Downtime Activity: Running a Business

Source: Dungeon Master’s Guide p. 129

Adventurers can end up owning businesses that have nothing to do with delving into dungeons or saving the world. A character might inherit a smithy, or the party might be given a parcel of farmland or a tavern as a reward. If they hold on to the business, they might feel obliged to spend time between adventures maintaining the venture and making sure it runs smoothly.

A character rolls percentile dice and adds the number of days spent on this downtime activity (maximum 30), then compares the total to the Running a Business table to determine what happens.

If the character is required to pay a cost as a result of rolling on this table but fails to do so, the business begins to fail. For each unpaid debt incurred in this manner, the character takes a -10 penalty to subsequent rolls made on this table.

Running a Business

d100 + Days	Result
01-20	You must pay one and a half times the business’s maintenance cost for each of the days.
21-30	You must pay the business’s full maintenance cost for each of the days.
31-40	You must pay half the business’s maintenance cost for each of the days. Profits cover the other half.
41-60	The business covers its own maintenance cost for each of the days.
61-80	The business covers its own maintenance cost for each of the days. It earns a profit of 1d6 × 5 gp.
81-90	The business covers its own maintenance cost for each of the days. It earns a profit of 2d8 × 5 gp.
91-100	The business covers its own maintenance cost for each of the days. It earns a profit of 3d10 × 5 gp.
^running-a-business