I am making a character. He is the Covenant chef. He was once an Apprentice of a Criamon but his gift is so tiny it could never be used for Hermetic magick. So he use a sort of simple hedge magick through cooking. The character is a bit inspired by modern day kitchen witches. Anyway I am designing the things he can do whit his simple hedge magick and need some advice on both system and what he can do. The effects are very minor.
Also do anyone know anything about middle ages cooking? I want to add detail to the character by using ingredients that are legend to be good for this or that in the recepies he use when he want to do an effect, and at the same time have dishes that was served during the time period we are playing in.
Sounds to me like the perfect sort of character to apply Herb Lore skills to. Perhaps using Herb Lore + Cooking Skill rolls (with stress die) could be the manner in which you express his magical talents.
Another suggestion would be to give such a character the Virtue: Latent Magical Ability and being perhaps somewhat older, simply have the once unrealised ability already manifest in his cooking (as a justifier for his particular hedge ability).
Some of the things his cooking could do might include:
Heal Minor Wounds (or if you consider that too strong), Add +X to recovery rolls;
Restore Fatigue if eaten whilst on long journeys away from the covenant
Help in recovery of the effects of poisons or disease
give a minor + (+1) to concentration, athletics, combat, etc., rolls for say Sun Duration due to its ability to fortify the body and mind.
Basically invent certain dishes in lieu of inventing spells and use the kitchen as his Lab. Different dishes would have differing powers based on ingredients.
Here is one link to a cookbook from the 13th Century Called "An Anonymous Andalusian Cookbook"
He have the latent magickal ability virtue. He was the apprentice of a Criamon once. But he could not learn Hermetic magic. But his master, a kind man saw that the boy had already learned to much to seamlessly be placed back in mundane society. So the old Criamon, whit the help of a Ex Michelania that knew a bit about hedge magic helped the boy find a way to express the tiny Gift he did have, also making him a desirable servant to many Covenants.
The herb lore idea is interesting I think I will do that. Thank you allot for the help. It is very kind of you. I am looking forward to playing this character.
A couple ways you could work with the Herb Lore aspect...
My primary thought was to use Herb Lore in place of Magic Theory as part of the characters "Lab" score. Thus Int+HL+Aura, with his Cooking Skill being added into Lab totals in the same way a Verditius might add his Craft score. Since I suppose cooking IS a Craft, it could be justified for this particular Hedge Tradition. (SG approval required of course).
An alternative way of using Herb Lore might be to read through the Ex Misc "Pharmacopeans" section and model it upon their ability. I might suggest nuancing it a bit if you go this route since your character would be using herbs in cooking rather than in medicine, but the principles laid out in that section could be useful.
I think that you should really be looking at the supernatural craft magic tradition is City and guild. Specifically the touched by magic virtue on page 71.
I'd a also recommend the Brother Cadfael books, by Ellis Peters, both for herbalism and for general inspiration! They're not bad as "Agatha Christy"-type murder-mysteries, but well-colored period pieces as well. (ca 1150 Ireland). PBS did a mini-series on several of the books for their "Mystery" series- also recommended if you can find them. A bit of "Name of the Rose" meets "Inspector Poirrot".
You could also use the Enchanting (Insert Skill) virtue from the Merinitia section of Mystery Cults.
Thus the food would work like the enchanting music virtue.
and I really do see the Major 'Craft Healing' virtue from City and Guild apply. It does require you to touch the recipient of the healing with a tool of your trade ... but that is loose enough that it could work. A Goblet or Platter touched by both the cook and the recipient seems to work thematically, as does feeding someone personally.
Forgive me if I don't have the exact names fo the virtues right - no books here at the moment.
Some more ideas for food-magic:
*Increase the moral of your covenfolk Good food already does. Magical food may do even better.
*Dietary magic like food that doesnt nourish, even though the target feels satiated.
*Make shoe-soles or even rock edible.
*Create one of those famous soup-stones:)
*cook a pot of seminola pudding, walk away, forget the pot on the fire, and let the pot cook more pudding, and more, and moore, and moooore... while you're away
I guess you will find loads of inspiration in fairy-tales.
like food that doesnt nourish, even though the target feels satiated.