What's the martial, non-caster character to do during that downtime, where you have time in a great commodity, but the DM isn't as interested in adventuring, and just wants to get the downtime out of the way.
I ask because I'm running a mostly Core compliant monk, currently level 6ish, and we're nearing the end of our first major campaign. The DM has specified that we're going to get a decent period of downtime, and I'm wondering just what exactly I'm supposed to have my character do. I know all the casters will be making magic items, and some of the martial characters will be retraining skills and the like... but in all honesty, I'm kind of happy with how my character's built now.
So what do I do?
You (referencing your character) might get allies. You might get a date. You might get a cool new rival to one-up. In any event, it should be quite entertaining to role-play out.
What? Evil people have down time too.
Also, while doing the above, don't forget to get an Orange Julius.
Make sweet, sweet times. Have fun, go to the bar, see the world, take a vacation, visit the local attractions, engage in debates, speak with the locals, get to know your surroundings. You never know what might turn up.
Make sweet, sweet friends. Get cozy with some of the awesome people around town. Acquire contacts, develop friendships, get connected to the world around you, giving you people to care about, and be cared about in return, so that everyone can lend everyone a hand now and then.
Make sweet, sweet love. Find a suitably attractive individual of choice, start a romance, get involved, put that monk-ish flexibility to good use, perhaps find yourself with a continuous npc of romantic interest. All for the sake of roleplaying and expanding your character, of course.
Make sweet, sweet stuff. Develop new techniques, train yourself to get an edge on XP, grab some sweet new gear, refine your monkish techniques, work on that prestige class requirement, or any other method to keep advancing your character.
Kerrus: Pretty much everything's been said, but I'll toss in my thoughts as well.
* See if you can find a temple/monastery of your sect/religion/group - if you
can, train there, teach there, study there. If your DM's good, you might get some knowledge of important events, a possible NPC contact/cohort (as stated), or some other kind of reward.
* Train hardcore. Go to the local barracks, put all your magical equipment away somewhere, and see how many guys in full gear you can put down in a row (no resting, no healing) before they drop you. If you can beat enough guys, there's another possible NPC contact (note that this is also something pure martial characters could do).
* Generic bodyguarding/watchman duties. Maybe there's a local who's nervous about going to his loanshark and wants a bodyguard/witness to make sure nothing goes ugly. Granted, it's not true "downtime," but it's not plot-important, isn't likely to make you rich, and unless you happen to be with someone who's crossing the Thieves' Guild, you probably won't get into a fight.
So I'm thinking about trying to get UMD as a class skill :D
But other then that, it's looking like my downtime will be spent 1, doing carpentry and rebuilding the buildings that got destroyed during this campaign, 2, meditating and practicing stuff- and teaching people monk stuff. And 3, building social connections with the rich people I befriended several sessions ago.
Well, our GM seems to like to reward good roleplaying with things like... new character (always 'class skill' skills) skills, or other minor bonuses.
So I'm thinking about trying to get UMD as a class skill :D
But other then that, it's looking like my downtime will be spent 1, doing carpentry and rebuilding the buildings that got destroyed during this campaign, 2, meditating and practicing stuff- and teaching people monk stuff. And 3, building social connections with the rich people I befriended several sessions ago.
I like this idea, and I'd weave it into 2 and 3. If your character has high energy and a sense of responsibility for the buildings that got destroyed, do that too. But meditation and monk stuff and building the social connections with your new rich friends might go like this:
Your new friends have an advisor or retainer who is a Bard or Rogue and has UMD. In exchange for teaching them the ways of your monastic discipline and your fighting style, they will get you experience in using magic devices.
Perhaps it isn't even that linear. Perhaps the Bard entertains the rich people with magic items. She takes a liking to you and between sessions with your rich students, she gives you pointers on how magic items work and how you can get them to work for you.
In fact, if you are only looking for serious recommendations, skip past this.
The David:
You have downtime. You like money. So do you use your ample skills and resources intelligently to invest or work to improve your assets? Ha ha ha, of course not. Find the first thing someone says is a good idea and jump on the bandwagon. Tulip bulbs are going up in price? Buy like crazy! Of course you can pay Lenny the Snake back, you'll make THOUSANDS!! Drag the other PCs into your plans and break the law if possible for additional fun.
Disruptiveness: *** (Not so bad, since The David tends to just be out some money)
Idiocy: ** (People actually fall into dumb pyramid schemes IRL)
Hilarity: **** (Can be a regular episode of Always Sunny if the DM and players are creative enough)
The Solaria:
You have downtime. This is exactly what you became an adventurer to avoid, God damn it. However, you have a lot of hit points, and money to pay for things you plan to break. First, you steal an idea from Jackass. Then, you make it much more lethal and stupider. Then, you do it. Bonus points for injuring another PC.
Disruptiveness: **** (Other PCs get angry if you injure them)
Idiocy: ***** (The one with the tricycle and the nail gun places it here)
Hilarity: *** (Can be funny, but Jackass stunts get old fast)
The Zal:
You have downtime. Since you are a famed adventurer, men and women should be fawning over you in reverence. Especially women. Attempt to use this to your advantage. However, be such a pig-headed idiot that chance itself causes nothing but horrible shutdowns with every woman you attempt to ham-fistedly hit on.
Disruptiveness: ** (Not so bad, since it's generally just interaction. Can shut down NPC contacts, however)
Idiocy: *** (The ultimate point of the Zal is that he could be successful if he was only a little less full of himself)
Hilarity: ***** (Egotistical guys getting shot down is ALWAYS funny)
The Xander:
You have downtime. Obviously, this is an excellent time to kick back and have a few drinks with your closest friends. And by that I mean ten beers with your closests fifty friends. A five-alarm fire and four dead cops later, there's a riot of people chanting your name whilst looting stores and beating up guards and nobles. If you're a Warlock, observe that you can technically fire your Eldritch Blast from any part of your body and act accordingly. You are incapable of putting your middle finger down, and nothing you say can ever be quoted on this board (The original Xander said "Go **** yourself" to non-hostile NPCs and other PCs over 80 times in a session. I counted).
Disruptiveness: ***** (Yeah)
Idiocy: **** (... Yeah)
Hilarity: *** (The killing of police officers and innocent bystanders can be funny if you carry it with ridiculousness for a while, but the other PCs who were planning on staying in this town or at least not destroying it will not be laughing)
A monk can use his unarmed strike from any part of his body.
Soooo.
But really, I think I've got some good ideas out of this thread. And we'll see what happens, come... lemme see, monday.
DM gave us all either an extra feat (mostly core material) or learn a skill as a class skill. He also gave us 5k spendable gold, and let us peruse the DMG magic items section and the PHB and buy stuff we previously couldn't have gotten.
However, arguably there was some stuff that was just out of our findability range, being in a smallish town and all.
In the end, I shelled out 1800 gp (10% discount- possibly more, I'll talk to my DM about it when we resume in a week and a half) for a Heward's Handy Haversack, being the only one in the party to do so. Somehow that gives me an ominous feeling, yet at the same time makes be inordinately happy.
In addition, I will probably be shelling out 3k gold towards purchasing a potion of Greater Magic Fang +5 and then having a caster make it permanent on me- or finding some other way to do it.
Other then that, being a monk, I spent time with the folk I'd rescued, had roaring parties, and devoted most of my 'free' time toward working to rebuild the damaged sections of the town. The other party members are either crafting, researching, or generally working for their own benefit, so I'm hoping to get some RP points for that.
Anyways, right now the biggest issue I have is probably going to be a tricky choice.
As said above, the DM gave us a bonus for completing the campaign. I'd like suggestions on what to take.
1. An extra feat that I meet the prerequisites for, in this case Pain Touch (My DM was sort of annoyed, as he had just given me an item that increased my stunning fist DC by +4)
2. Making a cross-class skill a class skill. In this case, it would be the venerable UMD.
Unfortunately, no amount of roleplaying (I asked) would let me do both. So I'd like some suggestions. Either the feat (Pain Touch) which I would otherwise take at 9th level. Or UMD as a class skill.
What should do do, do you think?
EDIT: I'm leaning towards UMD, because the party decided that after spending a campaign fighting undead, we should start a new campaign fighting constructs. I really hate them right now.
However, yes, it does come down to 'do I want something that will see use' (if we ever start fighting things with discernable anatomy, damnit) versus 'do I want something that may see use, but is kind of already covered by the other party members.'
Even so, I am leaning towards the UMD, if only for the fact that when we stumble across an item that requires an alignment of a type we don't have (evil axis usually, though the rogue is planning to PrC into Assassin because he 'can', even though he's in a party that's predominantly lawful good)