Iron Chef character?

[retaliation08]

Got an idea for a character that is a failed or prospective chef. He is seeking out the perfect flavor and raising money to open a new restaurant.

He tastes things. He flavors things (with prestidigitation of course). He cooks for the party.

I want all or most of his spells and class abilities to be of a cooking theme, but maintain usefulness. Spells or abilities that can be flavored towards this theme are acceptable.

So far, I think the Generic Spellcaster from UA is best bet for the chassis: I can choose Fort Save and gain access to Cleric, Druid, and Wizard spells. My DM is pretty lax and would probably let me poach off list skills if I played a Sorc or Wizard, but I want to keep as RAW as possible.

Obvious choices to me so far are:

0 - Level
Create Water
Mage Hand
Detect Poison
Prestidigitation
Mending
Purify Food/Drink

1 - Level
Goodberry
Grease (Or milk, or Sriracha, etc.)
Unseen Servant (Sous Chef)
Floating Disk (Another prep surface)
Feather Fall (save dropped eggs or milk etc)
Blockade (Sugar/ Bullion cubes?)
Hoard Gullet?
Ironguts
Produce FLame

2 - Level
Heat/Chill Metal
Delay Poison
Cloud of knives


What ideas would you have for this type of character?

[Nifft]

If you're starting play at level 6 or higher, you could also use the Chameleon PrC to nab choice spells from all the lists.

Backstory might be that this PC used disguises and false identities to sneak into competing kitchens. Eventually, he's noticed by a legitimate spy, and inducted into their organization. Now his day job is wandering chef, but he's also a spy for (one of) whatever organization(s) train Chameleons.

[Falontani]

Be a halfling with the Dragonmark of Hospitality. Take levels in Black Dog. Its all about cooking. And killing people with your cooking. But the main draw here is:

Bag of Bounty: Small dragonshards are embedded in the lining of this leather bag, which is designed to enhance the power of the Mark of Hospitality. If a character possesses the create food and water ability of the lesser Mark of Hospitality, a bag of bounty allows him to use this power two additional times per day. The casting time is reduced to 1 minute. The food produced by the bag is not the usual bland fare created by the spell; instead, the character can make a Profession (cook) check to determine the nature and quality of the food.
Faint conjuration; GL 5th; Craft Wondrous Item, create food and water, creator must have the Mark of Hospitality; Price 10,000 gp; Weight 1 lb.

Spells to continue!
Darsson's Chilling Chamber (Fridge)
Darsson's Fiery Furnace (Oven)
Bigby's Striking Fist (Beat the dough!)
Dessicate (drain the water)
Estanna's Stew
Thaw
Unseen Craftsman
_

Create Food/Water
Plant Growth
Servant Horde
Darsson's Potion (Was this guy a chef?)

[Zombulian]

Scavenging Gullet may be a good feat to have.

[retaliation08]

So I went with Halfling for the Least and Lesser Hospitality Dragon Marks. I took Halfling Wizard Substitution at level 3 for Alternative Spell and Master Specialist Conjurer to get Expanded Spell list.

This gets me:
Purify Food/Water 2/day (Least dragon mark, enhanced by lesser dragonmark)
Goodberry as a Wizard spell (Alternative spell)
Estanna's Stew (Expanded Spell for MS)
Create food and Water (Lesser Dragon Mark)

For Magic Items, I am looking at:
Traveler's Cloak
Everlasting Rations
Everfull Mug
Fortifying Bedroll (not food related, but in keeping with hospitality)

Trying to decide on my 3 prohibited schools for being a Focused Specialist. I decided Abjuration has very little to add to this character. Same with Necromancy. I'm at a toss up between Evocation, Illusion, and Enchantment to ditch. Evocation and enchantment are the least useful, but have more to offer this character than Illusion does (at least at a glance).

[Remuko]

So I went with Halfling for the Least and Lesser Hospitality Dragon Marks. I took Halfling Wizard Substitution at level 3 for Alternative Spell and Master Specialist Conjurer to get Expanded Spell list.

This gets me:
Purify Food/Water 2/day (Least dragon mark, enhanced by lesser dragonmark)
Goodberry as a Wizard spell (Alternative spell)
Estanna's Stew (Expanded Spell for MS)
Create food and Water (Lesser Dragon Mark)

For Magic Items, I am looking at:
Traveler's Cloak
Everlasting Rations
Everfull Mug
Fortifying Bedroll (not food related, but in keeping with hospitality)

Trying to decide on my 3 prohibited schools for being a Focused Specialist. I decided Abjuration has very little to add to this character. Same with Necromancy. I'm at a toss up between Evocation, Illusion, and Enchantment to ditch. Evocation and enchantment are the least useful, but have more to offer this character than Illusion does (at least at a glance).

some illusions could help make a tasty but not appealing looking meal, more enjoyable, a feast for the eyes one might say.

[SangoProduction]

What system you wanting it for? I"ve got a Pathfinder Spheres of Power character (that I'm currently playing no less) which is literally a magic chef, from fluff to crunch.

[torrasque666]

What system you wanting it for? I"ve got a Pathfinder Spheres of Power character (that I'm currently playing no less) which is literally a magic chef, from fluff to crunch.
Spheres of Might has an archetype literally called Iron Chef. Designed around buffing your allies through food.

[SangoProduction]

How this is accomplished in Spheres of Power

Backstory: A long. long time ago, in a galaxy far away...something completely irrelevant happened.
Meanwhile, back in Terim's hometown, he was packing up his stuff to find a new master who can help to further his pretzel-making prowess. The aroma alone could make the townsfolk swoon, or fly in to a frenzy, but Terim knows there are much better, and much more perfect pretzels out there, and he must learn how to make them too!

General Drawbacks:

Center of Power (Magic Stove)
Emotional Casting (Can't cast if affected by non-harmless emotion effects.)
Focus Casting (Mother's Amulet)
Skilled Casting (Profession: Cook)
Somatic Casting (Can't wear heavier than Light Armor)

Sphere Specific Drawbacks

DESTRUCTION

Shape Focus (Energetic Affliction)
Energy Focus (Fire Blast)
[Dumping boiling oil on someone is not very nice. Also somewhat magical.]

ENHANCEMENT

Bodily Enhancement [Physical Enhancement]
Narcotic Magic [Mass Enhancement]
Consciousness Linked [Deep Enhancement]
[The hardest part of being a Chef is not falling in to the temptation of eating before you served your customers!]

MIND

Blatant Side Effects (Watering mouth, glazed over eyes, flaring nostrels, eating a pretzel)

Boons

Virtuoso (To identify my spells, one needs spellcraft against my Prof:Cook. Failing by 5+ indicates my casting is purely nonmagical. Casting does not inherently alert people that I am casting.)

[retaliation08]

It is for 3.5. DM might allow some Pathfinder, but nothing that requires new system mastery like Spheres.

[Seerow]

I did this character before with a mystic ranger with sword of the arcane order. All ranger and wizard spells to play with, plus good melee chassis so you can run around smacking food with a sword refluffed as a butchers cleaver. In my characters case he wanted to find ways to make all monsters edible, including things like elementals and oozes that you would not normally consider edible.