so maybe I'll find myself going through 2e sources soon enough.

Other than that, care sharing what do you think about the other aspects of the system?

Thanks again

 

[R_J_K75]

Overall I think it should be fine, but personally id up the DCs on the bonuses but thats just me. Only other thing I can think of is if the bonuses arent meant to be cumulative Id put that in the description.

 

[RoiC.]

Overall I think it should be fine, but personally id up the DCs on the bonuses but thats just me. Only other thing I can think of is if the bonuses arent meant to be cumulative Id put that in the description.

I've considered upping the DCs, but I think I'll see how it plays in-game first. I've told the player it's experimental and I might change things along the way (and I'm not telling him the DCs anyway), so it's always a possibility. As for the cumulative bonuses, you mean that every higher-tiered bonus does not include the previous ones? I think it's kinda implied by the DC 22 bonus, but maybe explaining it to the player would be a good idea. Thank you!

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

Haven't you seen the gourmerd class from the Pathfinder SRD? From the Ultimate Herbalism by Interjection Games.

 

[R_J_K75]

I've considered upping the DCs, but I think I'll see how it plays in-game first. I've told the player it's experimental and I might change things along the way (and I'm not telling him the DCs anyway), so it's always a possibility. As for the cumulative bonuses, you mean that every higher-tiered bonus does not include the previous ones? I think it's kinda implied by the DC 22 bonus, but maybe explaining it to the player would be a good idea. Thank you!

I assumed the bonuses werent cumulative but there are some skills that are cumulative so I could see how someone could interpret it as such.

 

[RoiC.]

Haven't you seen the gourmerd class from the Pathfinder SRD? From the Ultimate Herbalism by Interjection Games.

Well, I'm not much of a Pathfinder player, but while that class looks cool, I prefer a simpler approach, especially since I'm looking to add a crafting system to a player of an existing class.

I assumed the bonuses werent cumulative but there are some skills that are cumulative so I could see how someone could interpret it as such.

Fair enough. I'll make sure that he understands it's not cumulative (unless he gets the DC 22 bonus, that is )

 

[R_J_K75]

Haven't you seen the gourmerd class from the Pathfinder SRD? From the Ultimate Herbalism by Interjection Games.

Wow thats hilarious, su doughball ability. I want to play an adventurer not Julia Childs with a +1 pressure oooker.

 

[aco175]

I would just point out that you may need to watch the amount of time the PC gets to shine away from the other PCs. This feat appears to be a lot different than others in that there are more roleplaying opportunities with this feat.