Every character in the game pays for dinner every day. The Cook is the class that sells it to them. Lifestyle upkeep is a standing bill on every sheet in the world, and that bill is a market, the largest and most reliable one the economy has, because nobody stops being hungry.
Inns, taverns and restaurants are property players run, staff and defend.
| Hit Die | d8 |
| Primary Ability | Constitution and Charisma |
| Saving Throws | Constitution, Charisma |
| Armor | Light |
| Weapons | Simple, plus the kitchen's own: cleaver, spit, skillet, boning knife |
| Tools | Cook's utensils, brewer's supplies, a second artisan's tool |
| Skills | Choose 2 from Insight, Perception, Persuasion, Survival, Sleight of Hand, Nature |
Ability Score Improvements: 4, 8, 12, 16, 19 (you may take a feat instead at each).
| Level | Prof. | Features |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | +2 | Feed the House (a meal you cook covers a day's food at a tier above what its ingredients suggest; you cook for many at once), Palate (judge material quality, spoilage and poison by taste and smell) |
| 2 | +2 | Hearth (a camp you cook at counts as shelter for exposure purposes, for the whole party) |
| 3 | +2 | House (subclass) |
| 4 | +2 | Ability Score Improvement (or feat) |
| 5 | +3 | Standing Kitchen (a kitchen or a venue that serves while you are away) |
| 6 | +3 | Provisioner's Eye (buy ingredients below market from producers; the Yeoman and the hunter are your suppliers) |
| 7 | +3 | House feature |
| 8 | +3 | Ability Score Improvement (or feat) |
| 9 | +4 | Full Board (your food's timed buffs last meaningfully longer) |
| 10 | +4 | Reputation (your venue's rating rises faster and falls slower) |
| 11 | +4 | Banquet (cook for a crowd: a party-wide or guild-wide buff from one sitting) |
| 12 | +4 | Ability Score Improvement (or feat) |
| 13 | +5 | House feature |
| 14 | +5 | Restorative (a meal clears a Spent stack; once per character per long rest) |
| 15 | +5 | Signature Dish (put your name and a small modifier on an existing recipe; it is tradeable and carries your name wherever it is cooked) |
| 16 | +5 | Ability Score Improvement (or feat) |
| 17 | +6 | House feature |
| 18 | +6 | Sated (your food's out-of-combat healing and buff quality steps up a tier) |
| 19 | +6 | Ability Score Improvement (or feat) |
| 20 | +6 | The House (a renowned establishment) |
A Cook's food is a real buff and a real sink at once: a cooked meal beats rations, and rations beat going without. Going without accrues exhaustion.
The house runs itself while you are away. It serves, it earns and it consumes stock while you are away, and it can be raided, taxed and burned like anything else you own.
A Cook takes a House at level 3, and it decides what they sell and to whom.
An inn sells not standing watch. That is precisely what it sells and all that it sells: a camp gives the same night's rest for free, at the cost of an hour, a watch and some risk. A bed never grants a better long rest than a bedroll, because charging for rest would put a subscription on sleeping.
What the Cook actually monetises is convenience and safety, and there is enough demand for both to build an empire on.
Free class unless marked otherwise. No unlock needed: pick it at character creation and start.
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