Cooking Utensils Once, a famous chef said that "anyone can cook". This doesn't mean that anyone can be a great chef, but that it means anyone can become proficient in Cook's Utensils. This guide is to give a DM advice on how to facilitate the use of Cooking Utensils in their games with greater detail, focusing on ingredients, bonuses, and suggested difficulty of crafting certain types of meals. Reminder: Parts of the Cooking Utensils set As per Xanathar's Guide to Everything, Cooking Utensils use the following tools to form a kit: A metal pot, with an accompanying lid

Eating utensils and cutlery

A stirring spoon and a ladle However, this module suggests to add some utensils to enhance the usage of the Cooking Utensils, including: A frying pan

A wooden chopping board

A skewer or spit

A baking sheet or any flat metal sheet

A small variety of basic spices and herbs

A spatula, some tongs, a carving fork, and a basting brush

Optional additions include a pressure cooker, miniature oven, tinder box for starting fires, or even material components for spells that conjure heat and/or food. Cooking: Why? Cooking foods can provide a various amounts of potency to a campaign. For starters, a survival-based campaign has much more depth when discerning edible and inedible foods, and applying those to a recipe-based system. Second, in a world of magic and extranatural flora and fauna, certain foods may confer special benefits to the consumer. As a result, some people may pursue special meals to gain these benefits. Finally, the storytelling element of introducing exotic foods can add the extra narrative elements that help a player genuinely feel like they are part of a living, breathing world. 1 To Make a Meal Creating a meal takes time, ingredients (duh!), and knowledge. The time and ingredients a meal takes widely vary between different foods. Larger dishes may require more time and preparation, while simple snack foods may take little to no preparation to be considered edible. Different meals require different types of ingredients, which Preparation Different meals are made with different methods of cooking. Pork might be open-roasted on a bonfire or it might be made into stew in a pot. Whatever the case, different foods require different tools to prepare, and as such invoke different parts of the Cook's Utensils. Preparation Method Equipment Examples Open Cooking Pan, Source of heat, Sauteeing, Grilling Closed Cooking Enclosed source of heat, Baking Sheet Baking, Oven roasting Roasting Source of heat Bonfire cooking, Spit roast Mixing Pot, Something to mix with Salad tossing, Trail Mix Frying A metal container filled with Cooking Oil, Source of Heat Deep frying There are other methods of cooking than just the ones listed. Again, these act as a springboard to inspire ideas of what materials may be needed to produce a certain meal. For example, a flambé might require the same ingredients as an Open Cooked meal, but also require Cooking Oil to complete the recipe. Source of Heat Nearly anything requires a source of heat, whether it is a simple campfire or a mechanical heating unit. For most items requiring food, the heat must be applied the full duration of the time preparing. Use your discretion to determine special cases, such as if the pan was still hot for a short time after the heat source was removed. 1

Time Some meals take more time to prepare than others, but some take more time to cook. The time it takes to cook a certain food is entirely up to the Dungeon Master. To prepare or cook a meal, the cook must remain near his utensils for the complete duration to complete the meal. Preparation times can be standardized into 4 categories: Short : Less than 1 hour, usually reserved for snacks and other food that serves as a supplement more than a meal by itself.

: Less than 1 hour, usually reserved for snacks and other food that serves as a supplement more than a meal by itself. Medium : From 1 to 4 hours, usually making a full meal that is sufficient enough to carry out tasks.

: From 1 to 4 hours, usually making a full meal that is sufficient enough to carry out tasks. Long : From 4 to 8 hours, these meals usually are a full-course meal complete with appetizers, a main course, and side dishes.

: From 4 to 8 hours, these meals usually are a full-course meal complete with appetizers, a main course, and side dishes. Very Long: More than 8 hours, these meals usually take much less physical effort than just simply cooking. For example, a roast may not need much effort aside from the occassional turning. It's All About Timing Without a proper way to track time, a player may need to make an Intelligence (Cooking) Check to determine whether a meal if finished cooking. If the meal is not finished Cooking, and it contains ingredients that may bestow illness if not properly prepared, the DM may choose to force all consumers to make a Constitution Saving Throw against being ill. Using Rests to Cook Cooking, as with any other artisan activity, can be seen as an exercise in creativity. As such, using Cook's Utensils during a short or long rest to make a meal qualifies as restful activity. However, the DM may choose to make cooking a non-restful activity if they desire. Using Downtime to Cook If a player gets a long period of time off to cook, they may make as much food as they can within that time period. However, a DM may put a limit to how long food can last to ensure that food cannot be created and consumed in large quantities. Alternatively, they may spend one week learning one new recipe that they have acquired, reading and studying it to commit its contents to memory. Active vs Passive Time Another factor a DM may consider when factoring time spent into a dish is whether that time is spent actively working on preparing a food or passively waiting for it to cook. Active cooking requires devoting a person to preparing the dish, while passive cooking is simply remaining nearby. Because passive cooking requires less focus, it does not incur penalties when keeping watch. Additionally, time spent passively cooking something can be used to cook an additional recipe. Keep in mind that while a player can prepare something actively while any amount of things are passively prepared, only one things can occupy a certain container (for example, you may bake both a pizza and a cake in the same oven, but you cannot make two types of soup at the same time in the same pot). Image Source: Lucas Firmino - The Cooking Dwarves on ArtStation 2

Skill Checks With all of the ingredients ready, a dish can be prepared. As mentioned earlier, a degree of knowledge is needed to perpare a meal. As such, there are a series of possible rolls to make when determining certain circumstances. They will be divided into categories based on the main attribute used to perform the skill check. Remember that a person proficient in Cooking Utensils will add their proficiency bonus to the check along with their attribute modifier. Creating multiple dishes can present a problem if they are inconsistent with one another. As such, if a cook attempts to prepare multiple dishes at once, they may need to make an Intelligence-based skill check to make sure they are following each recipe seperately. These may not be needed if preparing multiple of the same dish, but remember that there's only so much room in an oven! How to use this section This section gives ideas on different skill checks that a player may need to make during the process of making something. Not every dish requires a Skill Check, but making items in bulk or making a particularly complicated dish may call for one or even several to successfully complete. As with any skill check, some problems may occur while preparing a meal. For example, a chef may accidentally hurt himself on his cutlery, or perhaps add too much salt. Too many penalties may even have adverse effects on the dish, especially if something inedible was present! Dexterity Some dishes call for a chef to dice, peel, or otherwise operate an object requiring manual dexterity. As such, a skill check may be called to perform the action. Here are some Difficulty Class recommendations based on what task is performed: Dexterity Checks Action DC Check Peeling a potato 10-14 Descaling or gutting a fish 15-18 Cutting something into thin slices 18-22 Cutting or carving through a chitinous shell's weakpoints to expose the flesh 22-25 Skinning an overripened peach without bruising the interior 25 Constitution Sometimes the heat of a pot or the smoke from a particularly spicy dish can cause a weaker-willed chef to be overwhelmed. Conversely, a chef who is physically conditioned can withstand more strenuous adversities. Although Constitution usually does not include proficiency, a DM may choose to use it here, reflecting experience in cooking-related hazards. Here are some Difficulty Class recommendations based on what task is performed: Constitution Checks Action DC Check Not sneezing when exposed to pepper 10-14 Not gagging when smelling something foul 15-17 Avoiding coughing when exposed to airborne flour 18-21 Not tearing up when exposed to smoke or steam from a pot 22-24 Grabbing a hot item from inside a burning stove or pot barehanded without dropping it 25 Intelligence A chef often must rely on logic and previous experience to find a solution. Alternatively, a chef may need to recall the history of a particular culture's cuisine. Here are some Difficulty Class recommendations based on what task is performed: Intelligence Checks Action DC Check Recalling the original culture of a dish 10-14 Preparing 3-5 dishes at once without mistakes 15-17 Accurately predict the ingredients of a dish based on a picture or description of the food 18-21 Accurately predict the effects of a dish by knowing its ingredients 22-24 Accurately following a complicated recipe with little exposure or practice 25 Wisdom A good chef is well connected to their own emotions, but a great chef is far more intimate with the human senses. Going beyond the simple ability to perceive emotions and senses, Wisdom also gives the ability to accurately predict sensation and emotion based on experience and insight. Here are some Difficulty Class recommendations based on what task is performed: Wisdom Checks Action DC Check Tasting whether something has too much salt 10-14 Tasting whether something has a foreign ingredient 15-17 Accurately predict the ingredients of a dish based on a taste test 18-21 Accurately predict the effects of a particular dish by knowing its taste or texture 22-24 Creating a new recipe based on what foods complement one another 25 3

Materials Required To create a type of food, a chef must have learned the recipe and have the ingredients to create it. Ingredients A great way to determine the quality of a meal is to establish how easy (or difficult) it is to procure its ingredients. A meal that has mundane or otherwise abundant ingredients should tend to be less potent than meals that have incredibly rare and exotic ingredients. How to use this section The goal of this section is not to make absolute requirements to create food. Instead, it gives ideas for implementing ingredients and recipes into the world. Getting Ingredients Getting ingredients can be as easy as a trip to the farmer's market or as hard as a trip to a red dragon's farmer's market. The scarcity of a resource typically relies on where it can be found and what methods are taking to extract it. For example, real world saffron is extremely valuable because a great deal of labor is spent extracting the spice from a flower that grows only during one season in the year. When designing a recipe, especially for a region or culture, keep in mind the resources available to them whether by foraging, agriculture and horticulture, or foraging. Perhaps some recipes have become outdated because the availability of those ingredients has dwindled for one reason or another. Likewise, perhaps a settlement relies on a staple food to survive and has created many recipes for it, potentially spelling doom if that food becomes unavailable. Ingredients come in five rarities: Common, Uncommon, Rare, and Very Rare, and Legendary. . Recipes A recipe is a formula known and used to make a particular food. For some cultures, such as Halflings and Gnomes, cuisine is a central part of a culture. On the other hand, some cultures may not be too concerned with the artistry of recipes, but use recipes as an indicator of whether something can be eaten or not. As such, consider the utility that a recipe brings to the culture that uses it. Halflings likely have hand-written recipes, passed down from generations; Orcs, meanwhile, have verbal instructions (supplemented by first-hand experience) on what to eat and what not to. Learning a new recipe takes time and practice. One week of downtime is a surefire way for anyone to earn enough practical experience to learn a new recipe, while spending only a long rest is enough for a chef with high aptitude to grasp it. For a chef to prepare a meal that they have spent at least one long rest studying may make an Intelligence (Cooking) Check to attempt to remember the recipe's instructions. The Difficulty Class should be in proportion to the complexity of the recipe. A character with proficiency in Cook's Utensils starts with knowledge of the basic cuisines and eating habits of known races. As such, a well-stocked cook can whip something up for nearly anyone they may be traveling with. To acquire more recipes, they may need to do some shopping around, expend downtime to conduct research, or even find lost recipes in the nooks and craneys of the world. Be prepared to create lost, hidden, secret, or otherwise unique recipes that can be used as a reward to players. At the very least, it could fetch a decent price if it's sold to a chef! Image Source: parkyeonjun 4

Benefits The time and dedication to make a meal is not in vain, though. Eating is necessary for survival, after all. You may refer to Page 185 of The Player Handbook to learn more about Food and Water. What's more, eating a rare or extravagant meal can sometimes bestow the consumer special power for a short time. This power varies in length, potency, and type based on what was eaten and how large the overall meal is. Larger and more expensive meals give a larger boost than small afternoon snacks. These benefits are divided into 3 categories: Minor, Medium, and Major. Creating a food also calls for a certain cost to produce, so your food should give a benefit proportional to the difficulty of producing the meal. Minor Benefit Increases one type of skill checks (eg Survival, Perception, Acrobatics) by + 1d4 for 1d6 hours Grants 1 Hit Dice of temporary hitpoints On the next Short Rest, restores 1 extra Hit Point per Hit Die expended The consumer cannot be put to sleep, magically or nonmagically, for 1d6 hours The consumer recovers from one stage of exhaustion Gain + 1 to one type of Saving Throw (eg Dexterity, Intelligence, Charisma) for 1d6 hours + 1 to Spell Attack rolls for 1d6 hours Gain an additional 10 ft. of darkvision for 1d6 hours When taking damage of a certain type (eg Force, Fire, Slashing), reduce the total damage taken by 1 for 1d4 hours Medium Benefits Increases one attribute skill checks (eg all Wisdom Skill Checks) by + 1d4 for 1d6 hours Increases Attack and Damage rolls by 1 for 1d4 hours Increases AC by 1 for 1d6 hours Resistance to 1 damage type for 1d6 hours Immunity to paralysis, frightened, or stunned for 1d6 hours Grants 1 Hit Dice of healing and 1 Hit Dice of temporary hitpoints + 2 to Spell Attack Rolls for 1d6 hours + 1 to all Saving Throws for 1d6 hours Doubled/twinned (applies to two types of something) effect OR duration of a Minor Benefit. Major Benefits Grants advantage on one attribute skill checks (eg all Wisdom Skill Checks) for 1d6 hours Increases Attack and Damage rolls by 1d4 for 1d6 hours Increases AC by 1d4 for 1d6 hours Immunity to 1 damage type for 1d6 hours Advantage to Spell Attack rolls for 1d6 hours Grants 2 Hit Dice of healing and 2 Hit Dice of temporary hitpoints Advantage to one Saving Throw type (eg Dexterity, Intelligence, Charisma) for 1d6 hours Doubled/twinned (applies to two types of something) effect OR duration of a Medium Benefit. Below is a reference guide to determining what level of benefit should be given based on the rarity of the ingredients. Although it is advised to not exceed 2 total benefits per food, such may be done with the DM's discretion. Sharing is Caring Food is better together! Should a party designates one player to be the chef, the DM may choose to adjust the serving size of certain meals to ensure everyone has a chance to gain a meal's benefits. On the other hand, a DM may instead choose to only allow a certain amount of people to enjoy the dish so players are encouraged to take more care into resource management, strategic buffing, and considering taking up Cook's Utensils themselves. 5