Cooking 5e

Meal quality table

To cook a meal, you must have Cook’s Utensils, or a Mess Kit equipped, a fire, or have access to a kitchen.

Choose the quality of the meal you are cooking, to get the DC required.

Roll a straight Wisdom check,

On a fail the meal is ruined, and inedible,
- Retrying the check: If you fail a Cooking check you may not try again for that same quality, and can only go for a lesser quality, last being Horrifying, before the meal becomes inedible.

On a success,
The meal is cooked to that level, and worth that amount.

Skill Mod / Effect

If the cook has Proficiency in Cook’s Utensils Tools,
and has access to Cook’s Utensil Tools or a Kitchen, or Mess Kit, and a heat source.
They can prepare simple, and complex meals,

Their meals gain the Skill Mod, (and associated Effect if applicable).

If the cook does have Proficiency in Cook’s Utensils Tools,
And only has a Mess Kit,
They can only prepare simple meals and gain the Skill Mod and condition Effect.

If the cook does not have Proficiency in Cook’s Utensils, and only has a Mess Kit, then they can only prepare simple meals, and only gain the value and condition Effect.

Quick Notes

Lifestyle:

The likelihood of feeding a Bad meal to a Noble with a Wealthy lifestyle is very low unless a Deception check is rolled.

Regardless, giving a lesser meal to a creature with a higher lifestyle will result in them rolling an insight check, or having one of their Food Taster checks.
Mod Range

Allies and Enemies are the only ones who will gain the Skill Mod/ and Effect if applicable,
An ally you share your meal with,
An enemy that has ransacked your bag and got interested in the contents.

Otherwise, it’s just the value received from the creature(s) who eat the meal, as well as being full.

Cooking Table

Poor (Squalid) | DC 7 | -1 mod (Constitution Saving Throw DC 15
On a Fail, Poisoned 1d4 hours.) | x50 worth

Bad
(Poor) | DC 9 | No mods | x90 worth

Average (Modest) | DC 10 | +1 mod | Full worth

Good (Modest) | DC 15 | +2 mod | x110 worth

Great (Comfortable) | DC 20 | +3 mod (Immune to Poison 1d4 hours.) | x150 worth

Excellent (Wealthy) | DC 25 | +4 mod (Immune to Poison 1d6 hours.) | x200 worth

Divine (Aristocratic) | DC 30 | +5 mod (Immune to ALL conditions 1d4 hours.) | x300 worth

Meals

Cooked in a Mess Kit, with Cook’’s Utensil Tools, or in a kitchen, with some form of fire, heat.

Simple or Complex, a meal is very filling. Far more than just eating snacks, and you can become bloated.

Once a meal is cooked, the skill mod, if applicable, is permanent when made again, except for the mod value that can change.

Simple and Complex Meals

Simple meals = recipes of 3 ingredients or less, and takes upto 1 hour to prepare.

Complex meals = recipes of 4 ingredients or more, needing 1d4 hours to prepare, and needing more types of cooking equipment to make, hence Cook’s Utensils, or a kitchen, and a heat source.

Simple, and Complex meals are for role playing flavour, and creativity, and other than time period and ingredients, and feeling full, adds no other contributions at this time.

Meal effect and time, with examples

The mod, if applicable, lasts 4 hours, (8 hours with Chef feat),
Effect time is listed on the table.

And you are full for the day.

You can cook meals during a short or long rest of up to 1 hour.
You can cook complex meals at the end of a long rest.

If a new meal is eaten, the 8 hours always restarts.

A meal that gives -1 Athletics, lasts for 8 hours.

If a cook makes (or already has some on their person to give) another meal, and they, and others eat it, the mod if applicable is replaced.

The group eat a meal that gives +2 Perception,
But then some/ all of the group choose to eat the other meal that gives +3 Stealth,
The +3 Stealth replaces the +2 Perception.

If the meal happens to have the same skill, then it is replaced, if the skill has a different numerical mod value, and satiate hunger time is again replenished.

A meal that gives +2 Performance,
And some/ all the group choose to eat another meal that gives +3 Performance,
The +3 Performance, replaces the +2 Performance.
Spoiling

Rations

Jerky and other tough, and long lasting food stuffs don’t spoil.
However meals cooked, the next dawn of the 3rd day, become spoiled and inedible, and hold no mods or worth anymore.

Feeling bloated

If 2 meals have already been consumed within 8 hours,
A Constitution Saving Throw DC 17 is to be rolled if the creature tries to eat a 3rd, 4th meal, and so on.

On a success nothing happens.

And on a fail, the creature is poisoned = “A poisoned creature has disadvantage on Attack rolls and Ability Checks.”, and can not eat anything more until the next dawn.

Standard 5e Rules

Consumption and Starvation

“Food. A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations.
Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food.”

—

“Characters who don’t eat or drink suffer the effects of exhaustion.
Exhaustion caused by lack of food or water can’t be removed until the character eats and drinks the full required amount.

A character needs one pound of food per day and can make food last longer by subsisting on half rations. Eating half a pound of food in a day counts as half a day without food.

A character can go without food for a number of days equal to 3 + his or her Constitution modifier (minimum 1). At the end of each day beyond that limit, a character automatically suffers one level of exhaustion.

A normal day of eating resets the count of days without food to zero.”
Prepare Meals

“Prepare Meals. As part of a short rest, you can prepare a tasty meal that helps your companions regain their strength. 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.”

Chef Feat

“Time and effort spent mastering the culinary arts has paid off.
You gain the following benefits:

Increase your Constitution or Wisdom score by 1, to a maximum of 20.

You gain proficiency with cook’s utensils if you don’t already have it.

As part of a short rest, you can cook special food, provided you have ingredients and cook’s utensils on hand. You can prepare enough of this food for a number of creatures equal to
4 + your proficiency bonus.
At the end of the short rest, any creature who eats the food and spends one or more Hit Dice to regain hit points regains an extra 1d8 hit points.

With one hour of work or when you finish a long rest, you can cook a number of treats equal to your proficiency bonus.

These special treats last 8 hours after being made. A creature can use a bonus action to eat one of those treats to gain temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus.”

Cooking 5e. v2