D&D 5E Downtime As An Adventure Reward

[Mistwell]

Ah I found the Exploration Rewards one I was thinking of. It's from DDEX2-12 Dark Rites of Fort Dalton, Level 1-4.

Here is some of the text, for discussion:

For those characters who had quests that related to the ruins special downtime activities are available to them for this adventure only. Each character can only perform one of these downtime actives, and then only once. Record this as a story award on the characters logsheet.

Ancient Treasure. Any character can spend days searching for ancient treasure in the ruins. A character rolls percentile dice and adds the number of days spent on this downtime activity (max 30), then compares the total to the Ancient Treasure Results table below. Record this as a story award on the characters logsheet.

[table="width: 500, class: grid, align: left"]
[tr]
[td]d100 +
Days
[/td]
[td]Ancient Treasure Results[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]01-25[/td]
[td]You dig and dig, but come up with little of value. No wonder you're an adventurer instead of a laborer. You find 1d6 bent copper pieces and gain 4 levels of Exhaustion, you can spend 4 Downtime days to remove the associated penalties before your next adventure. [/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]26-50[/td]
[td]Searching the ruins and clearing rubble is hard work. You find saleable silverware worth 1d10 sp. [/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]51-60[/td]
[td]Your hard work has paid off! You find ancient jewelry, a silver ring worth 1d6 x 5 gp. [/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]61-70[/td]
[td]Digging through the rubble nets you a golden brooch of a griffon head worth 2d6 x 5 gp. [/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]71-80[/td]
[td]Uncovering a secret cache you find a silver statuette of worth 2d8 x 5 gp. [/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]81-90[/td]
[td]You find a matching pair of earrings and an amulet, it was attached to a pile of bones, but they'll never miss it, worth 2d6 x 10 gp.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]91-100[/td]
[td]You've hit the motherlode, you find a stash of mixed gems worth 3d10 x 10 gp. [/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]101-109[/td]
[td]In a small lockbox you find 1d6 x 10 gp and a potion of healing.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]110-119[/td]
[td]In a crypt beneath the fort you find 2d6 x10 gp and a potion of healing.[/td]
[/tr]
[tr]
[td]120 or higher[/td]
[td]Just lying on the ground in plain sight you find a leather satchel, inside the satchel is a potion of greater healing and a metal scroll tube that seems to be magically sealed. On the tube, it says, "Reward if returned to Fai Chen's Fantastical Fair!"[/td]
[/tr]
[/table]

Arcane Secrets. Within the ruins, you locate an ancient arcane text. If you spend 10 downtime days conducting reading and contemplating on its contents, you may invoke its teachings at any point in the future; providing a 1d4 bonus to a single spell attack roll or a 1d4 penalty to the saving throw of any spell you cast against a member of the Cult of the Crushing Wave or their allies. Remove this story award from your adventure logsheet once it's been used.

Bathe in the Chaos of the Water Node. As you attune yourself to the energies of the Water Node, you see visions of the future, visions of you battling agents of the Cult of the Crushing Wave. If you spend 10 downtime days attuning with the node, you may invoke its power at any point in the future to gain a 1d4 bonus to any single attack roll against a member of the Cult of the Crushing Wave or their allies. Remove this story award from your adventure logsheet once it's been used.

Forgotten Knowledge Quest. Within the ruins, you locate a rare tome. If you spend 10 downtime days conducting reading and contemplating on its contents, you may later invoke its teachings at any point in the future; granting advantage to any skill check used against a member of the Cult of the Crushing Wave or their allies. Remove this story award from your adventure logsheet once it's been used.

Holy Text Quest. Within the ruins, you locate a holy text. If you spend 10 downtime days conducting reading and contemplating on its contents, you may later invoke a holy blessing at any point in the future; providing a 1d4 bonus to a single allied creature within 30 feet of you to any single ability check, attack roll, or saving throw against a member of the Cult of the Crushing Wave or their allies. Remove this story award from your adventure logsheet once it's been used.

Performing Sacred Rights. You perform rites to cleanse the bathhouse of the cult and put the lacedons to rest. If you spend 10 downtime days conducting sacred rituals, you may invoke a holy blessing at any point in the future; gaining a 1d4 bonus to any single saving throw made against a member of the Cult of the Crushing Wave or their allies. Remove this story award from your adventure logsheet once it's been used.

 

[hawknsparrow]

Downtime happens naturally and for plot reasons. The villain has gone into hiding and the party finds themselves with excess time on their hands.

Agreed. We are simultaneously playing the POTA and OOTA campaigns... two DMs...we trade off as episodes dictate. Anyhoo... I don't use downtime days. Players can come up with any side or primary motive. As long as it is remotely in line with backstory or current arc. I will work with a player to accomodate. It's what makes our beloved game so darn fun eh. I love to see this because it becomes the impetus for more meaningful story development, plot twists, side quests, future story arcs and the like. Huzzah. Cheers!

Hawk

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=2525]Mistwell[/MENTION] Here's the list of downtime activities I use in my campaign, incorporating the downtime activities from the PHB, DMG, James Intracaso's blog, "establish an outpost" from Out of the Abyss, and "diplomatic overtures" which I made up.

 

[NotActuallyTim]

I'm particularly fond of the 'Build a Stronghold' downtime activity. I've found that people can really get into designing their own personal dungeon, but one that favors the party. It helps set up a good map for a major invasion or theft later on, with numerous bits to the parties advantage built into the map. Plus, it can really help people feel like their invested into the campaign, their characters, etc. if they have a home base that theirs and not just one that's provided for them.

 

[Lanefan]

In my Conspiracy-X campaign, PCs generally get a period of downtime between adventures. It is less a reward than another facet of PC-world interaction.

PCs can investigate weird objects/rituals/technology, engage in political lobbying, earn additional xp, engage in character improvement (i.e. spend xp), heal (luckily hasn't been necessary), or perform basic research.

Yeah, pretty much this for things they *could* do; but as I have level-up training that's also a common downtime activity...in fact, it's quite often the only reason for much downtime at all as they just can't wait to get back out in the field.

Much more often one or more individual characters take some time off to do one or more of the above while the main party keeps on truckin'; players in my game tend to have a bunch of characters each that they can - and do - cycle in and out between adventures as they wish.

I agree that it's less a "reward" as such and more just another fact of life in the game world.

Lan-"all too rarely, a party will decide for no particular reason to take a season off"-efan

 

[fjw70]

Tecnnically PCs can have all the downtime they want, as long as the DM doesn't force an adventure on them.

 

[Rya.Reisender]

The wizard in my group would love some downtime alone for being able to finally identify all these magic scrolls and items as well as copying all the spells from all scrolls and wizard books he has taken with him.

 

[Mistwell]

[MENTION=2525]Mistwell[/MENTION] Here's the list of downtime activities I use in my campaign, incorporating the downtime activities from the PHB, DMG, James Intracaso's blog, "establish an outpost" from Out of the Abyss, and "diplomatic overtures" which I made up.

Wow, that is a fantastic list! Thank you so much! I am definitely going to use this for my games.

 

[Mistwell]

I wonder if people are curious what the Adventurer's League reward section of an adventure looks like, where it assigns Downtime Days as a Reward? Here is a copy of one (I think this one is from DDEX 226 Breath of the Yellow Rose). I cut the section on the specific magic items (spoilers):

 

[Rya.Reisender]

I'm not sure if you know, but there's a freely available adventurer's league guide on the WotC website here: http://media.wizards.com/2015/downloads/dnd/ALPGv3.pdf
It talks about 10 tens downtime per episode or adventure.