Downtime Actions
Many aspects of a character’s life are critical to her continued existence, yet they do not make for dramatic roleplaying during a game. Instead, players use downtime actions to define their characters’ night-to-night activities, covering actions between games.
Posting downtime actions to your personal forum is the preferred method of submission. This allows us to keep better records of your long term efforts and provide you with more productive downtime actions. Further, staff has no obligation to complete downtimes submitted after cutoff, which is the Friday the week before game.
Gaining Downtime Actions
All characters have 2 base Downtime Actions for each period of time between sessions of the chronicle. These actions must be spent between sessions, and they do not roll over to the next period of time. A player should be able to describe each of her downtime actions in a single sentence or a small paragraph. After Staff receives these actions, they will decide if challenges, details, or further roleplay are required to successfully fulfill the downtime actions. Staff will then adjudicate the results accordingly.
Some Flaws may reduce your standard number of downtime actions (DTAs).
There are many additional ways to acquire additional DTAs:
- Receiving DTAs from someone using the Seneschal Ability. (You may benefit from only one in a downtime cycle)
- Having the Ability "Seneschal 6" grants +1 DTA that may only be loaned to another party.
- Having the Background "Kinfolk: Staff" grants +1 DTA.
- Having the Background "Territory: Wrokshop / Office" grants +1 Mundane DTA.
- Receiving a shout out from staff or the collective player base. (This will exceed Downtime Caps).
| Current Rank | Modifier |
|---|---|
| Kin/Cub/Cliath | +1 DTA |
| Fostern+ | --- |
On Seneschal
The Seneschal Ability represents your capacity for coming to someone's aide and lessening their proverbial load. Key things to note when using Seneschal:
- You may donate your DTAs to as many people as you like (up to your dots in the ability) in a downtime cycle.
- You may benefit from only one Seneschal-given action in a downtime cycle.
- Seneschal represents you sharing the work with someone else:
- Both players must submit the same action, favoring the action of the person with Seneschal in case of discrepancy.
- Both players will be included in the downtime and the response.
Using Downtime Actions
Required Downtime Actions
These are actions that you will not be able to take without spending Downtime Actions.
- Out-of-Affinity Gifts: Learning Gifts requires making a pact with a spirit to gain their power. While this is practically second nature for In Affinity Gifts, we require a DTA to learn Out-of-Affinity Gifts (two if learning Breed/Auspice without a patron), as detailed here.
- Out-of-Affinity Gift Patron: If you are serving as a patron to help someone else learn an Out-of-Affinity Gift, you'll be required to submit a downtime detailing as much here.
- Changing Divine Blessing: Once a month, you may switch out a Divine Blessing for another of the same level. This requires a DTA to reflect meditation and shifting perspective to accommodate the Blessing, as detailed here.
- Mitigating Flaws: Several Flaws (like Hunted) will require the dedication of DTAs, which must be recorded.
- Gaining a New Background/Influence: If you wish to start into a new Background or Influence, you must spend a single DTA per new Background/Influence. Please disclose: who your Background/Influence is, why they are helping you, and where they are located. Please note that this may take more than one DTA due to mitigating factors in the setting.
- Background Growth: If you wish to grow a Background to a higher level, you may do so by putting in a DTA and explaining what steps you take to grow your Background. You may only grow one Background per DTA used. Each Background requires a number of growth actions equal to the level you're trying to get to. Growing backgrounds is expanded on here. As a general practice, Background growth is established like this:
- Declaring Background growth (1pt of growth)
- A description of how you're growing it (+1pt of growth)
- Mentioning any relevant abilities you possess at 3+ (+1pt of growth)
- Influence Growth: Submit one Downtime Action for a Growth Action for all of your influences simultaneously. You may submit an additional DTA to further grow any specific influence. (i.e., one DTA to grow your Trade/Political/Occult, and then a second DTA to further grow your Trade). Growing Influenceis expanded on in more detail here.
- Crafting Fetishes: The process of creating a Fetish takes a number of DTAs equal to the finalized Level of the Fetish, though this can be spread over any duration of time and doesn't need to be submitted successively. You may only submit one DTA per fetish in a given downtime cycle. For example, you could put in two downtimes split between developing two different fetishes, but you can't put in two downtimes towards one fetish. These things take time.
- Building a Shrine: Building a shrine (to a spirit or god) requires a DTA to craft and dedicate. For a spirit shrine, you must use the Rite of Adoration. For a divine shrine, you just need to make the first sacrifice and it's dedicated. More on shrines can be found here.
- Learning Dialects: If you've successfully understood a dialect 3 times over the course of game, you may submit a DT to add a note to your character sheet that your PC understands this dialect.
This is a list of additional uses for DTAs. While this is by no means comprehensive and we encourage player creativity with actions, this should serve as a quick and easy reference.
- Arts: The player spends a downtime action and uses her character’s Crafts skill to design, build, or repair an item in the character’s possession, or Performance to draw crowds and temporarily increase the character's Fame (as per Ability write-ups). This may require a static challenge to succeed, per the discretion of the Storyteller.
- Investigation: This is a catch-all for between game investigations: investigate leads, enemies or strange occurrences; research or search for hidden information, etc. Please include relevant Backgrounds and Abilities for staff reference. Again, this may require a static or opposed challenge to succeed, per the discretion of the Storyteller.
- Patrolling: This can be used in conjunction with a specified location: looking for interlopers and preventing actions against the location. You will need to spend more DTAs towards defense than an attacker uses in offense.
- Beyond your Means: If you want to splurge for something well beyond your Resource limitations (a fancy weapon, a property, etc.), Staff may require a DTA to justify the extra steps taken to acquire that purchase.
- Augmented Ritual Learning: Rituals take time to learn and master, but are considered intuitive enough to not require entire DTAs. To lessen learn time, however, you may spend a DTA to reduce the number of weeks required to learn a ritual by 1 weeks per DTA. In this fashion, a Level Four Rite can take two weeks with two DTAs, you can learn as many Level Ones as actions you contribute, etc.
- Augmented Influence Growth: You may spend a downtime for an additional (+1) Growth Point. This can be done more than once per Influence per Downtime. See this post for details on Growth.
While none of these are technically Downtime Actions, they should be submitted at the same time.
- Influence: Outside of acquiring/growth, Influences may be used without spending entire DTAs. These should be reported in the same post. Influence actions are covered here. Please Note: Staff will essentially hold your sheet ransom for a 'tax' of the number of Influence spent in online Influence usage, so make sure to have your influence cards ready when picking up your sheet.
- Rituals: Ritual Learning does not require DTAs, but may be augmented as noted above. Rites are learned at a rate of one Level per IC week of Downtime. These should be reported in the same post, along with the level of the rite and who you're learning it from.
- Gifts: In-Affinity Gift Learning does not require DTAs, but should be noted in the same post. If you are serving as a patron to someone learning a Gift Out-of-Affinity with the Efficient Learner Merit, you'll also need to note that here, even though you will not be required to spend an entire DTA on this.
Downtime Submission Format
Downtime Template
Downtime Actions
DT #: (how many you are using, and if more than your limit, where is it from)
What are you doing:
What do you wish to accomplish with this Downtime:
Influence Actions
Influence Name:
Influence #: (how many you are using)
Influence Effect:
What do you wish to accomplish with this Influence Spend:
Ritual Learning
- Week One: (list Rites, Levels and Mentor)
- Week Two: (list Rites, Levels and Mentor)
Sample Downtime Submission
Downtime Submission CodeMoontouched, Black Fury Theurge wrote: DT #: 1-2
Downtime Summary: Investigation: Temple. Someone suggested there was a traitor from the inside who let the fomori know where to hit; I'm going to be questioning various members of the temple to see if anyone knows someone who's been acting 'off'. Similarly, I'd like to check the umbra to see if spirits saw anything and take time cleansing the area as discretely as possible.
What do you wish to accomplish with this downtime: Find traitor (or proof there isn't one); cleanse temple.
DT #: 3 (Cliath)
Downtime Summary: Background Growth: Spirit Pact. Spending time building a shrine on an empty hill top and meditating to improve my connection with the North Wind.
What do you wish to accomplish with this downtime: Increase Spirit Pact.
DT #: 4 (Pluck of the Vine's Seneschal)
Downtime Summary: Augmented Ritual Learning: Pluck of the Vine has offered to help make sure I learn the bare essentials.
What do you wish to accomplish with this downtime: Learn Rite of Cleansing in addition to other rites.
Influence Actions
Influence Name: Temple
Influence #: 2
Influence Effect: Peruse general religious records and track regular temple attendees to help above Investigation to find the mole.
What do you wish to accomplish with this Influence Spend: Find traitor (or proof there isn't one)
Ritual Learning
- Week One: Rite of Contrition (Level One) and Rite of Cleansing (Level One) from Pluck of the Vine's Seneschal; both learned from Pluck of the Vine
- Week Two: Rite of Binding (Level One) from Pluck of the Vine
Please copy & paste this format and use it in your forum!
Code: Select all
[b][u]Downtime Actions[/b][/u]
[b]DT #:[/b]
[b]What are you doing:[/b]
[b]What do you wish to accomplish with this Downtime:[/b]
[b][u]Influence Actions[/u][/b]
[b]Influence Name:[/b]
[b]Influence #:[/b]
[b]Influence Effect:[/b]
[b]What do you wish to accomplish with this Influence Spend:[/b]
[b][u]Ritual Learning[/u][/b]
- Week One:
- Week Two: