Downtime Activities [article series]

Game Designer

Downtime Activities is a playtested, workable, fun system for your characters to explore when they’re not adventuring. The Tales of the Valiant: Player’s Guide contains five downtime activities: Carousing, Crafting, Researching, Training, and Working; this article series showcases several new downtime activities. Compatible with both Tales of the Valiant and 5e.

• Religious Services. You can spend downtime doing holy works, volunteering for a local temple or going directly to wherever the sick and infirm dwell. You don’t need any specific materials to do this, although if you want perform this activity under the auspices of an religious organization, a friendly relationship with the local clergy of a god you worship will be a big help.
• Philanthropy. You can spend downtime doing good works around a community, such as performing acts of service, donating your time and money, or using your expertise to help build systems that can be used to benefit all.
• Investigating. You can spend downtime using your adventuring skills to help people with problems that are either not matters of law or too minor for the constabulary to prioritize (and where the stakes are too minor to involve your whole party).
• Gathering Resources. You can spend downtime gathering reagents for alchemy or herbalism, components for spellcasting, and/or sourcing rare or hard to find materials, such as adamantine or mithral.
• Fortify a Location. [Part 1 | Part 2] You can spend downtime to prepare a location for an upcoming battle, including preparing physical defenses, engaging in combat training, and devising stratagems. Other options include building siege weapons, building and setting traps, and creating difficult terrain.