My Life As A Gamer: Time, Downtime, And The Campaign (Part Two)

(Citing the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons, 1st Edition (AD&D1e) Player's Handbook (PHB) and Dungeon Master's Guide (DMG) as needed.)

(Yesterday's post is here.)

Introduction

Players of spell-casters and crafters, and players who employ such as Henchmen or are clients to such as Patrons, will find that a lot of the potency of their spell-casting capacity cannot be developed in the field. While field experience is necessary, it is not sufficient; there is equal, if not greater, emphasis on lab work- and that means downtime.

A Review of Time & Spell-Casting

From the beginning, a spell-caster will encounter compelled downtime. This happens when the spell-caster selects his compliment of spells to take into the field.

PHB p. 40 covers this sufficiently for the player, and DMG p. 40 gets a bit more specific. The spell-caster needs to rest for a period of time equal to the highest spell level the player selects for the field operation. This is a minimum of four hours (1st, 2nd) and a maximum of 12 hours (9th). Then, for each spell, the spell-caster must spend another 15 minutes per spell level.

This means that a beginning spell-caster can be ready to go right after striking camp, but Name Level and higher spell-casters that expend most or all of their spell compliment will be down for a full day at a time minimum and thus will prefer to retreat to a more secure location. This rule, by itself, will drive spell-casters to not only seek out items and scrolls that can replace commonly-selected spells (e.g. fireball) but to craft such items to fulfill that purpose.

Therefore, to address these needs, spell-casters will soon want to establish the capacity to add to their spell rosters and create items of power.

Spell Research

Clerics and Druids (and those who cast such spells including Paladins, Rangers, and Bards) automatically expand their spell roster as they complete training regimes and gain levels. Magic-Users and and Illusionists are guaranteed only one spell when they advance in level (DMG p. 39) from the existing roster (and thus is true of Rangers also when they gain access to Magic-User spells).

Spell Research is the solution to adding spells to what a spell-caster may select from when preparing a compliment for a field operation. This can be done as soon as such a character wishes to do so and can employs sufficient facilities. (Examples from current #BROSR campaigns are here, here, and here.)

DMG p. 115 lays out what you need to do, and therefore what it's going to take. Assuming you can afford to spend the gold, the time is what will take the spell-caster out of availability for play. The minimum time is 1 + (Spell Level) in weeks, and it is not guaranteed; the Dungeon Master (DM) rolls in secret to check if the project succeeds. If not, check again in one week increments thereafter; research continues until the project succeeds or it is abandoned due to lack of funds.

That's a big gamble. Spell research is not cheap, and the time commitment can take a spell-caster out of action for a month or even a season just for one spell. The player of a spell-caster will need to consider the Opportunity Cost that engaging in research requires against other opportunities that could be done in the same time; focus on field work and take the chance of failing to expand one's magical capacity through recovered treasure, or retreat into the lab for a time and guarantee the depletion of one's own trove in the pursuit of new magics to wield?

The savvy spell-caster sees that one way to address the problem could be to delegate some of his utility magics to lasting items, which leads to the next great use of downtime.

Item Creation

DMG p. 116-118 gets into scrolls, potions, and other items. Some are explicitly outside the capacity of a player's man to create, but most are not. What is clear is that this is not a pursuit that low-level spell-casters can choose. Potions and Scrolls require that the crafter being 7th level or higher. (Poisons are marked out here as Assassin only, and requiring 9th level or greater.) Potions must be made with the aid of an Alchemist until 12th level, whereupon it is merely to have his aid; this adds to the time required to get started as the spell-caster must first secure one as a Hireling.

Potions take time in days to craft; for every 100 Gold Pieces (GP) in cost, or fraction thereof, one day must be spent. Scroll creation time is also measured in days; the spell's level in days is the time required to inscribe it, and this must be done for each spell on the scroll. One can easily see how an expensive potion could keep the crafter away from the field for a week or more per item.

For everything else, the crafter must use enchant an item (PHB p.83) or be making something clerical (and, by extension, druidic is included). This makes the creation of rings, wands, staves, rods, weapons, armor, etc. the province of high-level Magic-Users- and then it may yet require the collaboration of others (such as weapons or armor). The time required is not so much for the item itself, but to recover from completing it; for every 100 GP of XP value (or fraction thereof) the crafter must spent one day in full rest doing nothing else. (e.g. a Sword, Vorpal Weapon will put the crafter down for 100 days.) This is in addition to what may be required for any intermediate steps.

Commentary

AD&D1e addresses the matter of player-driven item creation through Opportunity Cost. The time that a crafter spends is time that is exclusive of any other option, and that means going out on adventures that result in the recovery of treasure (and the awarding of Experience Points). Couple that time locked down doing this crafting with the financial costs required to succeed, costs which do not include general upkeep costs or costs to maintain Hirelings or Henchmen, and you can see that spell-casters have a very strong Push force to keep such activities to a minimum until they become so wealthy that it is time--not money--that is the limiting factor.

Does your Elf Fighter/Magic-User want to conduct the research required to create a spell or item that synergizes his two Classes, or does he want to focus upon maximizing his potenial first (i.e. hitting maximum Class Level in both classes) before doing so?

Does your Druid want to spend the time needed to make an item that conjures elementals, or does he want to pursue his ambition to become the Great Druid?

Does your Ranger want to spend the time to create a Magic-User spell that addresses a gap in his acumen, or focus upon building up his stronghold and strengtening his retinue?

Does your Paladin want to create a Holy Avenger, or raise an army for a crusade against a demonic power?

These are all questions of Opportunity Cost, and a review of tabletop RPG channels on YouTube or discussions in forums (or, sadly, Reddit) shows that this is not a common issue in play- and often resented when it is brought up. Yet these questions are necessary for properly play, as the decisions made by those who face them express that oh-so-valued "agency" in a real and direct manner- and what is not pursued can be taken up by others if circumstances allow. Opportunity Cost allows for emergent and organic situation development that needs no DM intervention.

Without strict time-keeping and usage of downtime, this is not possible.

As it clear, Opportunity Cost deals in logistics by its nature; this extends to other matters such as the erection of strongholds and the establishment of Domains, which I will get into tomorrow.