One could make an argument for any ability, but I am going to go with Wisdom with a small note that certain recipes, like breads, will require them to use their Intelligence. Second, we need to decide what ability our players are using to produce cooked goods.
I think that going with the prewritten one from Xanathar’s will work well for our uses, but we can always go back and update as needed. With these three things in mind, let’s go ahead and get started! First we need to come up with what exactly Cook’s Utensils are. There is no point in doing all this work in making something if they don’t want to use it. Meaningful failure will be the cost and time associated with the creation of an item, if it failure means nothing than the fun is lost.Ĭreate incentives to use this system. I want my players to have choices and to be engaged in the system, though we also need it quick and simple for the table.Īdd a chance of meaningful failure. To get us started, let’s figure out what we want our Cook’s Utensils, and by extension any tool we want to turn useful, to do:Īdd interesting options for the player.
It’s a nice bit of flavor, but the only mechanic in there is the last bit about regaining an extra hit point per Hit Die spent in a short rest, not exactly breaking new ground, and on top of that, there is no dice rolling! If there is one thing I know: players like to roll dice almost as much as I like rolling dice behind my GM screen and then mumbling ominously to myself. You and up to five creatures of your choice regain 1 extra hit point per Hit Die spent during a short rest, provided you have access to your cook's utensils and sufficient food. As part of a short rest, you can prepare a tasty meal that helps your companions regain their strength. When foraging for food, you can make do with ingredients you scavenge that others would be unable to transform into nourishing meals.
When administering treatment, you can transform medicine that is bitter or sour into a pleasing concoction. Your knowledge of cooking techniques allows you to assess the social patterns involved in a culture's eating habits. Cook's utensils include a metal pot, knives, forks, a stirring spoon, and a ladle. With a cook along on the journey, your meals will be much better than the typical mix of hardtack and dried fruit.Ĭomponents. To get us started, let’s review what Cook’s Utensils say in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything on page 80:Īdventuring is a hard life. You may ask yourself, why Cook’s Utensils? Well, because I am supposed to be making a homebrew for one of my players to use in 2 weeks and I have to write a blog post to be released every Monday. To do that, I am going to pick the most requested tool… Cook’s Utensils!
So, today I am going to show you the rough process of how I create useful tools for my table by making it exciting and interesting. So a regular Potion of Healing will take 1 day and 25gp to produce so long as your table has someone who is proficient with a Herbalism Kit.Īnd if that is all your table wants from their tools, than carry on, but frankly… I find that uninspiring and extremely boring. If we check out the DMG, it just states that they can spend 8 hours a day at 25gp a day to produce an item and that they can produce it at half the cost. Now it is up to you, as the GM, to figure out how this is all supposed to work. That’s when one of those same players who can’t stop getting beat up will point to a part in the PHB where it says that a Herbalism Kit can create a Potion of Healing in the hope they can save a bit of their precious gold. For the party, those little 2d4+2 potions are invaluable, but start getting expensive the more and more they have to buy. Sometimes, when your players play DnD, they will get themselves into trouble and get a little beat up, and when they get beat up they like to drink a delicious Potion of Healing.
This new version has a few additional recipes and updated wording and clarifications! If you still want access to v1 of the tools, you can find a download link at the bottom of this article. I have created a new version of Cook’s Utensils !