Earning income during downtime is described on pages 236-237 of the CRB. The basic idea is that you look for a job using your skills, then depending on skills and circumstances your GM offers you a job (or selection thereof) and payment (per day) gets determined using a skill check.
So, in the simplest form it is income x days using table 4-2 page 236 CRB. You can find precalculated values in a spreadsheet I made.
Determining task level and success
In PFS the task level for the job is your character level minus 2. Table 1 shows the task levels for each character level between 1 and 12 as well as the DC (taken from page 503 CRB).
| Level of Character | Task level | DC |
| 1 | 0 | 14 |
| 2 | 0 | 14 |
| 3 | 1 | 15 |
| 4 | 2 | 16 |
| 5 | 3 | 18 |
| 6 | 4 | 19 |
| 7 | 5 | 20 |
| 8 | 6 | 22 |
| 9 | 7 | 23 |
| 10 | 8 | 24 |
| 11 | 9 | 26 |
| 12 | 10 | 27 |
A normal skill check is being done and success or failure determines how much money you get. Critical failure always means no income (you are fired immediately) while a critical success allows you to earn the same amount as success but for a task level of +1. Always check Table 4-2 page 236 for the exact amount (per day).
At higher level these also can be different depending on your proficiency rank (trained, expert, master).
Number of Days for downtime
The number of days available during downtime primarily depends if you have done a Quest or a Scenario. Each quest allows 2 days of downtime while each scenario allows for 8 days of downtime. You get an extra 50% days if you are a field agent.
| Quest | Scenario | |
| Pathfinder Training | 2 | 8 |
| Field Commissioned | 3 | 12 |
You make one check for each block of 8 days. This means as a field commissioned agent you roll once for the first 8 days and once for the remaining 4 days.
The number of days might be less if you spent time for other tasks (mainly retraining). Remove any of these days from the start of your downtime. A character retraining a class feature for 7 days after a scenario would get 8-7 = 1 days of downtime. Remember that downtime is done in blocks of 8 days – so a field commissioned might end up as 8-7 = 1 days check 1 and + 4 days check 2.
Players should know if / how many days they use for other circumstances as earning money and should tell the GM ahead of the roll.
Skills allowed for downtime
Lore: Any lore no matter how obscure can be used to earn income during downtime. This means every character has at least one lore skill from his background that can be used. Just make a skill check using your skill level plus d20 vs the DC.
Crafting is likely the second most used skill for income. It is important here to distinguish that you use your crafting skill and don’t Craft a specific item. This means any bonus for specialty crafting doesn’t apply to the role. Example: my level 4 dwarven paladin of Torag is expert in crafting. He therefore has an effective skill of +7 for the downtime check. He does not apply his +1 circumstance bonus as specialty crafting blacksmith as it is unknown what he actually crafts in this time.
Performance is a great skill to use if this is a primary skill for income. Who doesn’t want to pay some coin for a bard entertaining the bar?
Other skills need a specific feat or can’t be used to earn income during the downtime. The table below shows some feats that interact with the earning income
| Feat | Source | Skill / effect |
| City Scavenger | Goblin 1 | Survival or Society |
| Bargain Hunter | Skill 1 | Diplomacy |
| Experienced professional | Skill 1 | avoids critical failures |