Not all bards inspire others through their words and song. Bards of the College of Cuisine express themselves through food and drink. These bards hand out mugs of ale, homemade cookies, and flasks of fresh-ground coffee to bolster their allies’ spirits. They are adventuring celebrity chefs, spreading inspiration and comfort with their culinary power. They repeat the motto, “Food is magic.” Those who taste their creations spread the gospel.
Bonus Proficiencies
When you join the College of Cuisine at 3rd level, you gain proficiency in cook’s utensils and brewer’s supplies. You can use either of these tools as your spellcasting focus.
Magical Treats
At 3rd level, you can infuse magic into food and drink. Each day, you can infuse a number of treats equal to your Charisma modifier. Infusing a treat takes an action. When you infuse a treat, spend one use of Bardic Inspiration and choose a spell of 1st or 2nd level that targets a single creature and that takes 1 action to cast. You expend a spell slot of the same level as the spell, placing that spell in the treat. Infused treats lose their magic after 24 hours.
You or another creature can eat a treat as an action, gaining the benefit of the spell for the maximum listed duration. If a creature is incapable of eating a treat due to a condition, including but not limited to being paralyzed, incapacitated, or unconscious, another creature can use their action to feed it to the indisposed creature. No creature can benefit from the effects of more than one treat at the same time.
A creature eating a treat also gains the benefit of your Bardic Inspiration, which they must use before the duration of the infused spell elapses or 10 minutes pass, whichever is greater. Neither you nor the creature eating the treat needs to concentrate on this spell. If the spell can affect more than one creature at higher levels, you can infuse more than one treat when you expend the appropriate spell slot, but each treat you infuse costs you one of your uses of Magical Treats and one use of Bardic Inspiration. If the spell you are infusing into a treat has a material component, you must expend that component. If the spell can affect multiple creatures when you expend a higher-level spell slot and it has a material component, you must expend the component only once, regardless of the number of treats you infuse with the spell.
The level of spell you can infuse into treats increases when you reach certain levels in the class. At 5th level, you can also infuse 3rd-level spells into treats. At 10th level, you can also infuse 4th- and 5th-level spells into treats. At 15th-level, you can also infuse 6th-, 7th-, and 8th-level spells into treats.
Special Treats
At 6th level, your mastery of food magic reaches new heights. Each time you use Magical Treats to infuse food or drink, choose one of the following options. A creature eating that treat then gains the benefit of this new infusion, in addition to all previous benefits:
- Gain temporary hit points equal to 1d8 + your Charisma modifier.
- Spend 1 Hit Dice to regain hit points. At 14th level, the creature can spend up to half their Hit Dice.
- Increase speed by 10 feet for 10 minutes or for the duration of the spell infused in the treat, whichever is greater. At 14th level, this increases to 20 feet.
- End one disease affecting the creature.
- End one of the following conditions affecting the creature: blinded, deafened, poisoned. At 14th level, this also includes charmed and frightened.
Culinary Champion
At 14th level, you become a master of the magical culinary arts. Whenever you infuse a treat using Magical Treats, you can infuse a second treat with the same action. You only expend one spell slot, one use of Bardic Inspiration, and one use of Magical Treats, even though you are infusing two treats. If you are infusing treats with a spell that can affect multiple targets when cast at higher levels and you expend the appropriate spell slot, the first two treats you infuse cost only one use of Bardic Inspiration and one use of Magical Treats.
In addition, when you infuse a treat, you can choose two options from the list of benefits under Special Treats, along with the following new options, applying both to the treat:
- Reduce the creature’s exhaustion by one level.
- End one curse, including that of a cursed magic item.
- End any reduction to one of the creature’s ability scores.
- End one effect that reduces the creature’s hit point maximum.
So the consumer is effected by the spell right? So if you put a damaging spell in it, that hurts the eater, or does the eater get to send it at a target? Could be an interesting assassin character in here if it’s the first, or just a fun moment where a villain who captured the Bard eats his food and explodes. That 14th level ability could actually make a bezerker barbarian dangerous too!
As written, it doesn’t limit what type of spell you can use. But it does specifically mention benefits. Harmful spells do not benefit the target. You could certainly give an enemy a cookie that heals them, but you couldn’t give them a cookie the makes them go to sleep or deals psychic damage because that would not benefit them. They can also benefit from the buffs at 6th and 14th level.
Magical Treats also provides the recipient with the benefits of the bard’s Bardic Inspiration. Bards can only use Bardic Inspiration on allies. An enemy could eat it and even benefit from the spell in it, assuming the spell is beneficial, but they can never receive the benefit of Bardic Inspiration
I love this; bookmarked for future bard action!
I would love to see herbalism/poisoners kit added as optional tools/perhaps replacing instrument proficiency or a ribbon feature about being able to ‘perform’ and earn money with any proficient tool, like a flair bartender, or Hibachi chef.
This is a great template for a non-instrument creative type bard in-general with some DM leniency. Painters tools, or writing tools, or carpentry,etc. ‘Treats’ could be a written haiku or a small whittled wooden animal or a piece of simple jewelry.
What a great sub-class, color me inspired!
>> When you infuse a treat, spend one use of Bardic Inspiration and choose a spell of 1st or 2nd level that targets a single creature and that takes 1 action to cast.
As written, this could be any spell from any class. Is it meant to do this, or is there a missing “from your spell list” part of the sentence?