Research

The world contains many secrets waiting to be discovered and understood. Such things are generally only truly able to be understood with field research or with more experience, yet it is never unwise to go to a library and seek past knowledge to aid in your current endeavors, or simply run tests in a safer, and academic environment.  

Requirements

Agree with a DM to to run the activity with.  

Resources

A character needs access to a well stocked library, 1 Downtime Point and at least 50 gp spent on materials, library costs, etc. You gain a +1 bonus per 100 gp spent beyond the initial 50 gp to checks on this activity, to a maximum of +6.  

Resolution

Contact a Dungeon Master and inform them of the focus of your character's research: a specific creature, person, place, or thing. Once that's done make an Investigation check and consult the Research Table. You may ask of number of questions about the subject you researched according to the table, the DM may allow tangential questions if they pop up (for instance if your research reveals a location after the first question you may ask your second question about the location, etc.) but may curate the questions how they wish.  

DC	Result
1-5	You find nothing of use.
6-10	DM will only tell you something interesting about the subject.
11-20	DM will tell you something important about the subject.
21-25	DM will tell you something useful about the subject, this counts as a research success.
26-30	DM will tell you something very useful about the subject, this counts as two research successes.
31+	DM will tell you something incredibly useful about the subject, this counts as three research successes

 

Pre-quest Action

You may spend the day before a quest researching the objective, location, wildlife, or some other element involved in the quest. You make the rolls before the quest starts with the DM approving them and answering your questions based on your roll. Pre-quest research could use different rolls depending on how your character intends to search for information. At the DM's discretion you can use a charisma or some other check instead of investigation.   The DM has final say on what information is revealed. For a monster or an NPC, they can reveal elements of statistics or personality. For a location, they can reveal secrets about it, such as a hidden entrance, the answer to a riddle, or the nature of a creature that guards the place. However this is all up to the DM to decide and what information can be obtained through this manner.  

Research success

Many downtime activities will ask you to have a certain number of research checks in order to gain something from them. These checks are earned from the Research table.