Gourmend

Contents

The terms gourmet and gourmand are similar in nature, as both refer to aficionados of food, but whereas the gourmet seeks out the best eating experience, the gourmand eats pretty much anything. To wit, the gourmet seeks craftsmanship, while the gourmand seeks the act of eating. The gourmend takes a road between these two extremes. She wants craftsmanship, but she doesn’t want the same thing time and time again. She seeks new foods simply because they are new, mixes strange ingredients together just to see how it will turn out, and even if it goes horribly, she’s all too eager to do it again. Now, let’s take that idea and apply it to ingredients that have been granted supernatural powers by nature herself.

Role: The least physically-capable of the herbalism professions, gourmends are masters in the processing of their collected plants through recipes and other such abilities. This strength is also their weakness, however, as specialized inventories are brittle and a gourmend that falls upon hard times is struck hard.

Alignment: Any. Just about everything eats, after all.

Hit Die: d6

Starting Wealth: 2d6 x 10 gp (average 70 gp.) Gourmends also begin play with up to 10 gp worth of food or cooking supplies, such as pots, pans, and canisters, at no charge to the character. Finally, each character begins play with an outfit worth 10 gp or less.

Class Skills: The gourmend’s class skills are Appraise (Int), Craft (any) (Int), Handle Animal (Wis), Knowledge (geography) (Int), Knowledge (local) (Int), Knowledge (nature) (Int), Linguistics (Int), Perception (Wis), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), and Survival (Wis).

Skill Ranks per Level: 4 + Int modifier

Table: The Gourmand
Level Base Attack Bonus Fort Save Ref Save Will Save Special Find Herbs Rolls Cultivation Pots Preservation Vessels
1st +0 +0 +2 +2 Culinary background, culinary pool, earthenware jars, find herbs, recipe 1 0 1
2nd +1 +0 +3 +3 Culinary bond, recipe 1 1 1
3rd +1 +1 +3 +3 Culinary talent, recipe 2 1 1
4th +2 +1 +4 +4 Recipe 2 1 2
5th +2 +1 +4 +4 Recipe 3 2 2
6th +3 +2 +5 +5 Culinary talent, recipe 3 2 2
7th +3 +2 +5 +5 Recipe 4 2 3
8th +4 +2 +6 +6 Recipe 4 3 3
9th +4 +3 +6 +6 Culinary talent, recipe 5 3 3
10th +5 +3 +7 +7 More with less, recipe 5 3 3
11th +5 +3 +7 +7 Recipe 6 4 3
12th +6/+1 +4 +8 +8 Culinary talent, recipe 6 4 3
13th +6/+1 +4 +8 +8 Recipe 7 4 4
14th +7/+2 +4 +9 +9 Recipe 7 5 4
15th +7/+2 +5 +9 +9 Culinary talent, recipe 8 5 4
16th +8/+3 +5 +10 +10 Recipe 8 5 5
17th +8/+3 +5 +10 +10 Recipe 9 6 5
18th +9/+4 +6 +11 +11 Culinary talent, recipe 9 6 5
19th +9/+4 +6 +11 +11 Recipe 10 6 6
20th +10/+5 +6 +12 +12 Culinary prodigy, recipe 10 6 6

Class Features

Weapon Proficiency

Gourmends are proficient with simple weapons.

Armor and Shield Proficiency

Gourmends are not proficient with any armor, but their long experience with heavy pots and pans renders them proficient with shields, but not tower shields. A gourmend wearing armor or using a shield with which she is not proficient incurs a percent chance equal to the item’s normal arcane spell failure chance for the contents of each of her preservation vessels to lose their potency and become useless overnight. This penalty applies itself to the next day’s spoilage even if the gourmend uses such equipment for just a moment, and reapplies itself each day until she quits using that equipment.

Culinary Background

Gourmends differentiate themselves from other professions of the herbalism persuasion by their inclination to process the gifts of nature into other forms.

Culinary Pool (Su)

At 1st level, the gourmend gains a culinary pool, a measure of her ability to produce miraculous creations, both edible and not. The number of points in the gourmend’s culinary pool is equal to her gourmend level + her Wisdom modifier. Culinary points are spent upon various abilities granted by the gourmend’s choice of major culinary skillsets (see below).

The vast majority of abilities that draw from the culinary pool do so in the preparatory phase of the adventuring day. As such, most gourmends benefit from spending all of their culinary points right away to prepare as many dishes as possible.

The culinary pool replenishes itself each morning after 8 hours of rest or meditation? these hours do not have to be consecutive.

Culinary Skillsets

Chefs have very clear opinions on what their favorite methods are. Some may be avid brewers. Some may prefer pastry. Others may be fairly lazy and prepare huge masses of comfort food that keep for a week. At 1st level, the gourmend chooses two culinary skillsets from those listed in Section: Culinary Skillsets. Each skillset grants a number of abilities at the levels indicated in its entry.

Culinary Talents

At 3rd level and every three gourmend levels thereafter, the gourmend gains a culinary talent, which expands the functionality of one or more of the culinary skillsets she chose at 1st level. In order to take a culinary talent, the gourmend must both meet its prerequisites and have chosen the culinary skillset(s) associated with the talent. See Culinary Talents, below, for a listing of all available talents. The Difficulty Class (DC) for a saving throw against a gourmend’s culinary skillset ability or culinary talent is 10 + 1/2 the gourmend’s class level + the gourmend’s Wisdom modifier.

Earthenware Jars (Su)

At 1st level, the gourmend begins to acquire a number of earthenware jars for the storage of plant products. There are two types of earthenware jars: cultivation pots and preservation vessels.

Cultivation Pots

Cultivation pots are the means by which a gourmend carries her favorite plants with her no matter where she goes. If a gourmend plants three units of the same herbalism plant with the herb descriptor in an empty cultivation pot, a process that takes 10 minutes, she produces a fully-grown copy of that plant by the following morning. Each day, the gourmend can pick from each of her filled cultivation pots, gaining one unit of the plant held within. This acquisition of plants is separate from that of the find herbs class feature and need not be done at the same time. At any time, a gourmend may empty a filled cultivation pot, a process that takes 10 minutes, removing the occupying plant and clearing the vessel for a new plant.

A gourmend begins play with zero cultivation pots. At 2nd level, and every three gourmend levels thereafter, she gains an additional cultivation pot, to a maximum of six cultivation pots at 17th level.

Preservation Vessels

Preservation vessels prevent the spoilage of herbalism plants and recipes. Herbalism plants and plant products (output from recipes) that a gourmend puts in a preservation vessel does not decay overnight like everything else she picks or produces. A single preservation vessel can contain 4 “points” worth of plants or plant products. The point value of a plant or plant product is given in its entry. To prevent contamination, a preservation vessel can only carry a single kind of plant or plant product? no mixing is permitted.

A gourmend begins play with one preservation vessel.

At 4th level, and every three gourmend levels thereafter, excepting 10th level, she gains an additional preservation vessel, for a maximum of six vessels at 19th level.

Find Herbs (Su)

At 1st level, the herbalist has learned the secret to finding useful plants and unlocking their true potential, wherever she may be. Blessed by Mother Nature herself, a gourmend’s picked plants are truly wondrous? however, they must be taken from their natural state to be effective.

To pick plants, the gourmend must first consult her surroundings to determine her current “biome”. Biomes, large, naturally occurring communities of flora and fauna occupying a major habitat, are divided into nine standard categories for the purpose of this ability: desert, forest, grassland, jungle, mountains, tundra, underground, underwater, and wetlands.

Once the gourmend has determined her biome, she rolls once on that biome’s find herbs table. At 3rd level and every two gourmend levels thereafter, she rolls an additional time on that table. For each roll, she finds the plants listed on the resulting table entry and can use each plant in the manner described in its entry in the Herb Log. All of the gourmend’s find herbs rolls produce 10 “points” worth of herbs. These plants are invested with the blessing of Mother Nature herself? as such, any attempt to use the find herbs class feature a second time in a single day will simply result in the acquisition of nonfunctional plants.

Plants granted the blessing of nature tend to decay very rapidly. As such, all plants and plant products not stored in preservation vessels overnight will denature to a useless state.

A gourmend has an effective herbalist level equal to her gourmend level for the purpose of determining the power and duration of her herbalism plants.

Recipes (Ex)

As a gourmend plies her trade, she learns a number of recipes, which combine lists of ingredients, usually herbalism plants, into specialized concoctions. A gourmend begins play knowing one recipe, and learns an additional recipe at each new gourmend level. She cannot select an individual recipe more than once.

Concocting a plant product from an herbalism recipe requires 1 hour of effort and a single Craft (alchemy) check. The DC of the Craft (alchemy) check for an individual recipe is given in that recipe’s entry in The Recipe Book. Given cooking up pseudoalchemical goods from raw materials that have been blessed by nature itself is a rather risky venture at the best of times, all materials are wasted if the Craft (alchemy) check fails by any amount. Further, a gourmend can never take 10 on her Craft checks when working with recipes. Too many things can go wrong!

Like the gourmend’s plants, all plant products made from recipes spoil overnight if not kept in a preservation vessel. As such, all recipes also have a point value that indicates how many units of the compound can fit in a single preservation vessel. Further, unless otherwise noted, all recipe end products become inactive if not used or applied by the gourmend personally. Each recipe produces 1 unit of output unless stated otherwise.

Culinary Bond (Su)

At 2nd level, a gourmend builds a familiar for herself out of foodstuffs. A gourmend’s familiar follows the same rules as a wizard’s familiar, with the exception that it uses the progression table shown below and that, should she lose her familiar, she can cook a new one in a process that requires 8 hours. The replacement cost for a gourmend’s familiar is the same as the replacement cost for a wizard’s familiar.

Table: The Culinary Familiar
Master Class Level Natural Armor Adj. Intelligence Special
1st-2nd +1 6 Empathic link, familiar construction, improved evasion
3rd-4th +2 7
5th-6th +3 8 Speak with master
7th-8th +4 9 Speak with animals of its kind, speak with constructs of its material
9th-10th +5 10
11th-12th +6 11 Spell resistance
13th-14th +7 12
15th-16th +8 13
17th-18th +9 14
19th-20th +10 15

Familiar Construction

In order to create her familiar, a gourmend must first choose the means by which she will do so. The gourmend selects one of her known major culinary skillsets, granting the familiar the ability corresponding to that skillset, below.

When making her familiar, the gourmend chooses the shape it will take. While within 1 mile of her familiar, she gains the special ability corresponding to that species of animal (see this table). For example, the gourmend may choose to make a toad out of candy, thus gaining the special ability from having a toad familiar, as well as the benefits of having a familiar created with candymaking.

Despite their artificial origins, gourmend familiars are treated as the creature type(s) of the creature in whose form they are shaped.

  • Baking: The familiar produces two doughballs for its master whenever she uses the find herbs class feature to find her herbalism plants for the day.
  • Candymaking: The familiar has a truffle socket on its body. Any truffle socketed into the familiar triggers on a successful natural attack.
  • Cheesemaking: Once per day, if the master is within reach, the familiar may feed its master a piece of its body as a standard action, healing her for 1d8 + the master’s gourmend level points of damage. Starting at 11th level, the familiar may feed its master twice per day. Levels in other classes that grant the use of familiars stack for the purpose of this ability.
  • MEAT!: When making her familiar, the gourmend chooses a species of animal that can become a familiar. Her familiar is built out of meat from that species, granting the special ability corresponding to that species. For example, if the gourmend makes a familiar out of bat meat in the shape of a toad, then her familiar is treated as a toad that grants both the toad and bat species-defined special abilities. Familiar special abilities do not stack.
  • Preservation: The familiar contains a compartment that the master can use as though it were a cultivation pot that can hold a single 1point herbalism plant or plant product.

Familiar Basics

Use the basic statistics for a creature of the familiar’s kind, but with the following changes.

Hit Dice: For the purpose of effects related to number of Hit Dice, use the master’s character level or the familiar’s normal HD total, whichever is higher.

Hit Points: The familiar has half the master’s total hit points (not including temporary hit points), rounded down, regardless of its actual Hit Dice.

Attacks: Use the master’s base attack bonus, as calculated from all his classes. Use the familiar’s Dexterity or Strength modifier, whichever is greater, to calculate the familiar’s melee attack bonus with natural weapons. Damage equals that of a normal creature of the familiar’s kind.

Saving Throws: For each saving throw, use either the familiar’s base save bonus (Fortitude +2, Reflex +2, Will +0) or the master’s (as calculated from all her classes), whichever is better. The familiar uses its own ability modifiers to saves, and it doesn’t share any of the other bonuses that the master might have on saves.

Skills: For each skill in which either the master or the familiar has ranks, use either the normal skill ranks for an animal of that type or the master’s skill ranks, whichever is better. In either case, the familiar uses its own ability modifiers. Regardless of a familiar’s total skill modifiers, some skills may remain beyond the familiar’s ability to use. Familiars treat Acrobatics, Climb, Fly, Perception, Stealth, and Swim as class skills.

Familiar Abilities

Empathic Link (Su)

The master has an empathic link with her familiar to a 1 mile distance. The master can communicate empathically with the familiar, but cannot see through its eyes. Because of the link’s limited nature, only general emotions can be shared. The master has the same connection to an item or place that her familiar does.

Improved Evasion (Ex)

When subjected to an attack that normally allows a Reflex saving throw for half damage, a familiar takes no damage if it makes a successful saving throw, and half damage even if the saving throw fails.

Speak with Master (Ex)

If the master is 5th level or higher, a familiar and the master can communicate verbally as if they were using a common language. Other creatures do not understand the communication without magical help.

Speak with Animals of Its Kind (Ex)

If the master is 7th level or higher, a familiar can communicate with animals of approximately the same kind as itself (including dire varieties): bats with bats, cats with felines, hawks and owls and ravens with birds, lizards and snakes with reptiles, monkeys with other simians, rats with rodents, toads with amphibians, and weasels with ermines and minks. Such communication is limited by the Intelligence of the conversing creatures.

Speak with Constructs of Its Material (Ex)

If the master is 7th level or higher, a familiar can communicate with constructs of approximately the same material as itself: baked familiars with constructs made of bread or starch, candymaking familiars with constructs made of candy, cheesemaking familiars with constructs made of dairy, MEAT! familiars with constructs made with meat (such as flesh golems), and preservation familiars with constructs made of alchemical goods (such as alchemical golems).

Spell Resistance (Ex)

If the master is 11th level or higher, a familiar gains spell resistance equal to the master’s level + 5. To affect the familiar with a spell, another spellcaster must get a result on a caster level check (1d20 + caster level) that equals or exceeds the familiar’s spell resistance.

More with Less (Ex)

At 10th level, when attempting to produce a plant product from an herbalist recipe with three or more ingredients, the gourmend may increase the DC of that recipe by +5. If she does, she may substitute one herbalism plant ingredient with another herbalism plant with the same point value. The substituted plant must be found in the same biome as the plant it is replacing. The gourmend may use this ability once per day.

Culinary Prodigy

At 20th level, the gourmend has reached the pinnacle of her craft. Choose one of the abilities listed below.

Deep Cookbook (Ex)

The size of the gourmend’s culinary pool increases by +5. In addition, she gains a culinary talent for which she meets the prerequisites.

Double Bond (Su)

The gourmend gains a second familiar as the culinary bond class feature. Each of her familiars may be replaced separately. Any special abilities granted from her familiars based on their shape (or from being made of meat) do not stack with each other.

Master Gatherer (Ex)

The gourmend gains an additional find herbs roll, for a total of 11.

Sous Chef (Ex)

The gourmend’s familiar selects a major culinary skillset, as well as three minor culinary skills whose prerequisites are met by a gourmend level of 6th or lower. The familiar gains the chosen culinary skillset and minor skills, and is treated as though it were a 6th-level gourmend for the purpose of using them. The familiar gains a culinary pool containing 5 culinary points, which replenishes itself whenever its master replenishes her culinary point pool for the day.

Ex-Gourmends

A gourmend who ceases to revere nature or changes to a prohibited alignment loses all gourmend abilities (not including weapon, armor, and shield proficiencies). She cannot thereafter gain levels as a gourmend until she atones (see the atonement spell description).

Gourmend Culinary Skillsets

Baking

Baking is the process of cooking foods with dry heat, distinguished from roasting in that baking usually gives the final product a solid form through the cooking process, while roasting uses ingredients that already have their shape. Even in regions that rely heavily on meat and dairy for calories, baking usually has a strong foothold in the local diet.

A gourmend with the baking culinary skillset has the ability to produce breads, cookies, cakes, and the like. Her herbalism background grants the ability to manipulate the natural processes of these foods, and even finds a way to grant animation to some of her creations.

Doughballs (Su)

Whenever the gourmend uses the find herbs class feature to find her herbalism plants for the day, she may also produce doughballs at the cost of 1 culinary point each. Doughballs are effectively the raw material used in other applications of the baking major culinary skillset.

Quickrising Dough

As a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity, the gourmend may hurl two doughballs as though they were a thrown splash weapon with a range increment of 20 feet. While in flight, the doughball swells to monstrous size, taking up the entire 5foot cube of the square it directly hits.

Creatures occupying that square take 1d3 points of bludgeoning damage per gourmend level with a Reflex save to negate. Those who succeed on their Reflex save must move as a free action such that they are adjacent to the cube of dough. This movement does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Those unable to find a suitable location adjacent to the doughball retroactively fail their Reflex save. Creatures that fail their Reflex save (or failed to move and retroactively failed their save) are also subject to the trip combat maneuver with a CMB equal to the gourmend’s class level + her Wisdom modifier. Creatures are entangled for as long as they occupy the space the quickrising dough itself occupies.

Once a creature leaves the space occupied by quickrising dough, it treats that space as blocking terrain for the remainder of the dough’s duration.

A quickrising doughball persists for 1 minute per gourmend level or until reduced to 0 hit points? the doughball has hit points equal to five times the gourmend’s class level and hardness equal to her Wisdom modifier. When a quickrising doughball is destroyed or has its full duration elapse, it simply pops, leaving a scattering of flour and dough that does nothing to impede movement.

Soft Dough

As a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity, the gourmend may hurl one doughball as though it were a thrown splash weapon with a range increment of 20 feet. Creatures within 5 feet of the square struck by a direct hit take dealing 1d6 points of bludgeoning damage for every two gourmend levels she possesses, minimum 1d6, with a Reflex save for half damage. Creatures occupying the square that the doughball directly hits are not entitled to a Reflex save for half damage.

Gingerbread Cookie Golems (Su)

As a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity, the gourmend may expend 2 doughballs to create and deploy a gingerbread cookie golem in an unoccupied square within reach. Gingerbread cookie golems follow the gourmend’s orders as though they were summoned creatures, but given they’re created and not summoned, they cannot be dismissed or have control suborned like a standard summoned creature. A gourmend may only control a single gingerbread cookie golem at a time, increasing to two golems at 7th level and three golems at 13th level. If a gingerbread cookie golem is ever more than 30 feet + 10 feet/gourmend level away from its creator, it crumbles immediately and is destroyed? otherwise, it persists for 1 hour per gourmend level.

Gingerbread cookie golems are Small constructs with Hit Dice equal to one-half their creator’s gourmend level, rounded up? DR X/, where X is their creator’s Wisdom modifier? ranks in the Perception and Stealth skills equal to their Hit Dice? Perception and Stealth as class skills? a slam natural attack? Dexterity and Strength scores equal to their creator’s Wisdom modifier + 10? an Intelligence of 3? and Wisdom and Charisma scores of 10.

Candymaking

In most cases, luxury is defined by rarity. If something is palatable, expensive, and difficult to acquire, somebody will call it a delicacy or a luxury to impress others. Candies and sweets take a more primal tack to luxury, appealing to the reward centers dominated by base instinct rather than the social constructs built by cerebral thought. Candymakers learn how to appeal to both base desire and social constructs, creating treats that the whole mind can agree is luxurious. The bane of teeth everywhere, a gourmend with the candymaking culinary skillset has the ability to create various specialty truffles, which act as oneshot deliverables that can be attached to any weapons that have been modified to be compatible with them. For those gourmends without a weapon on hand, candymakers can also fabricate temporary weapons from hard candy, such as peppermint.

Candy Weapons (Su)

Jokes on the topic of killing a man with a peppermint stick that’s been suckled to a sharp point have existed since about half an hour after the first peppermint stick was made. Gourmends specializing in candymaking appear to have no sense of humor, however, as they turn this joke into a terrifying reality.

Whenever the gourmend uses the find herbs class feature to find her herbalism plants for the day, she may expend culinary points to produce candy weapons that persist until the next time she uses the find herbs class feature. The gourmend begins play with the ability to produce simple candy weapons? if she produces a ranged weapon, she also produces 50 units of candy ammunition for that weapon. As a gourmend increases in level, she may make candy weapons of increasing quality. The various quality levels of candy weapons, their corresponding culinary point costs, and the required gourmend level to produce candy weapons of that quality are given in Table: Candy Weapon Qualities. All ammunition produced is always of quality level “1”. Starting at 4th level, a gourmend can make martial candy weapons, but treats her gourmend level as though it were 2 lower for the purpose of determining the quality levels she can produce when making them.

Starting at 7th level, the gourmend can make exotic candy weapons, but treats her gourmend level as though it were 4 lower for the purpose of determining the quality levels she can produce when making them. All candy weapons are nonmetallic with hardness equal to the gourmend’s Wisdom modifier.

All melee candy weapons come standard with a single truffle socket. As a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity, the wielder of a candy weapon can place a truffle, a consumable that is also made with the candymaking culinary skillset, in an unoccupied truffle socket. Whenever the wielder of a candy weapon with an occupied truffle socket strikes a creature with that weapon, he may activate the socketed truffle as a swift action. This expends the truffle, but applies its effects to the creature struck by the candy weapon.

Table: Candy Weapon Qualities
Quality Level Weapon Culinary Point Cost Required Gourmend Level
1 Standard weapon 1 1
2 Masterwork weapon 2 3
3 +1 weapon 3 6
4 +2 weapon 5 9
5 +3 weapon 7 12
6 +3 impact/keen weapon 8 18
7 +4 impact/keen weapon 10

Truffles (Su)

Whenever the gourmend uses the find herbs class feature to find her herbalism plants for the day, she may also produce truffles using points from her culinary pool. A candymaking gourmend begins play knowing two truffles from the list below, and each time she gains a new herbalist recipe, she may instead learn a new truffle. She must meet the prerequisites of a truffle in order to learn how to create it.

As truffles do not have a point value, they cannot be stored in preservation vessels, but still spoil overnight as though they were herbalism plants.

Ambrosia [mind-affecting]

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Duration: 1 round + 1 round/level, or until discharged? see text

Requires: Gourmend level 9th

Flavor: One of the few truffles that require outright magical ingredients, ambrosia learns what the purchaser believes “ambrosia” should be, then does its best to taste just like that.

Effects: Upon activation, ambrosia overwhelms the subject with waves of euphoria. The next time the subject would attack the wielder of the candy weapon used to deliver ambrosia, it must succeed on a Will save or lose its action. Creatures without a sense of taste are considered to be immune to mind-affecting abilities for the purpose of ambrosia.

Butterball

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Duration: 1 round + 1 round/level

Flavor: In colder climates with short growing seasons, dairy is an indispensable part of agriculture. The resulting easy access to butter and milk makes baked goods similarly easy to access, regardless of social stratification. Butterball truffles take advantage of the local produce, using delicately spiced butter, heated to a perpetual melt by flakes of dried flametongue, as their filling base.

Effects: Upon activation, butterball spills butter all over the space the subject occupies, as well as all squares within 5 feet of the space the subject occupies. Squares containing butter become slippery, as the grease spell. Butter from a butterball may be removed in the same manner as grease from the grease spell.

Crackling Rice

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Duration: 1 round + 1 round/8 levels

Requires: Gourmend level 3rd

Flavor: One of many gimmick truffles, crackling rice foregoes the traditional liquid center for something reminiscent of rice pudding. When bitten in earnest, the contents have a tendency to pop out of place and make a mess of one’s face, making a characteristic crackling sound as it expands.

Effects: Upon activation and at the beginning of each of the subject’s turns, crackling rice blinds the subject for 1 round with a Fortitude save to negate.

Experimental Truffle #14A [poison]

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Duration: 1 round + 1 round/level

Flavor: Don’t ask.

Effects: Upon activation and at the beginning of each of the subject’s turns, experimental truffle #14A sickens the subject for 1 round with a Fortitude save to negate.

Experimental Truffle #37B [poison]

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Duration: 1 round

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Flavor: Said to be worse than experimental truffle #14A, #37B nearly immediately found its way into the military.

Effects: Upon activation, experimental truffle #37B staggers the subject with a Fortitude save to negate.

Flametongue Smoker

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Duration: instantaneous

Flavor: Cocoa beans are slowly smoked by a concoction containing flametongue and sweet wood chips. The chocolate rendered from those beans is mixed with more flametongue to make a hot, smoky chocolate without a hint of spiciness. Flametongue smoker traditionally has an elevated fat content to make use of the textural component that can be brought out by its naturally high temperature.

Effects: When activated, flametongue smoker deals 1d6 + the gourmend’s class level points of fire damage to the subject.

Forest Truffle

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Duration: instantaneous

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Flavor: While most truffles are exclusively the chocolatier’s domain, their form is derived from the prized mushroom of the same name. The forest truffle incorporates a small amount of this fungus into a dark chocolate base. It’s an acquired taste.

Effects: When activated, forest truffle summons a spectral pig, which rams the subject, then vanishes. Make a trip combat maneuver against the subject with a CMB of the gourmend’s class level + her Wisdom modifier. Performing the trip combat maneuver in this manner does not provoke attacks of opportunity for the simple reason that it’s the aforementioned pig doing the tripping and not the gourmend herself.

Gelatinous Sphere

Point Cost: 2 Culinary Points

Duration: 1 round + 1 round/3 levels

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Flavor: One of the main ingredients of gelatinous sphere is the thoroughly detoxified remnants of a gelatinous cube. This gives the sphere a delightfully bouncy texture, and the slight tang of the cube goes well with a lime curd filling.

Effects: When activated, gelatinous sphere gloms onto the subject, entangling it with a Reflex save to negate. Whether or not the creature becomes entangled, it is enveloped in a blob of material that renders the space it occupies impassible for other creatures. Apart from the possible entanglement, this blob of material does nothing to hinder the subject’s actions.

Peppermint Freeze

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Duration: instantaneous

Flavor: A few drops of frostcap oil added to a rather pedestrian peppermint truffle give it a supernatural chill that makes the innards behave more like a superrich peppermint ice cream.

Effects: When activated, peppermint freeze deals 1d6 + the gourmend’s class level points of cold damage to the subject.

Phantom [mind-affecting]

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Duration: 1 round

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Flavor: The flavor of a phantom truffle varies from chocolatier to chocolatier, but the general idea is to combine flavors with varying lifetimes that fire on different parts of the tongue. The end result is nothing short of confusing.

Effects: When activated, phantom confuses the subject with a Will save to negate.

Puckerberry Surprise

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Duration: instantaneous

Flavor: Properly balanced against sugar, puckerberry tastes like a particularly robust cross of lemon and lime. The surprise tends to be small bits of dried citrus fruit in the liquid center. When a gourmend’s natureblessed produce gets in the mix, however, it tastes likes dissolving teeth.

Effect: When activated, puckerberry surprise deals 1d3 + the gourmend’s class level points of acid damage to the subject.

Cheesemaking

Cheesemaking is a process by which the lumpy bits, or curd, of curdled milk is subjected to stomach enzymes and specific molds to produce a new dairy product where the old one was expiring. As a means of preservation, cheesemaking is most commonly used in regions with shorter growing seasons, or in regions where the land can support grass, and therefore cattle, but arable land for agriculture is sparse. The craft elevates to an art in temperate regions, where the colder months allow for formulations of cheese that would simply fail where it never gets cold enough to inhibit bacterial growth.

A gourmend with the cheesemaking culinary skillset gains the ability to produce various types of cheeses, from soft brie and camembert to firm cheddar and hard asiago. The gourmend’s herbalism background ensures that her cheeses ripen supernaturally quickly, though they do tend to suffer from supernaturally-quick spoilage as a result.

Making Cheese

Whenever the gourmend uses the find herbs class feature to find her herbalism plants for the day, she may also begin to produce cheeses using points from her culinary pool. Each type of cheese she can produce (see Section: Cheese Varietals) has a ripening time, which is how long it takes for a cheese to become edible once production has started? a culinary point cost, which states how many culinary points it costs to begin the process of producing a unit of that cheese? and various other rules specific to that variety of cheese. When a cheese finishes ripening, the gourmend receives one unit of cheese, which follows consumption rules as though it were a potion.

Just as many commercial cheeses include sage, dill, and other herbs for flavor, a gourmend can expend herbalism plants to add them as additives when starting a new cheese. Only herbalism plants that are chewed to elicit an effect (hereafter called “chewables”) may be added to cheeses, and the point value of the added chewables cannot exceed 1 + one-quarter the gourmend’s class level. For the purpose of this limit, treat the point value of all chewables added to a cheese beyond the first as though it were +1 higher. Multiple units of the same chewable cannot be added to a cheese. As cheeses are treated as potions, and not as herbalism plants any longer, a gourmend does not need to administer the cheese personally in order for the herbalism plants used as additives to take effect.

Cheese Preservation

As stated earlier, a cheese that ripens supernaturally quickly also has to deal with hyperactive cultures that threaten to spoil that cheese just as quickly. Ripe cheeses spoil in the same manner that herbalism plants rot and become useless, and are treated as though they were herbalism plants with a point value of 2 + the point value of all added chewables for the purpose of storing them in preservation vessels. Cheeses of the same varietal can be placed in the same preservation vessel just as though they were copies of the same herbalism plant. Cheeses that are actively ripening do not spoil and cannot be placed in a preservation vessel. Some specific varietals of cheese resist spoilage, which is indicated in that cheese’s entry in Section: Cheese Varietals.

Cheesecloth (Su)

At 9th level, the gourmend gains a cheesecloth, which functions identically to a preservation vessel, save that it can only store cheese.

Whey Cheese (Sp)

Whenever a gourmend begins to produce one or more new cheeses, she harvests a unit of whey cheese from the leftovers of the process. Whey cheese has a ripening time of instantaneous and is, therefore, ready to eat from the moment of its genesis. When the gourmend gains a unit of whey cheese, she chooses any 1st-level spell from the druid spell list that can be made into a potion. The harvested whey cheese is treated as a potion of the chosen spell with a caster level equal to the gourmend’s class level.

At 5th level and every six gourmend levels thereafter, the gourmend harvests an additional unit of whey cheese whenever she begins to produce one or more new cheeses, to a maximum of four units at 17th level. She may choose a different druid spell for each unit of whey cheese produced in this manner.

Starting at 11th level, whenever the gourmend harvests whey cheese, she may combine two units of the whey cheese and choose any potion-legal 2nd-level spell from the druid spell list. The combined whey is treated as a single potion of the chosen spell with a caster level equal to the gourmend’s class level.

For example, an 11th-level gourmend gets three units of whey cheese whenever she begins to produce new cheeses. She may choose to gain three whey cheeses that act as potions of 1st-level spells, or one whey cheese that acts as a potion of a 1st-level spell and one that acts as a potion of a 2nd-level spell.

Similarly, at 17th level, the gourmend may combine four units of whey cheese and choose any potion-legal 3rd-level spell from the druid spell list. The combined whey is treated as a single potion of the chosen spell with a caster level equal to the gourmend’s class level. For example, a 17th-level gourmend gets three units of whey cheese whenever she begins to produce new cheeses. She may choose to gain: Four whey cheeses that act as potions of 1st-level spells, two whey cheeses that act as potions of 2nd-level spells, two whey cheeses that act as potions of 1st-level spells and one whey cheese that acts as a potion of a 2nd-level spell, or one whey cheese that acts as a potion of a 3rd-level spell.

Whey cheese always goes bad overnight, even if stored in a preservation vessel.

Cheese Varietals

Fresh Cheese

Ripening Time: instantaneous

Point Cost: 2 Culinary Points

Effect: Fresh cheese is simply a vehicle for herbalism plant additives and grants no special benefit to them.

Special: If the gourmend produces only fresh cheese on a given day, she does not produce whey cheese.

Soft Cheese

Ripening Time: 1 day

Point Cost: 2 Culinary Points

Effect: When consumed, a soft cheese heals the consumer for 1d8 + the gourmend’s class level points of damage. This is in addition to the effects of whatever herbalism plants are used as additives in the cheese.

Blue-Veined Cheese

Ripening Time: 1 day

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Effect: Treat the gourmend’s class level as though it were +2 higher for the purpose of determining the duration of any herbalism plants used as additives in the cheese.

Semi-soft Cheese

Ripening Time: 1 day

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Effect: Treat the gourmend’s class level as though it were +2 higher for the purpose of determining the magnitude of effect, but not the duration, of any herbalism plants used as additives in the cheese.

Firm Cheese

Ripening Time: 2 days

Point Cost: 2 Culinary Points

Effect: The maximum point value of the herbalism plants that can be added to a firm cheese as additives is +1 greater than other varietals.

Hard Cheese

Ripening Time: 3 days

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Effect: Hard cheese is slow to ripen, and slow to spoil. Each morning when the gourmend’s cheeses would spoil, she may choose a single unit of hard cheese she crafted that wasn’t stored in a preservation vessel. The chosen unit of hard cheese does not spoil.

MEAT!

In areas where calorie-rich agricultural staples simply won’t grow, but grasses and their ilk will, humanoids who would starve to death trying to feed from grass will conscript herds of other animals to feed on grass for them, then eat members of that herd to satisfy themselves. Sometimes, the humanoids skip husbandry altogether and just go hunting. Whatever the case, food one or more steps derived from plants is decidedly inefficient, so those who cook animals must be ready to use every part of the animal in order to make the process worthwhile.

A gourmend with the MEAT! culinary skillset is a master at the harvest and preparation of meat in all its forms. Stripping the flesh off the bones of a bear, giant rat, or goblin helps to stretch herbalism supplies a bit further by substituting meat in wherever a recipe simply needs volume to dilute out the supernatural bits, while all of that field dressing makes the gourmend a terrifying knife fighter despite her lack of physical training in other arenas.

Butchery (Ex)

If a gourmend deals damage to a meat-bearing animal, dragon, humanoid, magical beast, or outsider that subsequently dies in the same combat in which she damaged it, she may expend 2 culinary points to harvest the choicest morsels from its body using her favored implement (see Favored Implement, below). Harvesting requires one minute of uninterrupted effort and yields one unit of meat. Record the subtype of creature from which this unit of meat was harvested.

Meat spoils as though it were an herbalism plant, but cannot be stored in preservation vessels.

Cooking Meat (Su)

One unit of meat may be used as a unit of generic produce when cooking herbalism plants or producing recipe plant products that call for generic produce to increase the volume of the end product. When a creature consumes a cooked plant or plant product that has had a unit of meat added to it, that creature gains a +1 morale bonus to Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution, chosen at random, for 10 minutes per gourmend level. This increases to a +2 morale bonus at 9th level and a +3 morale bonus at 17th level. Consuming a plant or plant product that has had a unit of meat added to it ends all previous morale bonuses granted by meat immediately.

Alternatively, one unit of meat may be cooked on its own, a process that requires 10 minutes of uninterrupted effort. This yields one unit of cooked meat, which can be consumed as though it were a potion. The consumer of a unit of cooked meat radiates an aura of fear for 1 round per gourmend level, which shakens all creatures within 30 feet whose subtype matches that of the creature from which the unit of meat was originally harvested. A successful Will save negates the shakened effect. Creatures that make their saving throw are immune to the effects of cooked meat produced by that gourmend for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting ability.

Favored Implement (Su)

At any time, the gourmend may declare a dagger, throwing dagger, or kukri in her possession to be her favored implement. If her favored implement is a throwing dagger, it gains the returning weapon special ability. The first time the gourmend attacks with her favored implement each round, she gains a luck bonus to that attack roll equal to one-half her gourmend level, rounded down (minimum 0). A gourmend can only use the butchery ability (see above) with her favored implement.

Knife Specialization (Ex)

Gourmends who specialize in the acquisition and preparation of meat tend to be very, very good with knives. As a result, a gourmend with the MEAT! culinary skillset begins play with the Weapon Focus (dagger) feat and is proficient with the kukri. In addition, at 4th level and every four gourmend levels thereafter, she gains a bonus combat feat. When selecting a bonus combat feat, the gourmend is treated as though she had a fighter level equal to her gourmend level for the purpose of meeting that feat’s prerequisites. When taking a bonus combat feat, if that feat only applies to a specific type of weapon, then she must pick dagger, throwing dagger, or kukri. If a bonus feat cannot conceivably benefit a dagger or kukri, then she cannot take it. While wielding a weapon that is not a dagger, throwing dagger, or kukri, the gourmend gains no benefit from her bonus combat feats.

Starting at 3rd level, any daggers or kukris the gourmend wields have a +1 enhancement bonus unless their native enhancement bonus is higher. At 7th level and every four gourmend levels thereafter, this enhancement bonus increases by +1, to a maximum of +5 at 19th level.

Preservation

Every living creature needs a source of fuel, and most of them have no concept of property rights. Food is, thus, a war, and preservation is the means by which microscopic invaders are held back. Salt becomes the blocks of a great barrier wall, alcohol a great moat, and freezing cold the antipodal equivalent of boiling pitch.

While all gourmends, and, by extension, nearly every professional in the herbalism community, knows how to preserve the gifts of nature, a gourmend with the preservation major culinary skillset takes things to the next level by incorporating various tools into her preservation strategy. Salt, alcohol immersion, and processing plants into hardier forms all allows a preservation-focused gourmend to carry more ingredients with her.

Brewing (Su)

Gourmends know how to process various basic herbalism plants into brewed forms. She begins play knowing how to brew the herbalism plants listed in Table: Preservation Brewing Base List. Whenever the gourmend would learn a new recipe, she may instead choose any 1point herbalism plant that is chewed to elicit an effect. If she does, she learns how to brew the chosen plant.

The brewing process consumes one unit of an herbalism plant and 1 culinary point, producing one unit of brew after 10 minutes of uninterrupted effort. If interrupted for any reason, the unit of plant is lost. Starting at 7th level, a gourmend can brew up to two units of brew at the same time, but only if they are made from units of the same herbalism plant. This increases to three simultaneous brews, with the same restrictions, at 13th level. Starting at 17th level, the gourmend can produce simultaneous brews with no restriction.

When consumed, a gourmend brew has the same effect as the herbalism plant used to make it in the first place. Brewed herbalism plants follow the rules for potions, save that they are still considered supernatural and, therefore, have no caster level. As brews are potions, the gourmend does not need to administer the brew personally to elicit an effect and may pass off brew to friends, customers, and allies who can consume the brew for its effects at their leisure.

Gourmend brews are treated as though they were herbalism plants for the purpose of spoilage, with two important distinctions. First, gourmend brews cannot be placed in preservation vessels. Second, whenever a gourmend brew is subjected to conditions that would cause an herbalism plant to spoil, the brew has a cumulative 25% chance to spoil instead. Rather than risk the spoilage of a gourmend brew, the gourmend may expend culinary points to ensure that a specific brew does not do so. The cost of forcing a spoilage check to automatically succeed is given on Table: Gourmend Brew Autopreservation Cost.

A gourmend can only have a number of brews not to exceed her Wisdom modifier at any one time, minimum 1. Brewed herbalism plants or plant products sourced from recipes or alternate uses presented in an herbalism plant’s entry do not count as brews for the purpose of this ability. For example, as pineapples have an alternate use that allows them to be brewed by any herbalism professional, brewed pineapple neither counts toward a gourmend’s brew limit, nor gains the preservation bonuses entitled to gourmend brews made with this ability. If, for some reason, a gourmend chooses to learn how to brew pineapple, she effectively gains the ability to make a brewed version that counts as a gourmend brew and another version that does not. In order to make room for new brews, whenever the gourmend collects plants with the find herbs class feature, she may choose to abandon any number of her creations, wherever they may be, spoiling them immediately and removing nature’s blessing.

Table: Preservation Brewing Base List
Herbalism Plant Name
Barbary fig
Common yarrow
Hair of the mountain
Marsh mallow
Table: Gourmend Brew Autopreservation Cost
Spoilage Chance Culinary Point Cost
1%-50% 1
51%-75% 2
76%+ 3

Preservation Mastery (Su)

A gourmend’s deep study into preservation techniques increases the capacity of her preservation vessels. They may each store up to 5 points of herbalism plants rather than just 4, and plants that can be found in the same biome or microcosm may be placed in the same preservation vessel as though they were units of the same plant.

Gourmend Culinary Talents

Additional Ammunition (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend creates a ranged candy weapon, she produces 100 units of candy ammunition for that weapon rather than just 50.

Advanced Brewing

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Preservation

Requires: Gourmend level 9th

Benefit: Choose a 2-point herbalism plant that is chewed to elicit an effect. The gourmend gains the ability to brew that plant with the brewing ability of the preservation culinary skillset.

A gourmend may never simultaneously brew multiple 2-point plants.

Alchemical Aftertaste (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Any

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Benefit: When making alchemical goods with the Craft (alchemy) skill, the gourmend may expend a culinary point as though it were 5 gp of raw materials. Alchemical goods made in this manner lack stabilizers, thus spoiling and becoming useless after 14 days. This limited shelf life limits the commercial viability of alchemical goods? as a result, alchemical goods made with culinary points cannot be sold to stores, though certain individuals with an immediate need may purchase the gourmend’s alchemical wares despite their shelf life issues.

Animal Additives (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Cheesemaking, MEAT!

Requires: Gourmend level 9th

Benefit: The gourmend now treats cooked meat as a valid additive when producing new cheeses. When used as an additive, treat cooked meat as though it had a point value of 2. Only one unit of cooked meat can be added per cheese.

Aged Cheese (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Cheesemaking

Benefit: If a unit of ripened cheese is more than one week old (calculated from the time its ripening completes), then the gourmend treats her class level as though it were +1 higher for the purpose of determining the duration and magnitude of effect of any herbalism plants used as additives in that cheese.

Aged Spirits (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Preservation

Benefit: If a gourmend brew has been in brewed form without spoiling for at least 48 hours, it gets a +1 bonus to its effective herbalist level.

Arcane Whey (Sp)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Cheesemaking

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend harvests whey cheese with the cheesemaking culinary skillset, she may combine two units of the whey cheese and choose any potion-legal 1st-level spell from the wizard spell list. The combined whey cheese is treated as a potion of the chosen spell with a caster level equal to the gourmend’s class level.

Breadstorm (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Baking

Requires: Gourmend level 9th

Benefit: As a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity, the gourmend expends three doughballs to throw both a unit of soft dough and a unit of quickrising dough. She chooses the order in which they are thrown, and the second doughball may target the same square as the first, but only if that square is still legal (non-blocking) after the first resolves.

Cheesebread (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Baking, Cheesemaking

Requires: Gourmend level 9th

Benefit: As a standard action that provokes attacks of opportunity, the gourmend may expend one doughball to throw one unit of cheese produced with the cheesemaking culinary skillset. Treat the cheese as a thrown splash weapon with a range increment of 20 feet. If the cheese lands in a space occupied by a willing ally, that ally may consume the cheese as an immediate action, thus gaining its benefits. If the cheese lands in a space not occupied by a willing ally, it breaks and is lost.

Cheesemonger (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Cheesemaking, Preservation

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Benefit: The gourmend treats cheeses as though they were herbalism plants that can be found in the same biome for the purpose of storing them in preservation vessels.

Condiments (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Any

Benefit: The gourmend learns how to make condiments, special plant products that alter the taste of other foods.

Whenever a creature possessing at least one unit of condiment is about to consume an item or feed another creature an item from the list below, it may first apply a unit of condiment to that item as a swift action. (In the case of truffles, a condiment may be applied as the truffle is socketed.) The applied condiment modifies the consumed item as detailed in its listing.

  • Chewable herbalism plants
  • Cooked meat from the MEAT! culinary skillset
  • Cheese from the cheesemaking culinary skillset
  • Truffles from the candymaking culinary skillset

Whenever the gourmend gains a new recipe, she may now choose from among the following condiment recipes in addition to those to which all gourmends have access. In addition, she gains a single condiment recipe from the list below immediately.

Allsauce (Condiment)

Ingredients: 2 Culinary Points

Craft DC: 25

Point Value: 2

Duration: As item modified

Effect: When applied to a compatible item with a duration of greater than instantaneous, allsauce increases its duration by +1 round.

Herbal Rub (Condiment)

Ingredients: 1 Culinary Point

Craft DC: 20

Point Value: 1

Duration: As item modified

Effect: When applied to a compatible item, herbal rub increases its effective herbalist level by +1.

Pepper Oil (Condiment)

Ingredients: 1 Culinary Point

Craft DC: 20

Point Value: 1

Duration: instantaneous

Effect: When applied to a compatible item, pepper oil grants the consumer the ability to move up to 10 feet as a free action this round. This movement provokes attacks of opportunity as normal and is in addition to the compatible item’s other effects.

Yum Sauce (Condiment)

Ingredient: 2 Culinary Points

Craft DC: 25

Point Value: 2

Duration: instantaneous

Effect: When applied to a compatible item, yum sauce heals the consumer for a number of hit points equal to the gourmend’s class level. This is in addition to the compatible item’s other effects.

Conspicuous Consumption

Required Culinary Skillset(s): MEAT!

Requires: Gourmend level 12th

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend produces a unit of cooked meat, she may declare it to be conspicuous. Conspicuous cooked meat shakens creatures within 60 feet rather than within 30 feet.

A unit of cooked meat cannot be both conspicuous and inconspicuous.

Curdled Courage (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Cheesemaking

Benefit: Non-whey cheeses the gourmend produces grant a +2 morale bonus to Will saving throws for 1d4 rounds in addition to their other effects.

Curdled Might (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Cheesemaking

Benefit: Non-whey cheeses the gourmend produces grant a +1 morale bonus to attack and damage rolls for 1d4 rounds in addition to their other effects.

Defrillification (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking

Requires: Gourmend level 9th

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend produces a candy weapon that is entitled to a truffle socket, she may choose not to give the candy weapon its truffle socket. If she withholds the truffle socket, the candy weapon deals an additional +2 points of damage on a successful hit.

Double Dip (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Any

Requires: Gourmend level 12th

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend applies a chewable herbalism plant to another creature, she takes a taste, healing herself for hit points equal to that plant’s point value.

Double Truffles (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking

Benefit: Candy double weapons created by the gourmend have two truffle sockets, one for each end of the weapon. A socketed truffle can only be expended if the correct end of the double weapon strikes a creature.

Normal: As double weapons have only one truffle socket without double truffles, that one truffle socket can be used by either end of a candy double weapon.

Due Attention (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking

Requires: Gourmend level 9th

Benefit: When producing a truffle with a duration of greater than instantaneous, the gourmend may double the culinary point cost of that truffle. If she does, she also doubles its duration.

Elemental Bread (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Baking

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend throws a unit of soft dough or quickrising dough, she may expend one unit of any herbalism plant that deals acid, cold, electricity, or fire damage as a free action. If she does so, the type of damage dealt by the thrown unit of soft dough or quickrising changes from bludgeoning to the type of energy damage dealt by the expended herbalism plant.

Extra Cheesecloth (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Cheesemaking

Requires: Gourmend level 12th

Benefit: The gourmend gains an additional cheesecloth.

Extra Recipes (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Any

Benefit: The gourmend learns two recipes for which she meets the prerequisites.

Extra Whey (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Cheesemaking

Requires: Gourmend level 3rd

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend harvests whey, she gains an additional unit of it.

Family Ties (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): MEAT!

Requires: Gourmend level 9th

Benefit: If a creature shares a bloodline (familial, not the sorcerer/bloodrager class feature) with the source creature of a unit of cooked meat the gourmend produces, then that creature is not entitled to a saving throw against any effects of that unit of cooked meat.

Food Fighter (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Baking

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend creates a gingerbread cookie golem, she may give it a doughball. The gingerbread cookie golem may use the granted doughball to hurl quickrising dough? soft dough? or, if the gourmend knows how to make it, sticky dough. Treat the golem as though it were a gourmend whose class level is equal to half its master’s gourmend level, rounded up. The gingerbread cookie golem uses its own ability scores to determine all properties of hurled dough, including hardness, DC, and damage. A gingerbread cookie golem granted a doughball in this manner cannot be granted more doughballs, nor can an unused doughball granted by food fighter be reclaimed.

Generous Loaves (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Baking

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Benefit: The radius of effect of the gourmend’s soft dough increases by +5 feet.

Hearty Helpings (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Any

Benefits: Whenever the gourmend uses the find herbs class feature to find her herbalism plants for the day, she also finds two units of generic produce, which spoil the next time she uses the find herbs class feature.

High-Proof Truffles (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking, Preservation

Requires: Gourmend level 9th

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend’s candymaking truffles would spoil and become useless, she may choose any number of truffles whose culinary point cost to produce adds up to 4 or less. The chosen truffles do not spoil.

Holy Whey (Sp)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Cheesemaking

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend harvests whey cheese with the cheesemaking major culinary skillset, she may combine two units of the cheese and choose any potion-legal 1st-level spell from the cleric spell list. The combined whey cheese is treated as a potion of the chosen spell with a caster level equal to the gourmend’s class level.

Inconspicuous Consumption (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): MEAT!

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend produces a unit of cooked meat, she may declare it to be inconspicuous. Inconspicuous cooked meat does not affect the allies of the consumer.

A unit of cooked meat cannot be both conspicuous and inconspicuous.

Jerky (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): MEAT!, Preservation

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend harvests a unit of meat from a creature, she may declare that unit of meat to be jerky. Jerky does not spoil. If the gourmend already possesses two units of jerky, then her oldest unit of jerky spoils immediately if she declares a third unit of meat to be jerky.

Juryrigged Preservation (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Preservation

Requires: Gourmend level 9th

Benefit: Choose one of the gourmend’s preservation vessels. So long as their total point value is less than the vessel’s capacity, any combination of herbalism plants can be placed in the chosen preservation vessel, regardless of their identity or biome of origin.

Leftover Bread (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Baking, Preservation

Benefit: If the gourmend has culinary points remaining in her culinary point pool when she replenishes that pool for the day, she gains temporary culinary points equal to the number she had left over, to a maximum of 3. Temporary culinary points gained in this manner may only be spent on doughballs.

Lingering Herbs (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Preservation

Requires: Gourmend level 3rd

Benefit: Treat the gourmend’s effective herbalist level as though it were +1 higher for the purpose of determining the duration of her herbalism plants.

Special: Lingering herbs can be taken multiple times. Each time, the required gourmend level increases by +8. Its effects stack.

Macrobrewing (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Preservation

Requires: Gourmend level 3rd

Benefit: The maximum number of gourmend brews the gourmend may possess at any one time increases by +2.

Special: Macrobrewing can be taken multiple times. Each time, the required gourmend level increases by +6. Its effects stack.

Marination (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): MEAT!

Requires: Condiments

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend produces a unit of cooked meat, she may expend a unit of condiment that she possesses. If she does, she produces a unit of marinated cooked meat rather than a unit of cooked meat. Marinated cooked meat combines the benefits of cooked meat with the modifier of the expended condiment.

A unit of condiment may be applied to a unit of marinated cooked meat as it is about to be consumed. The consumer gains the benefits of the marinated meat, as well as the condiment added to it at the time of consumption? however, the benefits of condiments do not stack, so marinating meat in a condiment, then adding more of the same condiment at the time of consumption does nothing.

Meat Armor (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): MEAT!

Benefit: As a standard action, the gourmend may layer a unit of uncooked meat onto her body, gaining temporary hit points equal to her gourmend level. These temporary hit points persist until she replenishes her culinary point pool.

Meatbread (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Baking, MEAT!

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend produces a unit of cooked meat, she may expend one doughball. If she does, she produces a unit of meatbread instead. Meatbread behaves identically to cooked meat, save that it remains fresh the first time it would spoil.

Monstrous Butchery (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): MEAT!

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend harvests meat from a Large or larger creature with the butchery ability of the MEAT! culinary skillset, she harvests two units of meat rather than just one. This does not increase the culinary point cost of butchering that creature.

Oiled Rinds (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Cheesemaking

Benefit: When making a new cheese, the gourmend may expend a unit of an herbalism plant that can be applied to a weapon as though it were an oil. The point value of the herbalism plant to be expended must be 2 or less. If she does, she applies that plant oil to the very rind of the cheese. The oil slowly seeps into the ripening cheese, influencing its properties and flavoring it much like a chewable additive. When a cheese with an oiled rind is consumed, the consumer gains a rind charge, which represents a sudden bout of supernaturallyinduced indigestion. A rind charge persists for 1 minute or until expended. The consumer may expend the rind charge as a standard action, belching horribly at a creature within 60 feet. Make a ranged touch attack, dealing 1d6 points of damage per gourmend level of the cheese’s producer on a successful hit. The type of damage dealt by the belch is the same as the type of additional damage granted by the expended herbalism plant when it is applied to a weapon as though it were an oil.

Permanent Sugars (Sp)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking, Preservation

Requires: Craft (any that can produce a weapon) 6 ranks, gourmend level 6th

Benefit: The gourmend gains the ability to create permanent candy weapons. When making a permanent candy weapon, the gourmend is treated as though she had the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat. She creates magic weapons in the same manner as any other character with the Craft Magic Arms and Armor feat, save that she expends her entire culinary point pool on the crafting process whenever she chooses to make progress on a magic weapon. She may also expend a unit of an herbalism plant that deals acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic damage to meet the spell prerequisites of any weapon special ability that deals damage of the same type as that of the plant expended. Other minor culinary abilities that grant additional abilities to candy weapons do not apply to magic weapons made with permanent sugars.

Persistent Favor (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): MEAT!

Benefit: When attacking with her favored implement, the gourmend retains her luck bonus to attack rolls made with it until she successfully hits a creature that round.

If the first hit of the round with her favored implement kills or destroys a creature that can be butchered, then its body falls apart into neatlybutchered bits of meat and may be harvested without spending time butchering the carcass. She need only expend the culinary points necessary to collect the meat.

Normal: The gourmend only receives a luck bonus to hit on her first attack made with her favored implement each round.

Preserved Brews (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Preservation

Benefit: The spoilage chance of brews produced with the brewing ability of the preservation major culinary skillset is a now a cumulative 20%.

Normal: The spoilage chance is a cumulative 25%.

Special: This ability can be taken twice. Taken twice, the spoilage rate is a cumulative 15%.

Quality Arms (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking

Requires: Gourmend level 15th

Benefit: Increase the maximum candy weapon quality level that the gourmend can produce by +1. She does not need to meet the required gourmend level of this nexthigher quality level.

Quality Cuts (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): MEAT!

Benefit: The duration of cooked meat produced by the gourmend increases by +3 rounds.

Rapid Ripening (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Cheesemaking

Requires: Gourmend level 9th

Benefit: Once per day as a standard action, the gourmend may expend 2 culinary points to age a ripening cheese by 1 day. If this causes a cheese to finish ripening, she collects the final product immediately.

Recipe Focus (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Any

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend makes a Craft (alchemy) check as part of using an herbalism recipe, if a roll of “10” or less on a d20 would result in a successful skill check, then she may roll twice and take the better result.

Recipe Focus, Greater (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Any

Requires: Recipe Focus

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend makes a Craft (alchemy) check as part of using an herbalism recipe, she may roll twice and take the better result. Special: Greater recipe focus stacks with Recipe Focus. If a roll of “10” or less on a d20 would result in a successful skill check, the gourmend may roll three times and take the best result.

Reinforced Meat Armor (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): MEAT!

Requires: Meat armor, gourmend level 9th

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend has temporary hit points from the meat armor culinary talent, she also has DR 3/-.

Repurposed Vessels (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Preservation

Benefit: Cultivation pots in which no plant has been planted may now be used as though they were preservation vessels with a maximum capacity of 2 points.

Runny Fresh Cheese

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Cheesemaking

Benefit: The gourmend gains the ability to produce the following cheese varietal.

Runny Fresh Cheese

Ripening Time: instantaneous

Point Cost: 1 culinary point

Effect: Unlike most cheeses, runny fresh cheese cannot accept herbalism plants of any kind as additives. Instead, a unit of runny fresh cheese behaves identically to a tanglefoot bag, with the following enhancements. First, a creature entangled by runny fresh cheese must deal 15 + the gourmend’s class level points of damage to it in order to scrape it off. Second, the DC for any saving throw or Strength check called for by runny fresh cheese is equal to 10 + 1/2 the gourmend’s class level + the gourmend’s Wisdom modifier.

Self-Meatication (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): MEAT!

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Benefit: Add +1 to all bonuses granted to the gourmend by cooked plants and plant products that have had meat added to them in place of generic fresh produce that she prepared herself.

Skilled Cookies (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Baking

Requires: Gourmend level 1st

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend deploys a gingerbread cookie golem, choose a feat with no prerequisites, then choose a skill. The deployed gingerbread cookie golem gains the chosen feat and has ranks in the chosen skill equal to its Hit Dice. Special: A gourmend can gain skilled cookies multiple times. Each time, the required gourmend level increases by +8. Its effects stack, but the same feat or skill cannot be chosen multiple times when picking them for a newly-deployed gingerbread cookie golem. Feats that can be taken multiple times may be chosen multiple times for a newly-deployed gingerbread cookie golem in direct contravention to the preceding rule.

Smart Cookies (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Baking

Requires: Skilled cookies, gourmend level 6th

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend deploys a gingerbread cookie golem, she may choose a Strength, Dexterity, or Intelligence-based skill in which the golem has ranks. If she does, the gingerbread cookie golem treats that skill as though it were a class skill and may roll twice and take the better result whenever it uses the chosen skill.

Soft Dough Focus (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Baking

Benefit: The gourmend’s soft dough deals additional bludgeoning damage equal to her Wisdom modifier. Like soft dough’s primary damage, this is halved on a successful Reflex save.

Smuggler’s Cheese

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking, Cheesemaking

Benefit: The gourmend gains the ability to produce the following cheese varietal.

Smuggler’s Cheese

Ripening Time: 1 day

Point Cost: 2 culinary points

Effect: Unlike most cheeses, smuggler’s cheese cannot accept herbalism plants of any kind as additives. Instead, when the gourmend begins to produce a unit of smuggler’s cheese, she may choose a candy weapon she possesses. If she does, the cheese takes form around the candy weapon, hiding it from view. A DC 13 + 1/2 the gourmend’s class level + the gourmend’s Wisdom modifier Perception check notices that something is amiss about smuggler’s cheese. A full-round action tears open smuggler’s cheese, revealing the weapon within. If a unit of smuggler’s cheese spoils, the candy weapon inside denatures and becomes useless? however, a candy weapon hidden inside smuggler’s cheese is immune to typical candy weapon degradation and does not spoil when the gourmend uses the find herbs class feature each day. Once freed from its cheesy hiding place, however, it spoils as normal the next time it would do so.

Special: A gourmend can only possess up to one unit of smuggler’s cheese at any one time.

Socketed Ammunition (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend produces candy ammunition to accompany a new ranged candy weapon, one-tenth of the ammunition produced, rounded down, has truffle sockets.

Specialty Truffles (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend gains a new truffle, she may now choose from among the following truffles in addition to those to which all candymaking gourmends have access. In addition, she gains a single truffle from the list below immediately. She must meet the prerequisites of a specialty truffle in order to take it. Given their finicky nature, specialty truffles can only be activated or socketed into a candy weapon by the gourmend who made that truffle.

Coffee Cordial [mind-affecting]

Point Cost: 2 Culinary Points

Duration: 1 round + 1 round/6 levels

Requires: Gourmend level 9th

Flavor: Cordials are defined by a center that is more liquid than other truffles. Their flavors vary, but since most cordials contain sugary fluids, they tend to be among the sweetest. The combination of a sugar high with the caffeine in coffee can cause jitters in just about anyone.

Effects: Upon activation and at the beginning of each of the subject’s turns, coffee cordial forces the subject to attack a random creature within reach with a Will save to negate. Attacking a random creature while under the influence of coffee cordial is a swift action, and the subject considers itself to be a valid target when randomly selecting what gets attacked. The subject may choose to stagger itself for 1 round to automatically succeed on this Will saving throw. Creatures that cannot be staggered can still be staggered in this manner, as it is the result of a conscious choice to move slower in order to avoid the jitters.

Hollow Shell

Post Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Duration: instantaneous

Requires: Gourmend level 3rd

Flavor: Hollow truffles with crushed nuts, peppermint bits, or other sprinkled delights coating their surface to make up for a lack of filling, hollow shells tend to look and taste quite busy.

Effects: Upon activation, hollow shell shatters, dealing 1d10 points of piercing damage and scattering sharp bits of chocolate in the space the subject occupies, as well as all squares within 5 feet of the space the subject occupies. Treat these sharp bits of chocolate as caltrops. They are permanent, but denature and become useless if collected for further use.

Nested Truffle

Point Cost: 3 Culinary Points

Duration: see text

Requires: Gourmend level 12th

Flavor: A nested truffle has a divided interior, mixing two flavors in a single ball of chocolate.

Effects: When creating a nested truffle, choose a single truffle the gourmend knows with a culinary point cost of 1, then another truffle the gourmend knows with a culinary point cost of 1. When activated, the subject first becomes subject to the effects of the first chosen truffle? then, when the effects of the first truffle expires, the subject becomes subject to the effects of the second chosen truffle at the beginning of the gourmend’s next turn.

Slimeball

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Duration: instantaneous

Flavor: Good chocolate is expensive. As a result, some master chocolatiers have their apprentices practice the more complex bits of the art using the scraps of other projects. While any attempt to produce a balanced flavor is a lost cause, the particular textural component of truffles takes a lot of practice to get right. These apprentice pieces are called slimeballs, and while they’re simply not worthy of sale because they’re so inconsistent, many desperate apprentices take advantage of this and make a meal of them.

Effects: When activated, slimeball deals 1d6 + the gourmend’s class level points of damage to the subject. One-third of this damage is fire damage, one-third is cold damage, and one-third is acid damage. Damage dealt by slimeball ignores points of resistance equal to the gourmend’s Wisdom modifier, minimum 0.

Vampire’s Feast

Point Cost: 1 Culinary Point

Duration: 1 minute/level

Flavor: Nations with a strong history of economic depression or peasant castes tend to have recipes that use cheap, filling ingredients. Blood is a common ingredient in such foods, for men of means would rather eat the beast itself. Every now and then, however, the plight of the peasant becomes fashionable, and, for a time, those of means sample foods using ingredients that the peasantry commonly uses. This, of course, only makes things worse for the peasant. For the chocolatier, this tends to take the form of dark chocolate truffles containing a sizable dose of blood for flavor. (For real-world examples of elevated peasant dishes that have made it to the modern day, see English black pudding, French ratatouille, and Brazilian feijoada.)

Effects: When activated, the wielder of the candy weapon to which vampire’s feast is socketed gains temporary hit points equal to the damage rolled on the candy weapon’s base damage die, plus an additional temporary hit point for every three gourmend levels the truffle’s creator possesses.

Spiced Meat (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): MEAT!

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend uses a unit of meat harvested with the butchery ability of the MEAT! culinary skillset in place of a unit of generic fresh produce when cooking a plant or herbalism recipe, she may choose Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution. If she does, creatures that partake of the final product containing the unit of meat gain a +1 morale bonus to the chosen ability score for 10 minutes per gourmend level. Further, when randomly determining which physical ability score (Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution) the final product enhances, the chosen ability score cannot be randomly selected.

For example, a 13th-level gourmend grants a +2 morale bonus to a randomly-chosen physical ability score with her cooking. If she chooses Dexterity with spiced meat, then her cooking grants a +1 morale bonus to Dexterity, as well as a +2 morale bonus to Strength or Constitution, chosen randomly.

Spiced Peppermint (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking

Requires: Gourmend level 9th

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend produces a candy weapon, she may expend an herbalism plant that deals acid, cold, or fire damage. If she does, that candy weapon deals an additional 1d6 points of damage of the type corresponding to the expended plant on its first successful hit each round.

Spicy Fare (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Any

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend applies a chewable herbalism plant to another creature, she may expend 1 culinary point. If she does, that plant grants the chewer a +1 luck bonus to saving throws for rounds equal to its point value.

Steel Socketing (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend uses the find herbs class feature to find her herbalism plants for the day, she may expend 2 culinary points. If she does, a melee weapon within reach gains a truffle socket until the next time she uses the find herbs class feature. The weapon special abilities of a weapon granted truffle sockets in this manner are suppressed for the duration of the socket’s existence, though the weapon’s enhancement bonus is unaffected. The target weapon must either be unattended or possessed by a willing creature. A gourmend can only produce one truffle socket in this manner per day.

Sticky Dough (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Baking

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Benefit: The gourmend gains the ability to produce and use sticky dough. Sticky dough behaves identically to soft dough, with the following exceptions. First, sticky dough deals no damage. Second, creatures that begin their turn within the area of difficult terrain created by through sticky dough are entangled, and remain entangled until they begin a turn outside of said difficult terrain.

Abilities that interact with or modify soft dough also modify sticky dough, save that sticky dough can never deal damage.

If a gourmend knows how to produce and use sticky dough, she may throw a unit of it in place of a unit of quickrising dough or soft dough when using the breadstorm culinary talent.

Superior Socketing (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking

Requires: Steel socketing, gourmend level 12th, any three candymaking minor culinary skills

Benefit: Weapons granted a truffle socket by the steel socketing culinary talent now only have their weapon special abilities suppressed while that socket is occupied by a truffle.

Sweet Butchery (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking, MEAT!

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Benefit: The gourmend’s favored implement gains a truffle socket. Only the gourmend herself may activate truffles socketed into her favored implement.

Tapped Truffles (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Candymaking

Benefit: The gourmend may now make a melee touch attack with a socketed candy weapon as a standard action or in place of an attack in a fullattack action. On a successful hit, she may activate the truffle.

Normal: In order to activate a truffle, the wielder of a socketed candy weapon must succeed on a normal attack with that weapon.

Tough Crust (Ex)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Baking

Benefit: The DR X/of the gourmend’s gingerbread cookie golems increases by +2. In addition, the hardness of her deployed quickrising dough increases by +2.

Truffled Gingerbread (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Baking, Candymaking

Requires: Gourmend level 6th

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend produces a standard, nonvariant gingerbread golem, she may expend 1 culinary point. If she does, that gingerbread golem comes into being with a satchel and a candymaking truffle socket. The satchel grants the gingerbread golem an inventory with a capacity of two candymaking truffles, and any socketed truffle may be activated upon a successful slam attack. A gingerbread golem may activate truffles and add truffles to its own truffle socket of its own free will.

Universal Vessels (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Preservation

Requires: Gourmend level 9th

Benefit: Any object that spoils as though it were an herbalism plant may now be stored in preservation vessels. If such an object has no point value, treat it as though its point value is 4.

Variant Gingerbread

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Baking

Benefit: Whenever the gourmend gains a new recipe, she may now choose from among the following recipes in addition to those to which all gourmends have access. In addition, she gains a single recipe from the list below immediately.

Whenever a gourmend wishes to deploy a gingerbread golem, she may expend a unit of one of the following recipe products to deploy a variant gingerbread golem, which has additional abilities as detailed in its entry.

Assassin Gingerbread Golem

Ingredients: 2 doughballs, gnomish puffball

Craft DC: 30

Duration: As gingerbread golem

Effect: As a standard action, an assassin gingerbread golem can detonate, dealing 1d6 points of fire damage per gourmend level in a 10footradius burst with a Reflex save for half damage. If destroyed, the golem instead detonates in a 5footradius burst, dealing 1d3 points of fire damage per gourmend level with a Reflex save for half damage.

Gangly Gingerbread Golem

Ingredients: 2 doughballs, any one of: cattail or dwarf cattail

Craft DC: 25

Point Value: n/a

Duration: As gingerbread golem

Effect: A gangly gingerbread golem has a +5-foot bonus to its reach.

Giant Gingerbread Golem

Ingredients: 2 doughballs, standard bearer

Craft DC: 30

Duration: As gingerbread golem

Effect: A giant gingerbread golem is Medium-sized rather than Small-sized.

Oiled Gingerbread Golem

Ingredients: 2 doughballs, any one of: flametongue (fire)? frostcap (cold)? puckerberry (acid)? or screaming creeper (sonic)

Craft DC: 25

Duration: As gingerbread golem

Effect: An oiled gingerbread golem deals an additional 1d6 points of energy damage with its slam natural attack. The type of energy damage dealt is the type associated with the herbalism plant chosen to be an ingredient snake from the list above. This damage is not multiplied on a critical hit.

Vestigial Brews (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Preservation

Requires: Gourmend level 3rd

Benefit: Whenever a gourmend brew would spoil, she may choose to have it become a vestigial brew instead. Treat a vestigial brew as a normal gourmend brew of the same herbalism plant, save that the effective herbalist level of its creator is treated as though it were 1st and the brew spoils automatically the following morning. Vestigial brews still count toward the number of gourmend brews a gourmend can possess at any one time. Brews the gourmend abandons do not become vestigial brews.

Vestigial Refresh (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Preservation

Requires: Vestigial brews

Benefit: The gourmend can combine two vestigial brews originally created from the same species herbalism plant as a full-round action. If she does, she produces a single unit of new, nonvestigial brewed herbalism plant. For the purpose of aged spirits and XO spirits, the brewed herbalism plant is new as of the moment of combination.

XO Spirits (Su)

Required Culinary Skillset(s): Preservation

Requires: Aged spirits, gourmend level 12th

Benefit: If a gourmend brew has been in brewed form without spoiling for at least 14 days, it gets a +2 bonus to its effective herbalist level. This stacks with the bonus from aged spirits. In addition, if any effects of the brewed herbalism plant require a die roll, such as determining the amount healed, the consumer rolls twice. If the effects are beneficial, he takes the better result. If the effects are detrimental, he takes the result that causes more harm.

Favored Class Bonuses

Instead of receiving an additional skill rank or hit point whenever they gain a level in a Favored Class, some races have the option of choosing from a number of other bonuses, depending upon their Favored Classes. The following options are available to the listed race who have gourmends as their Favored Class, and unless otherwise stated, the bonus applies each time you select the listed Favored Class reward.

  • Aasimar Once this bonus has been selected 4 times, the gourmend gains the ability to expend 3 culinary points as a full-round action that provokes attacks of opportunity to heal herself of 1d6 + half her gourmend level points of damage, rounded down. This ability may be used once per day for every four times this bonus has been selected.
  • Drow Treat the gourmend’s level as though it were +1/3 higher for the purpose of the duration of herbalism plants and plant products that can be applied to a weapon as though they were weapon oils or poisons.
  • Dwarf Every 3 times this bonus is selected, the gourmend has DR 1/piercing while wielding a weapon to which an herbalism plant or plant product that can be applied to a weapon as though it were a weapon oil has been applied.
  • Elf Add +1/3 of a recipe.
  • Gnome Every 6 times this bonus is selected, the gourmend selects a truffle that is available to 1st-level gourmends with the candymaking culinary skillset. She gains the ability to create the chosen truffle, but treats her gourmend level as though it were halved, rounded up, for the effects of that truffle should she not have the candymaking culinary skillset.
  • Half-elf Treat the gourmend’s level as though it were +1/3 higher for the purpose of the duration of herbalism plants and plant products that can be applied to a weapon as though they were weapon oils or poisons.
  • Halfling Every 3 times this bonus is selected, choose a known herbalism recipe. When producing that recipe, the gourmend may expend 1 culinary point to reduce the DC of the recipe’s Craft (alchemy) check by 3.
  • Half-orc Add +1/3 of a recipe.
  • Hobgoblin Every 3 times this bonus is selected, the gourmend has DR 1/piercing while wielding a weapon to which an herbalism plant or plant product that can be applied to a weapon as though it were a weapon oil has been applied.
  • Human Add +1/3 to the size of the gourmend’s culinary pool.
  • Kobold Every 3 times this bonus is selected, the gourmend may harvest meat as the butchery ability of the MEAT! culinary skillset once per day without spending culinary points to do so, but only if the meat to be harvested comes from a gnome. The gourmend does not need to have the MEAT! culinary skillset to harvest or cook meat produced in this manner, but treats her gourmend level as though it were halved, rounded up, for the effects of cooked gnomemeat should she not have the MEAT! culinary skillset.
  • Orc Every 3 times this bonus is selected, the gourmend has DR 1/piercing while wielding a weapon to which an herbalism plant or plant product that can be applied to a weapon as though it were a weapon oil has been applied.
  • Puddling Every 6 times this bonus is selected, the gourmend selects a truffle that is available to 1st-level gourmends with the candymaking culinary skillset. She gains the ability to create the chosen truffle, but treats her gourmend level as though it were halved, rounded up, for the effects of that truffle should she not have the candymaking culinary skillset.
  • Tiefling Treat the gourmend’s level as though it were +1/3 higher for the purpose of the duration of herbalism plants and plant products that can be applied to a weapon as though they were weapon oils or poisons.

Archetypes

Given the class kit construction of the gourmend, this base class has sufficient options not to require archetypes, so none have been included. That said, the gourmend would have just been another herbalist archetype had it not needed a downgrade in base attack bonus. This makes herbalist archetypes (see Section: Herbalist Archetypes) jive quite well with the gourmend. Adventurous players can try to get their game master’s permission to use herbalist archetypes with the gourmend base class, though balance isn’t guaranteed.

The one exception to this is the herbalist variant of the mycologist. It fits the theme of the gourmend better than that of the herbalist, and nothing will go wrong balance-wise, so go ahead and take that archetype without asking permission. Honestly, if your game master is letting you use this class at all, “because the designer said I could” is probably a good enough reason. Just saying.

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