A party can choose to rest before they continue forward on their journey, and when they do, each PC has the chance to make two downtime moves. Though downtime is their chance to recover from the dangers they’ve faced, it’s also an opportunity for characters to have important, emotional scenes with each other—to learn more about one another in their quiet moments together and have character-centric conversations they might not have had time for during big battles or high-intensity exploits.

When the characters decide they want to have downtime, they choose between a short rest and a long rest. A party can take up to three short rests before their next rest must be a long rest. If a short rest is interrupted (such as by an adversary’s attack), characters don’t gain its benefits. If a long rest is interrupted, the characters instead gain the benefits of a short rest (even if they’ve already had three short rests).

Working on a Project in Downtime

If a PC wants to pursue a project that would take them a substantial amount of time but that they can work on during a long rest, they should first discuss it with the GM. This could involve deciphering an ancient text, crafting a new weapon, or something similar. Projects usually involve a Progress Countdown (see the “Countdowns” section in chapter 3). Each time a PC takes the Work on a Project downtime move during a long rest, they either automatically tick down their countdown, or the GM might ask them to make an action roll to gauge their progress.

For more information on projects, see the “Using Downtime” section in chapter 3.

Downtime Consequences

Downtime allows for quiet scenes between characters, encouraging personal moments in the story—but the world doesn’t stop when you rest! The GM also takes actions during downtime. On a short rest, they gain 1d4 Fear. On a long rest, they gain an amount of Fear equal to 1d4 + the number of PCs, and they can advance a long-term countdown.

Refreshing Features During Downtime

Resting can refresh the availability of your features and end some temporary effects.

• Any effects that last until your next rest end when your character finishes either a long or a short rest. Likewise, any features that can be used a number of times per rest refresh when your character finishes either a long or a short rest.
• Any effects that last until your next long rest end when your character finishes a long rest. Likewise, any features that can be used a number of times per long rest only refresh when your character finishes a long rest.

Once per Session Features

Some features say you can use them “once per session”. These features don’t refresh during rests, but instead are available again at the start of your next Daggerheart session. If your table decides to play a long session, the GM might decide that all “once per session” abilities are refreshed during a break in play instead.