Alchemical Foods Guide - Pathfinder 2e

Introduction

Pathfinder 2e’s Treasure Vault introduced the unique Alchemical Food class of items and the Tian Xia Character Guide added to this with its Wandering Chef Archetype and more options for foods. This has left many people who had not previously interacted with these items asking “which foods are worth my time?”

Not to worry: allow me to be your official Chef, and show you the proper way to prepare a meal for your adventuring party that reminds them of home. Since Alchemical Foods basically work like crafted spells that anyone can use, we will be breaking them down like we would a spell list, with all the upgraded levels of a particular food (if any) factored into its final rating. I’ll show you which dishes are worth their weight in gold and which ones would get you yelled at by Gordon Ramsay.

Table of Contents

Disclaimer

RPGBOT uses the color coding scheme which has become common among Pathfinder build handbooks.

  • Red: Bad, useless options, or options which are extremely situational. Nearly never useful.
  • Orange: OK options, or useful options that only apply in rare circumstances. Useful sometimes.
  • Green: Good options. Useful often.
  • Blue: Fantastic options, often essential to the function of your character. Useful very frequently.

1st-Level Foods

Iron Wine: If you or a member of your group specializes in Unarmed Attacks, this food is a no brainer. An extra 1d4 fire damage on each hit for 5 minutes is a nice boost, especially at level 1. The drawback for drinking too much of it is bad if you’re fighting against anything that can use fire, but if that’s not a concern, chug away. This item falls off after level 4 when there are better options at play, but even then a level 1 item that stacks with everything and provides an easy damage bonus will remain useful through the whole game. Even at high levels, you might buy Iron Wine in large quantities and drink it any time that you expect a fight.

Journeybread: For groups where travel and survival are highly emphasized, this food is almost a necessity. But, in most games, this bread will see limited use. Not many games track subsistence and rationing as it’s just more accounting in a game that has numerous ways to make survival trivial (including Journeybread). The bonuses you get to certain skill checks from the level 4 version are useful, but more niche. If your group is in a hurry, though, they will certainly appreciate the added bonus to Hustle. The bonus to saves against Sickened from the level 4 version is very useful, but item bonuses for saves don’t stack, and, as you get to higher levels, you’ll get runes or items that can outpace this. +1 armor runes are a level 5 item, so there’s a tiny window where the item bonus to saves is impactful.

Missive Mint: This acts as a more subtle Message Cantrip as long as you can have the opportunity to pass your buddy one of these. Just tell them their breath smells bad. Even better, since the message isn’t in your voice and the receiver has no way of knowing who made the message, it can be great for messing with people or turning them against each other.

2nd-Level Foods

Cooperative Waffles: Who doesn’t like waffles? This is a great food item that will see a lot of use throughout the campaign. Follow the Leader allows one of your companions to grant a bonus to a recurring skill check like climbing, stealthing, or scouting to someone who is less skilled. Have your party’s Rogue split these with your clumsiest party member for those tense group stealth sections. The upgraded 5th level version of these waffles allows you to confer their bonus improvement on checks when either character successfully Aids a check, making them even more useful. Aid can be a reliable source of Circumstance bonuses for your whole career, and raising the maximum to +5 makes Aid even more powerful.

Mender’s Soup: Your crafter will definitely appreciate this little pick-me-up and it will always be useful for those times between combats when you need to repair your shield. Its effects also last 24 hours, so just make it part of your daily breakfast, especially if you plan on doing any sort of crafting. The item bonuses won’t stack, but the improved repair speed appears to stack with Crafter’s Eyepiece.

3rd-Level Foods

Auric Noodles: A +1 bonus to Identify Magic is great for any sort of traps or weird items you come across. The ability to move at full speed while continuously detecting magic is definitely useful, but more of a niche situation, as you probably won’t be trying to Detect Magic while hoofing it in overland travel unless you’re in a particularly strange area like the First World.

Diplomat’s Charcuterie: This is a fantastic food and will absolutely become a staple in your party Face’s diet. Bonuses to Make an Impression and to Sense Motive cover many social situations you will come across and the benefits last all day. The only thing lacking from this meat and cheese board are bonuses to Deception or Intimidation.

Sprite Apple: This is a weird one as there are multiple versions of the apple depending on its level. The base feature of you having a bright light around you is shared by all the apples. Magical glowing light that you don’t have to hold is nice, but the fact that it comes at the cost of you being able to stealth hurts this feature somewhat. We will factor this into the ratings of each variation of the apple to see if the trade is worth it.

  • Golden: I’m struggling to think of a situation where this is useful outside of Making an Impression or Request. It could arguably be useful for a Bon Mot. A -1 to Will DC against Diplomacy checks seems good but Diplomat’s Charcuterie offers an equivalent bonus, plus another good social bonus without the drawbacks of shining light into someone’s face. That said, this can stack with Diplomat’s Charcuterie and, as it’s not an item bonus it can stack with most other effects for extended social encounters.
  • Pink: Your Bard will appreciate this. That’s about it. It won’t stack with a Maestro’s Instrument, and unless you’re getting these for free (such as from Advanced Alchemy or Quick Alchemy), it makes more sense to save your gold to buy an instrument than to waste it on this.
  • Chartreuse: Now we’re finally getting into something that’s actually worth it. Nature checks are useful for identifying animals or beasts and your Druid will appreciate being able to persuade their furry friends more easily.
  • Teal: A bonus to fear effects is great but you will have items or Armor Runes that give you bonuses to saves at this level, and item bonuses unfortunately don’t stack.

Tracker’s Stew: Your Scout will appreciate the bonuses during travel, especially if you want to go unnoticed.

Witch’s Finger: This is a food that may never see use in your game or may be an absolute necessity. If you’re playing in an area with a lot of severe cold like the Frozen Flame adventure path, this item becomes blue and is absolutely something you need to have prepared all the time. If you’re in any other game, this item may still see occasional use when your party goes into the mountains or something. However if you’re spending most of your time in a desert or a jungle, this food will probably only see use if you’re facing an enemy that deals cold damage and you don’t have a better option.

4th-Level Foods

Cinnamon Seers: This handy little rock candy will see a lot of use both in and out of combat. Recall Knowledge is such a useful Action whether you’re trying to figure out an annoying puzzle or identifying a monster’s weaknesses. The fact that you can also, once per day, reroll a Recall Knowledge check, even if it’s secret, just makes this food even better. Item bonuses to Recall Knowledge are typically specific to a skill or extremely high level.

Fury Cocktail: This is definitely a contender for best Alchemical Food in the entire game. It gives you some hefty bonuses to Attack Rolls that scale based on the item’s level, plus a wide variety of bonuses depending on what base you use for the cocktail. These can range from giving you extra damage, multiple damage resistances, some scaling bonuses to saves ,or even increasing your size and reach. The drawbacks are rough, but manageable. Your martial party members will absolutely love you for this brew, especially your Barbarian.

Grindelgrub Steak: Not having to eat for three days is nice. The bonus to saves against Fatigue and Drained are a bit niche, however. If your party is in a rush or you want to push yourselves past your limits, cook up some of these steaks before you hit the road. Drained is a pretty rare condition, so unless you know you’re going to be fighting against some Vampires, this steak isn’t worth making just for that.

Phantom Roll: An absolute must for a Rogue or another Scout in the party. The bonuses it offers to stealth and mobility are always useful, and the ability to take two crucial Exploration Activities at the same time can have a huge impact while dungeon crawling.

Rainbow Vinegar: A new one added by Tian Xia, this is like an upgraded version of Iron Wine. Not only does it give you bonus damage to your Unarmed Attacks (that is particularly effective against Vampires) but you also get 10 lightning resistance at level 4, which is absolutely nuts. Both the damage and resistance also increase at level 12. The only thing holding this back from being blue is the fact that the extra damage is limited to Unarmed Attacks. Still, this could be worth taking anyway for the resistance alone. You can also drink both this and Iron Wine to add a whole bunch of extra damage to your Unarmed Attacks. Unfortunately, like Iron Wine, drinking multiple in the same day gives you a damage Weakness.

Saboteur’s Friend: Unlike other Alchemical Foods, this is one item you don’t want to eat. Rather, it’s a pretty brutal poison that causes a person to be sickened and enfeebled. The effects it can inflict are pretty rough if you can convince someone to eat it. However, the fact that it has to be eaten rather than delivered through a weapon makes this somewhat difficult to use effectively. Also, unless you have the Wandering Chef feat “Packed with Flavor”, you’re stuck with a DC of 20 which isn’t bad for level 4, but will quickly get outclassed as you continue your career.

5th-Level Foods

Crackling Bubblegum: This is a pretty silly food item that is only marginally useful. The passive bonus to saves against auditory and sonic effects is niche and doesn’t stack with other item bonuses, such as the one from your armor runes. The active ability of the Gum has a very short range and not amazing damage while also taking 2 Actions that you could have used for something else. The reduction to speed an enemy gets from failing the save is nice, but the DCs for the level of this Gum, even in the higher level varieties, are so pitifully low. If you have the Packed with Flavor feat from Wandering Chef, though, this possibly goes up to a green rating.

Egg Cream Fizz: In a game where maneuverability is important, you can’t go wrong with this drink. Pretty much everyone can benefit from it in some way and, like Fury Cocktail, it gives you some nice options of additional bonuses depending on what syrup you use as the base.

Ginger Chew: The +1 bonus to saves against Sickened is nice, but will get outpaced quickly. The real draw here is the active ability to reduce your Sickened value by 1. Normally getting rid of Sickened takes an Action and isn’t a guarantee, so being able to assure a reduction to your condition value will always be useful.

Pucker Pickle: Besides being hilarious, this gives you some really awesome defense against creatures that attack with their mouths or other orifice that allows them to taste you, which is a not insubstantial amount of creatures in PF2. While there are fewer creatures that can swallow you whole, the ones that do will regret doing so after you’ve eaten this pickle.

6th-Level Foods

Insight Coffee: This definitely takes the whole “don’t talk to me till I’ve had my coffee” phrase to a whole new level. If you are an Investigator or have a friend in the party who is one, this food is an absolute necessity. Being able to upgrade the damage of one of your core class features by one step for the price of 40gp (or for free with Advanced Alchemy/Quick Alchemy) is a steal. For everyone else, the coffee offers some nice bonuses to Recall Knowledge checks depending on the brew. If you’re an Investigator, you should really only stick to the 6th level version as the higher level versions don’t add anything but an increased bonus to the skill checks.

Scholar’s Drop: It’s thematic if nothing else. Fatigue is usually a condition you have to actively volunteer to receive in PF2. But if your group has no time to rest, you can stave off the effect for…a total of 30 minutes over the course of 3 hours at most. Which is fine, but not anything life changing unless you’re in very specific circumstances where an extra hour or two will make the difference.

Silver Crescent: This food is made for combating stinky undead. The saving bonus won’t stack with your armor rune, and the active ability to damage one space for the amount of damage equal to half a fireball is…underwhelming to say the least. The damage does scale at least at higher level variants, so there’s that. The one thing it has going for it is its ability to overcome resistances which a lot of undead have. That said, the DC is considered easy for the levels you can make this at, so this is another one that benefits heavily from Packed with Flavor, which boosts this food to a green rating.

Soothing Tody: You can get the saves its offering from other sources at this level that are probably better and it doesn’t scale.

7th-Level Foods

Owlbear Egg: Frightened is a powerful condition and it hits a large area. Additionally, creatures have to Critically Succeed on the save to avoid being frightened. Too bad the save DC doesn’t scale with level. This is yet another food that gets a green rating if you have Packed with Flavor.

Preserved Moonflower: Another new food item introduced by Tian Xia. Unlike almost every other food item on this list, the bonus it provides to saves against Void effects is a Status bonus instead of an Item bonus, meaning it can stack with the armor runes you probably have now! Hallelujah! Also in a game where the death spiral can become brutal, the ability to reduce your Wounded condition by 2 mid-combat for the price of a single Action can be a literal life saver. Just make sure you don’t eat more than one per day.

Warding Punch: A +1 to saves at this level is pretty pitiful and it doesn’t scale. You also have to have a lot of foresight as to which school of magic you will be fighting against and considering most capable Wizards use a combination of all of them, this item is just too niche.

8th-Level Foods

Galvanic Chew: This seems like an underwhelming food item at first. 5 electricity resistance and an active stun effect as a Reaction? However, considering most effects that inflict Stunned on creatures carry the Incapacitation trait and this particular item doesn’t, that makes this food incredibly powerful. Usually a creature of high enough level can basically guarantee they will avoid being stunned, but with this item, all it takes is a single poor roll. If you combine this item with the Packed with Flavor feat, this becomes one of the most powerful food items in the entire game. The only downside to this item is the fact you can only benefit from Galvanic Chews once per day. It’s on a per person basis, though, so if you’re a Wandering Chef, use your Versatile Vials to create one for all your teammates in a particularly challenging encounter and watch your enemy just lose all of their Actions.

Firefoot Popcorn: This is a fun little food item that gives you more maneuverability with better and easier jumping. Being able to do bigger jumps for half the Action cost in a game where maneuverability is key will always be appreciated. This almost completely replaces the Quick Jump skill feat, though characters built for jumping might want both. Even better, you can just create an entire field of fire by jumping over and over again which is conceptually hilarious.

Poison Fizz: The bonus to saves are bad, the damage is pitiful, the range is mediocre and Crackling Bubblegum scales its damage better. The only thing it has going for it is the DC is higher than most other similar foods. Not even Packed with Flavor can really save this one.

9th-Level Foods

Assassin Vine Wine: While the concept of drinking such a wine sounds like a terrible idea, this item gives some great bonuses. The base version gives you a 30 foot Tremorsense which is always useful for when you get blinded or you’re trying to find an invisible foe. The aged version you can get at level 12 just improves on this by creating 20 feet of difficult terrain which will be very useful for tying foes down in a fight.

10th-Level Foods

Delve Scale: The skill bonuses this item offers are useful, but the standout feature is the burrow speed you get. Burrowing is super useful for avoiding damage entirely and bypassing certain obstacles and it’s very hard to get as a player.

Dragon Pearl: The final new food item introduced by Tian Xia, this acts similarly to Rainbow Vinegar in that it gives you some amazing resistance and extra damage to your Unarmed Attacks similar to Iron Wine and Rainbow Vinegar. What really sets it apart, however, is its final feature. The fact that you basically get the equivalent of 5e Half-Orc’s Relentless Endurance is just incredible for literally everyone. The caveat is that your Wounded condition still goes up by 1, so don’t rely on it to always save you. That said, you can combine this with Preserved Moonflower to completely negate its drawback. Unarmed combatants will enjoy stacking the damage bonuses from Iron Wine (1d4 fire), Rainbow Vinegar (1d4 or 1d10 acid), and Dragon Pearl (1d10 vitality) for brief bursts of massive damage output.

Energizing Pill: A phenomenal piece of medicine I could see myself getting addicted to. The Item bonus to initiative is incredibly rare and is useful for everyone and the fact that for one hour you can infinitely negate some pretty brutal conditions for the price of one Reaction is absolutely incredible. Definitely a contender for overall best Alchemical Food in the game.