Downtime Revisited

D&D 2024 rule: Downtime Revisited. Source: Xanathar's Guide to Everything. rule type Variant Optional It's possible for the characters to start a campaign at 1st level, dive into an epic story, and reach 10th level and beyond in a short amount of game time. Although that pace works fine for many campaigns, some DMs prefer a campaign story with pauses built into it-times when adventurers are not going on adventures. The downtime rules given in this section can be used as alternatives to the approach in the Player's Handbook and the Dungeon Master's Guide, or you can use the material here to inspire the creation of your own options. By engaging the characters in downtime activities that take weeks or even months to complete, you can give your campaign a longer time line-one in which events in the world play out over years. Wars begin and end, tyrants come and go, and royal lines rise and fall over the course of the story that you and the characters tell. Downtime rules also provide ways for characters to spend-or be relieved of-the monetary treasure they amass on their adventures. The system presented here consists of two elements. First, it introduces the concept of rivals. Second, it details a number of downtime activities that characters can undertake. Rivals Rivals are NPCs who oppose the characters and make their presence felt whenever the characters are engaging in downtime. A rival might be a villain you have featured in past adventures or plan to use in the future. Rivals can also include good or neutral folk who are at odds with the characters, whether because they have opposing goals or they simply dislike one another. The cultist of Orcus whose plans the characters have foiled, the ambitious merchant prince who wants to rule the city with an iron fist, and the nosy high priest of Helm who is convinced the characters are up to no good are all examples of rivals. A rival's agenda changes over time. Though the characters engage in downtime only between adve...