The Cooking Skill - Help Me Come Up With A Balanced Way To Use This

[Olaf the Stout]

Hi guys,

A player in my campaign has a Monk PC with several ranks in Cooking. His background is that he was the cook at his monastery. He has asked me if he could use his Cooking skill to make meals that would give the PC's some small bonuses.

What he was thinking was something like recovering hit points, or bonuses to saves, etc.,

I would really like to do this as the player is looking at it from a roleplaying perspective but at the same time I am a little wary of allowing them to benefit too much from this. After all, it is just a Cooking skill check that he is making here.

So how do I let him have this whilst still keeping things balanced. So far the only thing I have been able to think of is making him use expensive ingredients. So if he wanted to make a dish that gave a +1 to the next saving throw the PC made he would have to have some magical ingredient in there. It might be the heart of some magical creature or something along those lines. This would add a GP cost to the benefit, effectively balancing it out.

Does anyone else have any other ideas as to how I could make this work?

Thanks in advance,

Olaf the Stout

 

[Michael Silverbane]

I would suggest taking a look at the Sacrifice rules found in the Book of Vile Darkness to get an idea of the range of things that could be done... I would not require any of the ingredients to be magical for a benefit to be gleaned, but the value of the ingredients used would certainly be a factor in how significant the benefits are.

For starters, I would do something like the following:

Each recipe takes around one hour to prepare, the cook makes a skill check at the end of that time. Meals must be consumed immediately to be of any benefit.


Check Result... Benefit...
15 (ish)... +1 morale bonus to Will saves for one hour, or +1 morale bonus to attack rolls for one hour, or +1 morale bonus to skill checks for one hour, or +2 equipment bonus to Fortitude saves vs environmental effects for one day, etc.

and so on...

 

[Dross]

Hi guys,

A player in my campaign has a Monk PC with several ranks in Cooking. His background is that he was the cook at his monastery. He has asked me if he could use his Cooking skill to make meals that would give the PC's some small bonuses.

What he was thinking was something like recovering hit points, or bonuses to saves, etc.,

I would really like to do this as the player is looking at it from a roleplaying perspective but at the same time I am a little wary of allowing them to benefit too much from this. After all, it is just a Cooking skill check that he is making here.

So how do I let him have this whilst still keeping things balanced. So far the only thing I have been able to think of is making him use expensive ingredients. So if he wanted to make a dish that gave a +1 to the next saving throw the PC made he would have to have some magical ingredient in there. It might be the heart of some magical creature or something along those lines. This would add a GP cost to the benefit, effectively balancing it out.

Does anyone else have any other ideas as to how I could make this work?

Thanks in advance,

Olaf the Stout

Lets see, some general some specific (It is just that a lot of the potential benefits are not strait "+" bonuses):

Lessen the chance for wondering monsters (less smoke and smell of freshly cooked food, less flame visible from a distance).

Increase the amount of food foraging provides or have a week's trail rations last a day longer.

Use it instead of an appraise check for fine food, wine etc. Or for determining what that hunk of meat actually is, human or horse!

Suggest offering to help cook when they encounter other groups, in camps, at inns etc. Slightly cheaper meal and accommodation costs. And never sneeze at the opportunity to have the other cooks or waiting staff as gossipers. As an aside, if they are the party to do so, he can then start to spread rumors himself. Or hide poison in food, or cook poison so that someone gets sick (if magical healing is not so prevalent that this wouldn't work, or the cleric could then be the hero and cure the sick person ).

Having lots of people around to feed, how do you do that without tainting the food except with the proper food prep?

Have some important info hidden in a recipe.

Lessen the effects of forced marches. Help the tending to mounts etc and they could have the bonuses suggested.

Any obvious aid another action concerning food, such as diplomacy (these people only eat horse meat), survival (as above), heal (long term care, is light duties), gather info (gossipers), maybe search (that oven would never cook anything properly).

As ways to try and fool things that have scent (an extra couple of rounds or a higher DC for tracking).

 

[MichaelK]

It's only a skill... I wouldn't let it do to much. Honestly I wouldn't go any further than Dross' suggestions which seem to be nice balanced ways of using the skill for roleplaying while still providing a tangible benefit.

If he wants to derive more powerful benefits I would suggest a custom feat, class or prestige class.

You could 'reflavour' (forgive the pun) the artificer from Eberron Campaign Setting. Complete Arcane suggests that scrolls don't necessarily have to be paper that you read from. Let him cook meals as "potions" and could create little spice pouches that he uses to cast spells (like scrolls).

Or get him to take bard levels and replace the bardic music with chef's cooking (based off the cooking skill instead of perform). He could cook up meals that inspire courage or fascinate people by telling them a delicious recipe.

Check out complete Adventurer as well for some prestige classes based around a high skill. He could be an 'Exemplar' (I think that's the one) for Cooking, gives all kinds of extra benefits for his high skill.

But ultimately, as much as I respect his decision to take skills for roleplaying reasons, you're just not going to get as much mileage out of cooking as you will from craft: swords or heal. Having your character abandon his cooking "Because it's just not as useful out in the real world as it was back in the monastery" is just as good roleplaying as clinging tenaciously to it from levels 1 through 20.

 

[El Mahdi]

If the character also had skill points in Knowledge: Herbalism (trained), I'd allow a synergy bonus to the Cooking skill (and vice-versa), and with a successful Cooking or Herbalism check, allow it to increase natural healing. Maybe something like simply doubling the amount of restored Hit Points or Ability points on a successful check. I'd also allow the Heal skill to provide a synergy bonuse (also vice-versa). With the Herbalism skill I'd also allow the ability to provide temporary bonuses (for example: a +1 bonus to Intelligence and Constitution [endurance] for a caffeine laden concoction [medieval Red Bull]). Or a bonus to Will saves ala Egg Shen in Big Trouble in Little China (although technically that's probably more Alchemy than Herbalism). But without the Herbalism or Healing skills, I don't really see Cooking by itself significantly helping the group or providing bonuses except in a manner Dross suggested (those were some really good ideas). All of the above, including Dross's suggestions should all actually be okay with RAW, not just as a houserule.

For a more houseruled approach, you can use a more videogame type mechanic where eating certain foods, herbs, mushrooms, etc., restores Hit Points or provides bonuses. In that case, I'd look for similiar spells (spells that provide bonuses to Hit Points, Abilities, Saving Throws, etc.), find a comparable level spell for the level of the Cook, and apply those bonuses for successful skill checks.

edit: P.S.: Cooking could also be a great Diplomacy tool.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

if the character also had skill points in knowledge: Herbalism (trained), i'd allow a synergy bonus to the cooking skill (and vice-versa), and with a successful cooking or herbalism check, allow it to increase natural healing. Maybe something like simply doubling the amount of restored hit points or ability points on a successful check. I'd also allow the heal skill to provide a synergy bonuse (also vice-versa). With the herbalism skill i'd also allow the ability to provide temporary bonuses (for example: A +1 bonus to intelligence and constitution [endurance] for a caffeine laden concoction [medieval red bull:d]). Or a bonus to will saves ala egg shen in big trouble in little china (although technically that's probably more alchemy than herbalism). But without the herbalism or healing skills, i don't really see cooking by itself significantly helping the group or providing bonuses except in a manner dross suggested (those were some really good ideas). All of the above, including dross's suggestions should all actually be okay with raw, not just as a houserule.

For a more houseruled approach, you can use a more videogame type mechanic where eating certain foods, herbs, mushrooms, etc., restores hit points or provides bonuses. In that case, i'd look for similiar spells (spells that provide bonuses to hit points, abilities, saving throws, etc.), find a comparable level spell for the level of the cook, and apply those bonuses for successful skill checks.

Edit: P.s.: Cooking could also be a great diplomacy tool.

Excellent ideas all around.

 

[Greg K]

Properly prepare a poisonous creature as a meal without poisoning the diner.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

FUGU? Nice!

 

[Ilja]

Hiya all! First poster here, so don't be mean to me

I'd use cooking as an all-in-one skill related to food, much like proffession skills are. Apart from being able to craft specific food items, I'd allow the player to use it instead of:
Knowledge (nature), Knowledge (history), Knowledge (Herbalism) and Knowledge (local) when the subject is identifying ingredients, historical food, or knowing what the local cuisine usually consists of in a given area.
Wilderness lore in areas where foraging is easy for someone knowing what is eatable (not on a mountain or in a desert, but probably a jungle), maybe with a minor penalty (or you could use cooking to "Aid another" who is using WL)
Perform, by cooking and serving a meal.
Also, it could potentially give synergy boni to skills such as Knowledge (Herbalism), Alchemy, Heal, and Wilderness Lore. It could also probably be used to create SOME alchemical substances such as antidotes.