Downtime System

There are few things in Dungeons & Dragons less detailed than downtime. Most mechanics are actually ascribed to the Combat and Exploration phases of the game - and really, most of those can be boiled down to spells, skills, or bust. Here are a few^TM things that might liven up the time between combats.

Phases

When determining what downtime you have, you have to understand what phase you are in. Excluding the typical activity (exploration, combat, sleep) there are two such phases we recognize as downtime. These are the Town and Travel phases. There are a few differences here - one has activities available to them depending on what phase they are in as well as a difference in downtime hours.

On a typical day in town, your average mortal has 16 hours available to them - with there being roughly 8 hours associated to rest. While they travel, a character has to contend with a variety of difficulties that include the necessity of breaking and setting up camp in potentially hostile terrain - allowing for 8 hours of downtime available. We make this a little easier to adjudicate by saying that a character can spend 4 Downtime Actions per day while in town and 2 while they travel. These aren't always exact 4 hour chunks, but they allow for general rest and miscellaneous activity throughout either phase as well.

Unless otherwise stated, entering a combat consumes one Downtime Action from that day as characters are forced to decompress and handle the ramifications of potentially unexpected combat. Consecutive combats do not typically consume multiple Downtime Actions unless they occur throughout the day.

Downtime Actions

While each Downtime Action is unique in what function it serves, there bears a brief explanation on spending them. Unless otherwise stated, one can only perform a particular Downtime Action once per day. However, one may choose to spend additional Downtime Actions to grant a greater chance of success. For each Downtime Action beyond the first spent on an action, the character may roll an additional d20 and take the highest result (to a maximum of 3 d20s).

Town

While in town, a group of characters spends their time doing a myriad of things - exploring, socializing, crafting, and otherwise.

The following Downtime Actions are available in this phase:

• Attune - Intelligence[Arcana or Religion]; Search for spiritual phenomena or creatures within or around the town.
• Craft - Wisdom[Tool]; Work on creating a usable item. Gold, DC, and Action cost are unique to each item. This action may be taken multiple times per day. See Tool System.
• Explore - Wisdom[Perception]; Search the town for a landmark or lesser known location.
• Help - N/A; If you are proficient in the skill or tool required by another Downtime Action, grant another party member an additional d20 as if they had spent an another Downtime Action on that action.
• Investigate - Intelligence[Investigation]; Look for clues regards a topic able to be found among the townsfolk or a known reliquary of knowledge.
• Socialize - Charisma[Persuasion or Intimidation]; Seek out a specific NPC to speak with on any number of subjects. Typically the DC to Intimidate an NPC is lower, but will leave the NPC with a lower disposition toward you in the future.
• Work - Strength[Athletics] or Wisdom[Tool]; Work as a contractor for the local population. Earn your roll divided by 10 in silver pieces if rolling Athletics or your roll divided by 5 if rolling a Tool proficiency. Not all tools may be usable, determined by the location and type of town. This action may be taken multiple times per day.

Travel

While traveling, there are a number of rolls that must be taken care of before Downtime can be considered. One character must elect to be the Guide, one must be the Hunter, and one must be the Scout. A character may be both the Hunter and the Scout, but the Guide may not take on another role. These characters take the following actions that reduce their available Downtime Actions by one and which may take an additional Downtime Action or Help for additional d20s as per normal:

• Guide - Wisdom[Survival]; Avoiding treacherous terrain, taking timely routes to the destination, and selecting safe resting places.
• Hunter - N/A; Providing food and drink for the group.
• Scout - Wisdom[Perception]; Keeping an eye out for potential enemies and oncoming pitfalls or traps.

The following Downtime Actions are available in this phase:

• Craft - Wisdom[Tool]; As above, but not all crafting can be done while traveling.
• Gather - Wisdom[Tool]; Search for ingredients or raw materials to be used in crafting. See Tool System.
• Help - N/A; If you are proficient in the skill or tool required by another Downtime Action, grant another party member an additional d20 as if they had spent an another Downtime Action on that action.