Rules for a Cook-Off? Not sure if they're balanced or not. Thoughts?


Homebrew and House Rules


Hey everyone!~ Recently, I started work on a cooking contest for a festival at the beginning of my campaign. The rules kind of start off with just a few skill checks, then it turns into something of a chase. Just wasn't sure on the balance of what skills I used, or the DCs for them or whatnot. So I'm gonna put what I have here and see what you think :3

It likely needs a bit of work, or at the least, a bit of tinkering. So lemme know what you think, thoughts, feel, etc :D

Cook-Off Rules

Tried copying here, but it doesn't enjoy formatting... this'll be easier :)

Verdant Wheel

This looks good.

I would have "borrow" involve the Diversion rules for Bluff followed by a Sleight of Hand - which means you might have to decide as a DM what kind of action Diversion is (I run it as a standard).


Oh? I'll take a look into diversion and get back to you on that :)

Edit: Oh, okay! Took a look into that. So it'd be a Bluff check followed by a Sleight of Hand (Or even stealth, apparently) check. I'd probably have to lower the DCs to balance it though, yeah? Cuz doing two checks at a higher DC would be rough.

“Borrow” some from another contestant (DC 10 Bluff (Diversion) check and DC 10 Stealth check)

Perhaps?

Liberty's Edge

A cooking battle could be fun, especially if you build a character for whom cooking was a skill. I would love to see 'the bar maid'(profession barmaid and cook, class mutagenic mauler) entering a cooking challange with a goblin tribe. Or a witch or ninja who had a passion for cooking. What happens after is the purchase of a set of cooking utensils, a cooking set, and the making of simple home cooked meals in the dungeons. And if all else fails, you still brought a knife, and an assortment of other weapons. The bar maids probably picking off guard as her first feat, so beating someone down with a cooking pot becomes second nature.


I mostly like the rules presented in the document, especially the "chase" scenes where problems arise during the contest and you have a couple of potential ways to deal with them.

The cooking contest idea reminds me of the movie "God of Cookery". Even if your kitchen contestants aren't performing kung-fu cookery I guess they might add a little flair to their cooking style through the flashy (or clandestine) use of minor magics such as Ray of Frost or Prestidigitation. One area you might be able to expand on is having an assortment of judges who might focus on different areas such as flavor or presentation or maybe just prefer something like very spicy food, rare meat. Doing the proper research or diplomacy to find out the preference's of the judges could give contestants an edge in presenting dishes which appeal to a specific judge without alienating the others.

@Eris - Would the barmaid be challenging the goblins to a cooking contest judged by somebody else, or would she be attempting to cook for the goblins to impress them?

Liberty's Edge

If it's goblins it's hardly organised, more than likely she is trying to impress them to gain an edge in diplomacy with them. And if that fails, then she is at least going to pound them while they are either bloated from over eating, or sickened from the terrible cooking. And a cooking contest is also a marvellous distraction to allow fellow adventurers to escape from bindings, get into positions for sneak attacks, or steal all the goblins weapons while making a massive bonfire as another distraction. And it allows for shenanigans like the goblin chief wearing the stereotypical chief hat.

Also I love the idea of adventurers not living only on preserved meat and water. Having a character who can cook can do really funny things with relation to 'spoony's bardic knock spell'. After all, if you make something delicious, you can offer it to your enemies, they might check it first but they still need to open the door. And you could still have some funny by including a critical fail leading to actually toxic material being made. Persona 4's and persona Q's mystery food X come to mind. Bad cooking reaching the levels of being Bio-weapon bad, which is still hilarious if you end up killing a big bad with terrible cooking.

Community / Forums / Pathfinder / Pathfinder First Edition / Homebrew and House Rules / Rules for a Cook-Off? Not sure if they're balanced or not. Thoughts? All Messageboards

Want to post a reply? Sign in.
Recent threads in Homebrew and House Rules