Downtime in this campaign use a consistent time unit of 2 hours for a downtime 'slot'. This means:

• A potion requiring 4 hours would cost 2 slots.
• A skill book requiring 20 hours would cost 10 slots.

Allocating Downtime Slots

• Weekday Downtime: Each weekday (Monday-Friday), characters have 3 "slots" of downtime. These can be spent before lessons, during free periods, or after dinner. (This gives 6 hours of available focused activity per weekday).

• Weekend Downtime: Each weekend (Saturday & Sunday), characters have 8 "slots" of downtime per day. (This gives 16 hours of available focused activity per weekend).

This provides a total of 31 downtime slots per week (15 on weekdays + 16 on weekends), or 62 hours of potential downtime activities per week.

It is assumed that roughly half of this time (32 hours) is spent in general leisure (hanging out with friends, sending owls to loved ones, playing games etc).

**This leaves each player with 15 downtime slots per week

Players may specify to the DM any significant activities they want to achieve during the assumed downtime and 'free up' those further slots. This will likely take place durong gameplay.

Players may choose to forego sleep in order to 'create' more downtime. Usual DnD 5e exhaustion rules apply for missed nights of rest.

Downtime Activities: Costing & Categories

Players will declare how they "spend" their allocated downtime slots each week. Activities will have varying costs based on the time and effort required, and it is the DM's prerogative to adjust timings contextually (making things faster or slower depending on how they are done) or for reasons of balance (this is an as-yet-untested playsystem).

Variable Cost Activities

• Read a Book (Skill Up): The slot cost for these activities is directly derived from the book's specified "hours required" divided by 2 (a book that takes 10 hours to learn from costs 5 of your downtime slots). Players track their progress towards completing the total hours.

Standard Cost Activities

1-Slot Activities

(approx. 2 hours of focused effort)

• Practice a Known Spell: Focused practice to improve command over a specific spell.

• Make a Potion (Common): Attempting to brew a simple, common potion. This assumes ingredients and equipment are available. (For simplicity, assume common potions can be completed within a 2-hour focused block).

• Improvised Action (Minor): A single, focused social interaction (e.g., a short, specific conversation with an NPC, writing a letter), a minor self-improvement task (e.g., organizing notes), or a quick house-related task.

• Homework (One Assignment): Dedicating time to one major school assignment to avoid academic penalties.

2-Slot Activities

(approx. 4 hours of focused effort):

• Boost House Points: Gain 2 House Points for Hufflepuff. This represents focused effort beyond classes, helpful deeds, or exemplary behavior noticed by staff.

• Learn a New Spell (with an Instructor): Attending a dedicated tutoring session or in-depth lesson for a new spell.

• Make a Potion (Uncommon): Attempting to brew a more complex, uncommon potion. This would likely require sustained focus and setup.

• Deconstruct Existing Potion: Intensive analysis in a lab, requiring sustained effort and the use of Specialis Revelio.

• Hunt for Ingredients (Common): A dedicated expedition to find common potion components or general magical flora/fauna.

• Exploration - Focused:

  • Following a specific, clear clue within the school (e.g., trying to find the Room of Requirement after a distinct hint).
  • A short, directed trip to Hogsmeade for a specific purpose (e.g., buying one specific item, meeting one pre-arranged contact).
  • A quick, targeted broom flight into the Valley for reconnaissance or to visit a known, nearby location.

3-Slot Activities

(approx. 6 hours of focused effort):

• Learn a New Spell (without an Instructor): More challenging, requiring more personal research and trial-and-error.

• Make a Potion (Rare): Attempting to brew a highly complex, rare potion. This might represent an entire afternoon's dedication.

• Hunt for Ingredients (Uncommon/Rare): A more extensive or dangerous expedition to find elusive or rare components.

• Exploration - Extended:

  • In-depth investigation of a complex mystery (e.g., thoroughly searching a large section of the Forbidden Forest for general leads).
  • An extended social visit to Hogsmeade (e.g., spending most of a Saturday afternoon there, visiting multiple shops, soaking in the atmosphere, gathering general rumors).
  • An extensive broom flight, charting an unknown area or seeking out something particularly significant.

• Improvised Action (Major): A significant social engagement (e.g., hosting a study group, attending a party, deep conversation with a key NPC to build trust), or a complex personal project.

Gameplay Flow

1. Weekly Downtime Calculation: Each player starts with 62 hours of available downtime (31 slots). From this:

   • Based on events that played out in the session, the DM may deduct slots for time already spent.
   • The DM will then roll a d6 to determine the hours of homework you have been assigned (increases to d8 for yrs 3-4 and d10 for yrs 5-7)
   • It is up to you to decide whether to deduct this from your total or not. But failure to complete your homework may have escalating consequences.

2. Weekly Downtime Declaration: At the start of each week, players declare how they will spend their remaining downtime slots for the upcoming week. They should list the activity and the number of slots used.

   • Example: "Monday: Make Common Potion (1 slot), Practice Known Spell (1 slot). Tuesday: Make Uncommon Potion (2 slots). Saturday: Read 'A Compendium of Charms' (4 slots)."
   • Any of the more interesting choices may be selected to 'zoom in' to as a roleplay scenario. In those cases, players will be able to change their downtime plans for the remainder of the week during or after that.

3. Tracking: Players simply tally their used slots against their weekly total (31 slots). Unused slots are considered general free time and do not carry over.

4. Flexible Slot Usage & Progress:

   • Multi-slot activities (like skill books or potentially larger exploration tasks) can be split across multiple days or even weeks. Players should track their cumulative hours/slots spent towards completion.

   • For potions, if a potion takes multiple "sessions" (e.g., a multi-day brew), the DM may require the slots to be spent over consecutive days, or allow players to "pause" a brew if it's safe to do so. Generally, assume a single "Make a Potion" action represents a completed attempt within that time block.

Narrative Integration:

Players are strongly encourages to articulate their choices beyond just the mechanics. Why is their character spending time on this? What are their goals? This should help to transform downtime into meaningful character development.