Unknown Ingredient Effects
Generally, Heroes in Reclaim the Wild know what effects a Food Ingredient or Critter will provide their Dishes and Elixirs. With this Master Mode rule, Heroes have no such knowledge for free. Rather, they must learn what these items do the hard way.
All ingredients’ effects start out unknown. Heroes may make an appropriate Trait check (typically Nature), with a DC of (5 + (Rank x 2)) to discern the item’s effects. They may eat the item for a +2 bonus to the roll.
If you make a Dish or Elixir with unknown ingredients, you forfeit their beneficial effects (but not any negative effects they have…)
Use this rule to give your game a “Roguelike” feeling! You may also want to add ingredients with negative effects, to really capture that old-school danger.