So, I've gone over the food list that a standard tavern might serve in a campaign. I'm wondering if DMs would ever add a temporary boon to your stats if you were to spend more money for things such as the Banquet for one person or a bottle of Fine Wine (each costing 10 GP).
That's not entirely true; fresher, healthier food with a more diverse nutritional base is generally more expensive.
The positive benefits of good food isn't just nutritional, but also psychological; a nicely prepared meal (and thus expensive) would have a positive effect on moral.
That's not entirely true; fresher, healthier food with a more diverse nutritional base is generally more expensive.
Not really. Historically the cheapest food is based on availability. If you can grow potatoes, then potatoes will be cheapest food for you. If your region supports rice instead, then that's cheapest. Eggs will be cheaper than chicken meat because a chicken will keep producing eggs, but you can only eat the chicken once. Beef will be more expensive than pork because it comes from a beast of burden that you'll want to keep until the end of its useful life.
The positive benefits of good food isn't just nutritional, but also psychological; a nicely prepared meal (and thus expensive) would have a positive effect on moral.\
Any good meal will serve that purpose (in fact, XGtE has some optional rules for preparing meals if you're proficient with cook's tools.) Paying top dollar for caviar or some other rare, expensive meal isn't going to do appreciably more than eating some well-prepared comfort food. And depending on how the meal is prepared, you'll be eating worse. Just like in real life, if you use a lot of sugar, butter or fat you'll get something more delicious and less nutritious.
My point is paying 10 times as much as the next guy for food isn't going to make you braver or healthier. If you want to give people benefits for a good meal, it shouldn't be based on how pretentious they decide to be.
Well I think you're viewing this from a very different angle than I am, and that's fine.
My approach was that generally speaking, paying more gets you better quality, fresher, more diverse ingredients, in the broadest sense. A fresh plate of beef, roasted veg, gravy and a bread roll is going to be at least a little bit nutritionally better than some cabbage that's been on the boil all day, a piece of mutton as tough as boot leather and a gritty hunk of bread you can break rocks with.
Also, the former meals is going to make you feel better emotionally, than the latter. Like, a high cost meal doesn't have to be caviar, truffles and patte, I could just be a well made meal made fresh. That's going to do a lot more for self care than something that's been sitting around turning grey for the last 6 hours.
It doesn't have to be something super impactful, like:
I have also seen games where a swig f strong drink can restore some hit points in combat, so you might allow a fine meal to act like a potion of healing.
Have the temp hp be a dice roll instead a set number. D2 up to a D12. Scales up as Dave said, and takes into account the expensive doesn't always equal better that Inquisitive said. (Because an expensive meal could still just give 1 temp hp)
Have it last 24 hours (or else it would just be fancy breakfasts only). Kind of a very scaled down version of the Heroes Feast spell.
XGtE has a section for proficiency in cook's tools that allows for 1 extra hp to be recovered on a short rest if hit dice are used, so hp being affected by non-magical food has some rules basis.
I had a similar question and really couldn't find a good answer online but I have been looking through the books and this is what I have come up with (Note: some of this is my own opinion and not completely based on established rules. But it doesn't contradict anything as far as i can tell. Uses for cooking tools are as described in xgte. Anyone with cook's utensils can use them regardless of proficiency. Proficiency in cooks utensils simply adds proficiency bonus to the DC role.
In xgte the cook's utensils list typical and gourmet foods with (DC 10 and DC 15, respectively). In general, I use the Prepare meals description for the typical foods. Characters without the Chef feat (from tcoe) cannot make gourmet foods. For characters with the Chef feat, Gourmet foods follow the rules of the "special foods" listed in the chef feat in tcoe.
For buying ingredients in a market, I generally say that ingredients for a snack cost 3sp, a typical meal cost 5sp, and a gourmet meal cost 8sp (cost of a modest, comfortable, and wealthy meal respectively in phb). I also, do not allow for the creation of gourmet meals using foraged ingredients, however, snacks (as listed in the chef feat) and typical meals can be crafted from foraged ingredients. Since players cannot forage for ingredients for gourmet meals, anyone planning to cook gourmet meals during a short or long rest (such as while traveling or in a dungeon) will need to purchase ingredients from a merchant beforehand.
I don't know having a mechanical effect on food is really worth calculating outside of maybe exhaustion mechanics tied into malnutrition. "Eating well" can mean eating healthy, but "feasts" lean (so to speak) more connotatively to excess or decadence. If anything if one was to attain a giant banquet, especially with a lot of wine, I might impose disadvantage because of poisoned conditions, following Epicurus's warning about indulging too much.
I'd say "eating well" in D&D would be more a role playing opportunity. The well to do may be curious about you recognzing the adventurer as a potential peer or someone trying to eat above their station. Other may find the adventurer the D&D equivalent of bougie. And still others may recognize in the adventurers' spending a "mark" and may encourage their peers in the kitchen to amp up the plying with wine or lace the wine with some substance that will give the observer an advantage when planning for robbery. This doesn't apply to meals produced by magics, unless the spell casting is also a magic show seen by others not participating in the meal.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
One of the main design goals of 5e was to do away with little fiddly bonuses like this, so that's why you don't see anything official. In my experience a system like this is a lot of fun to design but ultimately results in more bookkeeping and distraction form adventuring than it's worth once you try it out.
A Skilled Hireling gets 2 gold a day. Take a given Lifestyle cost per day and use that to figure a rough guess at how well your character is eating. It has no game effect, so it's not like it matters
Wretched - you may be starving
-
Squalid - you get just barely enough to get by
1 sp your groceries will need to last you 20 days, it's mostly bread and water.
Poor - you get simple food
2 sp your groceries will need to last you 10 days, it's got the occasional treat and mostly bread and water
Modest - you eat ordinary food
1 gp you need groceries every couple days, you'll get fruit juice, ale or wine
Comfortable - you eat well
2 gp you have enough food on hand all the time, and you'll have a stock of treats as well as juices, ales, decent wines or hard liquor
Wealthy - you eat good food
4 gp someone gets food for you when you want it, and you;ll get fancy stuff, fine wines, rare fruit juices, and exotic liquor
Aristocratic - you get gourmet food
10 gp minimum gets someone to buy treats and serve them, or cater a party with good food, and just about anything they want to drink with it
The benefit of eating is continuing to live, so at what point does food exceed that benefit and grant “extra”? And at what point is your living situation a detriment beaded on lack of enough food? Honestly if you eat too much gourmet food you are like to have more health problems than the “standard” person, at least historically in the times normally associated with D&D.
Just as a note, 10 days of Rations costs 5 silver, contains jerky, dried fruit, hardtack, and nuts, and I'd call that simple food at best. Personally, I think the Hardtack tastes wretched, I'd have to be staring to eat that stuff.
Rations don’t have to include hardtack. Rations could also include dried beans, corn flour and lard. That would make beans and tortillas. Bacon or other salt pork products. Other versions may instead contain salt cod, anchovies, or sardines. Another possibility could be dried mushrooms. And don’t forget that “dried fruit” can include dried apples, raisins, dates, sun-dried tomatoes, chilies, or a variety of other preserved fruits. Likely also cheeses like blue or feta, or even fryer cheese like parmesan, or caciocavallo. (That last one named after saddlebags.) Many cheese molds are not only safe to eat, but also nutritious. Cheeses would also supply needed salt in a diet.
Rations could also include tea, ephedrine, or even chicory coffee.
And as Honey is not only something that would last indefinitely without going bad, it’s also a natural antiseptic good at preventing wounds from getting infected, and as a natural little pick-me-up. The sugars would help as a quick energy boost, and the sweet flavor would act as an emotional boost, something sought after in survival foods.
I was just thinking this. I realize the thread started before the chef feat existed, but now that it’s here, I’d be hesitant to give much of a bonus for a meal, so you don’t give away part of a feat for free.
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So, I've gone over the food list that a standard tavern might serve in a campaign. I'm wondering if DMs would ever add a temporary boon to your stats if you were to spend more money for things such as the Banquet for one person or a bottle of Fine Wine (each costing 10 GP).
I'm not sure where, but I recall reading (in a book) a suggestion to give characters inspiration after fine dining.
You could award temp hit points based on the quality of the meal? That's a fairly low impact bonus
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Based on cost? Nah. The nutritional value of food isn't related to how expensive it is.
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Not really. Historically the cheapest food is based on availability. If you can grow potatoes, then potatoes will be cheapest food for you. If your region supports rice instead, then that's cheapest. Eggs will be cheaper than chicken meat because a chicken will keep producing eggs, but you can only eat the chicken once. Beef will be more expensive than pork because it comes from a beast of burden that you'll want to keep until the end of its useful life.
Any good meal will serve that purpose (in fact, XGtE has some optional rules for preparing meals if you're proficient with cook's tools.) Paying top dollar for caviar or some other rare, expensive meal isn't going to do appreciably more than eating some well-prepared comfort food. And depending on how the meal is prepared, you'll be eating worse. Just like in real life, if you use a lot of sugar, butter or fat you'll get something more delicious and less nutritious.
My point is paying 10 times as much as the next guy for food isn't going to make you braver or healthier. If you want to give people benefits for a good meal, it shouldn't be based on how pretentious they decide to be.
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Normal food, no. But maybe that fancy cake has a little something extra in it.
"Not all those who wander are lost"
Well I think you're viewing this from a very different angle than I am, and that's fine.
My approach was that generally speaking, paying more gets you better quality, fresher, more diverse ingredients, in the broadest sense. A fresh plate of beef, roasted veg, gravy and a bread roll is going to be at least a little bit nutritionally better than some cabbage that's been on the boil all day, a piece of mutton as tough as boot leather and a gritty hunk of bread you can break rocks with.
Also, the former meals is going to make you feel better emotionally, than the latter. Like, a high cost meal doesn't have to be caviar, truffles and patte, I could just be a well made meal made fresh. That's going to do a lot more for self care than something that's been sitting around turning grey for the last 6 hours.
It doesn't have to be something super impactful, like:
Or whatever scale fits.
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Inspiration would be good.
I have also seen games where a swig f strong drink can restore some hit points in combat, so you might allow a fine meal to act like a potion of healing.
Inspiration is good, although it doesn't scale with the meal type
Potion of healing might be a bit moot; if you've got the time to have a nice meal, you've probably got the time to have a long rest.
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Have the temp hp be a dice roll instead a set number. D2 up to a D12. Scales up as Dave said, and takes into account the expensive doesn't always equal better that Inquisitive said. (Because an expensive meal could still just give 1 temp hp)
Have it last 24 hours (or else it would just be fancy breakfasts only). Kind of a very scaled down version of the Heroes Feast spell.
XGtE has a section for proficiency in cook's tools that allows for 1 extra hp to be recovered on a short rest if hit dice are used, so hp being affected by non-magical food has some rules basis.
I had a similar question and really couldn't find a good answer online but I have been looking through the books and this is what I have come up with (Note: some of this is my own opinion and not completely based on established rules. But it doesn't contradict anything as far as i can tell. Uses for cooking tools are as described in xgte. Anyone with cook's utensils can use them regardless of proficiency. Proficiency in cooks utensils simply adds proficiency bonus to the DC role.
In xgte the cook's utensils list typical and gourmet foods with (DC 10 and DC 15, respectively). In general, I use the Prepare meals description for the typical foods. Characters without the Chef feat (from tcoe) cannot make gourmet foods. For characters with the Chef feat, Gourmet foods follow the rules of the "special foods" listed in the chef feat in tcoe.
For buying ingredients in a market, I generally say that ingredients for a snack cost 3sp, a typical meal cost 5sp, and a gourmet meal cost 8sp (cost of a modest, comfortable, and wealthy meal respectively in phb). I also, do not allow for the creation of gourmet meals using foraged ingredients, however, snacks (as listed in the chef feat) and typical meals can be crafted from foraged ingredients. Since players cannot forage for ingredients for gourmet meals, anyone planning to cook gourmet meals during a short or long rest (such as while traveling or in a dungeon) will need to purchase ingredients from a merchant beforehand.
I don't know having a mechanical effect on food is really worth calculating outside of maybe exhaustion mechanics tied into malnutrition. "Eating well" can mean eating healthy, but "feasts" lean (so to speak) more connotatively to excess or decadence. If anything if one was to attain a giant banquet, especially with a lot of wine, I might impose disadvantage because of poisoned conditions, following Epicurus's warning about indulging too much.
I'd say "eating well" in D&D would be more a role playing opportunity. The well to do may be curious about you recognzing the adventurer as a potential peer or someone trying to eat above their station. Other may find the adventurer the D&D equivalent of bougie. And still others may recognize in the adventurers' spending a "mark" and may encourage their peers in the kitchen to amp up the plying with wine or lace the wine with some substance that will give the observer an advantage when planning for robbery. This doesn't apply to meals produced by magics, unless the spell casting is also a magic show seen by others not participating in the meal.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
One of the main design goals of 5e was to do away with little fiddly bonuses like this, so that's why you don't see anything official. In my experience a system like this is a lot of fun to design but ultimately results in more bookkeeping and distraction form adventuring than it's worth once you try it out.
My homebrew subclasses (full list here)
(Artificer) Swordmage | Glasswright | (Barbarian) Path of the Savage Embrace
(Bard) College of Dance | (Fighter) Warlord | Cannoneer
(Monk) Way of the Elements | (Ranger) Blade Dancer
(Rogue) DaggerMaster | Inquisitor | (Sorcerer) Riftwalker | Spellfist
(Warlock) The Swarm
A Skilled Hireling gets 2 gold a day. Take a given Lifestyle cost per day and use that to figure a rough guess at how well your character is eating. It has no game effect, so it's not like it matters
<Insert clever signature here>
The benefit of eating is continuing to live, so at what point does food exceed that benefit and grant “extra”? And at what point is your living situation a detriment beaded on lack of enough food? Honestly if you eat too much gourmet food you are like to have more health problems than the “standard” person, at least historically in the times normally associated with D&D.
Just as a note, 10 days of Rations costs 5 silver, contains jerky, dried fruit, hardtack, and nuts, and I'd call that simple food at best. Personally, I think the Hardtack tastes wretched, I'd have to be staring to eat that stuff.
<Insert clever signature here>
Rations don’t have to include hardtack. Rations could also include dried beans, corn flour and lard. That would make beans and tortillas. Bacon or other salt pork products. Other versions may instead contain salt cod, anchovies, or sardines. Another possibility could be dried mushrooms. And don’t forget that “dried fruit” can include dried apples, raisins, dates, sun-dried tomatoes, chilies, or a variety of other preserved fruits. Likely also cheeses like blue or feta, or even fryer cheese like parmesan, or caciocavallo. (That last one named after saddlebags.) Many cheese molds are not only safe to eat, but also nutritious. Cheeses would also supply needed salt in a diet.
Rations could also include tea, ephedrine, or even chicory coffee.
And as Honey is not only something that would last indefinitely without going bad, it’s also a natural antiseptic good at preventing wounds from getting infected, and as a natural little pick-me-up. The sugars would help as a quick energy boost, and the sweet flavor would act as an emotional boost, something sought after in survival foods.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
The Chef feat provides food with benefits.
Canto alla vita
alla sua bellezza
ad ogni sua ferita
ogni sua carezza!
I sing to life and to its tragic beauty
To pain and to strife, but all that dances through me
The rise and the fall, I've lived through it all!
I was just thinking this. I realize the thread started before the chef feat existed, but now that it’s here, I’d be hesitant to give much of a bonus for a meal, so you don’t give away part of a feat for free.