What quests are time sensitive?
The only consistent way to tell if a quest is time sensitive or not is to pay attention to the initial dialogue. Usually the NPC giving the quest will tell you in one of three ways:
- You must arrive at a specific location at a certain time
- If an NPC is waiting for you at a nearby location, even if they do not specify a time, they will not wait forever, this can vary wildly from quest to quest
- If the next requirement for a quest is simply to 'travel to ___ town,' then the quest is usually not time sensitive (unless explicitly stated)
In addition, here are the quests that I know for a fact are time sensitive (Warning: some minor spoliers):
"Waldensians" is time sensitive
The executioners quest "Money for Old Rope," the executioner tells you he can only hold off the execution for a week.
"In God's Hands," Refugees will start dying if they haven't received treatment. They'll die one at a time.
"Pestilence," villagers will start dying if they don't receive the treatment in time. You need to know how to read before you start this quest, because the reading quest takes days.
Main quest "On the scent" has different endings if you try to finish the quest immediately vs. waiting and doing other things before finishing this quest. The timer doesn't start until after you complete the limpy lubosh quest. The quest that follows it very likely has a similar timer for the same reason, but I haven't tested it.
"Miracles while you wait," at least the last component (receiving the burial shroud) has a time limit, as a funeral doesn't last forever. It's best to handle this objective as soon as you get it, because otherwise you'll never be able to finish it.
"Rob from the rich," This doesn't have a timer exactly, but the vagabond for me has ended up in the stocks, in no position to receive the last item from the activity line from me. He's been there for an inhumane time. Be wary of nonessential NPC's effected by random events.
House of God quest has different endings regarding the survival of the mason who finds the skull. The quest puts you on a timer if you agree to meet at the scaffold where you have a very limited amount of time to reach the guy (who you may or may not be able to find at all due to bugs).
In addition to Nick's answer...
"Rob the Rich, Give to the Poor" is not time-sensitive. It was bugged, but then fixed via patch, at least for a PC version.
Other time-sensitive quests:
- "...Is a Friend Indeed" - needs to be completed in less than a week.
- "The Sport of Kings" - you need to show up for a race at noon the day after speaking to the stablemaster.
“At your service my lady” is also a timed quest. The quest has a timer of a week though so you shouldn’t need to panic. However I would recommend having a bow skill of at least 5 if you want to win an item!