The elves of Golarion regard magic not merely as some tool for war or industry but as a way of filling every part of their lives with wonder and delight. Even something other races might consider so simple or utilitarian as cooking a meal could achieve unparalleled heights of grandeur if prepared by one trained in the mystical arts. Those few non-elves fortunate enough to partake of food prepared by an elf skilled in magic and the culinary sciences often find it an experience both humbling and transcendent.
Any elf with at least 5 ranks in Profession (cook) and the Brew Potion feat soon discovers the secret of infusing food with magical energy. Rather than simply astounding the senses, these meals offer those who eat them special abilities. As elves with this talent often sell magical food or give it as gifts, members of other races occasionally get opportunities to sample and enjoy these unusual combinations. Non-elves are capable of combining cooking and potions, of course, but their meals often seem primitive by elven standards.
It takes one full day to create a magical meal. The meal requires all the normal ingredients and cooking implements (comparable to equipping and maintaining an alchemy lab) as well as the normal requirements for creating magic items (such as the ability to cast prerequisite spells, spending gold for magical ingredients, and so on). Creating magical food follows the standard rules for creating magic items.
An elf attempting to make a magical meal must succeed at a Profession (cook) check. The DC of this check is equal to 20 + the highest-level spell being incorporated into the meal. Success means the elf creates a meal suitable for one Medium or smaller creature. Creating a magical meal for a Large or larger creature increases the DC of the Profession (cook) by 5 for each size category above Medium and doubles the number of food ingredients used. The first creature to eat a magical meal gains the benefit of its magic; sharing plates does not affect multiple diners no matter how the portions are divided.
Sample Magic Foods
Magical food never spoils under normal conditions. Unless otherwise stated, consuming any of these meals is a full-round action that provokes an attack of opportunity. The listed prices do not include the cost of mundane ingredients (meat, flour, vegetables, spices, and so on), though these usually amount to no more than 5 gp for even the most outlandish meal.
Buttered Sparrowfish Fillet
Aura faint transmutation; CL 5th
Slot none; Price 900 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
The sparrowfish is a bland-tasting swimmer native to the rivers and streams of Kyonin, notable mainly for its excellent speed and its ability to leap out of the water and onto low-hanging tree limbs to avoid predators. Its meat is the color of salmon and is reasonably tasty when prepared with butter, herbs, and salt; it is best eaten fresh, but if properly dried after cooking, it retains its flavor whether eaten cold or reheated. Eating the magical fillet gives you a +10 competence bonus on Balance, Climb, and Swim checks for 1 hour.
Construction
Requirements Brew Potion, Profession (cook) 5 ranks, creator must have 5 ranks in Balance, Climb, and Swim; Cost 450 gp, 36 XP
Cheya Dumplings
Aura moderate transmutation; CL 10th
Slot none; Price 300 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
Cheya is a smaller, immobile cousin of the assassin vine native to Kyonin (some elves believe that the aggressive mobile assassin vine plants are the result of a cheya cultivating program). Generally harmless except to tiny animals, some elves cultivate cheya for its roots, leaves, and berries. The roots are crushed into a paste and mixed with water or milk to make dough, stuffed with diced cheya leaves, then boiled or baked, often topped with sweet jelly made from cheya berries. Hearty, satisfying, and portable, the dumplings are excellent candidates for magical augmentation. A typical cheya dumpling gives you a +2 enhancement bonus to Constitution for 1 hour, though other varieties may enhance other ability scores.
Construction
Requirements Brew Potion, Profession (cook) 5 ranks, bear’s
endurance; Cost 150 gp, 12 XP
Leap Cake
Aura faint transmutation; CL 5th
Slot none; Price 500 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
This spongy brown cake feels light in the hand but is incredibly chewy. Consuming it strengthens your leg muscles and makes your tendons more elastic (making audible stretching and popping noises for a few seconds after ingestion), greatly improving your ability to jump and fall. For the next 10 minutes, you gain a +20 bonus on Jump checks. If you deliberately jump down from a height and succeed at a DC 15 Jump check, you take falling damage as if the fall were 20 feet shorter than normal (rather than 10 feet shorter). If you fall, you may make a Jump check instead of a Tumble check to treat the fall as 10 feet shorter.
Construction
Requirements Brew Potion, Profession (cook) 5 ranks, feather fall,
jump; Cost 250 gp, 20 XP
Newlife Soup
Aura moderate conjuration (healing); CL 10th
Slot none; Price 1,500 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
Soothing ripples of warm light crisscrossing along the surface of this amber broth only seem to heighten the welcoming scent of wafting from its steamy depths. This soup enhances the connections between your flesh and spirit, allowing you to briefly return to life if slain. If you die within 1 hour of eating a bowl of newlife soup, you rise on your next turn, alive as if someone had cast raise dead on you, except that you do not lose a level and you have half of your normal hit points. You are alive (not undead) for 10 minutes and can be healed normally but drop dead once those 10 minutes pass. Raise dead or similar spells cannot make your temporary life permanent; to bring you back from the dead, you must be allowed to die when the soup’s power ends. Each meal of newlife soup can only bring you back from the dead once.
Construction
Requirements Brew Potion, Profession (cook) 5 ranks, raise dead or resurrection; Cost 750 gp, 60 XP
Snowberry Fire Peppers
Aura faint abjuration; CL 6th
Slot none; Price 600 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
Crisp and creamy white berries spill out from the interior of this starkly crimson, teardrop-shaped pepper. This eye-watering delicacy allows you to safely absorb heat and fire, though this reactivates the spicy taste. You gain fire resistance 10 for 1 hour. Any time this effect negates 10 or more points of fire damage, you must attempt a Fortitude saving throw (DC 15 + fire damage taken) or be dazed for 1 round as the spices overwhelm your senses.
Construction
Requirements Brew Potion, Profession (cook) 5 ranks, resist energy; Cost 3000 gp, 24 XP
Sun-Dried Lantern Lemons
Aura faint evocation (light); CL 6th
Slot none; Price 900 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
These sour, chewy treats seem to be all but bursting with vitality and energy. After eating a handful of sun-dried lantern lemons you glow as brightly as a daylight spell for 1 hour. The light shines out of your skin, and while you can cover yourself to block the light and reduce its effect to that of a light spell or even a candle, only magical darkness or complete enshrouding (such as wrapping yourself from head to toe in layers of cloth or leather) can fully block the light.
Lesser forms of these treats exist that cause you to shine with a fainter light and for a shorter duration. Elven actors sometimes use these fainter variants in stage productions to represent angelic beings.
Construction
Requirements Brew Potion, Profession (cook) 5 ranks, daylight; Cost 450 gp, 36 XP
Waybread
Aura faint conjuration; CL 6th
Slot none; Price 50 gp; Weight 1 lb.
Description
Also called walking bread or walkbread, these delicious yellowishbrown oval biscuits feel remarkably heavy for their size. One is enough to keep a belly full for an entire day and slakes thirst for that period as well.
Construction
Requirements Brew Potion, Profession (cook) 5 ranks, create food and water; Cost 25 gp, 2 XP