Cook On The Road

[Gnosego (Quincy)]

Hi, all. I’m learning Torchbearer, and I’ve hit a snag on the Cook role in the Journey chapter of the Lore Master’s Manual.

One thing is that it isn’t imediately clear what the process for the test is – it seems like the test basically converts supplies into paid toll. If so, (1.) what is the advantage of making this test compared to spending gear (in the form of cooking supplies) to pay the toll? My gut is that the cook can spread 1 unit of supply across a group, rather than 1 unit of supply reducing a single individual’s toll by 1. (And that the cook might be able to leverage those supplies when not otherwise appropriate.)

It’s also a little unclear to me what “supplies” means in this context. (2.) Is this, like, “Supplies, +1D” as in salt, garlic, etc or just rations or game? The hunter and forager role talks about getting supplies for the cook, which seems to me to indicate it’s just game or forage.

So, you might cook foraged roots (3) for a small group (1) as an Ob 4 Cook test and reduce everyone in that small group’s toll by 1 per ration/Supply spent? Am I on the right track?

(3.) The Paid in Full example (Which I’m sure is wrong!) seems to show a cook addressing toll indirectly by using a process that looks like a normal, camp-style cook test and just creating a bunch of rations; is the example indeed a different application of the Cook skill or am I totally off-base on how I’ve been reading the rule?

Any help is appreciated,
Q.

[Jared (Jared A. Sorensen)]

Halfling here. Ahem…

Cooking on the road works the same as the Cook skill — it allows rations and other supplies to be shared by the group instead of being consumed by one character. So, you’re correct. Eating an apple on the road helps that one character reduce their toll by 1, but a cook could turn it into Mom’s Baked Apples and everyone in the group’s toll is reduced by 1.

How do you like them apples?

[Thor]

1. The cook skill turns one unit of rations into enough food for everyone to eat. Let’s say you have a party of four with a toll of 3. Everyone could eliminate that toll by eating food. For everyone to eat, it would require 12 units of rations. However, if someone has the cook role and successfully passes their cook test, it would only take 3 units of rations.
2. I believe this is errata. Rather than “supplies” it should say "Each point of toll reduced requires one unit of rations.
3. It’s wrong because with a cook, the cost should have been 4 units of rations, not 12. Basically the cook tests once at the beginning of the journey. If successful, they convert rations into meals for everyone for the length of the journey.

[Gnosego (Quincy)]

Thanks!

And to clarify, is the drink requirement touched by this? Normally a party of 4 with a toll of 3 would require 12 rations and 12 draughts. A cook can spread rations out so that it only takes 3 rations… But it would still take 12 draughts of water or wine to pay down the toll? Is that right?

(Also, I think the example is wrong because the math doesn’t add up: 4 Toll for 3 characters, one forages, and one cooks. They pay down the base 4 toll by cooking the foraged material (and with water), the forager used their raiment to soak the 1 toll from foraging, and donates 1D of coin to pay down the cook’s “final point.” But cooking increases toll by 2, so the cook has 1 toll left!)