New Research Downtime action: Discovering Formulae (D&D 5e)

While some adventurers might rely on discovering formulae for crafting magical items among the plunder of their fallen foes, others prefer to be more proactive. By using the Research downtime action a character can seek a formulae for the creation of a magic item.

An attempt to discover a formulae requires access to an appropriate source of information. If the character seeks lost knowledge they might need to spend their time in a library. If they are attempting to create an enchantment formulae from scratch they need some form of arcane laboratory. Craftsmen seeking to unlock the secrets of masterworks will need fully equipped workspaces in addition to their normal tools.

Rarity	Difficulty	Research Time
Common	20	30 days
Uncommon	21	90  days
Rare	23	180  days
Very Rare	24	365 days
Legendary	29	730 days

Each attempt to research a formulae takes a number of days. Once these days have been spent combing through material the character can make in Intelligence check. If the character has the appropriate proficiency they can add their proficiency bonus to the discovery roll. Researching new methods of enchanting an item uses the Arcana skill while craftsmen use their relevant tool proficiency. Attempting to rediscover a formulae from history in a library may use either Investigation or History, but increases the difficulty of the roll by 5.

If the roll is unsuccessful then the character makes progress, gaining a +1 to further attempts to research the same formulae. Such benefits are cumulative, so five unsuccessful rolls will yield a +5 bonus on the sixth. However, to make further rolls they must perform the Research action again from the beginning. If they roll a natural 20 but still do not succeed at the discovery roll they make substantial progress, receiving an additional +1 bonus to their attempts to unlock the formulae.

If the player rolls a 1 something has gone horribly wrong. If the character has made enough progress in their research to have at least a +3 bonus they may have gone down a blind alley in their research. In this case roll a d8 and subtract the rolled value from their bonus. This may result in a penalty if the rolled value is greater than the achieved research. Alternately, the character may discover that they are missing a key component for their research. While it is likely that such formulae will need rare ingredients, components, or locations for completion, generally they can be discovered without such things. The character knows what the required component is, but not necessarily where or how to get it. If the character is doing historical research they similarly discover that they need a specific tome or type of text which is similarly difficult to find.

Multiple researchers can cooperate by working together. Each coordinating researcher must pay the same cost for research materials and requires lifestyle expenditures. Often a master will do this with their apprentices, covering all costs as part of the apprenticeship. Each person who spends a day in coordination performing the Research downtime action contributes a day worth of progress. However, no more than four researchers can coordinate in this manner. If a researcher leaves a collaboration but later attempts to continue the research on their own they may be able to resume the research alone later. If they contributed a day worth of research on the day the group made a research roll, the individual may use the bonus the group had achieved for their future research.

When a successful research roll is made they create a complete a copy of the formulae. Generally, wizards and historians produce this copy as a book with the written formulae, while craftsmen produce either a text or some physical demonstration of the concepts. While none of these items have any magical properties of their own, they are sufficient for any character to use to execute the formulae. A character can use the Training downtime action to commit a formulae to memory. If they do so they are able to execute it without such an item. Similarly, an individual who knows the formulae can teach it to another through the Training downtime action.

Rarity	Value
Common	50 gp
Uncommon	250 gp
Rare	1,500 gp
Very Rare	2,500 gp
Legendary	5,000 gp

If a character wants to create a copy of a formulae it requires the Crafting downtime action. The investment of time and energy needed to create such reproductions makes them rare. Further, their undeniable flexibility makes them all the more valuable.

~~*~~

As I say at the outset; some adventurers prefer to be more proactive than to find formulae amongst treasure. Personally, I find giving formulae as part of treasure to be half-assed on the part of a DM; you're giving a magic item, but not really. Leaving the actualization of the item to the spellcaster, almost inevitably placing them at odds with most of the party that just wants to get on to the next adventure rather than sitting around, waiting for the spellcaster to enchant things. While I understand the desire to control the magic items coming into a campaign, the idea of doing so through the distribution of magic item creation formulae as part of treasure is insane to me. My players would revolt if they thought that I was giving them the formulae to a +1 sword rather than just giving them the sword. and I'd have to agree with them.
For the vast majority of characters there is less than no benefit to receiving a formulae rather than the completed item. Further, for those who would value the formulae, getting it as treasure would still feel cheap. So, I decided to generate these rules; a way for a character to discover formulae without them being randomly (or deliberately) thrown out as part of treasure. If spellcasters are going to spend downtime on enchantment I'd rather give them methods to take that process from start to finish; concept to concrete expression. If I'm going to say no to the idea, rather than stringing them along and maybe giving them a formulae to create, I'll tell them I don't want something in my game. Brutal honesty; it leads to less hurt feelings all the way around. Meanwhile, if they can con the rest of the party into sitting in town long enough to enchant a thing, they can probably convince them to sit around long enough to research the thing to enchant. Compared to, if they can't even convince the party to sit still long enough to research how are you going to get them to sit still long enough to enchant...