Cooking

A good hearty meal does a world of good. In the Dragon Universe, these meals can be lavish showings of many bowls and plates or something as simple as a giant slab of dinosaur meat roasting over an open flame. Either way, food is an important aspect of the Dragon Universe.

Hunger

To understand the benefits of cooking, you have to understand the penalties that come from ignoring it. In DBU, that is represented through Hunger.

Hunger is a penalty that comes in three stages. Each one has different penalties:

• Hungry (1). Halve your Surgency.
• Ravenous (2). Quarter your Surgency and reduce your Combat Rolls and Soak Value by 1(bT).
• Starving (3). Set your Surgency to 0 and reduce your Combat Rolls and Soak Value by 3(bT).

Gaining Hunger. There is no exact timing for when you would gain Hunger. Ultimately, stages of Hunger are given by your ARC when they seem narratively impactful. While usually you will go through the stages of Hunger one by one, after a long period with a series of battles, your ARC may decide to place you directly into the Ravenous or Starving stage of Hunger.

Ingredients

Ingredients are an Adventure Resource (see — Adventure) that is used to cook, representing the various Ingredients you have present. You gather Ingredients through various Adventuring Maneuvers (the most prominent of which is the Scavenge Maneuver), though your ARC may enable you to gain them through other means – such as from defeated monsters, or maybe a gift from some people you’ve helped or supporters to your party’s purpose.

Cooking spends Ingredients to remove or reduce the stages of Hunger.

Special Ingredients. While normal Ingredients are a typical Adventure Resource, Special Ingredients are unique Ingredients that, while counting as 1 Ingredient each for the effects of Cooking, apply additional benefits to any Meal made with them.

Special Ingredients are split by Rarity – rated on a scale of 1~3, with the degree of effect that they give becoming greater the higher the Rarity:

• Uncommon (1). An Uncommon Ingredient is something that can be found occasionally, but is no major call for cheer. The effects of each Uncommon Ingredient should be comparable to an increase of 1(T) to your Strike Rolls, if not slightly better.
• Rare (2). A Rare Ingredient is a true delicacy that is worth fighting for. They should come infrequently and with some degree of challenge behind obtaining them. The effects of each Rare Ingredient should be comparable to an increase of 1(T) to all Combat Rolls!
• Legendary (3). An absolutely breath-taking, almost one-of-a-kind Ingredient that any chef would kill to cook with. They should be obtained incredibly rarely, with great risk to the party to obtain them. The effects of each Legendary Ingredient should be comparable to a Lesser Awakening.

All effects granted by a Special Ingredient only apply to the next Combat Encounter after consuming the Meal they were used to make.

Example Special Ingredients

Below is a list of potential Special Ingredients that could be used by your ARC.

Dinosaur Meat: A juicy slab of premium meat from an enormous reptile.
–Rarity: Uncommon
–Effect: Increase your Wound Rolls by 2(T).

Wasabi Root: A spicy root that makes a wonderful accent to any meal.
–Rarity: Uncommon
–Effect: Increase your Surgency by 2(T).

Top Quality Carrot: Packed with nutrients, this carrot is of the highest quality.
–Rarity: Uncommon
–Effect: Increase your Strike Rolls by 1(T) and your Perception Skill Bonus by 1.

Superior Tea Leaves: Only the finest quality leaves were used in this special blend of tea.
–Rarity: Rare
–Effect: Increase your Combat Rolls by 1(T).

Ajisa Orange: A delicious fruit sprouted from the roots of ajisa trees.
–Rarity: Rare
–Effect: Increase your Wound Rolls, Surgency, and Soak Value by 1(T).

Paradise Herb: A powerful plant that extends the lifespan of anyone who eats it.
–Rarity: Legendary
–Effect: Increase your Attribute Modifiers (AG/FO/TE/MA) by 1(T) and you may use the Surge Maneuver an additional time during this Combat Encounter.

Cooking up a Meal

With Ingredients in hand and the time to prepare a meal, it’s time to begin cooking. Cooking is done through the Cook Maneuver, detailed below. For additional bonuses when Cooking, please refer to the Adventure Talents (see — Adventure Talents).

Cooking Requirements. Aside from Ingredients, you need a place to cook, seasonings, and tools to prepare the food. Typically, you require a Kitchen (see — Bases), or a place declared by your ARC that serves the same purpose as a Kitchen. This, however, can be ignored if you possess the Chef’s Satchel Accessory (see — Accessories).

Cook Maneuver: You use your skill in the kitchen to whip up some delicious grub.
–Prerequisite: 2+ Skill Ranks in Cooking
–Session Limit: Unlimited (but you only apply the effects from the last Meal you consumed upon entering a Combat Encounter)
–Time Cost: 1 Hour
–Effect: When you use the Cook Maneuver, you create a Meal through making a Cooking Skill Check. Before you begin cooking, however, you must decide two things: the Ingredient Cost and the Difficulty Category of that Cooking Skill Check.

The Ingredient Cost is decided by you, but it has two important factors: the number of Characters you intend to feed and the stages of Hunger you intend to deal with. Each individual you intend to feed is worth 1~3 Ingredients, depending on the intended reduction to Hunger Stages. For example, in a party of 4 Characters who are suffering from the Ravenous stage of Hunger, you would have to spend 8 Ingredients to completely remove Hunger for all of them. If you were only intending to reduce Ravenous to Hungry, however, it would only cost 4 Ingredients. You may even portion the Meal unfairly, spending 5 Ingredients to (in the scenario described) reduce the Hunger of 3 Characters from Ravenous to Hungry, while curing 1 Character’s Hunger entirely.

The Difficulty Category is decided by the addition of Special Ingredients. Depending on the highest Rarity of any Special Ingredients you used to pay the Ingredient Cost of a Meal, the Difficulty Category for that Meal’s Skill Check changes:

• No Special Ingredient. The Difficulty Category is Apprentice.
• Uncommon Ingredient. The Difficulty Category is Qualified.
• Rare Ingredient. The Difficulty Category is Expert.
• Legendary Ingredient. The Difficulty Category is Master.

Once you have your Difficulty Category and Ingredient Cost, pay your Ingredient Cost and make your Cooking Skill Check. If you succeed, everyone has a hearty meal! If you fail, you lose your Ingredients and no one gains an edible meal, meaning that their Hunger does not change.

While the rules are kept simple, the flavor shouldn’t be! Spice up your cooking, detail your dishes, and whet the appetites of your fellow players while your Characters get to eat some good grub.