Now, Added Flavors
A Gourmet Supplement
- Dalim Zhunn, the Lean Rogue of Ratsnest.
Gourmets are often unsung heroes; their gift of cooking taken for granted as an everyday necessity, as plain as bread or cheese. But they are not mere providers. Good food raises morale like nothing else. Great food can dispel exhaustion as surely as a long night's sleep in a downy bed. And truly inspired food excites the imagination and the senses. More than anything, the enjoyment of excellent cooking bonds those around the table.
The typical image of a gourmet is the genial, jovial glue among eccentric, colorful heroes, supporting them in deeds great and small. But each gourmet has their own legacy to carve. Some live life largely as boisterous hosts, while others might stew quietly in personal turmoils, or be concocting grand ambitions for which their craft is a means to an end.
Whoever they are, whatever the reasons they cook and adventure, the sections below offer a smorgasbord of ideas to help bring out the flavor of your gourmet character.
Favored Utensil
Many chefs, be it out of fond nostalgia, some misplaced samurai affect, or simply for good marketing, swear by a signature tool of their trade. Gourmets are subject to the same habits, but for them a trusted utensil can mean much more than it would in an ordinary kitchen.
On the road, items that prove useful in varied scrapes are highly valued. Perhaps your favored utensil is also your go-to weapon when a fight breaks out - or perhaps it was a gift that reminds you of home when the lights are few and the nights are long. Consider tying your favored utensil to your gourmet's culinary speciality, and think about what instinct drives them to reach for it first.
Favored Utensils
| d6 | Utensil |
|---|---|
| 1 | A knife that doesn't dull easily. It cuts kindling as well as it chops vegetables. |
| 2 | This cleaver belonged to your father, and his father before him, and his father before him... |
| 3 | A lucky spoon. You always manage to find it by the gleam of moonlight upon the bowl. |
| 4 | A chopping board that has caught a bandit's blade more than once. |
| 5 | The wood of this rolling pin is hard to identify, but it makes an incredibly satisfying sound. |
| 6 | This whisk was a parting gift from your mentor. Gods rest their troubled soul. |
Sense Memory
Locked in the mind as surely as it was once savored on the tongue, a sense memory of some emotionally charged dish is what many gourmets return to, time after time, meal after meal: the bedrock of their passion in the craft.
A sense memory can be visual, aromatic, even aural, but it almost always refers back to some pivotal moment in a gourmet's life that connects their soul to food. The meal that was served at the moment of this memory might not have even been very good. What matters is the powerful sense of nostalgia, excitement, or perhaps even trauma it carries.
Sense Memory
| d6 | Memory |
|---|---|
| 1 | The taste of ratatouille takes you back to your farmhouse childhood and mother's cooking. |
| 2 | The crackle of crusty bread brings back unwelcome reminders of invaders crunching their way across the remains of your family bakery. |
| 3 | The smell of roasting meat reminds you of the campfire that you and your best friend last sat around together, all those years ago. |
| 4 | Overpowering garlic: not to everyone's liking. But always to his. |
| 5 | You had never tried dessert, never had anything more than scraps, until that night at the palace. |
| 6 | The faintest sound of sprinkling salt conjures the particular gestures of your teacher, their finishing flourish over a deep tray ready for the oven. |
Indulgence
A cook's hours are long; an adventuring gourmet's are no better, and the beds are often awful. Who can be blamed for a little indulgence at the end of the day?
If your character has a penchant for sneaking secret treats, consider the severity, and the cost, of the habit. Sugar is a vice all too easily found in a kitchen, but it could be hard to come by on the open road. Is your indulgence a source of satisfaction, or shame? Perhaps your preferred relaxation food reflects poorly on your tastes among judgmental contemporaries. How your character considers their own indulgences can say a lot about them to others.
Indulgence
| d6 | Indulgence |
|---|---|
| 1 | Darkest chocolates of exorbitant price. |
| 2 | Pungent tobacco, guaranteed to one day ruin your taste and smell. |
| 3 | Crackling — and it has to be hot, salty, and crisp. |
| 4 | Snack sticks mass-produced by a city guild. |
| 5 | Raw root vegetables: potatoes, carrots, onions... anything. |
| 6 | Some of the wine did make it into the stock, yes. |
Culinary Specialty
At 2nd level, a gourmet gains the Culinary Specialty feature. The following options are available to a gourmet, in addition to those offered alongside the original class: Gelatinous Cuisine and Industrial Cuisine.
Gelatinous Cuisine
Delectable jellied desserts are a classic of the kitchen, and demon-spawned gelatinous killers, a classic of the dungeon. To see the two combined in the imagination of a gourmet was inevitable. Some chefs seeking their signature style will discover it on the walls of the dank, deep crawls their travels take them to, and set their mind to whipping up their own sweet and sour oddities in the dessert mold. Gourmets gifted with the tastebuds to withstand the acidic burn of these foods can concoct incredible, technically-edible, wobbling wonders just oozing with flavor. Their own biology may, regrettably, lose its cohesion along the way.
prowls for leftover morsels.
Sweet Palate
2nd-level Gelatinous Cuisine feature
Your preferences have resulted in particular skill when it comes to hunting and harvesting oozes. You gain two ingredient dice, instead of one, when harvesting from a creature with the ooze tag.
2nd-level Gelatinous Cuisine feature Whenever you create a meal using your Campfire Cook feature, you gain a climb speed equal to your walking speed that lasts for 8 hours. You can cling to and move upside down along ceilings while climbing. You also gain advantage on Strength or Dexterity checks and saving throws made to grab or keep hold of an object for the duration.
As an action, you can give these benefits of this feature to a creature that you touch. The shared benefit lasts for 1 hour. Once you extend this benefit to another creature, you can’t do so again until you next use your Campfire Cook feature, or unless you choose to give up your own benefits to do so. 2nd-level Gelatinous Cuisine feature You can use your cook’s utensils to create living jellies of your own. During a short or long rest, you can expend ingredient dice to create a pool of hit points using the same method as your Campfire Cook feature. From this pool, you draw hit points to create one or more batches of sickly trifles. A batch appears in an unoccupied space on a horizontal or vertical surface within 5 feet of you. This creature is a Medium swarm of Tiny oozes, and uses the batch of sickly trifles stat block. When you create a batch, choose a flavor: Rubbery, Sour, or Sticky Sweet. The trifles in a batch have their appearance influenced by the chosen flavor, which determines one of the traits in the batch's stat block. Trifles disappear when a batch drops to 0 hit points, and can't be harvested for ingredient dice.
When you use your Campfire Cook feature, you can also create batches of sickly trifles by converting 5 or more temporary hit points from the meal into hit points for a batch. A batch lasts until the start of your next long rest. The maximum number of batches you can control at once is equal to your proficiency bonus. If you create a new batch while at this maximum, the oldest batch immediately dissolves. On each of your turns, you can take a bonus action to command any batches you control to take actions from their stat block, and move up to their speed. If not commanded, the batches do nothing. A batch of trifles can be carried in a vessel appropriate for a Tiny creature until commanded to move with its own speed. 6th-level Gelatinous Cuisine feature Your viscous victuals wobble and warp to absorb energy. A creature that retains temporary hit points from your gourmet features has resistance to bludgeoning and lightning damage.
6th-level Gelatinous Cuisine feature Your biology undergoes several changes as a result of your daring diet. You gain the following benefits:
10th-level Gelatinous Cuisine feature Repeated experiences with your unruly ingredients have made you a fine judge of acidic elements that you both sample and serve. You gain immunity to acid damage.
Moreover, once per turn when one of your oozes deals damage, you add an additional 1d4 to the acid damage dealt.Sticky Hands
Mold Master
Bellyful of Jelly
Amorphous Medley
Caustic Connoisseur
Flan Fortress
14th-level Gelatinous Cuisine feature
You can truly boast of breaking the mold with your culinary creations. As an action, you can expend an ingredient die to create a gelatinous cube. The cube swells into being around you, and you are Engulfed by the cube at the centre of its space. The cube uses its statblock from the Monster Manual, with the following changes:
- The cube has extra hit points equal to the number rolled on your expended ingredient die + your gourmet level. Any batches of sickly trifles within 10 feet of you when the cube is created are absorbed into its mass, and their remaining hit points are also added to the cubes total hit points.
- The DC of the Dexterity and Strength checks to avoid the cube’s Engulf action, or to pull a creature from the cube, now equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier.
- While you are Engulfed by the cube, you are not restrained, and can freely enter or exit the cube's space.
The cube is friendly to you, and will obey your mental commands (no action required by you). In combat, the cube shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately before yours.
If it is reduced to 0 hit points, or is still intact after 1 hour, the cube dissolves into a puddle of ooze. The remains can't be harvested for ingredient dice.
At any time whilst the cube is within 5 feet of you, you can use an action to break the cube down into a number of batches of sickly trifles of your choice, which appear in or immediately adjacent to the space vacated by the cube. You allocate each batch hit points as usual from the cube’s remaining hit point total.
Once you use this feature, you must complete a short or long rest before you can use it again.
Batch of Sickly Trifles
Medium swarm of Tiny oozes, neutral
- Armor Class 8
- Hit Points equals your gourmet level + 5 or more hit points allocated from your pool
- Speed 10 ft, climb 10 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 10 (+0) 6 (-2) 12 (+1) 1 (-5) 6 (-2) 1 (-5)
- Damage Resistances acid, cold, fire, piercing, poison, psychic, slashing
- Condition Immunities blinded, charmed, deafened, exhaustion, frightened, prone
- Senses Blindsight 60 ft. (blind beyond this radius), Passive Perception 8
- Languages understands only your commands
- Challenge __ Proficiency Bonus equals your bonus
Amorphous Swarm. The batch can occupy another creature's space and vice versa, and it can't gain hit points or temporary hit points. The batch can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing.
Spider Climb. The batch can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without needing to make an ability check.
(Sour Only). The batch adds your proficiency bonus to the damage it deals, and hit points it loses, when it uses its Slather action to successfully slather a creature.
(Sticky Sweet Only). Every foot of movement while in the batch's space costs 1 extra foot.
Actions
Slather. The batch moves up to its speed. Whenever the batch enters a creature's space, the trifles attempt to cover the creature in the slime that makes up their own bodies. The creature must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier). On a failed save, the creature takes 1d4 + your Wisdom modifier acid damage, and is slathered. The slathered creature has its speed halved, and gains disadvantage on ability checks until someone takes an action to wipe off the offending slime.
The batch loses hit points equal to the number rolled on the d4 whenever it successfully slathers a creature.
Congeal (Rubbery Only). The batch moves up to its speed. If the batch ends its movement in an unoccupied space, the trifles gather into a wobbling mass and lose their Amorphous Swarm property. Before the end of your next turn, a creature can bounce off the congealed trifles to double its jump distance. The impact returns the batch to its usual form.
Industrial Cuisine
In the guts of the great cities, thousands toil daily for a pittance. These hungry masses cannot rely on the luxuries of dining out, or personal cooks. Enterprising chefs, working with artificers and engineers, have risen to the occasion by automating the work of the kitchen as a means to offer a cheap, mass-produced selection of meals. Trained in the magical technologies necessary for industrial-scale catering, gourmets of this school complement their cooking prowess with a variety of forward-thinking utensils. The most versatile — and, some might say, endearing — of these is the humble oven golem: a clay assistant fueled with a facsimile of life in aid of creating quick, quality food.
With a golem by their side, these pioneers can leave their factories churning away back home while they strike out in search of even greater opportunities.
Food Processor
2nd-level Industrial Cuisine feature
You can apply a process to stretch your ingredients at the cost of nutritional value. Over the course of 1 minute, you can convert an ingredient die into 2 dice of the size immediately below it. For example, you can take 1d10 from your Stock to convert into 2d8s, convert 1d8 into 2d6s, and so on.
Small construct, neutral Aura of Pleasant Warmth. While the golem is not inert, it constantly radiates the earthy heat of the hearth. It and creatures within 15 feet of it suffer no ill effects from cold climates, as described in chapter 5 of the Dungeon Master’s Guide. Limited Fire Absorption. Whenever the golem is subjected to fire damage, it can choose to expend one of its stored ingredient dice to take no damage and instead regain a number of hit points equal to the fire damage dealt. Charred Shot (expend 1-3 stored ingredient dice). Ranged Weapon Attack: your Wisdom modifier + PB to hit, range 30/90 ft., one target you can see. Hit: number rolled on expended ingredient dice + PB fire damage. Eezee Bake. The golem cooks any number of stored ingredient dice of the same size to transform them into golem-fired goodies, which can be retrieved by any friendly creature within 5 feet of it as an action. A golem-fired goodie is an edible object roughly the size of a bun. It lasts for 24 hours before becoming inedible. When consumed by a creature as an action, a goodie restores a number of hit points equal to your PB + a number rolled on the ingredient die used to create it. Smokescreen. When the golem takes damage as the result of an attack, it can expend one of its stored ingredient dice to create a 20-foot radius sphere of dark smoke centered on itself. The sphere spreads around corners, and its area is heavily obscured. It lasts for 1 minute or until a wind of moderate or greater speed (at least 10 miles per hour) disperses it. If the golem would be reduced to 0 hit points by the damage it takes, it can still choose to use this reaction before falling to 0 hit points.
Oven Golem
STR
DEX
CON
INT
WIS
CHA
14 (+2)
6 (-2)
14 (+2)
6 (-2)
10 (+0)
10 (+0)
Actions
Reactions
Bonus Proficiencies
2nd-level Industrial Cuisine feature
You gain proficiency with potter’s tools and your choice of smith’s tools or tinker’s tools.
2nd-level Industrial Cuisine feature You build a mobile means of automating your cooking, an oven golem. It is friendly to you and your companions, and it obeys your commands. See this creature’s game statistics in the oven golem stat block, which uses your proficiency bonus (PB) in several places. You determine the creature’s appearance and whether it has two legs or more; your choice has no effect on its game statistics.
In combat, the golem shares your initiative count, but it takes its turn immediately after yours. It can move and use its reaction on its own, but the only action it takes on its turn is the Dodge action, unless you take a bonus action on your turn to command it to take another action. That action can be one in its stat block or some other action. If you are incapacitated, the golem can take any action of its choice, not just Dodge. The oven golem uses ingredient dice to fuel a number of special abilities, described in its stat block below. As an action, you can store a number of ingredient dice within the golem up to 1 + your Wisdom modifier. The oven golem requires at least one ingredient die to keep its internal fires kindling: if the last ingredient die stored within it is expended, it will immediately become inert. While inert, the oven golem is incapacitated, cannot move, and fails all saving throws. It remains in this state until you use an action to restock it with at least one ingredient die. The golem also becomes inert if you die. If the mending spell is cast on it, it regains 2d6 hit points. If it reaches 0 hit points and dies, you can recover ingredient dice stored within it so long as its body remains intact. At the end of a short rest, you can create a new oven golem if you have your potter’s tools with you. If you already have an oven golem from this feature, the first one immediately perishes. 6th-level Industrial Cuisine feature The fires of your assistant carry hope as well as heat, even where you are absent. You may use your reaction to allow your oven golem to use your Guts feature, instead of you, if it is in a position to do so.
6th-level Industrial Cuisine feature Your interdisciplinary approach pays dividends in technical knowledge. You learn one cantrip and one 1st-level spell of your choice from the artificer spell list. Both choices must require a material component. A set of tools you are proficient with can act as your focus for these spells. Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
You can cast your chosen 1st-level spell at its lowest level a number of times equal to your Meal Multiplier. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. 10th-level Industrial Cuisine feature Thanks to the proprietary additives in your recipe, creatures who partake of your Campfire Cook meal gain the effects of the death ward spell.
14th-level Industrial Cuisine feature You have perfected your on-the-go cooking methods to a degree of rigor that any food regulator would be proud of. When rolling more than one of the same size of ingredient die for your Campfire Cook feature or for any of your oven golem’s actions, you may pick one of the dice rolled and count all other dice of the same size as if they had rolled the same number.
Concept and development by u/Pixel_Engine.
Vostock Iakobashvili: a cold hearted killer nonetheless warmed by the cheery glow of an oven golem. u/Serbanzai, for yet more useful commentary. My bevy of 3.8 playtesters, both gourmets and their allies, especially Petrichor and those who trod Dead Mountain with him: Enrico, Hannah, and Úlfr. My wife, who helped whip up the new batches of jelly. The Gourmet is unofficial Fan Content permitted under the Fan Content Policy. Not approved/endorsed by Wizards. Portions of the materials used are property of Wizards of the Coast. ©Wizards of the Coast LLC.Oven Golem
Take Hearth
Trade Secrets
Preservative
Industry Standard
Credits
Special thanks to:
The Art of Cooking
douglasschneider.com
Mattias Fahlberg on DeviantArt
magic.wizards.com
(With special thanks)
Inka Schultz Artstation