Delicious In Dungeon and the Ship's Cook

This weekend I started watching Delicious in Dungeon. It's a dungeon crawling action comedy anime released by Netflix. Set in a D&D-esque fantasy world the series focuses on a party on a rescue mission in a megadungeon. They team up with Senshi, a dwarven fighting chef who's spent years dining on monsters in the dungeon. The series is a mix of dungeon action and cooking show. It's a weird mix, but works so well. So far the series has been pretty light hearted overall. I spoke with some friends that have watched it and have been told that it does get darker, but ultimately is hopeful in nature. The characters are quirky and fun, without being obnoxious and the animation is great.

If you've played D&D, the monsters and adventures will seem familiar, even if they have different names. For example the picklock Chilchuk is basically a halfling rogue. Marcille, the half-elven spellcaster seems like the stereotypical "I cast fireball" wizard when it comes to combat. Something I really like about the series is that it addresses the ecology of a megadungeon. It is revealed that Senshi is the caretaker of the upper levels of the dungeon and helps it maintain its balance. I know D&D is a fantasy game, but I do tend to like some logic with my D&D (though "it's magic" is also acceptable). If you enjoy anime and rolling dice, you should definitely check this one out.

Watching the series reminded me of a Old-School Essentials class I found while looking for nautical content for a Freeport game I want to run.  While it's called the Ship’s Cook, this class would work just as well in a dungeon and honestly, Senshi could have it. Charisma is its primary attribute and it has D6 hit dice. They can wear any armor and wield cooking utensils as weapons. They have built up resistance to poison and can create rations from fallen creatures (though there is a discussion about cooking and eating humanoids being taboo). They have bonuses on using knives, skewers, and pans as for weapons. Ship's Cooks can make bad food taste good and learn special recipes. These require special ingredients and have useful effects. As they gain levels they learn to make money and charm folks using their food. They can also create new recipes with new effects. I can't say its worth sacrificing one of of the classic core classes to play a Ship's Cook, but I do think they'd be a fun addition to a party.