[RPG] Benefits for eating good food

food-and-drinkpathfinder-1eskills

I have designed a character to be able to cook just about anything and make it taste great. This was done mainly for RP purposes but I was curious if there is any system that adds benefits for eating fresh good food. Maybe something like a moral bonus. I am aware of the racial trail rations and might use those without the racial limits if my DM approves.

Best Answer

Like the other answer says, there's no system for this in the pathfinder rules. So here are a few house rules you could use. I would start by inverting the rules for starvation and thirst.

As you get dehydrated, you make successive constitution checks and start taking non-lethal, and then lethal damage every hour. Further, characters who are starving or dehydrated become fatigued. So, being well-fed should invert these effects in some way.

Here's an example status effect I've come up with that could implement this:

Nourished

A nourished character can run as if she possessed the Run feat, and is granted a +1 circumstance bonus to Strength and Dexterity based checks, as well as a +4 circumstance bonus vs effects that cause fatigue or exhaustion. Becoming fatigued or doing anything that would cause fatigue removes this condition. Otherwise, it fades after one hour.

And also a potential implementation of Profession (Cooking)

Profession (Cooking)

You are skilled at preparing exceptionally nourishing meals.

Check: Preparing a meal has a DC of 10 (for a decent meal), 20 (good meal), 30 (extraordinary meal), or 40 (legendary meal). You need ingredients, and a suitable kitchen or equivalent work space. Without a proper kitchen, you take -4 on your cooking check. Cooking without ingredients is impossible.

Decent Meal: Pretty standard fare. A decent meal grants the nourished condition

Good Meal: A good meal, the kind you could expect to find in a particularly expensive restaurant or luxurious inn. In addition to the effects of the nourished condition, a good meal grants a +1 circumstance bonus on fort saves for the condition's duration.

Extraordinary Meal: An incredible meal, the like of which most people will experience only rarely, unless they are quite wealthy. In addition to the effects of a good meal, an extraordinary meal grants 1d8 temporary hit points.

Legendary Meal: A meal of legendary quality. As word gets around of your skill, kings will fight to have you in their kitchens, and beings from other planes will seek you out to experience your masterful creations. A legendary meal grants the nourished condition, as well as a +2 circumstance bonus to all saves, and d8 + (Cook's HD) temporary hit points. Such a meal is so good that creatures who taste it can't bear the thought of dying without tasting it again.

Action: Preparing a meal takes one hour, although a particularly intricate or important meal may take longer, at the GM's discretion.

Try Again: Yes, but every time you prepare a meal any ingredients used are consumed.

And finally, some sample items

Ingredients

Basic Ingredients: The bare necessities required to create a meal. Price: 1s. Weight: 1/4 lbs.

Extravagant Ingredients: Very extravagant ingredients. Grant a +2 circumstance bonus to a Profession (Cooking) check made to create a meal. Price: 15g. Weight: 1/4 lbs.

Legendary Ingredients: Incredibly hard to find ingredients, of legendary quality. Grant a +5 circumstance bonus to a Profession (Cooking) check made to create a meal. Price: 500g. Weight: 1/4 lbs.

Tools

Cooking Kit: Basic tools required to cook a meal. Price: 5g. Weight: 5 lbs.

Kitchen: This kitchen is used for cooking, and provides a +2 circumstance bonus on Profession (Cooking) checks. It does not provide any ingredients. Without this kitchen, a character with the Profession (Cooking) skill is assumed to have enough tools to use the skill but not enough to get the +2 bonus that the kitchen provides. Price: 200g. Weight: 40 lbs.