Argent Company Downtime
"Between trips to dungeons and battles against ancient evils, adventurers need time to rest, recuperate, and prepare for their next adventure. Many adventurers also use this time to perform other tasks, such as crafting arms and armor, performing research, or spending their hard-earned gold." Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition, Player’s Handbook
At the end of an Argent Company mission, agents will receive some well-earned rest in the form of Downtime Days. These Downtime Days can be spent at the end of a game session (along with any other costs) to perform one of the following Downtime Activities. At the beginning of your next session you can claim the result of that work.
Downtime Activities
Carousing
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,” in the Player’s Handbook). At the end of the period spent carousing, the player rolls percentile dice and adds the character’s level plus the number of days spent carousing, then compares the total to the Carousing table to determine what happens to the character, or you choose.
d100 + Level + Days Spent | 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. |
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. |
Crafting
Nonmagical Items
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.
Magic Items
The creation of a magic item is a lengthy, expensive task. To start, a character must have a formula that describes the construction of the item. The character must also be a spellcaster with spell slots and must be able to cast any spells that the item can produce. Moreover, the character must meet a level minimum determined by the item’s rarity, as shown in the Crafting Magic Items table. For example, a 3rd-level character could create a wand of magic missiles (an uncommon item), as long as the character has spell slots and can cast magic missile. That same character could make a +1 weapon (another uncommon item), no particular spell required.
Item Rarity | Creation Cost | Minimum Level |
---|---|---|
Common | 100 gp | 3rd |
Uncommon | 500 gp | 3rd |
Rare | 5,000 gp | 6th |
Very Rare | 50,000 gp | 11th |
Legendary | 500,000 gp | 17th |
An item has a creation cost specified in the Crafting Magic Items table (half that cost for a consumable, such as a potion or scroll). A character engaged in the crafting of a magic item makes progress in 25 gp increments, spending that amount for each day of work until the total cost is paid. The character is assumed to work for 8 hours each of those days. Thus, creating an uncommon magic item takes 20 days and 500 gp. You are free to adjust the costs to better suit your campaign.
If a spell will be produced by the item being created, the creator must expend one spell slot of the spell’s level for each day of the creation process. The spell’s material components must also be at hand throughout the process. If the spell normally consumes those components, they are consumed by the creation process. If the item will be able to produce the spell only once, as with a spell scroll, the components are consumed only once by the process. Otherwise, the components are consumed once each day of the item’s creation.
Multiple characters can combine their efforts to create a magic item if each of them meets the level prerequisite. Each character can contribute spells, spell slots, and components, as long as everyone participates during the entire crafting process. Each character can contribute 25 gp worth of effort for each day spent helping to craft the item.
Gaining Renown For Another Organization
You can spend downtime improving your renown within a particular organization besides the Argent Company (see “Renown” in chapter 1). Between adventures, a character undertakes minor tasks for the organization and socializes with its members. After pursuing these activities for a combined number of 10 downtime days, the character’s renown increases by 1.
Performing Sacred Rites
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 either a minor boon or inspiration at the start of each day for the next 2d6 days.
Picking Up Extra Jobs
You can work between adventures. For every day you spend working at an Argent Company Lodge you cover your room and board without paying the daily Lodge Fee out of you stipend.
Practicing a Profession
You can work between adventures, allowing you to maintain a modest lifestyle without having to pay 1 gp per day (see chapter 5 for more information on lifestyle expenses). This benefit lasts as long you continue to practice your profession.
If you are a member of an organization that can provide gainful employment, such as a temple or a thieves' guild, you earn enough to support a comfortable lifestyle instead.
If you have proficiency in the Performance skill and put your performance skill to use during your downtime, you earn enough to support a wealthy lifestyle instead.
Recuperating
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.
Researching
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 rumors 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 (Persuasion) 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.
Training
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 30 days and costs 2 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.