Adaptive Downtime

A Robust Downtime
n the vast realm of adventuring, characters often find

I
themselves yearning for more than just the thrill of
combat and the acquisition of treasure. They seek
personal growth, meaningful achievements, and the
realization of their unique visions for character
development. This document endeavors to introduce a
system that embraces player choice and purpose during
downtime, enabling characters to pursue both internal and
external goals simultaneously. Within these pages, you will
discover a comprehensive overview of this system's
mechanics, the diverse avenues of progression it offers, the
attainable achievements it unlocks, and the boundless
choices that await you as a player.
Declaring Downtime. This section provides guidance on
when and how to use downtime in the game.
Downtime Goals When downtime begins, players are
presented with a choice for what they would like their
character to do, along with how much they would like their
character to work, which comes with corresponding bonuses
or detriments.
Progressing Goals This section explores the methods for
advancing goals during downtime including the unique MAE
System which determines your progress based on your
characters motivation for the goal, their aptitude for the task
and the environment their within.
Calculating Progress. The final section is used to
calculate and track progress for simultaneous goals. It
additionally offers insights into how a GMs can determine the
duration of any unique player-created goals.
Declaring Downtime 1
Downtime Goals ...................................................................3
Internal Goals & The MAE System ....................... 4
Table of Progress ............................................................... 6
External Goals ...................................................................... 7

Declaring Downtime
Downtime commences when the GM grants permission or
initiates a requested downtime period. The GM should
always specify the duration of the downtime before it begins.
However, you could have events occur during a downtime
segment, such as a meeting that the whole party attends that
would not disrupt the downtime unless combat was initiated,
which in that case would just mean you don't count that day
towards the Downtime Duration. It's best to think of
downtime like work for the player characters, they will still
have around half their day to do any non strenuous activities
they need to do like roleplaying or light shopping.
When to Use Downtime
Downtime is a usefull tool for the GM to express a more
accurate time scale, RAW it typically takes roughly 33 in
game days to go from level 1 to level 20, from paupers to gods
in just over a month can feel very dissatisfying. If you do not
give your players downtime between arcs, they will of cause
begin searching for the next arc because what else would
their characters do. It's recommended for a GM to instill
downtime between major arcs varying anywhere from a week
to a couple months dependent on how much urgency is
currently within your story.
Downtime During Travel Dedication
Another way to lengthen the time between arcs is to have
long stretches of travel, if the continent the players find them Depending on the Dedication you pick you will have a
selves on, is a similar width to Africa it could take roughly 50 number of devotion points that you can split between your
days of travel on horseback to go from coast to coast and internal and external goals as you see fit. It's basically like
during this travel time, your party would have roughly half a how do you split your time daily, with your Dedication being
day everyday to use for downtime (unless they engage in how much you decide to work. After you pick one of the
forced marching, as horses require rest too). dedications from below you will have either 4,8 or 12
In such cases, adjust the downtime duration by multiplying dedication points, then you must decide how many dedication
the number of days by the number of usable hours divided by points to give to each of your goals. The more dedication
16. For example, if they have half the day available, the points you give to pursuing a goal, the quicker your progress
downtime duration would be half the number of days in total. will be.
As an example, let's consider our party, The Squabs, who Devotion
will be traveling on horse back for two weeks. Therefore, the You gain 12 devotion points to split between your downtime
downtime duration for them is 7 days. goals. However you gain a detriment determined by the GM
by forgoing yourself in pursuit of something greater, this
Downtime Goals detriment should be motivated by the story of why your
To improve oneself or the environment around you. character is pushing themselves so hard.
As a player, have a think about what your character would like Balanced
to work on during downtime, are they looking to earn some You gain 8 devotion points to split between your downtime
extra coin or improve their strength for an upcoming battle? goals.
Have they got an organization they're looking to infiltrate, or
are they looking to craft a magic item to add to their Relaxation
repertoire? It's important to think of goals that your character You gain 4 devotion points to split between downtime goals.
would be motivated to pursue and most importantly not This increase in relaxation allows you time to reflect, you
choose goals that are at the forefront of the story, it's best to gain the ability of your choice from; Inner Strength, Mental
not attempt an assassination of the king during downtime, as Understanding or Philosophical Compassion. These
that might be better suited for a full arc. It can be helpful to abilities are one-time use and any unused by the next time
think of downtime as what your character does off screen. you enter a downtime segment are lost.
Have a talk with your GM as well about what might be Inner Strength
required for your particular goals, for example, some tasks At the last moment, you tap into something deep in your
like creating magic items require large quantities of gold on body, a strength you only now understand you possess and
top of the time it takes to make them. push past your normal capabilities.
Downtime goals are split into two categories, Internal and As a action, you may replenish one ability that refreshes on
External advancements. a SR completely or an ability which replenishes on a long
Internal advancements are goals to increase your personal rest but if it has charges, such as barbarians rage, you instead
capabilities, this can include a wide array of tasks but some replenish half of what you would normally. Or instead regain
examples include: a expended spell slot with a level up to your proficiency
bonus.
Increasing a stat
Creating a new spell Mental Understanding
Creating a unique ability After time to reflect and converse with your own mind, you
Crafting a powerful item have grown a deeper understanding of what makes you tick
Learning a language and circuits that connect to create you.
Gaining a new proficiency You gain a singular use of legendary resistance.
While External advancements are goals outside of yourself, Philosophical Compassion
with tasks including but not limited to: With time to reflect on the world and its meaning and the
people who inhabit it, you now understand your fellow
Working a job humanoids to a greater extent.
Building a stronghold You gain the ability to insight deep into someone's soul,
Working within a guild understanding their true intentions, motivations and desires.
Carousing Over the course of a minute, you're able to get them to
Pit Fighting answer questions honestly that they otherwise might not,
Crime without any use of magic or trickery.
So once you know which goals your PC would like to
pursue, remembering you can have multiple, you now get to Let's say Bard John wants to create a unique spell
make a crucial decision on how determined your character and work at the local thieves guild at the same
will be during this downtime segment. time. He decides to pick the balanced dedication
which gives him 8 devotion points, he then splits
his 8 devotion points with 2 going to working at
the thieves guild and 6 to working on his new spell.
Internal Goals & Die
size Aptitude
The MAE System D4 No prior work like this task
For each internal goal you pursue during downtime you will Experience working towards this task or
make a MAE system check, MAE stands for Motivation, D6
proficiency in a relevant skill
Aptitude, and Environment. When working towards an
internal goal, you will roll three dice based on these factors, D8
Previous completion of this task or great
ranging from a D4 to a D12. Simultaneously rolling these experience in a relevant field
three dice, you will take the median/middle result as your This goal is fundamentally aligned with their
outcome. D10
character or expertise in a relevant skill
Motivation D12 This goal has been their life's mission
First, the GM will ask for your characters motivation for
pursuing this task and will award a die between a D4 and Environment
D12 dependent on how strong your motivation is. The table
belows gives some insight on when to award which die, Lastly, the GM will ask where your character is pursuing your
remember to think how this downtime goal relates to the downtime goal and with whom, and then will award a die
characters back story or current desires. between a D4 and D12 dependent on how ample the
environment is. This stage will have the most back and forth
Die size Motivation between the GM and player, as it is the easiest to change in
the moment, the players might ask if bringing in a friend
D4 Only a want, not a need would help their goal or how changing to a different location
D6 A deep desire might effect the die. As a GM, it is best to award creativity, if
the player can justify to you how a change to their
D8 A need but not a purpose environment improves it significantly, it would be wise to
D10 Your lifes purpose increase their die size to award them.
D12 Life or death
Die
size Environment

Aptitude D4 Not suitable location

Next, the GM will ask for your characters aptitude for this D6
Making do while having some necessary tools or
particular goal and will award a die between a D4 and D12 helping hands
dependent on your characters ability to pursue this goal. A work area suited for the task or accompanied
Determining a characters aptitude can both be effected by D8
by a proficient helper
their back story and their character mechanics. A artificer
has higher aptitude for making magic items than most but a D10
A work area specially designed for this task or
fighter who spent his youth working under a evil artificer accompanied by a expert
where he was forced to make magic items, would also have Both a specially designed area and accompanied
appropriate skill for this task. D12
by a expert
Calculating Progress How Long Will it Take?
Silence you mathematical wretch! What do these ridiculous Obviously, I can’t account for everything someone might
numbers all mean then! Sorry, we’re almost done! This is the request, especially when it comes to unique abilities or magic
Formula of Progress, this final number determines how items but below is a table for the most common requests.
much progress you make towards your goals, called
Progress Points. For a rough basis for how long something will take - with 1
workweek with an average roll of 4.5 on MAE and 6 devotion
The Formula points will equal roughly 2 Progress Points. So a goal with
20 progress points required will take roughly 10 weeks to
Formula of Progress = MAE System Result x Downtime complete if they are working on other goals at the same time
duration(number of days)/100 x Devotion points or around 8 weeks if it is their only goal.

An Example
Let's illustrate this with an example: Bard John, who
aspires to create a new spell called "The Raging
Sun Inferno!" To begin, Bard John discusses his
plan with the GM, outlining the in-game
requirements and necessary tools. Once
established, the MAE system comes into play.
The GM initiates the process by asking about
John's motivation behind creating this spell and
assigns a dice based on his answer. John explains
that he wants to create the spell because it's cool
and he wants to blow things up. While nothing is
wrong with that, it may not be the most profound
character motivation, so the GM decides on a D4
for motivation.
Next comes aptitude. John argues that, as a lore
bard who worked in a wizard's tower for ten years,
he should possess sufficient skill in spell creation.
The GM agrees and assigns a D8 for aptitude.
Finally, the environment is considered where and
with whom John plans to work on the spell. John
reveals his intention to use his planar shift ability
to teleport to the Nine Hells and create the spell
there. The GM finds this idea wonderfully creative
and deems it a perfect environment for the task,
awarding a D10.
Now, Bard John has a D4 in motivation, D8 in
aptitude, and a D10 in environment. He rolls all
three dice, resulting in a 3 from the D4, 2 from the
D8, and 9 from the D10. Taking the middle result,
which is 3, John's outcome is determined.
Although he rolled a 2 on his D8 and faced
some bad luck, it highlights the central aspect of
the MAE system, each factor is significant. Since
the median of the three dice determines progress,
having even one unfavourable dice can greatly
impact the pace of advancement. Therefore, it is
crucial to aim for a strong motivation, aptitude, and
environment for your goal. Remember, regardless
of the outcome, progress is always being made;
the MAE system simply determines the speed at
which you reach your objective.
So for Bard John, he would get: 3(from rolling a 3
in the MAE system) x 14/100 (14 days of
downtime) x 6 (He split his 8 devotion points from
his balanced dedication with 6 for internal and 2
for external) for a total of 2.5 progress points
towards creating his new spell.
Table of Internal Goals
Progress Points
Internal Goal Type Required Additional Requirements
Crafting Magic Items Common 2.5 +50g
Uncommon 5 +200g
Rare 25 +2000g
Very Rare 62.5 +20,000g
Legendary 125 +100,000g
Crafting Spell Scrolls Cantrip 0.35 +15g
1st 0.35 +25g
2nd 1.05 +250g
3rd 2.5 +500g
4th 5 +2500g
5th 10 +5000g
6th 20 +15,000g
7th 40 +25,000g
8th 80 +50,000g
9th 120 +250,000g
Increase a ability score
50
by 1
100 (Or 50 for
half feats
Gain a feat
foregoing the
ASI)
- It must be from a spell list you have access to and of a spell level you
5 x the spell
Learn a new spell able to cast when you finish this downtime. *This is separate from the
level
Wizards scribe spell ability
10 x the spell
Create a unique spell
level
The GM should give you a rough estimate of how long the ability you
seek would take - Basing it off similar spells or items gives a good
Create a unique ability 0-∞ estimate. Want to cast shield once a day? Then it could be 5 PP to
learn the spell and 14PP to cast the spell once pr LR therefore the
cost would be 19 PP
Gaining a proficiency
from language, tool or 15
simple weapon
Gaining a skill
20
proficiency
Gaining expertise with
a skill or tool
30
proficiency which you
already have
External Goals Example 2: Permanent Truesight
External goals in this system utilise those outlined in Let's say that your player wants the unique ability
Xanathar's Guide to Everything, emphasising skill challenges of Permanent Truesight, how would you go about
and role-playing opportunities. To begin, have a conversation calculating this? First look for any examples of this
with the GM about what you aim to achieve during this ability in magic items or spells and we find the 6th
downtime. Discuss the requirements, difficulty level, and level spell true seeing that lasts 1 hour.
whether other PCs will be involved. Now, it's best if your player is savvy to talk
openly about your thought process with them, so
One important change while incorporating Xanathar's rules they can adjust with your thinking. So telling them
into the system, is to multiply the result you obtain by the they could have true sight a limited number of
Time & Devotion Multiplier (TDM) and round up if necessary. times a day a lot easier might convince them they
For example, if someone earns 50gp from a week of pit don’t need it permanently and will help them
fighting and their TDM is 0.5, their reward will be reduced to understand a huge investment if they would like it
25gp. This decrease accounts for the system's allowance of permanently.
PCs focusing on multiple tasks simultaneously for more But if they really want permanent truesight, let's
engaging downtime. However, if a PC chooses to concentrate calculate. So just learning the spell would take 30
on a single task, the result should be roughly equivalent to PP (see table) and According to the table of spell
what they would achieve under normal circumstances. slots, a locked 6th level spell slot is worth 63 PP
but that's still only for 1 hour. Now you could
Time & Devotion Multiplier (TDM) multiply it by 16 but that's quite harsh, they won’t
Time & Devotion Multiplier (TDM) = 2 x Downtime actually be actively using the ability all day so I'll
duration(number of days)/100 x Devotion points times by 3. Therefore to unlock permanent
truesight the total would be 189+30 = 219 PP
Unique Ability
Calculations Table of Spell Slots
Now there is a infinite list of requests your players could Additionally I have calculated how much limited uses of
present, but do not threat! The majority of unique requests spells is worth in Progress Points for easier calculating
for downtime will have some similar basis to go off, whenever based off this:
a player asks for something outside of the list below; first Fey Touched is a half feat giving a locked 1st & 2nd level
look for any magic items, feats or spells that archive the same spell slot and a two learnt spells. So Fey Touched is worth 50
or similar effects. Here are some example to help with this: PP as a half feat. But we can minus the two new spells learnt
(5 & 10 respectfully). Therefore the two locked spell slots are
worth 35 PP - therefore a locked spell slot is worth 14 PP
Example 1: Learning a cantrip (5X=35, using spell points). I would recommend not giving
Your player requests to learn a cantrip outside of
Locked spell slots out too frequently and for most games,
never for the spell slots of 5 and above. This is mostly for
their spell list during downtime. Well there is the
feat magic initiate which gives two cantrips and
calculations.
one 1st level spell. So if they just want one cantrip Locked Spell Slot Level Per LR Cost in PP Spell Points
then you know its going to be less than the PP
required for a full feat (100), we know a locked 1 14 2
spell slot is worth 14pp so can take that away. 86 2 21 3
PP for two cantrips and a 1st level spell from
another spell list, I would then take the collective 3 35 5
spell points of two cantrips and a 1st level and split 4 42 6
it based on that. 86 PP divided by 4 spell points =
21.5 PP per spell point to learn a spell from 5 49 7
another class list. So to learn a cantrip, you could 6 63 9
say it would cost 21.5 PP to complete.
7 70 10
8 77 11
Its important to remind at this stage, that the GM always has 9 91 13
veto power. If you believe as a GM something a player is
going for is either to powerful or will obstruct the fun of the
game or other players, then you have every right to say no. Credits
For example of when to think of this is if a player wants to Thank you for reading my homebrew, I hope you enjoyed and
obtain eldritch blast, because it's so good, but another player might decide to use this in your games. I am always open to
is playing a warlock its probably best to not allow it as it feedback and love hearing how you use my stuff, the best
would take from the class identity of another player, but if place to message me is on the TheBritishDM's Discord or on
none of your players are playing warlock then it might okay to reddit via /u/TheBritishDM
allow it. The choice is always yours GM's!
 Actual 6th Edition
ith OneDND set on being closer to a 5.1 than a real

W
6th edition, I like many within the community are
frustrated by the lack of experimentation from the
designers and their seeming unwillingness to fix Problems to Fix
any of the real problems the game faces. I am but a Problem Status
humble long time homebrewer but I believe a Expertise WIP
person outside that of a mega corporation is what is needed
to create a better 5e. Fighting Styles Pending
Adventuring Day Pending
What makes this project Encounter Design/CR Pending
different? SR/LR Disparity WIP
While they're are many great 5e based systems out there, Martial/Caster Disparity WIP
there is none that seem to do what many people want, make High level Problem spells WIP
5e better. Not a game with some 5e elements, not a mix
between 5e and another system, not a game that changes the Monster Complexity Pending
fundamentals that made 5e so great. A game that stays in line Mounted Combat Pending
with the great design philosophies of 5e while fixing the
problems that have come apparent during its ten year run, Tools Pending
thats what a good chunk of the community have shown me Darkvision Pending
they want and I hope with my passion I can complete this
task for my game and everyones. Bad DMG Pending
Tiers of play Pending
Design Philosophy
Class Design WIP*
First: Rules stay light in roleplay to not inhibit the expression
of story and remain heavy in combat but never to a hindering
amount.
Second: The GM is there to have fun, the rules they utilize
should never hinder this, the GM should have the ability to
adapt to situations knowing the rules are their to support Missing Systems to Add
them. System Status
Third: This system shall remain playable for the less savvy Downtime WIP
players and those who search for depth. Whether possible
the player should have the option of complexity or simplicity. GM Game Choice Pending
GM running the game advice Pending
Community Engagement Exploration Rules Pending
First and foremost, this project will tackle the problems that
the community as a whole agree on. Throughout the project, Mass Combat Rules Pending
I will release updates and supplements to be playtested by Tools/Spells for mystery based arcs Pending
those who would intend to use them and then use feedback
provided to improve the system as a whole. There should be
no surprises when this project finishes, those who engage
shall already know what to expect. I hope you all enjoy and
that I'm not alone in my ambitions for A6E.
Helping
If you would like to add any 5e problems or missing systems
to the list on the right or talk about your thoughts on creating
A6E, the best place to talk to me is in the discord:
TheBritishDM's Discord

7
 Adaptive
Downtime
A robust downtime system allowing players to
progress multiple goals at once, with tools for
the GM to track and balance this progress.

Version 0.3 Created by /u/TheBritishDM

Join on the discord at TheBritishDM's Discord

Artist Credits:

Page 1&2 - Orc and Gnome - The TEMP Guild Tavern

Page 4: AllrichArt - Forge
Page 5: Sapphhyra - Ghesh's Guide to Making Things
Page 9: Greg Rutkowski - Rise of the Overlords

Additional A6E content and other TheBritishDM

Homebrew content, including system redesigns
can be found for free on GM Binder.

This work includes material taken from the

System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by
Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at
https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-
reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License available at
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
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