So I've been running Dragon of Icespire Peak and players have been enjoying and completed almost every quest. All the have left are the Woodland Manse and the dragon itself. However, they have elected to allot 2 weeks to the Artificer to craft a magic item to help in the endeavor. I did warn them that the world doesn't stop and there very well may be consequences for their actions. First time DM however, so what could be some consequences for "taking a break" near the climax of the story outside of more frequent dragon/orc raids?
Seems like your players are used to video games where you can do what you like, and the quest giver will wait patiently. Though you’ve told them otherwise, now you need to follow through on the threat, but how far you want to take it. I’ve not played that adventure, but usually 2 weeks is a lot of time in game. You could decide the enemy’s plans succeed, as no one is trying to stop them. Less drastic could be things like an NPC they really like (but who won’t come up in the story again) dying as a result of their inaction. You mentioned more frequent raids, so definitely do that, but have them be successful — the raiders burn food stores and now townspeople start to starve, or they burn an orphanage. Jjust generally do things that make life miserable not for the party, but for the world at large. When heroes takes a week off, everyone pays a price.
You mentioned more frequent raids, so definitely do that, but have them be successful — the raiders burn food stores and now townspeople start to starve, or they burn an orphanage. Jjust generally do things that make life miserable not for the party, but for the world at large. When heroes takes a week off, everyone pays a price.
News should reach the PCs during their downtime, so that they can choose to cancel their two week delay.
They can be offered less in final rewards from any townsfolk when they return victorious afterward too, due to the extra deaths that they allowed to happen.
If the players are already ignoring "well, the raids are going to continue until the problem is dealt with", you might have to give them a consequence that will actually matter to them, such as "The orcs are increasing in number. It seems that news has spread and more orcs are coming to join the successful campaign."
I like the idea that there's a trade-off and that they've chosen to accept the risk in order to get this magic item crafted. I think it's super appropriate that you exact some price from them but don't forget that from their point of view, they're building themselves a surefire dragon killer and the sooner it gets done, the more lives saved. They ARE actively pursuing a strategy (at the cost of a few invisible peasants, but there's no need to rub it in).
I think it's possible to square this circle by incorporating the crafting into the campaign. I think if the orcs heard that the level 5 roughnecks were holed up at the smithy crafting a dragon killing magic weapon, they might just keep a low profile and let one of their two problems solve the other. Then one of the village folk tells the characters that the dragon has stepped up its attacks. Before it only killed what it ate, but now, it's killing for sport! There are a whole bunch of frozen people statues in Phandalin town square! One of them is a memorable NPC acquaintance! And everyone seems a little frustrated and is taking it out on the players and says "I hope that damn gizmo of yours can do what you say it can!" So the stakes go up, but not in a way that invalidates their decision.
I disagree with the "punish the players for pausing." They get to move at their own pace, the one that they enjoy. This is not a game of DM vs PCs, instead you're all creating a great game together.
If there will be consequences then fine - have the party's location be attacked, and let them respond. Let their decision lead to adventure. Some classes - artificer especially - need downtime. I've played in a Curse of Strahd where we never got downtime, and the artificer felt useless.
By all means, throw them a curve ball. Actions have consequences. Continue the raids - but don't kill off a treasured NPC just to punish them. Endanger the NPC, sure. Give the PCs a hard time protecting them but mainly you should think, "This is what the bad guys are doing day by day/week." And then each day or week plays out. They may abandon their crafting midway if they feel it's needed.
If you hit them with "You stopped for a short period of time, now feel the pain!" then you're teaching them that a very minor amount of time (2 weeks is not much) not adventuring means they're failing.
You just need to get your downtime rules sorted straight, that’s the problem.
I give them X downtime weeks to spend each level, where X is the level they just graduated from. They can spend it as they please using the rules in the PHB and XGtE, or convince me of something else and I’ll try to accommodate.
Players just let me know how they wish to spend it and it is seamlessly retconed into the game. So the Artificer can spend that on progress crafting the magic item each level, which is in fact a XGtE option I believe.
Adventurers don’t just do nothing but adventure, of course they take downtime. But downtime is boring, so just retcon it using this system and the action keeps moving and you avoid situations like this.
I disagree with the "punish the players for pausing." They get to move at their own pace, the one that they enjoy. This is not a game of DM vs PCs, instead you're all creating a great game together.
D&D is really not designed for 'take your time', if you give people a lot of leeway for taking extra time during the adventure you wind up with the five minute workday. And no, artificers don't need downtime any more than any other class, none of their class features require more than ordinary long resting. There's no obligation to make the crafting system usable during an adventure.
This doesn't mean "punish the players for pausing", this means "keep up the pressure". If the PCs take an extended pause during the adventure, stuff should happen so the adventure becomes harder by enough to swallow any benefits they can get from the downtime.
I don't think "diminishing rewards" are necessarily "punishment." Sanvael is right that D&D isn't an adversarial contest between DM and Party. However, while a collaborator with the players, the DM is also the mediator for the world and represents it, sometimes requiring the communication of a sense of urgency, like the sort at this highpoint of this adventure. It's actually I'd say "better" story gaming to provide word of what's happening in the game world while the players take downtime to craft. So yes, the people they are "heroing" for suffer greater casualties, likely resulting in less pay out for the PCs. There may well be enmity between communities and PCs who "sat around creating their wonder weapons while ma and my kin died". That enmity may motivate the PCs to go further out into the world where they're reputation is a bit less tarnished, or to find further adventures to polish their standing in the world. I don't call any of that punishment, I call it role playing in a living world.
So player's pause. Rather than DM simply saying "Ok" DM says "Ok, and meanwhile ...." That's narration. Not penalization.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
If there aren't consequences for actions/inaction then the players start to feel like their decisions don't matter or have any impact. The game is more fun and when decisions are meaningful, so definitely make this decisions have an impact.
I'd say you could broadcast that the world keeps turning by playing up the regional effects of the white dragon lair that they might become visible over the course of the 2 weeks
Regional Effects
The region containing a legendary white dragon’s lair is warped by the dragon’s magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:
Chilly fog lightly obscures the land within 6 miles of the dragon’s lair.
Freezing precipitation falls within 6 miles of the dragon’s lair, sometimes forming blizzard conditions when the dragon is at rest.
Icy walls block off areas in the dragon’s lair. Each wall is 6 inches thick, and a 10-foot section has AC 5, 15 hit points, vulnerability to fire damage, and immunity to acid, cold, necrotic, poison, and psychic damage. If the dragon wishes to move through a wall, it can do so without slowing down. The portion of the wall the dragon moves through is destroyed, however.
Perhaps this is an opportunity to ask your other players what they want to do while the Artificer is crafting this item, see if there's any other preparations they want to make as well. Perhaps the Barbarian wants to train some villagers on how to properly handle weapons and basic tactics. Maybe the Fighter wants to help build fortifications. Maybe the Druid is foraging materials to produce healing potions. Maybe the Rogue goes scouting and sees that the dragon is calling in reinforcements from a kobold tribe. Maybe the Ranger sets traps to help disrupt those reinforcements. Perhaps the Bard can seek out another community or tribe and persuade them for aide or reinforcements.
If ever you watch Seven Samurai, just because the samurai waited for the bandits to come to them doesn't mean they sat on their asses and did nothing; they used that time to prepare for the fight ahead. Make clear to your players that their enemy is taking advantage of these two weeks as well, and encourage them to do the same. Throw a raid or two at them along the way and let them see in what ways their preparations pay off, while giving them a taste of what the dragon has planned.
(I'd look up the module to give advice tailored more to it, but my DM is running it as well; don't wanna spoil it, y'know?)
So player's pause. Rather than DM simply saying "Ok" DM says "Ok, and meanwhile ...." That's narration. Not penalization.
Exactly. DM’s don’t get to be the Heroes. The story is never about us, we get no glory for the party’s victories. We don’t get PCs. We get the world. That’s us. Every villain the heroes defeat, all of the “collateral damage,” every victim, that’s our HP in a way. The players Declare their PCs do, the DM declares how the world is affected by those actions. That’s it. This is the world. (That’s why it takes so much more work than being a player.)
If ever you watch Seven Samurai, just because the samurai waited for the bandits to come to them doesn't mean they sat on their asses and did nothing; they used that time to prepare for the fight ahead. Make clear to your players that their enemy is taking advantage of these two weeks as well, and encourage them to do the same. Throw a raid or two at them along the way and let them see in what ways their preparations pay off, while giving them a taste of what the dragon has planned.
That was sort of the idea, have the others do their own thing and get news from the surrounding area. See if they decide to abandon the project early to minimize damage.
The DM decides how the world proceeds in response to the character actions.
So what would a two week delay realistically affect? Unless you have changed the story line of the module, the orcs and dragon aren't connected except for the fact that the orcs used to be in the castle until the dragon kicked them out. (unless I am recalling incorrectly). Have you had the dragon attacking isolated farms/travelers on the road etc? Taking their stuff to add to its hoard? If the dragon isn't getting any push back then it might attack Phandalin directly, killing civilians, knocking down buildings looking for gold or perhaps demanding that the town provide it tribute. That could realistically take place in a two week time window.
Similarly, the orcs are also encroaching on Phandalin as they search for a new home or perhaps raid for food and treasure. A significant force of orcs could attack without the pressure of adventurers creating risk for their activities.
It's up to the DM whether this would realistically happen in their world within a two week time window. However, whether or not these groups attack the town directly, there will be more deaths due to both groups in and around Phandalin and on the roads. Perhaps, you should make it clear to the characters that their decision to wait two weeks will likely cause the deaths of 10 to 20 people or more as the threats from the orcs and the dragon remain unchecked. It could be that the characters (or players) just aren't picking up on the connection that lots more people will die if they significantly delay.
However, perhaps the problem is that the players were allowed to get the idea that they could manufacture a magic item in the first place. Artificers don't get discounted magic item creation until level 10 (?).
The rules in Xanathar's say the following:
"Crafting Magic Items. Creating a magic item requires more than just time, effort, and materials. It is a long—term process that involves one or more adventures to track down rare materials and the lore needed to create the item."
"To start with, a character needs a formula for a magic item in order to create it. The formula is like a recipe. It lists the materials needed and steps required to make the item. An item invariably requires an exotic material to complete it. This material can range from the skin of a yeti to a vial of water taken from a whirlpool on the Elemental Plane of Water. Finding that material should take place as part of an adventure. The Magic ltem Ingredients table suggests the challenge rating of a creature that the characters need to face to acquire the materials for an item. Note that facing a creature does not necessarily mean that the characters must collect items from its corpse. Rather, the creature might guard a location or a resource that the characters need access to."
So for the party to even consider making a magic item, the DM has provided the party with a formula along with the opportunity to encounter several creatures from whom the components needed to manufacture the item can be found. The characters need all this in addition to 2 weeks time and 200gp crafting costs for an uncommon item - assuming that they have the skill proficiencies needed since for magic boots for example, the character needs to proficient at leather working or being a cobbler.
As always, it is up to the DM, but for the level range of DoIP, the party might be unlikely to be capable of manufacturing a magic item without derailing the plot a bit as they hunt for components.
Another consideration is what magic item could be so valuable in the fight against the dragon as to spend two weeks creating it? There is already a dragon slaying sword as well as at least one or two magical weapons available. Making one magic item seems unlikely to tip the balance substantially. It sounds more like one or more players wanting something cool.
Finally, the easiest thing to do is just let them spend two weeks of downtime while the party makes the magic item. Narrate the deaths that occur while the players aren't out fighting the bad guys, give the party the magic item and get on with the real story.
P.S. By the way, what magic item is it that they want to take the weeks off to create?
Another consideration is what magic item could be so valuable in the fight against the dragon as to spend two weeks creating it? There is already a dragon slaying sword as well as at least one or two magical weapons available. Making one magic item seems unlikely to tip the balance substantially. It sounds more like one or more players wanting something cool.
P.S. By the way, what magic item is it that they want to take the weeks off to create?
I agree, I think they're geared up nicely enough but they just want a new toy. And it's a custom item. Would essentially be a blowgun that casts Enlarge on the ammo, turning darts in spears/javelins, roughly 2d6 damage. Not really a dragon killer, but if it's what they want, they can. Basically combining the cost/time of making a 2nd level spell scroll and an uncommon magic item.
Oh Boy this is interesting topic thanks for posting @Kirbahmern I honestly never considered incorporating "down time" in a campaign, possibly due to the published campaigns I've run so far all having a ticking clock thematic to them. I always thought of it as something between adventures campaigns but am getting the impression I've been doing my players a disservice in this regard.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Oh Boy this is interesting topic thanks for posting @Kirbahmern I honestly never considered incorporating "down time" in a campaign, possibly due to the published campaigns I've run so far all having a ticking clock thematic to them. I always thought of it as something between adventures campaigns but am getting the impression I've been doing my players a disservice in this regard.
Downtime can be really good thing to add to your games. It allows characters to pursue things solo and a things outside of the main plot. This can lead to better character development, and allows some of the more passive players a chance to do something other than go along with the party.
Acquisitions Incorporated, the official WotC book that everyone forgets exists, has a bunch of guidelines, tables, rules, options for running downtime, headquarter development, hirelings, for running the adventuring party as a guild/business/faction etc. Xanathars also has more in-depth options for downtime like crafting.
so i dmed that adventure [only took 8-9 hours] and i know a lot can happen in 20 days [ a week is ten days in phandalin {hence the name tenday}] so maybe the ancorites have been secretly surrounding your pcs and have planned a coordinated ambush. or king gnerkl runs into them... {expositional monologue} so yeah lots of things could happen
The way i solved this issue a long time ago was to allow down time between game nights. At my normal pace games are usually the next day of adventuring. When the story allows i give 1-2 weeks of time pass "here" before we pick up at the next session.
I ask everyone to communicate what they are doing in the down time, E-mail, shared google doc, bit of paper you scribbled you ideas down on that you toss at my head drive by style when i am eating a burrito at lunch..... the nest session I have some appropriate rolls for the PCs to take and little story blurbs for the individuals. (this also helps the others settle in allowing for natural chatter between all the players occur and settle so that when i am finished they are all more or less ready to start rolling the dice again.)
I always leave off on a cliffhanger when the session are going on a day to day pace. I usually have one or two players that have been obsessing all week over what happens next so they are really ready to jump into gaming.
That said... the point to this all is to have fun, if i have learned anything in 24 years of running D&D in one form or another FUN and socialization are what this is all about.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
So I've been running Dragon of Icespire Peak and players have been enjoying and completed almost every quest. All the have left are the Woodland Manse and the dragon itself. However, they have elected to allot 2 weeks to the Artificer to craft a magic item to help in the endeavor. I did warn them that the world doesn't stop and there very well may be consequences for their actions. First time DM however, so what could be some consequences for "taking a break" near the climax of the story outside of more frequent dragon/orc raids?
Seems like your players are used to video games where you can do what you like, and the quest giver will wait patiently. Though you’ve told them otherwise, now you need to follow through on the threat, but how far you want to take it. I’ve not played that adventure, but usually 2 weeks is a lot of time in game. You could decide the enemy’s plans succeed, as no one is trying to stop them.
Less drastic could be things like an NPC they really like (but who won’t come up in the story again) dying as a result of their inaction.
You mentioned more frequent raids, so definitely do that, but have them be successful — the raiders burn food stores and now townspeople start to starve, or they burn an orphanage. Jjust generally do things that make life miserable not for the party, but for the world at large. When heroes takes a week off, everyone pays a price.
News should reach the PCs during their downtime, so that they can choose to cancel their two week delay.
They can be offered less in final rewards from any townsfolk when they return victorious afterward too, due to the extra deaths that they allowed to happen.
If the players are already ignoring "well, the raids are going to continue until the problem is dealt with", you might have to give them a consequence that will actually matter to them, such as "The orcs are increasing in number. It seems that news has spread and more orcs are coming to join the successful campaign."
What they👆all said.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
I like the idea that there's a trade-off and that they've chosen to accept the risk in order to get this magic item crafted. I think it's super appropriate that you exact some price from them but don't forget that from their point of view, they're building themselves a surefire dragon killer and the sooner it gets done, the more lives saved. They ARE actively pursuing a strategy (at the cost of a few invisible peasants, but there's no need to rub it in).
I think it's possible to square this circle by incorporating the crafting into the campaign. I think if the orcs heard that the level 5 roughnecks were holed up at the smithy crafting a dragon killing magic weapon, they might just keep a low profile and let one of their two problems solve the other. Then one of the village folk tells the characters that the dragon has stepped up its attacks. Before it only killed what it ate, but now, it's killing for sport! There are a whole bunch of frozen people statues in Phandalin town square! One of them is a memorable NPC acquaintance! And everyone seems a little frustrated and is taking it out on the players and says "I hope that damn gizmo of yours can do what you say it can!" So the stakes go up, but not in a way that invalidates their decision.
I disagree with the "punish the players for pausing." They get to move at their own pace, the one that they enjoy. This is not a game of DM vs PCs, instead you're all creating a great game together.
If there will be consequences then fine - have the party's location be attacked, and let them respond. Let their decision lead to adventure. Some classes - artificer especially - need downtime. I've played in a Curse of Strahd where we never got downtime, and the artificer felt useless.
By all means, throw them a curve ball. Actions have consequences. Continue the raids - but don't kill off a treasured NPC just to punish them. Endanger the NPC, sure. Give the PCs a hard time protecting them but mainly you should think, "This is what the bad guys are doing day by day/week." And then each day or week plays out. They may abandon their crafting midway if they feel it's needed.
If you hit them with "You stopped for a short period of time, now feel the pain!" then you're teaching them that a very minor amount of time (2 weeks is not much) not adventuring means they're failing.
You just need to get your downtime rules sorted straight, that’s the problem.
I give them X downtime weeks to spend each level, where X is the level they just graduated from. They can spend it as they please using the rules in the PHB and XGtE, or convince me of something else and I’ll try to accommodate.
Players just let me know how they wish to spend it and it is seamlessly retconed into the game. So the Artificer can spend that on progress crafting the magic item each level, which is in fact a XGtE option I believe.
Adventurers don’t just do nothing but adventure, of course they take downtime. But downtime is boring, so just retcon it using this system and the action keeps moving and you avoid situations like this.
D&D is really not designed for 'take your time', if you give people a lot of leeway for taking extra time during the adventure you wind up with the five minute workday. And no, artificers don't need downtime any more than any other class, none of their class features require more than ordinary long resting. There's no obligation to make the crafting system usable during an adventure.
This doesn't mean "punish the players for pausing", this means "keep up the pressure". If the PCs take an extended pause during the adventure, stuff should happen so the adventure becomes harder by enough to swallow any benefits they can get from the downtime.
I don't think "diminishing rewards" are necessarily "punishment." Sanvael is right that D&D isn't an adversarial contest between DM and Party. However, while a collaborator with the players, the DM is also the mediator for the world and represents it, sometimes requiring the communication of a sense of urgency, like the sort at this highpoint of this adventure. It's actually I'd say "better" story gaming to provide word of what's happening in the game world while the players take downtime to craft. So yes, the people they are "heroing" for suffer greater casualties, likely resulting in less pay out for the PCs. There may well be enmity between communities and PCs who "sat around creating their wonder weapons while ma and my kin died". That enmity may motivate the PCs to go further out into the world where they're reputation is a bit less tarnished, or to find further adventures to polish their standing in the world. I don't call any of that punishment, I call it role playing in a living world.
So player's pause. Rather than DM simply saying "Ok" DM says "Ok, and meanwhile ...." That's narration. Not penalization.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
If there aren't consequences for actions/inaction then the players start to feel like their decisions don't matter or have any impact. The game is more fun and when decisions are meaningful, so definitely make this decisions have an impact.
I'd say you could broadcast that the world keeps turning by playing up the regional effects of the white dragon lair that they might become visible over the course of the 2 weeks
Regional Effects
The region containing a legendary white dragon’s lair is warped by the dragon’s magic, which creates one or more of the following effects:
If the dragon wishes to move through a wall, it can do so without slowing down. The portion of the wall the dragon moves through is destroyed, however.
Perhaps this is an opportunity to ask your other players what they want to do while the Artificer is crafting this item, see if there's any other preparations they want to make as well. Perhaps the Barbarian wants to train some villagers on how to properly handle weapons and basic tactics. Maybe the Fighter wants to help build fortifications. Maybe the Druid is foraging materials to produce healing potions. Maybe the Rogue goes scouting and sees that the dragon is calling in reinforcements from a kobold tribe. Maybe the Ranger sets traps to help disrupt those reinforcements. Perhaps the Bard can seek out another community or tribe and persuade them for aide or reinforcements.
If ever you watch Seven Samurai, just because the samurai waited for the bandits to come to them doesn't mean they sat on their asses and did nothing; they used that time to prepare for the fight ahead. Make clear to your players that their enemy is taking advantage of these two weeks as well, and encourage them to do the same. Throw a raid or two at them along the way and let them see in what ways their preparations pay off, while giving them a taste of what the dragon has planned.
(I'd look up the module to give advice tailored more to it, but my DM is running it as well; don't wanna spoil it, y'know?)
Exactly. DM’s don’t get to be the Heroes. The story is never about us, we get no glory for the party’s victories. We don’t get PCs. We get the world. That’s us. Every villain the heroes defeat, all of the “collateral damage,” every victim, that’s our HP in a way. The players Declare their PCs do, the DM declares how the world is affected by those actions. That’s it. This is the world. (That’s why it takes so much more work than being a player.)
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
That was sort of the idea, have the others do their own thing and get news from the surrounding area. See if they decide to abandon the project early to minimize damage.
The DM decides how the world proceeds in response to the character actions.
So what would a two week delay realistically affect? Unless you have changed the story line of the module, the orcs and dragon aren't connected except for the fact that the orcs used to be in the castle until the dragon kicked them out. (unless I am recalling incorrectly). Have you had the dragon attacking isolated farms/travelers on the road etc? Taking their stuff to add to its hoard? If the dragon isn't getting any push back then it might attack Phandalin directly, killing civilians, knocking down buildings looking for gold or perhaps demanding that the town provide it tribute. That could realistically take place in a two week time window.
Similarly, the orcs are also encroaching on Phandalin as they search for a new home or perhaps raid for food and treasure. A significant force of orcs could attack without the pressure of adventurers creating risk for their activities.
It's up to the DM whether this would realistically happen in their world within a two week time window. However, whether or not these groups attack the town directly, there will be more deaths due to both groups in and around Phandalin and on the roads. Perhaps, you should make it clear to the characters that their decision to wait two weeks will likely cause the deaths of 10 to 20 people or more as the threats from the orcs and the dragon remain unchecked. It could be that the characters (or players) just aren't picking up on the connection that lots more people will die if they significantly delay.
However, perhaps the problem is that the players were allowed to get the idea that they could manufacture a magic item in the first place. Artificers don't get discounted magic item creation until level 10 (?).
The rules in Xanathar's say the following:
"Crafting Magic Items. Creating a magic item requires more than just time, effort, and materials. It is a long—term process that involves one or more adventures to track down rare materials and the lore needed to create the item."
"To start with, a character needs a formula for a magic item in order to create it. The formula is like a recipe. It lists the materials needed and steps required to make the item. An item invariably requires an exotic material to complete it. This material can range from the skin of a yeti to a vial of water taken from a whirlpool on the Elemental Plane of Water. Finding that material should take place as part of an adventure. The Magic ltem Ingredients table suggests the challenge rating of a creature that the characters need to face to acquire the materials for an item. Note that facing a creature does not necessarily mean that the characters must collect items from its corpse. Rather, the creature might guard a location or a resource that the characters need access to."
So for the party to even consider making a magic item, the DM has provided the party with a formula along with the opportunity to encounter several creatures from whom the components needed to manufacture the item can be found. The characters need all this in addition to 2 weeks time and 200gp crafting costs for an uncommon item - assuming that they have the skill proficiencies needed since for magic boots for example, the character needs to proficient at leather working or being a cobbler.
As always, it is up to the DM, but for the level range of DoIP, the party might be unlikely to be capable of manufacturing a magic item without derailing the plot a bit as they hunt for components.
Another consideration is what magic item could be so valuable in the fight against the dragon as to spend two weeks creating it? There is already a dragon slaying sword as well as at least one or two magical weapons available. Making one magic item seems unlikely to tip the balance substantially. It sounds more like one or more players wanting something cool.
Finally, the easiest thing to do is just let them spend two weeks of downtime while the party makes the magic item. Narrate the deaths that occur while the players aren't out fighting the bad guys, give the party the magic item and get on with the real story.
P.S. By the way, what magic item is it that they want to take the weeks off to create?
I agree, I think they're geared up nicely enough but they just want a new toy. And it's a custom item. Would essentially be a blowgun that casts Enlarge on the ammo, turning darts in spears/javelins, roughly 2d6 damage. Not really a dragon killer, but if it's what they want, they can. Basically combining the cost/time of making a 2nd level spell scroll and an uncommon magic item.
Oh Boy this is interesting topic thanks for posting @Kirbahmern
I honestly never considered incorporating "down time" in a campaign, possibly due to the published campaigns I've run so far all having a ticking clock thematic to them. I always thought of it as something between adventures campaigns but am getting the impression I've been doing my players a disservice in this regard.
“It cannot be seen, cannot be felt, Cannot be heard, cannot be smelt, It lies behind stars and under hills, And empty holes it fills, It comes first and follows after, Ends life, kills laughter.” J.R.R. Tolkien, The Hobbit, or There and Back Again
Downtime can be really good thing to add to your games. It allows characters to pursue things solo and a things outside of the main plot. This can lead to better character development, and allows some of the more passive players a chance to do something other than go along with the party.
Acquisitions Incorporated, the official WotC book that everyone forgets exists, has a bunch of guidelines, tables, rules, options for running downtime, headquarter development, hirelings, for running the adventuring party as a guild/business/faction etc. Xanathars also has more in-depth options for downtime like crafting.
so i dmed that adventure [only took 8-9 hours] and i know a lot can happen in 20 days [ a week is ten days in phandalin {hence the name tenday}] so maybe the ancorites have been secretly surrounding your pcs and have planned a coordinated ambush. or king gnerkl runs into them... {expositional monologue} so yeah lots of things could happen
max wuz hire
The way i solved this issue a long time ago was to allow down time between game nights. At my normal pace games are usually the next day of adventuring. When the story allows i give 1-2 weeks of time pass "here" before we pick up at the next session.
I ask everyone to communicate what they are doing in the down time, E-mail, shared google doc, bit of paper you scribbled you ideas down on that you toss at my head drive by style when i am eating a burrito at lunch..... the nest session I have some appropriate rolls for the PCs to take and little story blurbs for the individuals. (this also helps the others settle in allowing for natural chatter between all the players occur and settle so that when i am finished they are all more or less ready to start rolling the dice again.)
I always leave off on a cliffhanger when the session are going on a day to day pace. I usually have one or two players that have been obsessing all week over what happens next so they are really ready to jump into gaming.
That said... the point to this all is to have fun, if i have learned anything in 24 years of running D&D in one form or another FUN and socialization are what this is all about.