Pathfinder 2e Roleplaying Game

Running Downtime

Pathfinder Gamemastery Guide (Second Edition), page 22

There’s more to life than fighting monsters and looting treasure. What happens when a PC wins a deed to a tavern in a game of cards, crafts a magical item, builds a home, or pursues a relationship? All these goals and more are resolved by running downtime.

You can use downtime in a variety of ways that can streamline gameplay and flesh out the story, such as to:

  • Demonstrate changes to the setting that result from the PCs’ previous achievements, giving them time to breathe and appreciate what they’ve accomplished.
  • Emphasize the PCs’ planning and the fruit it bears.
  • Avoid bogging the game down, even if a great deal of time passes. Keep the number of rolls small.
  • Bring back compelling NPCs or plot threads established in previous downtime or adventures.
  • Interject interesting events and scenes related to what the PCs do to make the world feel more alive.
  • Switch to encounter or exploration more as needed when actions spur a new scene or adventure.

This section covers advice on how to fit downtime to suit your group. The amount and complexity can vary greatly depending on the game. You can find the basics of running downtime on page 500 of the Core Rulebook.

In this section

  • Depth of Downtime Determine how involved your group wants downtime to be at the start of the game.
  • Long-Term Goals Downtime’s more satisfying when the PCs work toward long-term goals rather than perform disconnected tasks.
  • Buying and Selling The game leaves it up to you to determine what items the PCs can and can’t purchase, and the final market Price for them.
  • Tasks and Events Players will often look to you for tasks they might take on during downtime, especially if they’re looking to Earn Income. You should also interject special events to surprise your players and add interesting scenes.
  • Money in Downtime While the amount of money the PCs can earn during short periods of downtime is significantly less than the value of the loot they gain adventuring, it can still serve as a satisfying bonus.
  • Retraining The rules and suggestions for retraining are covered thoroughly in the Core Rulebook on page 502.