Downtime

Inbetween adventures, you are able to perform certain actions and activities with your accumulated wealth and downtime! This is a list of Downtime activities that you can do inbetween adventures in VVK without needing to play it out. Contact your DM if you would like to perform any of these activities!

## **Researching**

**Cost:** X Days + 1 gp/day

**Restrictions:** Yes, see below

Effect: The time between adventures is a great chance to perform research, gaining insight into mysteries that have unfurled over the course of the campaign. Research can include poring over dusty tomes and crumbling scrolls in a library or buying drinks for the locals to pry rumours and gossip from their lips.

When you begin your research, the DM determines whether the information is available, how many days of downtime it will take to find it, and whether there are any restrictions on your research (such as needing to seek out a specific individual, tome, or location). The DM might also require you to make one or more ability checks, such as an Intelligence (Investigation) check to find clues pointing toward the information you seek, or a Charisma check to secure someone’s aid. Once those conditions are met, you learn the information if it is available.

For each day of research, you must spend 1 gp to cover your expenses. This cost is in addition to your normal lifestyle expenses (as discussed in the PHB “Lifestyle Expenses“)

Examples of things to research:

* The location of a particular create
* The location of a particular magical item
* The history of a town, city, etc
* Where to find a Master to teach you a new skill
* How to create a certain potion or magical item
* The nature and characteristics of a creature
* And more

## **Training**

**Cost:** 250 DT & 250gp for the instructor

**Restrictions:** None

**Effect:** You can spend time between adventures learning a new language or training with a set of tools. Your DM might allow additional training options.

First, you must find an instructor willing to teach you. The DM determines how long it takes, and whether one or more ability checks are required.

The training lasts for 250 days and costs 1 gp per day. After you spend the requisite amount of time and money, you learn the new language or gain proficiency with the new tool.

## **Recuperating**

**Cost:** 3 DT

**Restrictions:** None

**Effect:** You can use downtime between adventures to recover from a debilitating injury, disease, or poison. After three days of downtime spent recuperating, you can make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw. On a successful save, you can choose one of the following results:
End one effect on you that prevents you from regaining hit points.

For the next 24 hours, gain advantage on saving throws against one disease or poison currently affecting you.

## **Crafting**

**Cost:** 1 DT/5gp in value of item

**Restrictions:** Must be proficient in relevant tools

**Effect:** You can craft nonmagical objects, including adventuring equipment and works of art. You must be proficient with tools related to the object you are trying to create (typically artisan’s tools). You might also need access to special materials or locations necessary to create it. For example, someone proficient with smith’s tools needs a forge in order to craft a sword or suit of armor.

For every day of downtime you spend crafting, you can craft one or more items with a total market value not exceeding 5 gp, and you must expend raw materials worth half the total market value. If something you want to craft has a market value greater than 5 gp, you make progress every day in 5-gp increments until you reach the market value of the item. For example, a suit of plate armor (market value 1,500 gp) takes 300 days to craft by yourself.

Multiple characters can combine their efforts toward the crafting of a single item, provided that the characters all have proficiency with the requisite tools and are working together in the same place. Each character contributes 5 gp worth of effort for every day spent helping to craft the item. For example, three characters with the requisite tool proficiency and the proper facilities can craft a suit of plate armor in 100 days, at a total cost of 750 gp.

While crafting, you can maintain a modest lifestyle without having to pay 1 gp per day, or a comfortable lifestyle at half the normal cost (see PHB “Lifestyle Expenses“)

## **Copying Spells**

**Cost:** 1 DT / 8 hours of copying

**Restrictions:** Must be a wizard, or tome lock with book of ancient secrets, or a ritual caster playing an adventure wth another one of the same

**Effect:** In order to copy spells into your spellbook, you must use this downtime activity. For each downtime day spent, your character can spend 8 hours copying spells into their spellbook.

Two or more characters playing the same adventure together using this downtime activity can allow one another access to their spellbook; effectively “trading” spells between everyone involved to copy as normal. All parties to the trade must spend these downtime days in order to trade spells. As there can be a chance of failure when copying spells, you must use this downtime activity in the presence of the table’s DM.

## **Spell Casting Services**

**Cost:** 1 DT

**Restrictions:** None

Effect: Before, during, or after an episode or adventure, you can spend a downtime day to have a spell cast by an NPC. The cost for any consumed material components can be shared by the characters in the party. Characters raised from the dead during the course of play can continue play and earn rewards as normal, but penalties imposed by raise dead and the like still apply. Your character can also receive these services from another character—but only if you are both playing in the same adventure together. In this case, the downtime cost is waived.

## **Building a Stronghold**

**Cost:** See General Prices

**Restrictions:** Must own a plot of land big enough for your stronghold, with a document that shows claim to the land.

**Effect:** A character can spend time between adventures building a stronghold. Before work can begin, the character must acquire a plot of land. If the estate lies within a kingdom or similar domain, the character will need a royal charter (a legal document granting permission to oversee the estate in the name of the crown), a land grant (a legal document bequeathing custody of the land to the character for as long as he or she remains loyal to the crown), or a deed (a legal document that serves as proof of ownership). Land can also be acquired by inheritance or other means.

Royal charters and land grants are usually given by the crown as a reward for faithful service, although they can also be bought.

Deeds can be bought or inherited. A small estate might sell for as little as 100 gp or as much as 1,000 gp. A large estate might cost 5,000 gp or more, if it can be bought at all. Once the estate is secured, a character needs access to building materials and laborers. Work can continue while the character is away, but each day the character is away adds 3 days to the construction time.

## **Carousing**

**Cost:** X DT

**Restrictions:** Must be in line with your character's personality; must have the capability to do so, location permitting. For example, you cannot carouse if you're locked in a torture chamber.

**Effect:** Characters can spend their downtime engaged in a variety of hedonistic activities such as attending parties, binge drinking, gambling, or anything else that helps them cope with the perils they face on their adventures. A carousing character spends money as though maintaining a wealthy lifestyle (see chapter 5, “Equipment,” of the Player’s Handbook). At the end of the period spent carousing, the player rolls percentile dice and adds the character’s level, then compares the total to the Carousing table to determine what happens to the character, or you choose.

### **Carousing Table**

**d100 + Level Result**

**01–10** You are jailed for 1d4 days at the end of the downtime period on charges of disorderly conduct and disturbing the peace. You can pay a fine of 10 gp to avoid jail time, or you can try to resist arrest.

**11–20** You regain consciousness in a strange place with no memory of how you got there, and you have been robbed of 3d6 × 5 gp.

**21–30** You make an enemy. This person, business, or organization is now hostile to you. The DM

determines the offended party. You decide how you offended them.

**31–40** You are caught up in a whirlwind romance. Roll a d20. On a 1–5, the romance ends badly. On a 6–10, the romance ends amicably. On an 11–20, the romance is ongoing. You determine the identity of the love interest, subject to your DM’s approval. If the romance ends badly, you might gain a new flaw. If it ends well or is ongoing, your new love interest might represent a new bond.

**41–80** You earn modest winnings from gambling and recuperate your lifestyle expenses for the time spent carousing.

**81–90** You earn modest winnings from gambling. You recuperate your lifestyle expenses for the time spent carousing and gain 1d20 × 4 gp.

**91 or higher** You make a small fortune gambling. You recuperate your lifestyle expenses for the time spent carousing and gain 4d6 × 10 gp. Your carousing becomes the stuff of local legend.

## **Create a Cover Identity**

Cost: Moderate Lifestyle per day, + DT

*Time Required*

* **Village:** 60 days
* **Town:** 30 days
* **City:** 10 days
* ***For every level above 1st a PC has attained:*** +1 day

It doesn't hurt to have an identity to fall back on. At anytime an angry cult, government, former lover, or mob of monsters could be trying to track a character down. A PC can spend time establishing a new identity for when things go bad by forging documents, creating a disguise, and presenting the public with an alter ego.

Creating a false identity requires a character to stay in a specific area for a time to help spread the word of this new identity. The more populated an area is, the easier it is for that PC to create a new identity since there is less of a chance the PC will recognized. Likewise the more famous a PC is the more difficult it becomes to create or maintain a false identity, as the PC might be recognizable to even those who have yet to meet the character. For every day spent creating a cover identity the PC must spend 1d6 gp.

### **Maintaining a Cover Identity**

Once a cover identity is established, that cover must be maintained as a character's fame and notoriety grows. For every level the character attains after establishing a cover identity, that character must spend ten days of downtime and 1d6 x 10 gp maintaining the cover identity before it can be used.

## **Establish an Outpost**

**Cost:** 5 Days DT + Materials

**Requirements:** A proper location

**Effect:** Establishing an outpost requires a total of 5 days of work, assuming its location is

clear of creatures and hazards. Multiple characters can combine their efforts to reduce the

completion time. Each outpost is basically a fortified encampment. It can take any of

the following forms:

• A small cave, roughly 20 feet square, with one or more gated or barricaded exits.

• A walled compound, up to 20 feet square, within a much larger cavern.

• A location in a tree canopy large enough to support a group.

• A island with boats or rafts.

• A hard-to-reach ledge, pinnacle, or promontory accessed by ladders and/or ropes.

• Other, per DM approval

## **Gaining Renown**

**Requirements:** You must have renown with the organization/group/race in order to gain more renown.

**Effect:** A character can spend downtime improving his or her renown within a particular organization or community. Between adventures, a character undertakes minor tasks for the organization or community and socializes with its members. After pursuing these activities for a combined number of days equal to his or her current renown multiplied by 10, the character’s renown increases by 1.

## **Make Contacts**

**Cost:** X DT + 1D6 gp per day

**Requirements:** Must be in that village/city

**Effect:** Establishing contacts in a settlement allow a character to gain information in that specific settlement. When a character is establishing contacts in a settlement, that character spends time in public places buying people meals and drinks, socializing, and perform in various favors for people. After a predetermined amount of time spent establishing contacts based on the size of the population of the settlement, that character gains advantage on any Charisma (Streetwise) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks when trying to learn more about events happening within that settlement.

For every day spent in an area gaining contacts a PC must spend 1d6 gp on drinks, meals, and gifts with potential contacts.

**Time Required**

* **Village:** 10 days
* **Town:** 30 days
* **City:** 90 days
* *if settlement is very closed or isolationist:* +10 days
* *if settlement looks down upon race, class, or background of the PC:* +20 days
* *for every 2 levels the PC has attained:* -1 day

## **Sowing Rumors**

**Cost:** X Days DT

**Requirement:** A credible rumor and have familiarity with the location you're sowing rumors.

**Effect:** Swaying public opinion can be an effective way to bring down a villain or elevate a friend. Spreading rumors is an efficient, if underhanded, way to accomplish that goal. Well-placed rumors can increase the subject’s standing in a community or embroil someone in scandal. A rumor needs to be simple, concrete, and hard to disprove. An effective rumor also has to be believable, playing off what people want to believe about the person in question. Sowing a rumor about an individual or organization requires a number of days depending on the size of the community, as shown in the table. In a town or city, the time spent must be

### **Time Required**

* **Village:** 2d6 days
* **Town:** 4d6 days
* **City:** 6d6 days

The character must spend 1 gp per day to cover the cost of drinks, social appearances, and the like. At the end of the time spent sowing the rumor, the character must make a DC 15 Charisma (Deception or Persuasion) check. If the check succeeds, the community’s prevailing attitude toward the subject shifts one step toward friendly or hostile, as the character wishes. If the check fails, the rumor gains no traction, and further attempts to propagate it fail. Shifting a community’s general attitude toward a person or organization doesn’t affect everyone in the community. Individuals might hold to their own opinions, particularly if they have personal experience dealing with the subject of the rumors.

## **Perform Sacred Rites**

**Cost:** At least 10 days DT.

**Requirements:** A religious affiliation

**Effect:** A pious character can spend time between adventures performing sacred rites in a temple affiliated with a god he or she reveres. Between rites, the character spends time in meditation and prayer. A character who is a priest in the temple can lead these rites, which might include weddings, funerals, and ordinations. A layperson can offer sacrifices in a temple or assist a priest with a rite.

A character who spends at least 10 days performing sacred rites gains Inspiration (described in chapter 4 of the Player's Handbook) at the start of each day for the next 2d6 days.

## **Pit Fighting**

**Cost:** X Days DT

**Requirement:** Must be a Fighter, Barbarian, Rogue, Ranger, Monk, Paladin, or given permission by DM. Must be in a venue that does Pit Fighting, which is typically invite-only.

**Effect:** This downtime activity covers boxing, wrestling, and other nonlethal forms of combat.

The character must make a series of checks, with a DC determined at random based on the quality of the opposition that the character runs into. The challenge in pit fighting lies in the mystery of your opponents.

The character makes three checks:

Strength (Athletics), Dexterity (Acrobatics), and Wisdom (Insight). The DC is 5 + 2d10, generating a separate DC for each check.

### **Pit Fighting Results**

* 0 successes: Lose your bouts, earning nothing.
* 1 success: Win 50 gp.
* 2 successes: Win 100 gp.
* 3 successes: Win 200 gp.