Downtime
During periods where characters are leveling up, and perhaps at other times between adventures, there will be defined periods of downtime for characters to engage in professions, hobbies, and other activities that may be of interest or value.
Downtime Rules
Lifestyle
Between adventures, you choose a particular quality of life and pay the cost of maintaining that lifestyle, as described in chapter 5.
Living a particular lifestyle doesn't have a huge effect on your character, but your lifestyle can affect the way other individuals and groups react to you. For example, when you lead an aristocratic lifestyle, it might be easier for you to influence the nobles of the city than if you live in poverty.
| Lifestyle | Cost | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Wretched | Free | You survive via chance and charity. You’re often exposed to natural dangers as a result of sleeping outside. |
| Squalid | 1 SP per Day | You spend the bare minimum for your necessities. You might be exposed to unhealthy conditions and opportunistic criminals. |
| Poor | 2 SP per Day | You spend frugally for your necessities. |
| Modest | 1 GP per Day | You support yourself at an average level. |
| Comfortable | 2 GP per Day | You spend modestly for your necessities and enjoy a few luxuries. |
| Wealthy | 4 GP per Day | You’re accustomed to the finer things in life and might have servants. |
| Aristocratic | 10 GP per Day | You pay for the best and might have a staff that supports your lifestyle. Others notice your wealth and might encourage you to share it, either legally or otherwise. |
Spending Downtime Days
Spending downtime days can be done at specified times in the campaign (usually between levels) and are alloted by the DM usually in a number of tendays (the week unit in The Forgotten Realms world is ten days). Characters can split time between activities, or spend their time doing nothing or recuperating, but downtime days cannot be "banked."
Characters can do downtime activities by themselves, or in partnership with other characters. They can also do contract work (or commission contract work) for other characters or NPCs.
Conveying Downtime Activities
Downtime activities don't happen, and their material gains aren't realized, until they are conveyed in in #ic-chat channel. This can take place in several ways (not an exhaustive list):
- Through real-time role play while the downtime (or part of the downtime) is happening. This could be particularly effective when characters are doing downtime together.
- Through a story when the character returns to the group - at the pub, on the trail, etc.
- By some sort of correspondence - a message or letter sent by the character to the group.
Downtime Activities
This list of Activities is compiled from the Player's Handbook (PHB), The Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG), Xanathar's Guide to Everything (XGtE), and Colville West Marches Downtime Documentation (CWM). It's not exhaustive of all of the activities that a player could engage in - if you have another idea, contact the DM.
Buying/Selling a Magic Item
TBD
Carousing
Drunken debauchery and merriment among adventurers is anything but rare, as life is hard and celebrations make it all better. It could be that you just saw a fellow adventurer get brutally mauled and nothing of their corpse remains, you could have found the lost city of Don Juan and are rich beyond your wildest dreams, or maybe you just wanna see what happens, regardless you’re drinking, and doing so in copious amounts.
Resources: 30 gp and 3 days of downtime
Resolution: Roll a d100 and add your Persuasion Bonus and compare the total to Carousing table using the resolution result column to determine the result.
You may incur additional gp and downtime day costs based on your roll.
Any additional costs must be paid off before you are able to perform any other downtime activities.
Prequest Action: For 10 gp and a single downtime day, your character could spend the day before a quest carousing if the DM allows it. This may place them in an interesting position to be found at the beginning of the quest. You may collect the normal Resolution results and your character will be located in the location specified in the last column of the table.
Regardless of the outcome, make a DC 10 Constitution check. On a failure your character is pretty hungover for the next 24 hours. Additional checks may be required to avoid accidents.
| d100 + Level | Result | Prequest Location |
|---|---|---|
| 01-05 | You are jailed for 3d6 days at the end of the downtime period on charges of massive property damage/theft, implied assault, disorderly conduct, and disturbing the peace. You are also fined a total of 300 gp. | Your character will be found in a jail cell at the beginning of the quest. Other players may attempt to break you out at the DM’s discretion or pay a bail of 200 gp per level of your character that will be returned when the carouser is returned to finish their time. |
| 06-15 | You are jailed for 1d4 days at the end of the downtime period on charges of disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace. You are also fined a total of 10 gp. | Same as above but only 100 gp per character level for the bail. |
| 16-20 | You regain consciousness in a strange place with no memory of how you got there. You aren't missing anything but you seem to have been the victim of several magic spells and enchantments that create a real walk of shame as return home. | You wake up in a location chosen by the DM. It could be dangerous, convenient, or both. You have a non-debilitating spell on you that affects you for the next 24 hours. The spell could be anything from a appendage turning invisible, your skin turning purple, bubbles emitting from your mouth, or some other silly effect determined by the DM or yourself. |
| 21-30 | You regain consciousness in a strange place with no memory of how you got there and you have been robbed of 3d6 × 5 gp. | You wake up in a location chosen by the DM. It could be dangerous, convenient, or both but you lose the gp either way. |
| 31-40 | You manage to end up in a drunken fist fight against a local. Make a DC 13 strength check. On a success you recuperate your expenses. On a failure your expenses double for this day. | Depending on the outcome, your character will be found either in their normal location or else passed out near the bar covered in dirt and marks from the struggle. |
| 41-50 | The night goes well for you and you spend your evening with an interesting individual, according to your character's interests. Who this person is is up to you. You gain DM inspiration that may be used on any quest if you did not already have it. | Your character is found in the company of this person. You receive the DM inspiration for this quest and may receive another one at the end of the quest if you used it. |
| 51-80 | You earn modest winnings from gambling and recuperate your expenses for the time spent carousing. | You are found in town at your normal place to be found. |
| 81-90 | You earn modest winnings from gambling. You recuperate your expenses for the time spent carousing and gain 1d20 × 4 gp. | Same as above but you're a tad bit happier. |
| 91+ | You make a small fortune gambling. You recuperate your expenses for the time spent carousing and gain 4d6 × 10 gp. Your carousing becomes the stuff of local legend | Same as above but all the other party members know exactly what you did last night as it has been whispered throughout the town. |
Crafting
A character who has the time, the money, and the needed tools can use downtime to craft armor, weapons, clothing, or other kinds of non-magical items.
Resources: In addition to the appropriate tools for the item to be crafted, a character needs raw materials worth half of the item’s selling cost and a number of downtime days equal to its gold cost divided by: your tool modifier or 5, whichever is larger. Multiple characters can combine their efforts. Divide the time needed to create an item by the number of characters working on it. Use your judgment when determining how many characters can collaborate on an item.
Resolution: With the proper tools and gold, the character successfully crafts the non-magical and can add it to their inventory, gift it to another player, or sell it for the full listed cost.
Brewing Potions of Healing
Potions of healing fall into a special category for item crafting, separate from other magic items. A character who has proficiency with the herbalism kit can create these potions. The times and costs for doing so are summarized on the Potion of Healing Creation table.
| Type | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Healing | 1 day | 25 gp |
| Greater healing | 5 days | 100 gp |
| Superior healing | 15 days | 1,000 gp |
| Supreme healing | 20 days | 10,000 gp |
Sources: XGtE, CWM
Crime
Sometimes it pays to be bad. This activity gives a character the chance to make some extra cash, at the risk of arrest.
Resources: A character must spend 5 downtime days and an amount of gp depending on the target mark.
Resolution: First choose a desired mark. The mark chosen affects the DC and reward.
Robbery Crimes
| Crime | Payoff | Investment | DC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Robbery of a struggling merchant | 150 gp | 15 gp | 10 |
| Robbery of a prosperous merchant | 250 gp | 25 gp | 15 |
| Robbery of a noble | 500 gp | 50 gp | 20 |
| Robbery of one of the richest people in town | 1000 gp | 100 gp | 25 |
Forgery Crimes
| Crime | Payoff | Investment | DC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fake receipts & merchant ledgers | 150 gp | 15 gp | 10 |
| Counterfeit trade licenses & travel papers | 250 gp | 25 gp | 15 |
| Fake wills & property deeds | 500 gp | 50 gp | 20 |
| Forge edicts & military orders | 1000 gp | 100 gp | 25 |
Impersonation Crimes
| Crime | Payoff | Investment | DC |
|---|---|---|---|
| Impersonate a common street hustler | 150 gp | 15 gp | 10 |
| Impersonate a guild apprentice or merchant | 250 gp | 25 gp | 15 |
| Impersonate a noble's attendant or minor official | 500 gp | 50 gp | 20 |
| Impersonate an envoy or military commander | 1000 gp | 100 gp | 25 |
To attempt the crime, the character makes three checks: Dexterity (Stealth); Charisma (Deception); and the higher of Intelligence (Investigation) or Wisdom (Perception). The player can also choose to replace the lowest of these skill checks with a tool check using either thieves’ tools (for robberies), disguise kit (for impersonations), or forgery kit (for forgeries) only if they have proficiency.
If none of the checks are successful (0 of 3), the character is caught and jailed. The character must spend a number of downtime days in jail equal to the DC and pay a fine equal to the target value. At the player’s discretion, such a failure could involve additional forms of restitution or penance.
If only one check is successful (1 of 3), the heist fails, but the character escapes. If two checks are successful (2 of 3), the heist is a partial success, netting the character half the payout. If all three checks are successful (3 of 3), the character earns the full value listed.
Complications: Complications. A life of crime is filled with complications. Roll on the Crime Complications table (or create a complication of your own) if the character succeeds on only one check. If the character’s rival is involved in crime or law enforcement, a complication ensues if the character succeeds on only two checks.
| d8 | Complication |
|---|---|
| 1 | A bounty equal to your earnings is offered for information about your crime.* |
| 2 | An unknown person contacts you, threatening to reveal your crime if you don’t render a service.* |
| 3 | Your victim is financially ruined by your crime. |
| 4 | Someone who knows of your crime has been arrested on an unrelated matter.* |
| 5 | Your loot is a single, easily identified item that you can’t fence in this region. |
| 6 | You robbed someone who was under a local crime lord’s protection, and who now wants revenge. |
| 7 | Your victim calls in a favor from a guard, doubling the efforts to solve the case. |
| 8 | Your victim asks one of your adventuring companions to solve the crime. |
Avrae Roll for this activity using Avrae using the following format:
!crime <type> [tool|guidance]
Sources: XGte, CWM
Gambling
Resources: This activity requires one day of effort plus a stake of at least 20 gp, to a maximum of 1,000 gp or more, as you see fit. Characters cannot earn more than a total of 10,000 gp from this activity
Resolution: The character must make a series of checks, with a DC determined at random based on the quality of the competition that the character runs into. Part of the risk of gambling is that one never knows who might end up sitting across the table.
The character makes three checks: Wisdom (Insight), Charisma (Deception), and Charisma (Intimidation). If the character has proficiency with an appropriate gaming set, that tool proficiency can replace the relevant skill in any of the checks. The DC for each of the checks is 5 + 2d10; generate a separate DC for each one.
Consult the Gambling Results table to see how the character did.
| Gambling Result | Value |
|---|---|
| 0 successes | Lose all the money you bet, and accrue a debt equal to that amount. |
| 1 success | Lose half the money you bet. |
| 2 successes | Gain the amount you bet plus half again more. |
| 3 successes | Gain double the amount you bet. |
Complications: Gambling tends to attract unsavory individuals. The potential complications involved come from run-ins with the law and associations with various criminals tied to the activity. Every day spent gambling brings a 10 percent chance of a complication, examples of which are on the Gambling Complications table.
Sources: XGtE, CWM
Relaxation/Recuperation
TBD
Religious Service/Devotion
Characters with a religious bent might want to spend downtime in service to a temple, either by attending rites or by proselytizing in the community. Someone who undertakes this activity has a chance of winning the favor of the temple’s leaders.
Resources: Performing religious service requires access to, and often attendance at, a temple whose beliefs and ethos align with the character’s. If such a place is available, the activity takes 5 days but involves no gold piece expenditure.
Resolution: At the end of the required time, the character chooses to make either an Intelligence (Religion) check or a Charisma (Persuasion) check. The total of the check determines the benefits of service, as shown on the table below.
| Check Total | Result |
|---|---|
| 1–8 | No effect. Your efforts fail to make a lasting impression. |
| 9–18 | You earn one favor. |
| 18+ | You earn two favors. |
A favor, in broad terms, is a promise of future assistance from a representative of the temple. It can be expended to ask the temple for help in dealing with a specific problem, for general political or social support, or to reduce the cost of cleric spellcasting by 50 percent. A favor could also take the form of a deity’s intervention, such as an omen, a vision, or a minor miracle provided at a key moment. This latter sort of favor is expended by the DM, who also determines its nature.
Favors earned need not be expended immediately, but only a certain number can be stored up. A character can have a maximum number of unused favors equal to 1 + the character’s Charisma modifier (minimum of one unused favor).
Complications: Temples can be labyrinths of political and social scheming. Even the best-intentioned sect can fall prone to rivalries. A character who serves a temple risks becoming embroiled in such struggles. Every 5 days spent in religious service brings a 10 percent chance of a complication, examples of which are on the Religious Service Complications table.
| d6 | Complication |
|---|---|
| 1 | You have offended a priest through your words or actions.* |
| 2 | Blasphemy is still blasphemy, even if you did it by accident. |
| 3 | A secret sect in the temple offers you membership. |
| 4 | Another temple tries to recruit you as a spy.* |
| 5 | The temple elders implore you to take up a holy quest. |
| 6 | You accidentally discover that an important person in the temple is a fiend worshiper. |
Sources: XGtE
Research
TBD
Scribing a Scroll
With time, patience, and skill, a spellcaster can transfer a spell to a scroll, creating a spell scroll.
Requirements: Must have the spellcasting or pact magic feature, must have the spell you wish to craft known through that feature, and Arcana proficiency or proficiency with Calligraphy supplies (and the tools).
Resources: You must have a number of downtime days and gp according to the spell level you wish to craft. See below table. Scrolls are always created and paid for at the minimum level of the spell.
| Spell Level | Time | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Cantrip | 1 day | 15 gp |
| 1st | 2 day | 75 gp |
| 2nd | 3 days | 250 gp |
| 3rd | 5 days | 500 gp |
| 4th | 10 days | 2,500 gp |
| 5th | 20 days | 5,000 gp |
| 6th | 40 days | 15,000 gp |
| 7th | 80 days | 25,000 gp |
| 8th | 160 days | 50,000 gp |
| 9th | 240 days | 250,000 gp |
Resolution: You create a scroll of the desired spell.
Sources: CWM
Training
Downtime can be spent putting in the time to learn a new language, trade, or skill that you are partial to or think you'll need later. You may even fine tune your skills to an even more skilled state.
Resources: Learning a skill, language, or tool proficiency costs a base of 30 days of downtime and 10 gp per day. The time and cost is reduced 5 days times the characters Intelligence modifier.
Learning a standard language, an instrument, or gaming set costs half the downtime and gold. As a standard language, you can also learn a sign language for a language you know.
To gain expertise, you cannot have gained expertise through this activity before and must spend 40 days of downtime, and 20 gp per day. The time and cost is reduced 5 days times the characters Intelligence modifier. This is separate from any potential costs related to gaining proficiency in the skill.
Resolution: If learning a skill, select a skill from the starting skills of a class you have 3 or more levels in that you are not already proficient in. If learning a tool or language you are free to choose any.
You become proficient in the skill, language, or tool that you chose.
Expertise may be gained in any skill, or tool with which you are already proficient regardless of class.
Sources: XGtE, CWM
Work/Trade
TBD