The duration a meal remains edible depends on the type of meal made. A feast must be consumed within an hour, a snack lasts for one day, and rations last one month.
The materials for cooking are fresh ingredients and supplies. A fresh ingredient is something you harvest that can increase the quality of your food and sometimes provide supernatural boosts beyond mear satiation. Staples include seasonings, spices, flour, or even turnips! Foods that last awhile can be cooked into perfectly fine meals, but have less benefits than eating a good meal. Some ingredients additionally have the exotic property and may confer special effects.
Like with all aspects, the crafting system does not attempt to provide systematic specific examples, but rather a system that allows you to know the outcome of anything you could cook. For example, a party could acquire 1 common fresh ingredient by harvesting a Hook Horror, and then combine that with 1 common supplies to cook either Hook Turkey Sandwiches or Murder Chicken Tenders, but the benefit from either example would still fall into a Monstrosity Meat Quality Meal category (one step above standard rations.)
Normal Ingredients expire very quickly, and must be used within 24 hours of being harvested or they become unusable. Preserved rations would fall into the staples category and cannot typically be used to cook anything besides basic meals.
The ability to gain any sort of magical benefit is linked to its freshness; even well prepared preserved foods provide only the benefit of a Basic Meal (which is a satisfying and good tasting meal, but its benefits are not otherwise magical.)
Unlike Fresh Ingredients, Staples last significantly longer and do not need to have their expiration tracked for the purposes of this system.
The magical benefits you get consuming rare and magical foods cannot be gained again until 24 hours have passed for any particular food. When combined with the ingredient expiration above, this typically means that any ingredient collected is only good for a single meal; this is intentional. You can harvest more if you wish, but cooking naturally is a profession of fleeting achievement and fickle opportunity.
While standard meals are made from a selection of ingredient types and generally a seasoning, exotic ingredients have specialized effects. When making a meal from these ingredients, the meal's effect is a combination of the effect of the exotic ingredients added.
An Exotic Meal (meal cooked entirely from exotic ingredients) doesn't need a recipe and has a crafting time of 1 hour, and the difficulty is the difficulty of all the exotic ingredients added together, with 1 check needed per exotic ingredient added.
Exotic ingredients can be combined with a standard meal by adding the DC of the standard meal to the combined difficulty of the exotic ingredients added. This can cause unusual meals and frequently has unattainably high difficulty to make it work, as adding random new components to meals typically wrecks the taste.
While the rules present a handful of ways to use cooking for more exotic ends, the most common application of cooking is just to produce an edible meal during a long rest - something any adventuring group would welcome. This is called a Quality Meal and provides greater benefit than rations, though the benefits it provides are not magical, and merely stem from it being a satisfying meal. You can do so by expending 1 fresh ingredient of any type and 1 common supplies to feed up to five allies or willing creatures, or by spending common supplies per creature being cooked for. These materials must have been purchased within the last week. Any creature, even one not proficient with cook's utensils, can take this action.
You and all willing creatures (willing to eat your cooking) regain an additional Hit Die (up to their maximum). If you have proficiency with cook's utensils, creatures regain additional Hit Dice equal to your Proficiency bonus.
Due to the rules on ingredient freshness, typically ingredients cannot be purchased in a way that is relevant for cooking recipes. You can purchase Supplies (of any type) that can be used to make Basic Meals.
| Rarity | Material Price |
|---|---|
| Supplies (Salt, staples, etc) | 1 gp |
| Uncommon supplies (Uncommon spices, oils, rare seeds, etc) | 10 gp |
| Rare supplies (hard to get luxury goods) | 100 gp |
Unlike other things, you can harvest from monsters, as there's little chance of failure in harvesting. There's generally more to harvest than meaningfully used. You can consume Monstrosity, Dragon, Beast, and Plant type creatures for magical benefits. However, your GM may allow other creature types as special delicacies at their discretion.
| Monster CR | Gathered Ingredients |
|---|---|
| 1/4-4 | Common |
| 5-8 | Uncommon |
| 9-12 | Rare |
| 13-16 | Very Rare |
| 16-20 | Legendary |
| Name | Materials | Crafting Time | Checks | Difficulty | Rarity | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Common Feast (Quality Meal) | 1 common fresh ingredient, 1 common supplies | 1 hour | 1 | DC 8 | common | 3 gp |
| Enhancing Feast | 1 uncommon fresh ingredient, 1 uncommon supplies, 2 common supplies | 2 hours | 1 | DC 14 | uncommon | 15 gp |
| Meat Feast | 1 uncommon meat, 1 uncommon supplies, 2 common supplies | 2 hours | 1 | DC 14 | uncommon | 15 gp |
| What Doesn't Kill You… Feast | 1 uncommon meat from a creature that deals poison damage, 2 uncommon poisonous reagents, 1 uncommon supplies, 2 common supplies | 2 hours | 1 | DC 16 | uncommon | 110 gp |
| Seaworthy Bouillabaisse | 1 uncommon meat from a creature with a swimming speed greater than its walking speed, 2 uncommon supplies, 2 common supplies | 2 hours | 1 | DC 12 | uncommon | 25 gp |
| Wondrous Feast | 1 rare fresh ingredient, 1 uncommon reagent (any), 1 rare supplies, 1 uncommon supplies, 2 common supplies | 2 hours | 1 | DC 16 | rare | 150 gp |
| Hearty Meat Feast | 1 rare meat, 1 uncommon reagent (any), 1 rare supplies, 1 uncommon supplies, 2 common supplies | 2 hours | 1 | DC 16 | rare | 150 gp |
| Elementally Fortifying Feast | 1 rare meat from a creature with elemental resistance or immunity, 2 uncommon reactive reagent, 1 common primal essence, 2 rare supplies, 2 uncommon supplies, 2 common supplies | 2 hours | 1 | DC 16 | rare | 325 gp |
| Heroes' Feast | 4 rare curative reagent, 2 uncommon divine essence, 4 rare supplies, 4 supplies | 4 hours | 2 | DC 18 | rare | 1500 gp |
| Superb Feast | 1 very rare fresh ingredient, 1 rare reagent (any), 2 rare supplies, 2 uncommon supplies, 2 common supplies | 4 hours | 2 | DC 18 | very rare | 300 gp |
| Superb Meat Feast | 1 very rare meat, 1 rare reagent (any), 2 rare supplies, 2 uncommon supplies, 2 common supplies | 4 hours | 2 | DC 18 | very rare | 300 gp |
| Legendary Meat Feast | 1 legendary meat, 1 very rare reagent (any), 3 rare supplies, 3 uncommon supplies, 1 common supplies | 6 hours | 3 | DC 20 | legendary | 3000 gp |
| Legendary Feast | 1 legendary fresh ingredient, 1 very rare reagent (any), 3 rare supplies, 3 uncommon supplies, 1 common supplies | 6 hours | 3 | DC 20 | legendary | 3000 gp |
| Name | Materials | Crafting Time | Checks | Difficulty | Rarity | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flame Breathing Jerky x 5 | 1 uncommon or rarer meat from a creature that is immune to fire damage, 2 uncommon reactive reagents, 1 rare supplies | 6 hours | 3 | DC 15 | uncommon | 250 gp |
| Mint Chew x 5 | 2 uncommon curative reagent, 1 uncommon supplies | 4 hours | 2 | DC 14 | uncommon | 100 gp |
| Morph Cookies | 1 ingredient harvested from a shapeshifter, 1 rare supplies, 1 uncommon supplies, 1 common supplies | 2 hours | 2 | DC 15 | uncommon | 125 gp |
| Seeing Sticks x 5 | 1 ingredient from a creature with blindsight or tremorsense, 1 uncommon reactive reagent, 1 rare supplies, 1 common supplies (optional) | 4 hours | 2 | DC 15 | uncommon | 150 gp |
| Quickening Candies x 5 | 1 rare supplies, 2 uncommon supplies, 1 common supplies | 4 hours | 2 | DC 18 | rare | 150 gp |
| Name | Materials | Crafting Time | Checks | Difficulty | Rarity | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Elvish Bread x 10 | 1 uncommon curative reagent, 1 uncommon supplies, 1 common supplies | 6 hours | 3 | DC 15 | uncommon | 60 gp |
| Iron Rations x 10 | 2 common supplies | 1 hour | 1 | DC 8 | common | 2 gp |
Food (feast), common
Up to 5 creatures can consume the feast within an hour of it being prepared. After consuming this hearty meal, you become satiated for the next 24 hours. This is a hearty meal well surpassing the benefits of normal meals or rations, and each creature that consumes it regains an additional Hit Die during the next long rest.
If cooked by a creature with proficiency in cook's utensils, creatures that consume this feast regain additional Hit Dice equal to the cook's proficiency bonus during the next long rest instead.
Enhancing/Wondrous/Superb/Legendary Food (feast), uncommon/rare/very rare/legendary
Up to 5 creatures can consume this feast within an hour of it being prepared. After consuming this hearty meal, you become satiated for the next 24 hours. You gain the benefits for a common feast, but can gain additional benefits by trading in Hit Dice that would be gained as part of your next long rest after consuming this meal. These Hit Dice are consumed after calculating how many you would have after the rest (including the benefits of the feast), but you can trade Hit Dice in this way you would normally lose if you have more than your maximum Hit Dice.
You can trade Hit Dice in this way up to a number equal to your proficiency bonus. The benefits scale based on the rarity of the feast.
Benefits [Uncommon/Rare/Very Rare/Legendary]
| Roll a [d4/d6/d8/d12] per Hit Die traded and gain temporary hit points equal to the value rolled. |
| Trade three Hit Dice for an additional spell slot of [1st/2nd/3rd/4th] level |
| Gain a point that can be expended like Inspiration by trading [5/4/3/2] Hit Dice per point |
Any benefit from a feast fades after 24 hours.
Meat/Hearty/Superb/Legendary Food (feast), uncommon/rare/very rare/legendary
Up to 5 creatures can consume this feast within an hour of it being prepared. After consuming this hearty meal, you become satiated for the next 24 hours. Consuming the essence of a properly prepared creature of great power confers some of its power to you while satiated by the feast.
You can add +1/+2/+3/+4 to ability checks and saving throws of the prepared creature's highest stat (if multiple stats are tied, the cook chooses which when preparing the meal). Alternatively, the cook can bring forth exotic properties of the creature, conferring one trait of the cooked animal to those that consume it as per the following table (this replaces the benefit to ability checks and saves):
| Minimum Rarity | Creature Boon |
|---|---|
| uncommon | Hold Breath, Keen Senses, Pounce, Stone Camouflage |
| rare | Amphibious/Water Breathing, Web Walker |
| very rare | Pack Tactics, Spider Climb |
| legendary | Magic Resistance, Regeneration, Shapechanger (Mimic) |
The details from the creature boon can be found on the creature stat block. The cook must be aware of the creature's property to make the meal imbue that property, and the GM may adjust the property in cases where it would not work for players or be too powerful as written. At the GM's discretion, any ability can be added to this list.
Food (feast), rare
Up to 5 creatures can consume this feast within an hour of it being prepared. After consuming this hearty meal, you become satiated for the next 24 hours. The magical properties of the meal confer the following special benefits:
| Element | Benefit |
|---|---|
| Cold | Advantages on saves against cold climates and resistance to cold damage |
| Fire | Advantage on saves against hot climates and resistance to fire damage |
| Lightning | Advantage on Constitution saving throws against the stunned condition and resistance to lightning damage |
These benefits fade after 24 hours. You can't gain the benefits of another feast until these benefits fade and you are no longer satiated.
Food (feast), uncommon
Up to 5 creatures can consume this feast within an hour of it being prepared. After consuming this hearty meal, you become satiated for the next 24 hours. The magical properties of the meal grant you immunity to sea sickness as well as advantage on Dexterity or Constitution saving throws involving the motion of sea vessels.
Additionally, if you do not have proficiency in Water Vehicles, you can add half your proficiency bonus (rounded down) to any check involving them for the duration.
Food (feast), rare
A magnificent spread of food. Cooking this has the effect of casting the spell heroes' feast, except it's made of real food and not poofed into existence by strange magics.
Food (feast), uncommon
Up to 5 creatures can consume this feast within an hour of it being prepared. After consuming this dubious meal, you gain resistance to poison damage, and gain advantage on saving throws against being poisoned for 24 hours.
If the source of a poison saving throw is the same as the source of the meat or poisonous reagent used to make the feast, the advantage against being poisoned by that creature or effect lasts one week.
Food (snack), uncommon
A tough jerky with exotic flavoring. Very spicy, uncomfortably so. After a creature consumes this snack as an action, they gain the following benefits for the next 10 minutes:
You can eat a number of pieces of this jerky equal to your Constitution modifier per day.
Food (snack), uncommon
A chewy minty candy. You can pop one into your mouth as a bonus action. While being chewed (for up to 10 minutes), you are energized and can ignore the effects of up to 3 levels of Exhaustion for the duration, and can't be put to sleep by magical means.
You can only gain this benefit once per day, after which consuming additional pieces of the candy has no effect until you finish a long rest.
Food (snack), uncommon
Consuming one of these has the effects of casting alter self, however, you can't change the adaptation unless you consume another cookie. This effect doesn't require concentration to maintain, and can be extended by consuming an additional morph cookie.
If the ingredient came from a mimic, you can additionally transform your appearance to creatures with a different basic shape than you, though you remain the same size.
Food (snack), uncommon
A stick of hard, tacky substance. You can pop one into your mouth as a bonus action. While being sucked (for up to 10 minutes), you gain expanded senses and have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks, saving throws against Illusion spells, and Intelligence (Investigation) checks to see through illusions, though because of the bad taste inherent to the formulation, continuing to suck on the seeing stick requires concentration, as if concentrating on a spell.
By using the optional common supplies ingredient, they can be sweetened, granting you advantage on Constitution saving throws to maintain your concentration against spitting them out; this increases the DC of the recipe by 1.
Food (snack), rare
A small hard candy ball, with extreme caffeinated properties. When you pop one of these into your mouth as a bonus action, you are under the effect of haste for 1d4 rounds. You still suffer the normal effect of haste ending when the effect ends.
Food (ration), uncommon
A creature can use its action to eat one bite of this bread (1 ration of it). Eating a piece restores 1 hit point, and the bread provides enough nourishment to sustain a creature for one day.
Food (ration), common
Iron rations refers to field rations involving dried and preserved food. A basic food ration that will keep you from starving for a day after consuming them. Common side effects include a craving for real food after prolonged exposure.