Downtime
Downtime activities provide an opportunity for characters to recover from their adventures while doing various activities -the various distractions and side pursuits that engage the characters when they're not exploring the wilderness, plundering dungeons, and gallivanting around the multiverse on some epic quest.
Lifestyle Expenses
While some things a character can do during their downtime allow them to circumvent the standard cost of living, if they don't plan on doing anything with their downtime, they will be required to pay a cost in order to afford lodging, food, and the maintaining of armor and weapons. The gold you pay depends on the quality of life you are living. The poorer the lifestyle, the less you pay. The cost of living might be higher or lower depending on how much gold your DM gives your party.
| Lifestyle | Cost per Day |
|---|---|
| Wretched | 0gp |
| Squalid | 0.1gp |
| Poor | 0.2gp |
| Modest | 1gp |
| Comfortable | 2gp |
| Wealthy | 4gp |
| Aristocratic | 10gp minimum |
Alternatively, if you have proficiency in the Survival skill, you are able to live a comfortable life in the wild but cannot do any other activity. If you are a member or a friend of a guild or group, you may be able to live there without paying the expense as well.
Depending on your DM and the lifestyle you chose, you could gain important contacts or connections with other people. Spending time living with the poor might net you allies with the local beggars and street urchins or living an aristocratic life could help you gain favor with a wealthy noble.
The Project Clock
In periods between adventures you can choose to perform Downtime Actions- actions you can perform to gain some benefit. This is most commonly done via Project Clocks. This clock tracks your progress towards completing your project, and has a number of segments equal to the difficulty of the task, determined by the DM. Each segment is equal to one day's worth of downtime. In the following rules, it is assumed that characters gain downtime in multiples of 5 (or another number if the DM decides)
Contributing to Projects
During each workweek available to the characters, they can contribute up to their maximum of 5 days of progress to a project, split them between multiple projects and other activities, or simply forgo their downtime entirely.
Required Skills
Projects of higher challenge may require proficiency in a skill or tool. You can only progress that project's clock if you are proficient in the suggested skill, unless you have another skill that could feasibly apply, determined by your DM.
For instance, an alchemical project may call for proficiency in Alchemist's Tools, but you could possibly use Medicine instead.
Cost
Some projects have a cost associated with them. The gold cost must be paid to complete a Project Clock.
Project Difficulty
The difficulty of a project might be affected by several factors, such as your environment, any tools and equipment you have, and whether creatures are assisting or opposing you, but generally follows the following table:
Table- Project Difficulty
| Difficulty | Time Required | Cost |
|---|---|---|
| Negligible | 0 days | 5gp |
| Very Easy | 1 day | 10gp |
| Easy | 5 days | 50gp |
| Moderate | 10 days | 100gp |
| Hard | 25 days | 250gp |
| Very Hard | 75 days | 750gp |
| Almost Impossible | 150 days | 1150gp |
Group Clocks
Project clocks that have started can be contributed to by any character if the individual who started the clock allows, adding the spent days together towards the project's total. If the clock has a required skill, an assisting creature must be proficient in that skill to contribute their downtime.
Example Clocks
Example Clock
Research: Alchemical Brewing
Moderate Challenge || 0 / 10
Above is an example of a Moderate Project Clock. It has 10 empty segments, meaning 10 more days of downtime must be contributed to it to complete it (10 total). When the clock is completed, it will look like the example below:
Example Clock
Research: Alchemical Brewing
Moderate Challenge || 10 / 10
You needn't finish a clock in a single stretch of time.
Example Projects
The following are rules for some example project clocks:
Carousing
Between adventures, you might relax with a few drinks and a group of friends at a tavern, where you attempt to learn some gossip or make contacts. Carousing covers 5 days of fine food, strong drink, and socializing.
A character can attempt to carouse among lower-, middle-, or upper-class folk. A character can carouse with the lower class for 10gp to cover expenses, or 50gp for the middle class. Carousing with the upper class requires 250gp for the 5 days and access to the local nobility. During this time you mingle, party, and socialize with members of that social class, potentially learning or starting rumors, learning or spreading gossip, or even making contacts- NPCs the character has met that could potentially assist or hinder them later on.
Crafting Nonmagical Items
During downtime, a creature can start a clock to create nonmagical items. For everyday of downtime, you can craft up to 5 gp worth of nonmagical items, spending half the normal cost in raw materials.
Crafting Magical Items
Crafting a magical item is a long and complicated process. To craft such an item, the crafter needs to be able to cast spells, and if they're imbuing an item with a specific spell, they must be able to cast it. If the item requires a tool proficiency to make, like if you're making a magic sword, the crafter will need proficiency in said tools, like smith's tools, as normal.
For these particular projects, the difficulty of the clock is determined by the following table.
Table- Crafting Magical Items
| Item Rarity | Minimum Level | Difficulty |
|---|---|---|
| Common | 3rd | Moderate, Half Cost |
| Uncommon | 3rd | Hard, Double Cost |
| Rare | 6th | Very Hard, Cost |
| Very Rare | 11th | Almost Impossible, 20x Cost |
| Legendary | 17th | Almost Impossible, 100x Cost |
Jobs
If a character wishes to perform a job or other activity to generate wealth, they can spend downtime to do so. When a character wishes to perform such an activity, they can declare the service they want to perform, as well as a Skill or Tool they are proficient in that could apply to the service.
The difficulty of the job, represented by the act of finding a suitable job and actually performing it, determines the total payout. Characters can generate income based on the difficulty of the job equal to the amount listed in the Cost column of the Project Difficulty table.
Example Jobs by Ability
| Ability | Job |
|---|---|
| Strength | Transporting items |
| Dexterity | Fixing simple items |
| Constitution | Working in hazardous areas |
| Intelligence | Transcribing books |
| Wisdom | Assisting an investigation |
| Charisma | Tavern performances |
Recuperating
A character might choose to simply rest between adventures to recuperate from the dangers they have faced. By spending 5 days of Downtime, the character gains advantage on saving throws made against any diseases and poisons affecting them, they end any effect that stops them from regaining health, and they can restore one ability score back to its original score if it had been decreased.
Researching
During downtime, a character might spend their time in libraries or in the field performing research to forward scientific pursuits or to learn knowledge. The difficulty and cost of this project is represented by gaining access to certain knowledge and any materials required to perform your research.
Perform Sacred Rites
If a Paladin or Cleric wishes, they can spend their free time praising their god. The cost of this project is represented by gaining access to perform these rituals and any materials required to perform said rituals. If there is a temple nearby that is affiliated with the character's god, they can spend their time performing sacred ceremonies such as weddings, funerals, and sacrifices over the course of 5 days, after which they gain 1 point of Inspiration.
Alternatively, the DM might allow a character to directly gain favor from their god or the temple instead of Inspiration. These might be favors you can ask the temple, help with spellcasting costs, or recharging Divine Intervention early.
Complications
When you attempt to perform a Project, roll 1d100. If the result is 21 or higher, the project is successful, and you gain a benefit deemed appropriate by the DM. Otherwise, you complete the task but suffer a complication- rumors might spread about you, you might've accidentally created a rival, or some other negative effect. Perhaps you accidentally spilled wine on a noble during your carousing, caused rumors of you creating a deadly device while crafting a magic item, or managed to botch a sacred rite in front of an entire temple.