TL:DR - I went down the rabbit hole a bit too far and created a character that could potentially become a disturbing borderline cannibal relative of Samwise Gamgee who goes on a carnivorous cooking adventure.
I'm completely new to tabletop D&D and recently decided to try it out. I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3 recently as a LOTR themed group of hobbits cast from Middle Earth into an unfamiliar world. As a result I thought I'd create a LOTR themed character, but avoid going for a title-character or something too generic (like a ranger form the north or fighter from gondor etc.
When looking at character backstories for RPG games, particularly those with plentiful combat, I need a character to have more than a token reason to explain why they are out adventuring in a dangerous world, otherwise I struggle to find them engaging. As a result the characters I make often end up having some form of martial or magically educated background, to explain their talents and commitment to face danger head on during their travels, but I wanted to figure out something a bit different.
After perhaps a few too many drinks yesterday xD, a character idea formed in my head about playing a decendent of Samwise Gamgee embarking on an altogether more culinary adventure, where engaging in combat is not for violent or idealistic reasons, or even just for self-preservation, but to find the rarest and most exotic meats to prepare into a life-changingly delicious meal.
Below I take you on the hopefully entertaining, possibly intriguing, and probably concerning adventure that is the creation of my halfling character Hamfast Gamgee, son of Samwise.
Name: Hamfast Gamgee Race: Lightfoot Halfling Background: Child of a local legend Dwarvish, Elvish, Sleight of Hand, Insight You are one of Samwise Gamgee's thirteen children. After years of hearing him prattling on about Frodo this and Rings of Power that, you've had enough. It's time for your own adventure. At least his stories taught you a few useful tips and skills that should help you on your way. A little goodwill from those who have heard of your father's exploits also won't go amiss. Feature: Rustic Hospitality Since you come from the ranks of the common folk, you fit in among them with ease. You can find a place to hide, rest, or recuperate among other commoners, unless you have shown yourself to be a danger to them. They will shield you from the law or anyone else searching for you, though they will not risk their lives for you. Personality Traits: The first thing I do in a new place is note the locations of everything edible. If I smell something delicious, few people can stop me from having a taste. Ideals: I’m loyal to my friends, not to any ideals, but more importantly, I'm loyal to my stomach. (Neutral) Bonds: I will become the greatest chef that ever lived. Flaws: I love it when a plan comes together! So it's a pity I tend to forget the plan in the heat of the moment, particularly on an empty stomach. Backstory: "Boil'em, Mash'em, Stick'em in a Stew" your pa once said. He was referring to "Po-tay-toes" of course, but you took it to heart and ever since you've been searching for the most exotic and delectable meats to create the finest stew ever made. Once per short rest the player may roll to harvest a dead creature for meat and useful materials. The DM uses their discretion as to what dice the player rolls, selected from 1d4, 1d8, 1d12 and 1d20, based on how rare or exotic the player's character race would consider the creature species. 1-2 - harvesting is botched, yielding no rations or useful materials. 3-6 - harvesting yields 1 ration. 7-10 - harvesting yields 2 rations and 1 appropriate material. 11-15 - harvesting yields 3 rations and 2 appropriate materials. 16-20 - harvesting yields 4 rations, 3 appropriate materials and 1 delicious ingredient. After gathering 3 delicious ingredients the player may prepare two portions of delicious stew at long rest. If consumed outside of combat, each portion of delicious stew gives the effects of a short rest to the player and a permanent custom skill "Connoisseur", if they do not already have it. If consumed within combat (requires an action), it heals the player for 30% of their maximum HP but does not grant the Connoisseur custom skill, as you cannot truly savour it's grandeur during combat. Harvesting the species of any party members or any other humanoid species with an intelligence above 8 grants the player disadvantage on charisma rolls until after the next long rest, as you give off a vaguely cannabalistic vibe for a time.
Custom Skill: Connoisseur Stat: Con Proficiency: Expertise Description: You are an expert in the harvesting and preparing of fine food. You can skilfully harvest meat from a dead creature using any sharp implement and just a quick flick of the wrist. It also usually takes you no more than a passing glance at nearby food or drink to identify if there is any hint of spoilage, poison or disease. Consuming untainted cooked meat provides +2HP in addition to any other effect it would naturally provide.
Thought process for the backstory mechanic and custom skill:
Early/low level combat would generally involve creatures perceived by the player's character race as relatively mundane. Ie. similar humanoid species, basic beasts etc, nothing too exotic or powerful. The mechanic would therefore only really give potential for a few free rations early on, so nothing too impactful.
As the story progresses and players level up, rarer and more exotic creatures may be encountered. Creatures of middling rarities or exotic appeal would open up the possibility of also gaining a few ingredients, which could be used as spell materials or soley for RP purposes. (DM discretion of course that the ingredient suggested for harvesting are logical based on the creature, to avoid the party being able to spam any more powerful spells that need creature or plant (from plant-based creatures) materials.
Eventually if very rare or exotic creatures are encountered and successfully defeated, the d20 dice opens the possibility of getting a 16+ roll to harvest delicious ingredients in order to cook the coveted stew.
The custom skill gained from the stew is partly adding RP as a skilled butcher-chef and part passive perception for disease/poison on food. Nothing massively impactful but depending on the story being played may have the occasional situational and interesting/funny repurcussions (ie. being able to tell a cup of wine being given to the king is poisoned and deciding whether to tell him or now O_o, getting cheaper stuff from a friendly cook as they can tell you are a pro :D, or your paladin party member becoming inconveniently violent in a public place when you identify the market butcher is killing local poor children by deliberately donating tainted meat to the local orphanage :O
As a situational negative I added the temporary disadvantage to charisma rolls under the stated circumstances, as clearly your party or NPCs in the local area are going to look at you in disgust if you have a habit of slicing up and making rations out of the same or similarly intelligent humanoid races as them. As I'd also be playing a relatively low charisma character in the first place, this could lead to some really gnarly low charisma rolls in risky skill checks, like if you've recently butchered a goblin for dinner and are then chatting away with the local Goblin Chieftain with a whiff of braised goblin on your breath or something :P
Honestly I've no idea if this would work within normal D&D session, need prior discussion and DM discretion to alter and work it in, or if adding a mechanic like this to a backstory plus a custom skill to attain would need to involve homebrewing. As I said at the start, I'm completely new to this!
If you read this far (seriously, why?!) thank you for your time and interest, apologies if you now feel uncomfortable, and happy adventuring.
Constructive throughts (or prayers) are welcome :)
The backstory minus the harvesting and skill etc is fine. The harvesting itself is really part of the survival skill and would probably represent a variant on expertise with it. The connoisseur skill would have to be approved by your DM although it does look interesting.
Thanks for the feedback! I figured the harvesting and custom skill bits would need to be discussed with the DM beforehand to agree if it was agreeable and how best to implement it.
Sounds like I could cut out all that harvesting dice roll text and just replace it with the character rolling survival to try to harvest ingredients from dead creatures, and use DM discretion to decide how successful the harvesting was and if the creature is rare/exotic enough to drop a delicious ingredient for the stew. I already gave the character proficiency in survival, so that would mesh well with using survival rolls.
In hindsight I could also simplify the stew - use it just as a short/long rest ration that gives the skill, not also in combat for HP gain if you have the skill and spare stews.
Talk it all over with your DM - this all homebrew so the DM decides if and how much makes it into the campaign. Also are you aware that there is a chef ability already ( I think it’s a feat)?
Barring that someone else posted about doing an alchemist artificer skinned over as being a chef with the book's alchemical concoctions being the chef's dishes....
@Wi1dbi11 - I was not aware! I've looked it up, says it's from a content pack (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything) - Chef : +1 Constitution or Wisdom, Cook's Utensils proficiency, cook special food : Healing, Buff
It's similar in some ways to what popped into my head in that it gives a proficiency with cooking and some form of supplementary healing, but I wasn't aiming at adding direct stat bumps like that +1con/wis, more gaining a situational passive from the character building up experience harvesting and cooking until they create and consume the coveted delicious stew. Similar sorta thing to some extent with a different angle and RP flavour.
@Bob_the_fish12 - Been so many years since I played FFIX I had to look up that character!
I can see where you are coming from from the seeing something and deciding to just eat it, maybe getting some special magic from it. I was angling towards more RP/passive results, rather than getting bespoke spells to cast, but that would be cool. Meatomancy :P
I haven't read anything about alchemist artificers, being a complete beginner looking at the base rules and playing around in the free character creator on here. Another thing I can research!
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Hi there D&D fans.
TL:DR - I went down the rabbit hole a bit too far and created a character that could potentially become a disturbing borderline cannibal relative of Samwise Gamgee who goes on a carnivorous cooking adventure.
I'm completely new to tabletop D&D and recently decided to try it out. I've been playing Baldur's Gate 3 recently as a LOTR themed group of hobbits cast from Middle Earth into an unfamiliar world. As a result I thought I'd create a LOTR themed character, but avoid going for a title-character or something too generic (like a ranger form the north or fighter from gondor etc.
When looking at character backstories for RPG games, particularly those with plentiful combat, I need a character to have more than a token reason to explain why they are out adventuring in a dangerous world, otherwise I struggle to find them engaging. As a result the characters I make often end up having some form of martial or magically educated background, to explain their talents and commitment to face danger head on during their travels, but I wanted to figure out something a bit different.
After
perhapsa fewtoo manydrinks yesterday xD, a character idea formed in my head about playing a decendent of Samwise Gamgee embarking on an altogether more culinary adventure, where engaging in combat is not for violent or idealistic reasons, or even just for self-preservation, but to find the rarest and most exotic meats to prepare into a life-changingly delicious meal.Below I take you on the hopefully entertaining, possibly intriguing, and probably concerning adventure that is the creation of my halfling character Hamfast Gamgee, son of Samwise.
Name: Hamfast Gamgee
Race: Lightfoot Halfling
Background: Child of a local legend
Dwarvish, Elvish, Sleight of Hand, Insight
You are one of Samwise Gamgee's thirteen children. After years of hearing him prattling on about Frodo this and Rings of Power that, you've had enough. It's time for your own adventure. At least his stories taught you a few useful tips and skills that should help you on your way. A little goodwill from those who have heard of your father's exploits also won't go amiss.
Feature: Rustic Hospitality
Since you come from the ranks of the common folk, you fit in among them with ease. You can find a place to hide, rest, or recuperate among other commoners, unless you have shown yourself to be a danger to them. They will shield you from the law or anyone else searching for you, though they will not risk their lives for you.
Personality Traits:
The first thing I do in a new place is note the locations of everything edible.
If I smell something delicious, few people can stop me from having a taste.
Ideals:
I’m loyal to my friends, not to any ideals, but more importantly, I'm loyal to my stomach. (Neutral)
Bonds:
I will become the greatest chef that ever lived.
Flaws:
I love it when a plan comes together! So it's a pity I tend to forget the plan in the heat of the moment, particularly on an empty stomach.
Backstory:
"Boil'em, Mash'em, Stick'em in a Stew" your pa once said. He was referring to "Po-tay-toes" of course, but you took it to heart and ever since you've been searching for the most exotic and delectable meats to create the finest stew ever made.
Once per short rest the player may roll to harvest a dead creature for meat and useful materials. The DM uses their discretion as to what dice the player rolls, selected from 1d4, 1d8, 1d12 and 1d20, based on how rare or exotic the player's character race would consider the creature species.
1-2 - harvesting is botched, yielding no rations or useful materials.
3-6 - harvesting yields 1 ration.
7-10 - harvesting yields 2 rations and 1 appropriate material.
11-15 - harvesting yields 3 rations and 2 appropriate materials.
16-20 - harvesting yields 4 rations, 3 appropriate materials and 1 delicious ingredient.
After gathering 3 delicious ingredients the player may prepare two portions of delicious stew at long rest. If consumed outside of combat, each portion of delicious stew gives the effects of a short rest to the player and a permanent custom skill "Connoisseur", if they do not already have it. If consumed within combat (requires an action), it heals the player for 30% of their maximum HP but does not grant the Connoisseur custom skill, as you cannot truly savour it's grandeur during combat.
Harvesting the species of any party members or any other humanoid species with an intelligence above 8 grants the player disadvantage on charisma rolls until after the next long rest, as you give off a vaguely cannabalistic vibe for a time.
Custom Skill: Connoisseur
Stat: Con
Proficiency: Expertise
Description: You are an expert in the harvesting and preparing of fine food. You can skilfully harvest meat from a dead creature using any sharp implement and just a quick flick of the wrist. It also usually takes you no more than a passing glance at nearby food or drink to identify if there is any hint of spoilage, poison or disease. Consuming untainted cooked meat provides +2HP in addition to any other effect it would naturally provide.
Thought process for the backstory mechanic and custom skill:
Honestly I've no idea if this would work within normal D&D session, need prior discussion and DM discretion to alter and work it in, or if adding a mechanic like this to a backstory plus a custom skill to attain would need to involve homebrewing. As I said at the start, I'm completely new to this!
If you read this far (seriously, why?!) thank you for your time and interest, apologies if you now feel uncomfortable, and happy adventuring.
Constructive throughts (or prayers) are welcome :)
The backstory minus the harvesting and skill etc is fine. The harvesting itself is really part of the survival skill and would probably represent a variant on expertise with it. The connoisseur skill would have to be approved by your DM although it does look interesting.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Thanks for the feedback! I figured the harvesting and custom skill bits would need to be discussed with the DM beforehand to agree if it was agreeable and how best to implement it.
Sounds like I could cut out all that harvesting dice roll text and just replace it with the character rolling survival to try to harvest ingredients from dead creatures, and use DM discretion to decide how successful the harvesting was and if the creature is rare/exotic enough to drop a delicious ingredient for the stew. I already gave the character proficiency in survival, so that would mesh well with using survival rolls.
In hindsight I could also simplify the stew - use it just as a short/long rest ration that gives the skill, not also in combat for HP gain if you have the skill and spare stews.
Talk it all over with your DM - this all homebrew so the DM decides if and how much makes it into the campaign.
Also are you aware that there is a chef ability already ( I think it’s a feat)?
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Quinoa from FFIX immediately comes to mind.... :)
Cook your monsters to gain their powers...lol
Barring that someone else posted about doing an alchemist artificer skinned over as being a chef with the book's alchemical concoctions being the chef's dishes....
You could look into a class dip in that....
@Wi1dbi11 - I was not aware! I've looked it up, says it's from a content pack (Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything) - Chef : +1 Constitution or Wisdom, Cook's Utensils proficiency, cook special food : Healing, Buff
It's similar in some ways to what popped into my head in that it gives a proficiency with cooking and some form of supplementary healing, but I wasn't aiming at adding direct stat bumps like that +1con/wis, more gaining a situational passive from the character building up experience harvesting and cooking until they create and consume the coveted delicious stew. Similar sorta thing to some extent with a different angle and RP flavour.
@Bob_the_fish12 - Been so many years since I played FFIX I had to look up that character!
I can see where you are coming from from the seeing something and deciding to just eat it, maybe getting some special magic from it. I was angling towards more RP/passive results, rather than getting bespoke spells to cast, but that would be cool. Meatomancy :P
I haven't read anything about alchemist artificers, being a complete beginner looking at the base rules and playing around in the free character creator on here. Another thing I can research!