New Character Class: The Chef
by Christopher CherringtonSpecialty: Cooking/Baking/Brewing
Qualifications: Standard ability scores for Bards, except that Wisdom must be at least 14. Chefs can be any alignment. Dwarves and Gnomes can advance to 10th level (with Military type careers), while all other races are unlimited. Halflings can earn an extra 10% to earned experience (on top of Prime Requisites).
Description: As a bard the Chef entertains by his commandment on foods and skills in preparation. His appearance is well known with his tall toque and white double breasted jacket; but his few secret skills in menu designs may prove the life or death of his royal customers.
At home he is the nightly entertainer, preparing far away foods, making knives dance, and tantalising the senses by his marvellous display of culinary expertise. Or he may be the head chef of the lord's castle, keeping the troops fed, fires lit, pantry well stocked, and give the lord a meal fit for a king.
On the road he may keep travellers well fed, merchants stocked and provisioned; or serve in the military, making use of scarce or otherwise unpalatable foods into nutritious meals.
Role: The Chef has a very important role in society, as everyone needs to eat! But in a magical or fantasy setting his secrets are his recipes and spells. The Chef must distinguish himself from all other chefs and cooks, not only by his culinary skills and knowledge, but by his procurement of magical recipes that heal or cure, or give certain powers to the imbiber.
His magical talents also allow him to produce mass quantities of food, and even better their quality and prolong its storage.
Weapon Proficiencies: Due to the Chefs exclusive use of certain knives and tools, his weapon skills are limited. The Chef does make up for it, his talent in ordinary knives allows him to use them as weapons, and even become specialised in them. His choices are the chef's knife(dagger), cleaver(hand axe), butcher's knife(shortsword), and steel, used for sharpening his knives (or as a club/parrying dagger)
Non-weapon Proficiencies: Bonuses: Agriculture, Cooking, Appraising, Brewing Suggested: Etiquette, Hunting, Eating, Drinking, Alchemy, Baking, Zymurgy, Sculpture (Artistic Ability).
Armour/Equipment: Due to the bulkiness of any armour, the chef never uses any armour or shields. Although military chefs are known to wear a butcher's apron of heavy leather (giving a bonus of -1 to AC).
Special Abilities: Kitchen Immunities: The Chef is immune to mundane heat and cold. This is due to the fact he needs to grab hot pans, or store food in extreme cold. this ability does not grant immunities from magical heat or cold, or extremes in climates; but will confer a +1 to saves.
Influence Reactions: This is the standard ability of bards. The Chef needs to be seen, and his food smelt, and presented in a flashy style. The Chef can also influence reactions by creating a menu. This is accomplished by the Chef creating a 3 or more course meal. The food produced has to be made from the Chef's natural talents, no magic. Each additional course above 3, will confer a penalty of 1 to the target's saving throw. The Chef can create an additional course every 3 levels of experience, in order to gain this bonus.
Recipes: The Chef can produce mundane magical effects from recipes carefully researched and made into food items. At 7th level the chef can create real magical items in the form of food. Mundane magical food last for 1d4 days before spoilage (even under the Chef's careful supervision). These items are not magical but can imitate low level magic user and clerical spell effects. The real magical items will last according to the type of food that imbues the magical ability (biscuits last 2-3 days, wine lasts 5-10 years, et). Research and creation times/expenses, are the same as if the Chef was a mage. The Chef can increase his chances of success by 10% and lower the cost by 10% for every two levels, but only for mundane effects.
Commandment of Food: Spoilage, contamination, disease, decomposition, or loss of flavour of food items will not happen under the care of a Chef. In fact food under his careful guidance will last indefinitely, be at its utmost flavour and ripen to perfection. This effect will last for a determined amount of time, based on the Chef's level, and the amount of time he took to guide it along. Constant care and supervision will allow a week plus 1 day per level before the food goes bad. Average guidance will allow 1 day per level, and minimal guidance will give 2-4 days. These times start at the time the Chef stops watching over the food; so even with minimal supervision, as long as the is doing something to watch over the food, the food items will last indefinitely. If the Chef returns to take care of the food before it spoils, he only needs to make an Intelligence to continue normally. Food items created by the Chef will always be at its utmost perfection when served, uncorked, or opened from a sealed container. Food served hot stays hot, cold food stays cold. The Chef instinctively knows when food is done, and can keep medium rare foods at medium rare until served. The Chef can even make over done foods under cooked, not raw, with an intelligence check at -7, +1 per every 3 levels. The Chef also has a strong sense of time. He only needs to make an intelligence check to determine the amount of time that has passed since a certain event. he can keep track of time like this for as many sets as he has levels.