One effect at home, one on the road
In the hall. Every day a hero rests at home, some of their stress comes off. A Homebody’s daily stress recovery is multiplied by 1.25 while they are resting in the hall. The recovery rate itself grows with how stressed they are (about 6% of current stress per day, with a minimum of 0.6), so the trait saves the most on heroes coming home badly frayed.
On long quests. When a quest of 14 days or more ends, a Homebody loses 5 morale on top of whatever the result gave or took. That is applied whatever the outcome. Shorter quests and ordinary delves carry no penalty.
The home half in numbers
Stress follows a hero home after every delve, and over about 72 they stop counting as fit for selection (see hero state). A hero who returns at 60 stress sheds about 3.6 a day at first; a Homebody sheds about 4.5. Over a typical gap between fixtures that adds up to several points, which is often the difference between selecting a hero as fresh and resting them another round. The bonus never costs anything, and it applies every time they are home.
The road half in numbers
Quests already move morale when they end: +10 for a triumph, +2 for a mixed result, −8 for an ill-fated or lost one. The Homebody’s −5 stacks on top:
| Long quest result | Ordinary hero | Homebody |
|---|---|---|
| Triumph | +10 | +5 |
| Mixed | +2 | −3 |
| Ill-fated or lost | −8 | −13 |
Morale never drifts back up on its own, so a Homebody used regularly on long contracts slides steadily downward. Low morale has its own costs: below 25, an ordinary hero may refuse to be selected at all, and higher renewal asks follow unhappy heroes into the oath talks.
Other places it shows up
- Expedition jobs dislike it. Expedition postings (10–14 days) list Homebody among the traits they would rather not take, which takes 6% off that hero’s suitability. Expeditions run long enough to trigger the −5 as well.
- Forks in the dungeon. As party leader, a Homebody leans +2 toward the known path. With nothing pulling the other way, they take a side room only about 20% of the time it is offered.
- Flavour. Quest reports have Homebody lines, and on pair duty the hero speaks with the “quiet” voice shared with Stoic, Quiet Example, Lone Wolf and Cool-Headed.
The hero card links Homebody to Composure. That link is descriptive and does not change the attribute.
Using a Homebody
- Delves over long quests. Their natural home is the regular delve rotation with rest in the hall between runs, where both halves of the trait point the right way.
- Short quests are fine. Bounties (3–6 days) and gear hunts (5–8 days) never reach 14 days.
- Keep them off expeditions and the longest sellsword contracts, which are the jobs most likely to cross the 14-day line.
- Pair with stress tools. A Hopeful party-mate trims wave stress for everyone in the Deep, and Deep-Seasoned halves it for the hero carrying it; a Homebody then clears whatever is left faster at home.
Conflicts and rarity
Homebody can never appear with Restless or Road-Hardened, the hero built for the long road.
- Rarity: common, neutral · draw weight 100 of 6,365 · about 1 recruit in 25
- Founding draft: any card.
- In the wiki’s archive: first present in the 2.1.8 build (absent from 2.0.7).
Recruiting
A small positive for a guild that delves from home most of the time, and a small negative for one that relies on long quests for income. Price it by your schedule: if your heroes rarely leave for two weeks at a time, a Homebody is simply a hero who recovers faster.