Exhaustion & Cooking

Exhaustion

  Exhaustion represents the toll of harsh environments, extreme conditions, and severe overexertion. It’s a stacking condition that can progressively weaken and ultimately kill a creature.   Causes of Exhaustion:  

• Starvation

• Environmental exposure (extreme heat, cold)

• Certain magical effects or monster abilities

• Lack of rest

  Exhaustion Levels and Effects: Each level of exhaustion brings cumulative penalties. A creature suffers its current level and all lower levels simultaneously.  

• Level 1: Disadvantage on ability checks

• Level 2: Speed is halved

• Level 3: Disadvantage on attack rolls and saves

• Level 4: Hit point maximum is halved

• Level 5: Speed reduced to 0

• Level 6: Death

  Note, if a creature dies through exhaustion they die instantly.   Recovering from Exhaustion:  

• Completing a long rest reduces exhaustion by 1 level, only if the creature has also eaten food during that rest.

• Magical effects that remove exhaustion specify how many levels they reduce.

• If a creature’s exhaustion level is reduced below 1, all effects end.

 

Cooking & Magic

  Cooking is a flavorful subcategory of crafting, focused on using harvested monster components to prepare powerful magical meals that restore, enhance, and empower.   Magical Cuisine: Magical meals are crafted from specific creature components and essence, then cooked using heat and time.   Component Interactions:  

• Type of component (e.g., blood, eye, liver)

• Creature origin (e.g., aberration, dragon, fiend).

Both of these factors shape the magical effects of the meal.   Cooking Time:  

• Meals require 1 hour to cook and 10 minutes to consume.

• The meal must be fully consumed within 1 hour of cooking or it loses its magical properties.

• Effects last for 8 hours or until dispelled by dispel magic or similar spells.

• Eating a second magical meal ends the first meal’s effects at the end of the 10-minute eating period.

  Using Meals: To cook a magical meal, a character must have:  

• A recipe

• The correct monster components

• Cook’s utensils

• A source of heat

• The appropriate essence (for magical meals)

  Once these conditions are met:  

• Spend 1 hour cooking

• Make a Constitution (cook’s utensils) check against the recipe’s DC

• Depending on the result, the meal may gain quirks or enhanced potency

  Essence and Potency:  

• Essence is the magical catalyst that defines the rarity and power of a magical meal.

• All magical meals require essence to unlock their magical properties.

• Stronger essence enables more powerful meals at higher tiers.