Chef 5e

Published on March 12, 2022, Last modified on June 9th, 2022

Chef is a feat to spice up your character by adding a bit of flavor to your backstory. How well will it work for your build? Find out here.

Steve Prescott - Wizards of the Coast - Gyome, Master Chef

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What Is Chef 5e?

We all like a good, home-cooked meal. Not all D&D campaigns need to be like Lord of the Rings, where everyone lives off Lembas bread and rations to survive. Have a cookout, throw a BBQ, and spice up your adventure!

With Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, we got a flurry of new feats, some of which add more roleplay flavor over mechanical advantage. The Chef feat is one of these, and today we’re going to crack the lid on this and see what’s brewing.

How Does Chef Work?

With this feat, you gain four benefits, thanks to your cooking prowess:

You may increase your Constitution or Wisdom by one to a maximum of 20.
If you aren’t already proficient with cook’s utensils, you are now.
During short rests, you can cook special food if you have the proper ingredients and cook’s utensils. You can cook meals for a number of creatures equal to 4 + your proficiency bonus. Any creatures who ate your food and used a hit die to heal gain an additional 1d8 of healing.
If you spend at least an hour or during a long rest, you can cook a number of treats equal to your proficiency bonus. These treats last eight hours and can be consumed as a bonus action to gain temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus.

Is Chef Good?

In our 5e Feats Tier List, Chef was given a B Tier rating, making it a niche feat that can improve some builds in D&D 5e.

Chef is a solid, flavorful (heh) pickup that is beneficial for any class. The biggest benefit is the “special treats”. These treats can be eaten as a bonus action and provide temp hitpoints.

Coupled with the fact that you get a CON or WIS ASI and bonus healing from hit dice for you and your party during a short rest and you’ve got yourself a feat worth having.

Which 5e Classes Make the Most of Chef?

The color code below has been implemented to help you identify, at a glance, how good the Chef 5e feat is for a specific class/subclass.

Red isn’t going to contribute to the effectiveness of your character build at all
Orange Situationally good, but a below-average option otherwise
Green is a good option
Blue is a great option, you should strongly consider this option for your character
Sky Blue is an amazing option. If you do not take this option your character would not be optimized

Chef is best on builds that:

Can use a boost to WIS or CON, especially when you have an odd ability score.
Have the action economy to benefit from a bonus action for temporary hit points.
Don’t care about min/maxing your character.

This feat is fantastic for adding some flavor to your character and a little spice to your backstory. However, it is not a fit for anyone concerned about ‘optimal builds’ and maximizing your character’s output.

Artificer: The CON boost isn't bad; it can help you maintain concentration. While it works well with any subclass, I think the best fit is Alchemists, as you can easily retheme this feat into tiny shots of healing elixirs.

Barbarian: While I don't think most barbarians can rage out in the kitchen like Gordon Ramsey, this feat isn't all bad. CON is a good boost. Temporary hit points are always nice in the heat of the moment as they are typically doubled thanks to the barbs Rage.

Bard: A great supplement, who doesn't like a dinner and a show? This isn't as potent as your healing spells, but it pairs really well with Song of Rest for a lot of healing.

Cleric: CON or WIS are both good for Clerics, as are the shareable temporary hit points for your party.

Druid: It's on flavor for a druid to hunt and cook their own natural meals, and they can benefit from either WIS or CON stat boost. You need to be mindful of how you plan on snacking while in Wild Shape form, as you might not have thumbs or pockets.

Fighter: One of the few classes where this really doesn't fit in outside of fleshing out your backstory. Fighters have a lot of uses for their bonus action, making this slight HP boost insignificant.

Monk: Monks have a lot of bonus actions they would probably rather use. However, it's an excellent fit for Way of Mercy monks and adds a lot of spice to that playstyle.

Paladin: Like clerics, this feat does lean into the piety of the class origin. Plus, paladins don't have a lot of uses for bonus actions compared to other classes so the snacks provide a good bonus to healing on top of your Lay on Hands.

Ranger: Just like druids, the idea of hunting and preparing your meals is a huge flavor win for rangers. While you might not benefit as much from the stat bonuses, your temp HP beef jerky can probably save your bacon in a critical moment.

Rogue: Rogues typically don't need WIS and can do without CON if they stay out of the fray. Additionality, you've got way better uses for your bonus actions. I can't think of any good reasons why a class rooted in information and greed would also be a chef, so you can probably skip this feat.

Sorcerer: Nothing about this class screams, "I'm also a chef.” The Con bonus is nice, but overall you're going to want to skip this. There's no flavor here for spellcasters.

Warlock: Nothing about this class screams "I'm also a chef”. The Con bonus is nice, but overall you're going to want to skip this. There's no flavor here for spellcasters.

Wizard: Nothing about this class screams "I'm also a chef”. The Con bonus is nice, but overall you're going to want to skip this. There's no flavor here for spellcasters.

Conclusion

For those who want to add a little flavor to their D&D campaigns, the Chef feat is one of the spiciest feats available. We don’t all need to play ultra-effective damage dealers; we can have fun with the best part of D&D: roleplaying.

How do you feel about the Chef feat or other flavor feats? Tell us all about your bizarre characters in the comments below!

Jeff Nabors

Jeff Nabors has been playing D&D ever since he stumbled upon the 3.5E core books in his high school library. When he isn’t running a campaign or designing a game, you can find him on Twitch, writing about game design, or staring off into the endless abyss.