A Skill Tree Proposal: Warly

[Trevindo]

WARLY

A Skill Tree Proposal

Don't Starve Together — Fan Design Document

I hereby grant Klei Entertainment full rights to use any part of this material should they find it useful.

 

1. Character Overview

Warly is a utility character whose role revolves around granting beneficial attributes and effects to his companions through the preparation of meals. He is considered a challenging character because both his advantages and disadvantages center on one of the game's most complex systems: cooking and resource management.

 

The core tension of the character can be summarized simply: the more Warly empowers the group, the more demanding his own food management becomes — he grows tired of eating the same dishes quickly. Every skill proposed in this tree builds on that tension without resolving it.

 

2. Chef Specializations

Warly's skill tree is organized into four culinary specialization branches, inspired by the traditional kitchen brigade. Each branch deepens one ingredient category and unlocks exclusive gathering and processing mechanics. The branches are parallel — players may invest in more than one — but each rewards focused progression.

 

2.1 Saucier — Meat Specialist

Focuses on maximizing the yield from animal proteins, with preparation techniques that generate unique byproducts.

 

Skill	Description
Debone	When slaughtering eligible creatures, Warly can remove the bones from the meat, generating bone fragments as a byproduct. These fragments can be used in exclusive recipes or crafting.
Skin	Allows Warly to remove the hide from slaughtered creatures. Hides can be accumulated and stitched together to craft pigskin — useful for equipment crafts or as a special cooking ingredient.

 

2.2 Patissier — Sweets & Dairy Specialist

Focuses on processed animal-origin ingredients — milk and derivatives — opening an entirely new recipe branch.

 

Skill	Description
Milking	Warly can milk domesticated Goats and Beefalo, obtaining fresh milk. Milk is perishable and must be used quickly or stored in a refrigerator.
Butter	Unlocks the recipe to produce butter from milk. Butter can be used as a cooking ingredient in Patissier recipes or as a pan coating (see Section 4.1).

 

2.3 Legumier — Vegetable Specialist

Focuses on agricultural sustainability, making the farming cycle more efficient and introducing seed-tracking mechanics.

 

Skill	Description
Collector	Warly can tame a Carrot Mouse to periodically track specific crop seeds across the map. The tracking works as an event — similar to the Koalefant hunt — where the player follows clues until the seed is found. Note: The seed type to be tracked can be selected based on crops already grown by the player.
Propagator	When cooking vegetables directly over a campfire (not in the cooking pot), Warly recovers the vegetable's seeds while simultaneously obtaining the roasted vegetable as a product.

 

2.4 Poissonier — Fish Specialist

Focuses on maximizing fishing yield, with slaughter techniques that generate additional byproducts.

 

Skill	Description
Fillet	When killing fish, Warly can separate the fish meat from bone fragments, producing both as distinct items. Fish bone fragments can be used in Poissonier-specific recipes.
Expert Filleting	Passive upgrade to Fillet — increases the yield when killing fish, producing more meat and/or bone units per catch.

 

 

3. Traveling Cook

A branch focused on mobility — skills that allow Warly to cook, store, and carry food without needing a fixed base. Particularly useful for extended exploration.

 

3.1 Portable Equipment

Skill	Description
Homey Aroma	While Warly's cooking pot is actively cooking nearby, it generates a buff aura around it — regenerating health, sanity, or another effect to be determined. Rewards groups that cook together in the field.
Backpack Stove	A craftable item that occupies the backpack slot. Functions as a cooking pot while Warly walks, but with reduced ingredient slots. Has durability and degrades with use.
Backpack Stove II	Upgrade to the Backpack Stove — in addition to cooking while walking, it also warms Warly during winter while a recipe is being prepared.
Portable Icebox	A craftable item equivalent to a standard icebox, but transportable with its contents inside. The contents can only be accessed when placed on the ground.
Portable Icebox II	Upgrade to the Portable Icebox — can be equipped as a backpack, allowing access to contents while walking. Also cools Warly during summer.

 

 

4. Cooking Pot Upgrade System

Inspired by Walter's slingshot upgrade system, Warly's cooking pot can receive modifications across three independent categories: coating, material, and heat source. Each category has its own slot, and combinations create distinct configurations for different playstyles.

 

4.1 Coating

Modifications applied to the inner surface of the pot, affecting how food interacts with heat.

 

Skill	Description
Beeswax	Prevents food from sticking to the pot and generates a pleasant honey scent — creating a small sanity aura while cooking is in progress.
Butter	Prevents food from sticking to the pot and generates a warm buttery scent — creating a sanity aura while cooking is in progress. Requires the Butter skill from the Patissier branch.
Icker Jar	Apparently the local creatures are unsettled by whatever is brewing inside. Mobs and creatures keep their distance while the pot is actively cooking.

 

4.2 Pot Material

The material defines the thermal properties and the improvement profile of prepared dishes.

 

Skill	Description
Marble	Ceramic equivalent with uniform cooking properties — improves the stats of a dish precisely (e.g. +5% health or sanity). Trade-off: low thermal conductivity increases cooking time.
Thulecite	Upgraded ceramic with enhanced uniform cooking — improves dish stats more broadly (e.g. multiple stats simultaneously). Requires ruins progression.
Moon Rock	A material of lunar origin with peculiar properties that seem to transfer to food. Effect: significant improvement to the sanity stats of prepared dishes. Requires lunar progression.

 

4.3 Heat Source

Defines the thermal intensity of the pot, primarily affecting cooking speed.

 

Skill	Description
Red Gem	Basic enchanted heat source. Effect: slightly accelerates cooking time.
Nightmare Fuel	Shadow-origin heat source. Effect: considerably accelerates cooking time. Requires cave access.
Phasmo-Encapsulator	Endgame heat source. Effect: drastically accelerates cooking time. A rare, high-progression item.

 

 

5. Passive Chef Skills

Skill	Description
Impurity Removal	Warly can remove spoiled items from a mixed stack, increasing the average durability of the remaining stack at the cost of discarding a few deteriorated units. Useful for recovering partially spoiled stacks that would otherwise be lost entirely.
Seasoned Meat Rod	Warly can season his Meat Rod using the existing spices to apply a specific combat effect on hit:

 

Seasoned Meat Rod — spice effects:

• Honey: Applies a slowing effect on contact.

• Garlic: Increases stun duration.

• Salt: Cuts healing received by the target.

• Pepper: Applies damage over time, similar to a burning effect.

 

 

6. New Recipe Effect Ideas

The effects below are proposals for Warly-exclusive dishes — recipes only he can prepare, using special ingredients or techniques unlocked through the skill tree. Specific recipe ingredients are intentionally left open; the goal here is to define the effects first. Ideally, these recipes should require diverse ingredients rather than being limited to farm-only components.

 

Effect Name	In-game effect	Suggested recipe
Pig King's Favourite	The Pig King shows exceptional enthusiasm for this dish. Delivering it to him rewards a generous amount of gold.	Elaborate dish: meat + exotic ingredient
Lucky Day	Grants the consumer a new luck effect — increases the chance of rare drops for a set duration.	To be determined
Fisher's Call	Increases the frequency with which fish appear near the consumer for a set duration.	Poissonier recipe with exotic fish
Sweet Dream	Grants temporary immunity to insanity auras — particularly useful in combat against shadow bosses.	Patissier recipe — elaborate sweet
Stored Energy	Grants a movement speed bonus to the consumer for a set duration.	To be determined
Fetid	The consumer receives low targeting priority during boss fights — creatures take longer to select that character as their target.	Rare recipe — exotic ingredients

 

 

7. Rework Suggestions (Outside the Skill Tree)

The following are tweaks to existing Warly recipes that I believe would improve consistency and feel, independent of any skill tree changes.

 

Skill	Description
Monster Tartare	Should be able to transform Pigs and Woodie — after consuming just a single serving, rather than requiring multiple.
Hot Dragon Chili Salad & Asparagazpacho	Increase the duration of their respective temperature effects.
Puffed Potato Soufflé	Improve its base stat returns to better reflect the difficulty of its ingredients.
Seasoning Salt	Change the healing bonus so that it amplifies all healing received from recipes — not just the first dish eaten. Could also retain its current use as regular salt, allowing it to partially reverse food spoilage.

 

 

8. Design Notes

This proposal starts from a single premise: Warly's skills should deepen the tension already present in the character, not resolve it. The cost of playing Warly — the constant need to vary his diet — is what makes him interesting. The skills proposed here expand the player's toolkit without eliminating that challenge.

 

A few design decisions that guided these choices:

 

• Parallel specializations: The four branches are independent — a player who wants to invest in all of them can. But depth within each branch rewards specialization.

• Portable equipment has explicit costs: The Backpack Stove and Portable Icebox both trade something — inventory space, durability, or access restriction. Neither is strictly superior to the stationary solution.

• The pot upgrade system creates build variety: A Warly focused on cooking speed plays differently from one focused on dish quality.

• Recipe effects target group utility: The proposed effects are not replacements for existing items but complements that open new strategies — particularly in boss fights and exploration.

[DegenerateFurry]

Overall, I actually like your suggestions here, but I do feel like the crock pot heat source skills should be replaced with something to allow him to get better odds on mob drops. I'll link my own Warly skill tree concept thread here, there's actually a decent amount of overlap and it seems we're largely in agreement on what Warly as a character needs.

[Cheggf]

There are some interesting ideas in here but a few things are a bit uninspired.

8 hours ago, Trevindo said:

4.3 Heat Source

Defines the thermal intensity of the pot, primarily affecting cooking speed.

 

Skill	Description
Red Gem	Basic enchanted heat source. Effect: slightly accelerates cooking time.
Nightmare Fuel	Shadow-origin heat source. Effect: considerably accelerates cooking time. Requires cave access.
Phasmo-Encapsulator	Endgame heat source. Effect: drastically accelerates cooking time. A rare, high-progression item.

These are all reallyboring perks and I don't even know if I would spend a single skill point on reducing cooking time, much less three skill points that also require three different recipes of increasing difficulty to be made.

8 hours ago, Trevindo said:

4.2 Pot Material

The material defines the thermal properties and the improvement profile of prepared dishes.

 

Skill	Description
Marble	Ceramic equivalent with uniform cooking properties — improves the stats of a dish precisely (e.g. +5% health or sanity). Trade-off: low thermal conductivity increases cooking time.
Thulecite	Upgraded ceramic with enhanced uniform cooking — improves dish stats more broadly (e.g. multiple stats simultaneously). Requires ruins progression.
Moon Rock	A material of lunar origin with peculiar properties that seem to transfer to food. Effect: significant improvement to the sanity stats of prepared dishes. Requires lunar progression.

A 5% increase to all 3 stats wouldn't be worth a skill point, wouldn't be worth longer cooking times, and wouldn't be worth crafting an "upgrade" with marbles. A 5% increase to 1 stat at the cost of a skill point, longer cooking times, and crafting an "upgrade" with marbles is just very detrimental.

8 hours ago, Trevindo said:

4.1 Coating

Modifications applied to the inner surface of the pot, affecting how food interacts with heat.

 

Skill	Description
Beeswax	Prevents food from sticking to the pot and generates a pleasant honey scent — creating a small sanity aura while cooking is in progress.
Butter	Prevents food from sticking to the pot and generates a warm buttery scent — creating a sanity aura while cooking is in progress. Requires the Butter skill from the Patissier branch.
Icker Jar	Apparently the local creatures are unsettled by whatever is brewing inside. Mobs and creatures keep their distance while the pot is actively cooking.

Two of these are the same as this perk

8 hours ago, Trevindo said:

3.1 Portable Equipment

Skill	Description
Homey Aroma	While Warly's cooking pot is actively cooking nearby, it generates a buff aura around it — regenerating health, sanity, or another effect to be determined. Rewards groups that cook together in the field.

So he has the same perk three times, but two of them require crafting. 

[Trevindo]

8 hours ago, DegenerateFurry said:

Overall, I actually like your suggestions here, but I do feel like the crock pot heat source skills should be replaced with something to allow him to get better odds on mob drops. I'll link my own Warly skill tree concept thread here, there's actually a decent amount of overlap and it seems we're largely in agreement on what Warly as a character needs.

Oh, definitely—it’s always funny to see how people who play the same character tend to miss the exact same things. I liked your ideas too, and I totally get why you didn't like the Heat Source section. Personally, I’m not a fan of the whole Topic 4, but I wanted to suggest something similar to Walter’s upgrades—I just wasn't feeling very inspired.

20 minutes ago, Cheggf said:

There are some interesting ideas in here but a few things are a bit uninspired.

These are all reallyboring perks and I don't even know if I would spend a single skill point on reducing cooking time, much less three skill points that also require three different recipes of increasing difficulty to be made.

A 5% increase to all 3 stats wouldn't be worth a skill point, wouldn't be worth longer cooking times, and wouldn't be worth crafting an "upgrade" with marbles. A 5% increase to 1 stat at the cost of a skill point, longer cooking times, and crafting an "upgrade" with marbles is just very detrimental.

Two of these are the same as this perk

So he has the same perk three times, but two of them require crafting. 

That makes two of us; I don't like Topic 4 either, but I didn't have much time to revise it.

Personally, I tried to draw inspiration from the quality of real-life pans when creating Topic 4, even though I failed miserably.

Material	Thermal conductivity	Non-stick	Durability	Maintenance	Food safety	Relative cost	Notes
Pure aluminium	Excellent	Low	Medium	Simple	Moderate — reacts with acids and salt	Low	Heats quickly and evenly; avoid use with acidic foods (tomato, citrus)
Anodised aluminium	Excellent	Partial	High	Medium	Good — oxide layer acts as a barrier	Medium	Improved version of pure aluminium; scratch-resistant
Stainless steel	Low	Low	Very high	Simple	Excellent	Medium	Durable and chemically neutral; needs a tri-ply base for even heat distribution
Cast iron	Medium	Partial (seasoned)	Decades	Demanding — requires periodic seasoning	Good — can even add iron to food	Medium	Exceptional heat retention; heavy; rusts if poorly maintained
Enamelled cast iron	Medium	Partial	Very high	Simple	Excellent	High	Best of both worlds; enamel coating can crack under thermal shock
Copper	Exceptional	Low	High	Demanding — oxidises over time	Inner lining required	Very high	Precise temperature control; preferred in professional kitchens; usually lined with stainless steel inside
Titanium	Low	Partial	Very high	Simple	Excellent — chemically inert	Very high	Lightweight and highly resistant; poor thermal conductivity is its main drawback
Non-stick (PTFE)	Medium	Excellent	Low — scratches and degrades	Simple	Good if intact; toxic if overheated (>260°C / 500°F)	Low	Convenient but short lifespan; never use metal utensils
Ceramic	Low	Good	Medium — chips easily	Simple	Excellent — PTFE-free	Medium	"Natural" alternative to non-stick; loses non-stick properties over time
Soapstone	Medium-high	Partial (seasoned)	Very high	Initial seasoning required	Excellent — adds minerals to food	Medium	Traditional Brazilian cookware; good heat retention; heavy; do not wash with dish soap

[JohnnyTwoShirts]

This is AWESOME - so well thought out and creative / meaningful. I would really love a skill tree that looked just like this.

 

Love the idea of deboning, this would really allow getting more Bone Bouillon dishes up and running. Backpack Crockpots / Aromas to create supportive auras would be a lot of fun.

 

Again, I think this whole thing is great, to be collaborative - the skinning skill does have a bit of a disconnect. Perhaps it would still function similar, but instead of stitching skins to craft Pig Skin, maybe Warly just has a higher chance / or garuntee to get a Pig Skin when killing Pigs. Could even extend to Goats, higher chance for a horn? (must use a bladed weapon on the kill)

 

Really nice work! Ideas are great, and the way you presented it visually and structurally is top notch 

 

PS - I see this so often (in any game) when people share concepts and provide 'numbers' with it -- readers suddenly get so caught up on the 'numbers' and stats that are placed, and lose sight of the concept itself - trying to make balance adjustments. Stat Bonuses / Percents and all those technical tweaks get finessed in testing. Great concepts; I understand the 'numbers' you placed as just a way to communicate the core of the idea. 

[Capybara007]

Make something simpler like

By hovering the mouse on the hunger stat there is a dish name

If you eat that dish in that day you get double the stats or some speed or damage buff

Every day (8 minutes) the daily dish gets changed to another, which dish gets chosen everyday is determined by days of survival (day 1: meatballs, day 100, something more complex like stuffed eggplant)

This way you are actually pushed towards hoarding ingredients and making new dishes instead of using the same 5 dishes all the time

By klei's design they will likely give him 100 new tools, i just think something easier like this would be better

Edited April 14 by Capybara007

[Trevindo]

On 4/14/2026 at 7:05 AM, JohnnyTwoShirts said:

This is AWESOME - so well thought out and creative / meaningful. I would really love a skill tree that looked just like this.

 

Love the idea of deboning, this would really allow getting more Bone Bouillon dishes up and running. Backpack Crockpots / Aromas to create supportive auras would be a lot of fun.

 

Again, I think this whole thing is great, to be collaborative - the skinning skill does have a bit of a disconnect. Perhaps it would still function similar, but instead of stitching skins to craft Pig Skin, maybe Warly just has a higher chance / or garuntee to get a Pig Skin when killing Pigs. Could even extend to Goats, higher chance for a horn? (must use a bladed weapon on the kill)

 

Really nice work! Ideas are great, and the way you presented it visually and structurally is top notch 

 

PS - I see this so often (in any game) when people share concepts and provide 'numbers' with it -- readers suddenly get so caught up on the 'numbers' and stats that are placed, and lose sight of the concept itself - trying to make balance adjustments. Stat Bonuses / Percents and all those technical tweaks get finessed in testing. Great concepts; I understand the 'numbers' you placed as just a way to communicate the core of the idea. 

Thank you. I also realized that giving numbers creates a tendency for disagreeing comments; because of that, I usually avoid it and try to focus only on concepts. Another curious thing is that the more you write, the greater the chance that someone will disagree with the idea — not because they disagree with everything, but because they don't agree with something specific.

On 4/14/2026 at 12:49 PM, Capybara007 said:

Make something simpler like

By hovering the mouse on the hunger stat there is a dish name

If you eat that dish in that day you get double the stats or some speed or damage buff

Every day (8 minutes) the daily dish gets changed to another, which dish gets chosen everyday is determined by days of survival (day 1: meatballs, day 100, something more complex like stuffed eggplant)

This way you are actually pushed towards hoarding ingredients and making new dishes instead of using the same 5 dishes all the time

By klei's design they will likely give him 100 new tools, i just think something easier like this would be better

I understand. I don't agree with everything I write either. I like simple things, and a mini-game from Warly like "What do I feel like eating today?" also makes me happy. It seems fun to me, and personally, gaining effects, in my opinion, is better than increasing the food's stats.