Downtime

They say that waiting is the worst part. Honestly, I’ve tried waiting, and I’ve tried being charged by a battalion of ogres with clubs most the size of me, seeking to win a battle against my forces with extreme prejudice, and on the whole, waiting isn’t so bad.

• Sergeant Edgar Wrought, Harodom Heavy Cavalry, on the subject of patience (2011)

Try though an adventurer might, there’s bound to be some time between fighting monsters, performing feats of daring-do, and exploring old caves and ruins. In general, most people who have not become outlaws or been elevated to nobility or positions of similar responsibility will have forty hours a week in which to work on training in new skills, working for a cause or for a living, making things, or performing research. If they undertake responsibilities that take up their time, like becoming a member of the Town Guard, or seek out high-quality tools to make their work time more efficient, this might change, but it is where most adventurers begin their story.

The rest of the time available to adventurers is used in travel, maintaining their equipment, having reliable access to food and shelter, and socializing – to the extent that they choose to do so. The calendar is awash with holidays, and in most settlements, time is taken from the busy workweek to spend time with friends, neighbours, and family, and doing so is helpful to the health and wellbeing of the community. Despite this, there are some things that an adventurer does need money for, and for most citizens or yeomen, performing these maintenance and social functions requires coin or the equivalent in upkeep costs.

Upkeep

Most persons in the world of Ariel have some costs associated with their living, simply because true autonomy is next to impossible. Even those who have a wide array of skills will sometimes need money – or the equivalent in barter – to provide for things that they cannot provide for themselves. For Yeomen and Citizens, this cost is one silver piece (10 copper pieces) per week, for supplies, services, and incidental costs that go beyond what they are able to construe, craft, or forage. Among the ranks of the aristocracy, these costs go up – it is expected that these diplomats, judges, and emissaries will maintain personal comportment and homes that are suitable for visiting dignitaries and similar expenses.

Failure to maintain a cost of living may lead to someone becoming estranged from their community, and potentially labelled an outlaw, as these costs also reflect things such as nominal taxation. Outlaws have less expected from them, but still need to have some money in order to survive, requiring only five copper pieces. Notably however, the cares of existing outside of a community’s support mean that outlaws have less downtime in a given week to pursue their other interests – instead of forty downtime hours per week, they only receive thirty, and may have other consequences visited upon them for their status outside of the law.

Upkeep costs can also reflect luxuries – having a home, employing servants, running a church or shrine, maintaining a horse, using a functional forge or laboratory, and other sundries such as maintaining a constant supply of bandages or arrows all have incidental costs. Failure to maintain the costs of those luxuries means a loss of access to those luxuries.

Although adventurers will often use downtime to work to support themselves, those that have a nest egg saved up – or who come upon a windfall in the course of their adventuring – may pay their upkeep out of pocket, and dedicate their time to other causes.

Working for a Living or Cause

People with a trade skill can, in place of making items, spend their time making money. In general, this reflects using their skills in their community and the greater world; finding customers or clients, and then plying their trade. Their pay is proportionate to their level of skill; a tradesperson can command 5 copper pieces per level of their trade skill, per eight hour shift. After the upkeep costs of living and any luxuries are deducted, the balance of this money is available to that person.

Clerics can use their levels of Clerical Investment to work for a cause instead. In general, this means that the moneys earned goes toward their faith leader in the region, after the cost of living is deducted. Depending on the faith, the faith leader, and whether the cleric is a part of a larger religious organization, they may be permitted to keep more, or all of the money, or it may go toward the interests of the faith within the region. Clerics who are themselves the relevant faith leader will be able to make that decision; it is the churlish leader indeed who allows the faithful that fall under their leadership to go hungry just to further their own ambitions, and those that do so may find that dissent is brewing within the ranks.

Learning New Skills

Even the most veteran adventurers still have something new to learn. Cultivating new skills takes time in tutelage and practice, although the rewards may indeed be gratifying. Practice makes perfect, and having an instructor will help to speed a learner on the road to understanding.

In general, learning a new skill will take five hours per build point of the new skill. Having an instructor, or a tutor book that describes the new skill well, cuts this time in half. So, if Joe the Warrior wishes to learn to parry (a skill costing 5 build), it would ordinarily take 25 hours of practice and experimentation to master this new skill. However, having an instructor reduces that time in half – Joe learns from the Guard Captain, and considers himself proficient after 13 hours instead.

Some skills may benefit from repetition in study – but once you have the principles down, it’s a matter of experience, not time. If Joe decided to expand his understanding of how to effectively parry a blow, he would still pay the build, but would not have to seek instruction, or spend any time to be able to parry twice in a combat encounter. This only applies to the same skill precisely – Joe may know how to parry with a sword, but if he wanted to learn how to parry with a warhammer, it would be another investment of time. Unless the Guard Captain also knows how to parry with a warhammer, Joe may need to find a new tutor.

Learning New Spells and Recipes

Wizards, alchemists, and herbalists, may have the potential to cast spells or work recipes, but without the knowledge to support it, they cannot realize these ambitions. A wizard writes spells in their spellbook, and alchemists and herbalists maintain books of recipes for the formulations that they can compile.

To learn a new spell, a wizard must have access to that spell, possibly through a guild, another wizard’s book, spells captured and taken as loot, or research (more on this last below). It takes two hours per magical energy of the new spell, and the use of alchemical arcane ink to copy a spell into a wizard’s spellbook. Wizards may repeat this process on the same spell, giving them additional copies of the spell (useful in cases where they worry their spellbook may be lost or destroyed). If a wizard loses their spellbook, they can spend four hours per magical energy of a spell that they wish to re-copy, within three logistics periods of the loss of their book – and they will still require a unit of arcane ink.

To learn a new recipe, alchemists and herbalists must be of sufficient level in the appropriate trade to create a formulation, and have access to a formula. They do not need to personalize this formula – if they have been given a book of recipes, they may use it right away, and copying is not required (unless the giver wants their recipes back). Copying a recipe requires a piece of parchment and a quill and ink, as well as ten hours per level of the recipe. If a recipe is lost, an alchemist or herbalist can recreate it from memory within three logistics periods of the loss – but making this copy without an original takes twenty hours per level of the recipe.

Researching

Wizards with the Arcane Research skill can spend downtime to research new spells for their spellbook that they do not have access to by other means. Both scrolls and components can assist with this research, which takes time proportionate to the level of Arcane Research to conduct. In order to complete this research, a researcher needs any components required to cast the spell, as well as a sheet of parchment and a unit of Arcane Ink.

Alchemists and Herbalists can spend 40 hours per level of the intended mixture to do research for a mixture or elixir that they do not already have a recipe for. They must also have a parchment and quill and ink, and three of each ingredient required for the recipe, to conduct their experiments.

Making Items

Crafting items requires materials, skill and downtime. It is better described in the specific page on making items, but in short, different items require different amounts of downtime based upon the item being sought. Item listings will detail how much downtime it takes to make an item, and items such as alchemical and herbal concoctions will have this information on their specific recipe.

Other Uses for Downtime

Plot events may require downtime. Although there is not currently a requirement for downtime in order to travel or to make use of most resources, specific events may require the use of downtime to accomplish goals, as described by the storytelling team.

Multiple Event Downtime Actions

Sometimes, projects get too large to complete in a single month, and adventure ever beckons. In the event that learning a new skill or completing a project takes more than a single logistics period to complete, progress from the first month can be banked and taken into the next.

Authored by: Andrew Dunlop
Fantasy Alive Lore Team 2026
Copyright © Endless Adventures Ontario