A long rest is a week, during which you can spend up to 40 hours of downtime activities (1 workweek, 5 days). Usually, you can do one of these things during one week of downtime. Note that there is a chance of one or more complications that are not listed. This may be rolled by the GM or happen naturally based on the time, location, or situation. On average there is about a 10% chance of a complication occurring if a roll is involved.
If you don't know what to do during downtime or want to keep it productive but straightforward, good defaults are
Preparation to gain an extra Fate point in addition to points earned by leveling,
Relaxation to relax and heal from conditions,
Training to learn a new skill, or
Working to gain a little extra money.
Table of Contents
Brewing Potions
Preparation
Relaxation
Religious Service
Research
Scribing a Spell Scroll
Buying or Selling a Magic Item
Training
Work
Carousing
Crime
Brewing Potions
Brewing potions require access to an
Herbalism Kit and
proficiency. Brewing a potion takes one workweek unless otherwise noted.
| Potion |
Time to Craft |
Cost in Materials |
| Potion of Healing |
2 days |
250 silvers |
| Potion of Greater Healing |
1 workweek |
1,000 silvers |
| Antitoxin Potion |
1 workweek |
250 silvers |
| Antidote Potion |
1 workweek |
250 silvers |
| General Antidote Potion |
1 workweek |
1,000 silvers |
| Potion of Waterbreathing |
1 workweek |
1,000 silvers |
Gathering components
It is possible to reduce the cost of brewing potions by gathering many of the ingredients while traveling or adventuring. Note that rare, short-lived catalysts must be used while brewing magical potions - so the cost cannot be eliminated but it can be reduced by 50% (so the cost of crafting a potion of healing can be reduced to 125 silvers). For standard healing potions, half the ingredients for a potion can be gathered during a
watch with a successful Herbalism Kit check (DC based on the area and availability of the necessary plants and natural materials). For other potions on the list, one-quarter of the necessary ingredients can be found during a
watch.
Preparation
You can spend the workweek maintaining your equipment, training, mentally and physically preparing for upcoming adventures. When you spend your downtime in study, meditation, or hard practice you gain one additional
Fate point at the end of the downtime. If you are leveling during a long rest, this Fate point is in
addition to the Fate point you get automatically for leveling. When you use the Fate point to gain advantage, re-roll, or avoid death - your preparation is paying off.
Relaxation
Sometimes the best thing to do Between Adventures is relax. Whether a character wants a hard-earned vacation or needs to recover from injuries, relaxation is the ideal option for adventurers who need a break.
Resources
Relaxation requires one week. A character needs to maintain at least a modest lifestyle while relaxing to gain the benefit of the activity.
Resolution
Characters who maintain at least a modest lifestyle while relaxing gain several benefits. While relaxing, a character gains advantage on Saving Throws to recover from long-acting Diseases and Poisons. In addition, at the end of the week, a character can end one Effect that keeps the character from regaining Hit Points, or can restore one ability score that has been reduced to less than its normal value. This benefit cannot be used if the harmful Effect was caused by a spell or some other magical Effect with an ongoing Duration.
Religious Service
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 one workweek of time 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 Religious Service table.
Religious Service
| Check |
Total Result |
| 1 - 10 |
No Effect. Your efforts fail to make a lasting impression. |
| 11 - 20 |
You earn one favor. |
| 21+ |
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 GM, who also determines its Nature.
Note that favors can be combined to reduce Cleric Spellcasting prices even further. Two (2) favors can be used to reduce the cost by
75 percent and three (3) by
90 percent. No more than 3 favors can be used to reduce the price of a single Cleric Spellcasting.
For example, if the service costs 1,000 silvers and you use one favor, the cost would be reduced to 500 silvers. Two favors would reduce it to 250 silvers and three favors to 100 silvers.
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).
Research
Forewarned is forearmed. The research downtime activity allows a character to delve into lore concerning a monster, a location, a magic item, or some other particular topic. Note that research can be used, along with Identify, to discover properties of magic items that are difficult to ascertain (such as objects found in Lumev).
Resources
Typically, a character needs access to a Library or a sage to conduct research. Assuming such access is available, conducting research requires one workweek of effort and at least 500 silvers spent on materials, bribes, gifts, and other expenses.
Resolution
The character declares the focus of the research—a specific person, place, or thing. After one workweek, the character makes an Intelligence check with a +1 bonus per 500 silvers spent beyond the initial 500 silvers, to a maximum of +6. In addition, a character who has access to a particularly well-stocked Library or knowledgeable sages gains
Advantage on this check. Determine how much lore a character learns using the Research Outcomes table.
Research Outcomes
| Check Total |
Result |
| 1-5 |
No Effect. |
| 6-10 |
You learn one piece of lore. |
| 11-20 |
You learn two pieces of lore. |
| 21+ |
You learn three pieces of lore. |
Each piece of lore is the equivalent of one true statement about a person, place, or thing. Examples include knowledge of a creature’s resistances, the password needed to enter a sealed dungeon level, the Spells commonly prepared by an order of wizards, and so on.
The GM is the final arbiter concerning exactly what a character learns. For a monster or an NPC, elements of Statistics or Personality can be revealed. For a location, Secrets about it may be revealed, such as a hidden entrance, the answer to a riddle, or the Nature of a creature that guards the place.
With time and patience, a Spellcaster can transfer a spell to a scroll, creating a Spell Scroll.
Resources
Scribing a Spell Scroll takes an amount of time and money related to the level of the spell the character wants to Scribe, as shown in the Spell Scroll Costs table. In addition, the character must have proficiency in the Arcana skill and must provide any material components required for the casting of the spell. Moreover, the character must have the spell prepared, or it must be among the character’s known Spells, in order to Scribe a scroll of that spell.
If the scribed spell is a cantrip, the version on the scroll works as if the caster were 1st level.
Spell Scroll Costs
| Spell Level |
Time |
Cost |
| Cantrip (Common) |
2 days |
150 silvers |
| 1st (Common) |
3 days |
250 silvers |
| 2nd (Uncommon) |
1 workweek |
2,500 silvers |
| 3rd (Uncommon) |
1 workweek |
5,000 silvers |
| 4th (Rare) |
2 workweeks |
25,000 silvers |
| 5th (Rare) |
4 workweeks |
50,000 silvers |
| 6th (Very Rare) |
8 workweeks |
150,000 silvers |
Buying or Selling a Magic Item
Magic items are controlled by the Pattern Guilds, making obtaining and selling magic items legally difficult. As a result, a black market has formed around the selling and buying of magic items. Selling or buying a magic item is by no means an easy task. Con artists and thieves are always looking out for an easy score, and there’s no guarantee that a character will receive a good offer even if a legitimate buyer or seller is found.
Resources
A character can find a buyer or seller for one magic item by spending one workweek and 250 silvers, which is used to spread word of the desired sale or purchase. A character must pick one item at a time to sell or investigate and find out which items are currently on the market.
Resolution
A character who wants to sell an item must make a Charisma (Persuasion) check to determine what kind of offer comes in. The character can always opt not to sell, instead forfeiting the workweek of effort and trying again later. Use the
Magic Item Base Prices and
Magic Item Offer (Sell) tables to determine the acceptable sale price. Obviously, you can sell for less.
If instead, you are looking to buy magic items you will need to gain or get in touch with your contacts and find out if there are any sellers out there and what they are selling. Once you choose an item and get in contact with a seller, make a Charisma (Persuasion) check to determine the price. Use the
Magic Item Base Prices and
Magic Item Offer (Buy) tables to determine that price.
Magic Item Base Prices
*Halved for a consumable item like a potion or scroll
| Rarity |
Base Price* |
| Common |
1,000 silvers |
| Uncommon |
4,000 silvers |
| Rare |
40,000 silvers |
| Very rare |
400,000 silvers |
| Legendary |
2,000,000 silvers |
Magic Item Offer (Sell)
| Check Total |
Offer |
| 1-10 |
50% of base price |
| 11-20 |
100% of base price |
| 21+ |
150% of base price |
Magic Item Offer (Buy)
| Check Total |
Offer |
| 1-10 |
150% of base price |
| 11-20 |
100% of base price |
| 21+ |
50% of base price |
Training
You can seek out a trainer in order to learn a new skill or specialization. You can also learn a new proficiency (though not all of them can be trained). Note that you can only be training a single skill or proficiency at a time and it takes four (4) weeks of training or learning before gaining the new skill or proficiency. Getting training or learning materials may cost money or favor... On average the cost is
250 silvers for a week of training or learning.
Work
When all else fails, an adventurer can turn to an honest trade to earn a living. This activity represents a character’s attempt to find temporary work, the quality and wages of which are difficult to predict. Performing a job requires one workweek of effort.
To determine how much money a character earns, the character makes an ability check: Strength (Athletics), Dexterity (Acrobatics), Intelligence using a set of tools, Charisma (Performance), or Charisma using a Musical Instrument. Consult the Wages table to see how much money is generated according to the total of the check.
Wages
| Roll |
Earnings |
| 9 or less |
45 silvers |
| 10 - 14 |
100 silvers |
| 15 - 20 |
200 silvers |
| 21 or more |
500 silvers |
Carousing
Carousing is a default downtime activity for many characters. Between Adventures, who doesn’t want to relax with a few drinks and a group of Friends at a tavern?
Resources
Carousing covers a workweek 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 100 silvers to cover expenses or 500 silvers for the middle class. Carousing with the upper class requires 2,500 silvers for the workweek and access to the local nobility.
A character with a noble background can mingle with the upper class, but other characters can do so only if you judge that the character has made sufficient contacts. Alternatively, a character might use a Disguise Kit and the Deception skill to pass as a noble visiting from a distant city.
Resolution
After a workweek of carousing, a character stands to make Contacts within the selected social class. The character makes a Charisma (Persuasion) check using the Carousing table.
Carousing Table
| Check Total |
Result |
| 1-5 |
Character has made a Hostile contact. |
| 6-10 |
Character has made no new Contacts. |
| 11-15 |
Character has made an allied contact. |
| 16-20 |
Character has made two allied Contacts. |
| 20+ |
Character has made three allied Contacts. |
Contacts are NPCs who now share a bond with the character. Each one either owes the character a favor or has some reason to bear a grudge. A Hostile contact works against the character, placing obstacles but stopping short of committing a crime or a violent act. Allied Contacts are Friends who will render aid to the character, but not at the risk of their lives.
Lower-class Contacts include criminals, laborers, mercenaries, the town guard, and any other folk who normally frequent the cheapest taverns in town.
Middle-class Contacts include guild Members, spellcasters, town officials, and other folks who frequent well-kept establishments.
Upper-class Contacts are nobles and their personal servants. Carousing with such folk covers formal banquets, state dinners, and the like.
Once a contact has helped or hindered a character, the character needs to carouse again to get back into the NPC’s good graces. A contact provides help once, not help for life. A friendly contact remains friendly, which can influence Roleplaying and how the characters interact with them, but doesn’t come with a guarantee of help.
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 one week and at least 250 silvers gathering information on potential Targets before committing the intended crime.
Resolution
The character must make a series of checks, with the DC for all the checks chosen by the character according to the amount of profit sought from the crime.
The chosen DC can be 10, 15, 20, or 25. Successful completion of the crime yields a number of gold pieces, as shown on the Loot Value table.
To attempt a crime, the character makes three checks: Dexterity (Stealth), Dexterity using thieves’ tools, and the player’s choice of Intelligence (Investigation), Wisdom (Perception), or Charisma (Deception).
If none of the checks are successful, the character is caught and jailed. The character must pay a fine equal to the profit the crime would have earned and must spend one week in jail for every 250 silvers of the fine.
If only one check is successful, the heist fails but the character most likely escapes.
If two checks are successful, the heist is a partial success, netting the character half the payout.
If all three checks are successful, the character earns the full value of the loot.
Complications
Note that if only one or two checks are successful, there will likely be complications that the character has to deal with. This may make escape more difficult, have the character be spotted and more.
Loot Value
| DC |
Value |
| 10 |
500 silvers, robbery of a struggling merchant |
| 15 |
1,000 silvers, robbery of a prosperous merchant |
| 20 |
2,000 silvers, robbery of a noble |
| 25 |
10,000 silvers, robbery of one of the richest figures in town |
