I have a player that wants to create a new character, which would be a bard with the Chef feat. In particular, they want to combine the restorative abilities of Song of Rest and the Chef feat, so that the party can double-up on the extra healing bonuses during a short rest. For ease of reference, the verbiage for the corresponding parts of these two abilities are as follows:
Song of Rest
Beginning at 2nd level, you can use soothing music or oration to help revitalize your wounded allies during a short rest. If you or any friendly creatures who can hear your performance regain hit points at the end of the short rest by spending one or more Hit Dice, each of those creatures regains an extra 1d6 hit points.
Chef
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.
So, the questions that I have to this proverbial brain pool are:
Is there any reason that these two bonuses couldn't be combined? While delivering similar bonuses, these are two different abilities (i.e., not duplicating Song of Rest). I don't see any reason that one or more characters couldn't gain the benefit from both abilities, right? Or am I missing something that disallows it?
If both abilities are combinable, would a single character with both abilities be able to use them during the same short rest period? While I'm fairly certain about allowing the two bonuses to stack, I am less sure on allowing one character to be able to use both of them at the same time. However, the verbiage on the Chef feat states that it happens as part of a short rest. So would we say that this bardic chef cooked the food and then serenaded them while they are? Or they whistled while they worked on cooking the food?
If both abilities can be used by the same character at the same time per RAW, what are your thoughts/opinions on allowing it? Speaking from a DM standpoint, I'm somewhat on the fence about allowing it. If RAW says all of the above is legit, then I'll probably give them the thumbs up. Curious if anybody else has been playing such a character or maybe more importantly been DM for a group with such a character, since some firsthand experience might help.
Appreciate any additional constructive input anybody has to share.
1) identical game effects don't stack, but similar ones do; I see no reason why these particular abilities would not stack
2) Since there is no defined duration for these abilities other than they last not longer than 1 hour, I'd leave this up to the DM. But if a PC is giving up an ASI for this then there is a tradeoff and I personally would not penalize them for it
3) Feats are optional rules, so as a DM you can exclude them if you want (either some or all).
Ultimately, these abilities make the characters a little hardier, but the extra 1d8 from the feat is really only about 4 HP extra per short rest. It won't help them in combat. I don't see it as that big of a deal.
...Ultimately, these abilities make the characters a little hardier, but the extra 1d8 from the feat is really only about 4 HP extra per short rest. It won't help them in combat. I don't see it as that big of a deal.
This is exactly what I was just thinking! song of rest + chef really only averages about +8 healing on a short rest. Song of rest is already pretty lackluster (imo) and as said earlier, they gave a whole ASI up for chef, so letting the party heal 8 more HP per SR seems perfectly fine with me lol
Thanks for the feedback, everybody! I didn't see any particular rule problems or game breaking aspects for the combination either, but it's helpful to get some extra input on the subject. The proverbial advantage on my investigation check if you will. Thanks again!
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I have a player that wants to create a new character, which would be a bard with the Chef feat. In particular, they want to combine the restorative abilities of Song of Rest and the Chef feat, so that the party can double-up on the extra healing bonuses during a short rest. For ease of reference, the verbiage for the corresponding parts of these two abilities are as follows:
So, the questions that I have to this proverbial brain pool are:
Appreciate any additional constructive input anybody has to share.
1. No, there’s nothing that would prevent this.
2. Yes, both bonuses can apply to the same short rest.
3. I don’t really see any problem with it.
A few thoughts:
1) identical game effects don't stack, but similar ones do; I see no reason why these particular abilities would not stack
2) Since there is no defined duration for these abilities other than they last not longer than 1 hour, I'd leave this up to the DM. But if a PC is giving up an ASI for this then there is a tradeoff and I personally would not penalize them for it
3) Feats are optional rules, so as a DM you can exclude them if you want (either some or all).
Ultimately, these abilities make the characters a little hardier, but the extra 1d8 from the feat is really only about 4 HP extra per short rest. It won't help them in combat. I don't see it as that big of a deal.
This is exactly what I was just thinking! song of rest + chef really only averages about +8 healing on a short rest. Song of rest is already pretty lackluster (imo) and as said earlier, they gave a whole ASI up for chef, so letting the party heal 8 more HP per SR seems perfectly fine with me lol
I don't see a problem with this interaction either.
Thanks for the feedback, everybody! I didn't see any particular rule problems or game breaking aspects for the combination either, but it's helpful to get some extra input on the subject. The proverbial advantage on my investigation check if you will. Thanks again!