Chef
The Chef
| Level | Proficiency Bonus | Features | Master's Tools |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | +2 | A Master's Tools, Forager, Short Order | d4 |
| 2nd | +2 | Culinary Spirit | d4 |
| 3rd | +2 | Chef Specialization | d4 |
| 4th | +2 | Ability Score Improvement | d4 |
| 5th | +3 | ─ | d6 |
| 6th | +3 | Chef Specialization feature | d6 |
| 7th | +3 | Ancient Culinary Arts | d6 |
| 8th | +3 | Ability Score Improvement | d6 |
| 9th | +4 | ─ | d8 |
| 10th | +4 | Chef Specialization feature | d8 |
| 11th | +4 | ─ | d8 |
| 12th | +4 | Ability Score Improvement | d8 |
| 13th | +5 | ─ | d10 |
| 14th | +5 | Chef Specialization feature | d10 |
| 15th | +5 | ─ | d10 |
| 16th | +5 | Ability Score Improvement | d10 |
| 17th | +6 | ─ | 1d12 |
| 18th | +6 | ─ | 1d12 |
| 19th | +6 | Ability Score Improvement | 1d12 |
| 20th | +6 | Twin-Souled Food | 1d12 |
Class Features
As a chef, you gain the following class features.
Hit Points
- Hit Dice: 1d8 per chef level
- Hit Points at 1st Level: 8 + your Constitution modifier
- Hit Points at Higher Levels: 1d8 (or 5) + your Constitution modifier per chef level after 1st
Proficiencies
- Armor: Light armor
- Weapons: Simple weapons, improvised weapons
- Tools: Cook's utensils
- Saving Throws: Intelligence, Wisdom
- Skills: Choose two from the following list: Arcana, Insight, History, Medicine, Nature, and Survival.
Equipment
You start with the following equipment, in addition to the equipment granted by your background:
- (a) Four knives or (b) any simple weapon
- (a) Two cleavers or (b) a light crossbow and 20 bolts
- An explorer's pack, cook's utensils, and an extra two days of rations in a bag
A Master's Tools
As a combat chef, you have learned many different ways to use your cook's tools. You can treat cook's utensils as ranged weapons. The damage type depends on the item; knives do slashing and pans or blunt objects do bludgeoning, for example. The damage of these improvised attacks is determined by your Chef level, as seen in your class table. You are proficient in these weapons. These objects have a range of 20/60.
Forager
You are able to forage for food. During a short or long rest, you can attempt to forage for food by making a DC 10 Survival check (if your DM rules there is not much food available, the DC rises to 15). For every 2 points you beat the check by, you obtain 1 ingredient. You can hold a maximum number of ingredients equal to 10 + your Strength score at any one time. If you do not use the ingredients by your next long rest, they are past their prime and no longer allow you to use them for dishes.
Short Order
During a short rest, you can spend two or more ingredients of the same flavor type (see below) in order to create a simple meal. You can create a number of these simple meals per short rest equal to your Wisdom modifier. Someone holding the meal can spend a bonus action to eat it or feed it to an adjacent ally and gain the appropriate effect:
- Bitter: If you hit with a weapon or spell attack on this turn, your target takes an extra 1d4 necrotic damage. This increases to 2d4 at 5th level, 3d4 at 11th level, and 4d4 at 17th level.
- Cool: A coating of ice forms around your body. You gain a +1 to AC until the start of your next turn. This increases to +2 at 5th level, +3 at 11th level, and +4 at 17th level.
- Salty: Your hand or one weapon you are holding gains a crystalline coating for this turn. Any attack you make with it this turn does an extra 1d6 slashing damage on a hit. This increases to 2d6 at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 17th level.
- Sour: You gain a +1 to attack and damage rolls this turn. This increases to +2 at 5th level, +3 at 11th level, and +4 at 17th level.
- Spicy: You spit out a small fireball at a target within 60 feet. Use your Dexterity modifier for this attack. On a hit, the target takes 1d8 fire damage. This increases to 2d8 at 5th level, 3d8 at 11th level, and 4d8 at 17th level.
- Sweet: You heal for 1d6 hit points. This increases to 2d6 at 5th level, 3d6 at 11th level, and 4d6 at 17th level.
- Umami: You get a +1 bonus to your next saving throw. This bonus increases to +2 at 5th level, +3 at 11th level, and +4 at 17th level.
Once someone has consumed a simple meal, they cannot benefit from the same one again until they take a short rest.
Culinary Spirit
Starting at 2nd level, the chef has really and truly devoted themselves to the culinary arts. By this point in their careers, they have already developed a signature dish, an item of food that allows other chefs to recognize them. But for these chefs in particular, their devotion to their craft has led them to discover ancient secrets that have long since been forgotten. They have developed a Culinary Spirit, which is their signature dish given a spiritual form, lending its energy to the Chef in combat. For a full description of how this works, see the end of the class description.
Chef Specialization
At 3rd level, you become a more specialized chef than others. You realize that being a generalized chef isn't necessarily the best option in your line of work, so you choose one of the following Specializations: The Iron Chef, the Master Chef, or the Cutthroat Chef. These options are detailed at the end of the class description, and grant you features when you select them as well as at 6th, 10th, and 14th level.
Ability Score Increase
When you reach 4th level, and again at 8th, 12th, 16th, and 19th level, you can increase one ability score of your choice by 2, or you can increase two ability scores of your choice by 1. As normal, you can't increase an ability score above 20 using this feature.
Ancient Culinary Arts
Starting at 7th level, attacks with your Master's Tools, as well as the effects of your simple meals and recipes, count as magical for the purpose of overcoming resistance and immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
Tool Specializations
Starting at 11th level, you have learned a number of unique techniques to use with your Master's Tools. When attacking with one of those weapons, you can choose to apply one of the following special benefits depending on the damage type:
- Slashing: The target's speed is reduced by 15 feet until the end of its next turn.
- Piercing: The target takes an extra 1d8 piercing damage.
- Bludgeoning: The target must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 8+your Wisdom modifier + your proficiency bonus) or be stunned until the end of its next turn.
Once you use one of these techniques, you can't use the same one again until you take a short rest.
Twin-Souled Food
At level 20, you have reached the pinnacle of your craft. You are known across the realm, and you have the dishes to back up your reputation. At 20th level, you craft a second Signature Dish and recieve a second Culinary Spirit from it. It must be of the type you did not select for your first spirit (for example, if you picked Short-Range this one must be Long-Range) and must have a different Primary Flavor.
Chef Specializations
Iron Chef
A chef that has discovered that food tastes best on the battlefield, and has taken up the art of war.
Bonus Proficiencies
At 3rd level, you gain proficiency in medium armor, shields, and martial weapons.
Fortified Rations
Beginning at 3rd level, you are able to add an extra ingredient type to your simple meals: metallic. You can shave small amounts of metal powder into your cooking. Not enough to make the food inedible, but enough to fortify it. When you do so, the simple meal gains the following effect:
- You gain resistance to slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning damage until you are dealt one of those damage types.
Once a creature has benefited from a fortified meal this way, they cannot benefit again until they finish a short rest.
Extra Attack
Starting at 6th level, you can attack twice, instead of once, whenever you take the Attack action on your turn.
Combat Chef
Starting at 10th level, your ability to maintain calm on the battlefield transfers to your cooking ability. If you move at least half your speed on your turn, you can spend an action to grab random pieces of plant life and such on your way and prepare it on the fly into a simple meal. This simple meal's effects are halved.
Rapid Mincing
Starting at 14th level, you are a master of chopping things up into fine pieces. Whenever you score a critical hit with an attack, you can immediately make an additional attack as a free action against the same target. If that attack is also a critical hit, you may do so again and repeat until you do not score a critical hit. Once you use this ability, you must take a short rest to do so again.
Master Chef
A chef that has mastered the art of taste. They have tapped into the true power of their Culinary Spirit, being able to make anything into a dish.
Culinary Versatility
Starting when you choose this option at 3rd level, you are able to combine a wide variety of flavors into a single meal. When you make a simple meal, you are able to use two ingredients of different flavor types, but if you do the dice you roll are halved or the bonus you get is halved.
Curative Concoctions
Starting at 6th level, you can use water or another liquid as an ingredient in a simple meal to create potions. The effect of the potion depends on the flavor type of the non-liquid ingredient:
- Bitter: You are cured of one disease afflicting you.
- Cool: You can resist the effects of extreme cold until you take a short rest.
- Salty: You can breathe underwater for the next 4 hours.
- Sour: You are cured of one poison affecting you.
- Spicy: You can resist the effects of extreme heat until you take a short rest.
- Sweet: You are cured of one ongoing condition affecting you.
- Umami: You are healed for 2d8 hit points. This increases to 3d8 at 11th level and 4d8 at 17th level.
Cooking with Fire
At 10th level, you have obtained some arcane recipes. You learn the prestidigitation, mending, and produce flame cantrips, as well as the spells purify food and drink, create or destroy water, detect poison and disease, and goodberry. Berries created by goodberry count as either sour or bitter ingredients for your simple meals, recipes or concoctions. Once you cast a spell that isn't a cantrip using this feature, you can't do so again until you take a long rest.
Nutritional Value
Starting at 14th level, whenever an ally consumes one of your simple meals, they gain 4d6 temporary hit points. You gain half this many temporary hit points.
Cutthroat Chef
A chef who will stop at nothing to acquire the best ingredients, and also one who is able to serve enemies dishes that will cause them demise.
Harvest
While regular chefs are content to use whatever ingredients they find laying around in nature, or perhaps buy from a store, you are not satisfied with just these. You hunger for more, and so you resort to more... "primitive" collection methods.
Starting when you take this specialization at 3rd level, after combat you can spend a minute or two collecting ingredients from slain enemies. The flavor of these ingredients varies depending on the type of enemy, and is completely up to the DM's discretion as to whether the ingredient would even be safe to eat, even after being cooked. Some creatures, such as elementals and other beings whose bodies are not made of flesh, plant life, or similar material, cannot be collected from. Again, this is up to the DM's discretion.
If you use an ingredient so collected in a simple meal, any creature that ingests the meal and shares a species with one of the ingedients must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier) or become poisoned.
Tendon Slash
Starting at 6th level, you are able to use your tools with expert precision. Whenever you make an attack with your Master's Tools that deals slashing damage, the target must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC the same as for Harvest) or fall prone.
Rushed Ingredients
Starting at 10th level, you can acquire new ingredients on the fly, similar to the Iron Chef, but your ingredients are more... substantial. Whenever you deal slashing damage to a creature, you can collect an ingredient from them as part of that attack. This ingredient works identically to one procured by your Harvest feature.
Food Poisoning
Starting at 14th level, you are able to specially prepare meals made to hamper your enemies. You can use your action to force-feed a simple meal to an enemy within 5 feet of you. Doing so causes them to suffer the opposite effect of the simple meal (bonuses turn into penalties, damage is dealt to them instead, healing becomes damage). Once an enemy has suffered the effect of one simple meal, it cannot suffer that effect again until they take a short rest.
Culinary Spirits
Culinary Spirits are physical manifestations of a chef's signature dish, created by ancient magical power. They are controlled by the chef's will to fight at his side.
Appearance
Culinary Spirits can be of any shape or form. However, the color of an individual’s Culinary Spirit is that of their signature dish. In some cases, the Spirit also takes the texture of this dish as well. This appearance is decided at 1st level and cannot be changed, unless the Chef undergoes a significant personality change or changes his recipe drastically.
Statistics
Culinary Spirits have seven base statistics: Bitterness, Coolness, Saltiness, Sourness, Spiciness, Sweetness, and Umami.
To determine each of these statistics, consult with the Dungeon Master as to the ratings of the Chef’s signature dish. Each statistic is measured on a scale from 0 to 10, with 0 being the lowest and 10 being the highest. The base statistic that has the highest score is considered the “Primary Flavor” of the Spirit. If it is a tie, choose one. Umami cannot be a primary flavor.
Bitterness, Coolness, Saltiness, Sourness, Spiciness, and Sweetness each correspond to a damage type. A Spirit’s Primary Flavor determines the damage type of its attacks.
- Bitterness: Slashing damage.
- Coolness: Cold damage.
- Saltiness: Lightning damage.
- Sourness: Acid damage.
- Spiciness: Fire damage.
- Sweetness: Radiant damage.
However, each flavor also carries a distinct weakness to it. If a Spirit is hit by the damage type that is the weakness of its Primary Flavor, its special abilities are suppressed for one round.
- Bitterness: Bludgeoning damage.
- Coolness: Fire damage.
- Saltiness: Thunder damage.
- Sourness: Radiant damage.
- Spiciness: Cold damage.
- Sweetness: Acid damage.
Umami is a bit of a different statistic. For each point of Umami you possess, you can choose a Special Ability for your Spirit. For example, if you have a point of Umami, and also three or more points of Spiciness, you can unlock the Spicy Meatball ability, which allows your Spirit to cast a Flaming Sphere once per long rest. Of course, there is no "master list" of abilities; work with your DM to create abilities you think would fit your Culinary Spirit the best.
Changing Statistics
Statistics for a dish and therefore for a Spirit don’t really change all that much unless the recipe itself changes. If the Chef incorporates a new ingredient into a dish, for example, then the statistics might change. If the statistics change so much that the Primary Flavor changes, consider reworking the entire Spirit from the ground up to give it a completely new set of abilities.
Combat Mechanics
When you create a Culinary Spirit, decide if it is to be a short-ranged Spirit or a long-ranged Spirit.
The following rules apply for all Spirits:
- The Spirit's damage type is that of its Primary Flavor.
- If a Spirit takes damage of its Primary Flavor's weakness, it loses all special abilities until the end of its next turn.
- The Spirit can be manifested as a bonus action on your turn. When you do, roll an initiative count for it, using your initiative bonus. It acts based on your commands on its turn.
- If your Spirit is manifested, you can use another bonus action to have it un-manifest.
- If a Spirit is manifested, anyone can see it and interact with it (e.g. attacking it); in addition, a Spirit must be manifested to attack or use its special abilities. However, if the spirit is un-manifested, it becomes incorporeal and only those who can see invisible things can see it.
- You can sense things through your Spirit's senses if you wish to.
- If you have your Spirit make a skill check, for example seeing through its eyes with Perception or having it pick a lock, you use your own skill bonus for the skill.
- When a Spirit runs out of hit points, it forcibly un-manifests and can't be re-manifested until you take a short rest.
The following rules apply for short-ranged Spirits:
- The Spirit's AC is 10 + your proficiency bonus + half the points of the Primary Flavor.
- The Spirit's attack bonus is equal to your proficiency bonus + half the points of the Primary Flavor, any saving throws it requires have a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + half the points of the Primary Flavor.
- The Spirit's attack, if it has a range, has a range of 10/30, and regardless deals 1d8 points of damage for every two levels of Chef you possess.
- The Spirit has hit points equal to 10 + the points of the Primary Flavor. Whenever you level up, the Spirit gains an additional 1d10 (or 6) hit points.
- The Spirit has a movement speed of 20 feet, and can't move to a point more than 20 feet away from you.
The following rules apply for long-ranged Spirits:
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The Spirit's AC is 10 + half the points of the Primary Flavor.
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The Spirit's attack bonus is equal to half the points of the Primary Flavor, any saving throws it requires have a DC of 8 + half the points of the Primary Flavor.
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The Spirit's attack, if it has a range, has a range of 20/60, and regardless deals 1d6 points of damage for every two levels of Chef you possess.
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The Spirit has hit points equal to 8 + the points of the Primary Flavor. Whenever you level up, the Spirit gains an additional 1d8 (or 5) hit points.
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The Spirit has a movement speed of 30 feet, and can't move to a point more than 100 feet away from you.