A few months ago, I proposed a wild idea: Dungeons & Dragons – except you cook what you kill. After a little tinkering, I’m happy to report that my mechanics for cooking in D&D are now widely available.
There aren’t always easy-baked ways for players to collaboratively role-play in every Dungeons & Dragons game. Cooking is a great way for players to goof off after a long day of very serious saving-the-world or, alternatively, give purpose to the average combat encounter. In a recent homebrew campaign, I asked players to find a dungeon’s two largest monsters, make them fight each other and cook up the survivor to a judge’s liking.
Here is a link to my cooking mechanics, which are are up on D&D‘s Dungeon Masters Guild, a site where players post their homebrew adventures, rules and the like.
I offer suggestions on how dungeon masters can incorporate cooking into their game and look at their campaign setting through a culinary lens. Also, I explain how players can forage for ingredients in the process of an average adventure.
When it comes to actually frying up some mandrake tempura, cooking works in three parts that depend on different skill checks: prep (Dexterity or Wisdom), execution (Intelligence or Strength) and plating (Charisma and Constitution). Two skill checks are listed per stage-of-cooking so any character can get involved. Check them out and let me know what you think!
Full disclosure: There isn’t an option for “do not pay me” on the Dungeon Masters Guild, so the price is “pay what you want” with a suggested price of free. Wizards of the Coast, who I write about, takes a cut of what’s purchased on the site, FYI.
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2 responses to “How To Cook In Dungeons & Dragons”
LOL in Pathfinder I already have a character named Kwong who has the Profession: Chef and Profession: Forager skills. He uses his Knowledge: Nature to discern the best locations for finding the finest ingredients. He opened a brothel / restaurant and serves delectable dishes of several varieties to the gentrified classes 😉
My party is in the Underdark. Crispy Skin Drow anyone?
The hardcover D&D book, Dreadmire, has all sorts of exotic menu items listed.