1/day is how often, exactly?

[War Golem]

If a creature has an item or innate ability that is usable 1/day, how exactly do you DMs adjudicate this?

Often, it's not a big deal, but we had a situation the other night where the vagueness of this rule smacked us upside our collective heads. The party was attacked in the middle of their second watch, about 2 AM. One of the cleric's used an item ability (per rules, usable 1/day) during this melee. When exactly is this item usable again? The cleric wanted to know if the item could be used again later that day (say, around 6 PM). (Would your answer change if the melee had taken place at 9 PM instead of 2 AM?)

For what it's worth, this cleric normally prays for her spells at dawn. I don't know if that is relevant for an item, but maybe it would be for an innate ability? Another example - a demon that casts fireball 1/day?

If this is explained in the rulebook somewhere, my apologies - please just give me a page number to point me in the right direction.

Thanks.

 

[Crothian]

I treat it like casters. They choose a particuliar time and that's when the day is over. For generic creatures I use after they rest.

 

[Magic Rub]

Our group works it like this...

Every PC has it's own prep-time. IE praying, study, meditation time, whatever depending on the PC. That time is also the cut-off/regen point for their magic items. You could also pick one time for the whole group (what ever works better).

So for example say the Group item regen time is 7am.

PC-x uses his wand of chickens, which summons 28.3d30 dire chickens Once per day.

a) If PC-x uses that wand at 6:58am, he will be able to use it again at 7am. (only 2 min's later) Because to that specific Item a new day begins every 24hrs starting at 7am (assuming you're using a 24hr day.)

b) If PC-x uses that wand at 7:00 & 1 second (am) he will not be able to use that wand again till 7am THE NEXT DAY.



It really matters very little how you work it as long as the system is the same for every single time regulated item. You could work it by having 24hr's between every single use. ie) Use the Chicken wand at 11:43: & 2 seconds, then not being able to use it again till the same time 24hrs later. But that would SUCK for the DM!!!!! & be a pain to keep track of for the PC.

PC "what time is it"
DM "I don't know... it's like 9:45ish?"
PC "oh..."

2 minutes later REAL TIME

PC "what time is it"
DM "I don't know... it's like 10:00ish?"
PC "oh..."

1 minute later REAL TIME

PC "what time is it, NOW"
DM "I told you it's like 10:00ish?"
PC "oh..."

3 minutes later REAL TIME

PC "what time is it, NOW"
(sound of DM choking PC to death!)

 

[AuraSeer]

IIRC, the rule is that the total uses rest 24 hours after the first use.

Example:
My helm of teleportation lets me teleport 3 times per day. I use it once at noon on Monday, then again at sunset, then once more at midnight. At noon on Tuesday (24 hrs after the first use), it resets, and I have 3 charges available.

I think I read this in Deities & Demigods, but I wouldn't swear to that.

 

[War Golem]

Our group works it like this...

Every PC has it's own prep-time. IE praying, study, meditation time, whatever depending on the PC. That time is also the cut-off/regen point for their magic items. You could also pick one time for the whole group (what ever works better).

So for example say the Group item regen time is 7am.

PC-x uses his wand of chickens, which summons 28.3d30 dire chickens Once per day.

a) If PC-x uses that wand at 6:58am, he will be able to use it again at 7am. (only 2 min's later) Because to that specific Item a new day begins every 24hrs starting at 7am (assuming you're using a 24hr day.)

b) If PC-x uses that wand at 7:00 & 1 second (am) he will not be able to use that wand again till 7am THE NEXT DAY.

I think I agree with this approach, except being able to use a 1/day ability or item 2 times within a time span of a few minutes still bothers me. I'm inclined to play it this way but also rule that a minimum of 8 hours (a normal rest period for most creatures) must pass between any consecutive uses.

This is pretty much how I called it in our game the other night; I just wasn't sure if I was forgetting an official rule for handling this.

 

[Gez]

I consider it's after rest. There should be at least 8 hours of rest between two uses of a "once per day" ability. Furthermore, it can't be used thrice in a 24 hours period. In extenso, if you use it at 22h30, rest from 23h00 to 8h30 and then use it again at 9h45; that's fine. But if you try to rest again at 10h00 until 18h30 to use it again at 19h00, that's not fine. You'll have to wait until 0h01 tomorrow.


All that is provided a day lasts about 24 hours. With days of 10 hours or days of 54 hours, I would consider houseruling.

 

[Berk]

For things that have a daily limit I usually follow the magic midnight rule.

 

[Antikinesis]

I consider it's after rest. There should be at least 8 hours of rest between two uses of a "once per day" ability. Furthermore, it can't be used thrice in a 24 hours period. In extenso, if you use it at 22h30, rest from 23h00 to 8h30 and then use it again at 9h45; that's fine. But if you try to rest again at 10h00 until 18h30 to use it again at 19h00, that's not fine. You'll have to wait until 0h01 tomorrow.
All that is provided a day lasts about 24 hours.

Hmm... wouldn't the reset requirements have been met at 22h31? If you have wait until 0h01, that's limiting it to one use in a 25.5 hr period.

Just nit-picking.

-AK

 

[0-hr]

Barring an official rule, I would treat it just like a wizard who can cast Sleep once per day. The ability comes back in the morning, but any use during the prior 8 hours counts against the next day. The requirements for rest and study time would not apply.

 

[The Souljourner]

I like the 8 hour calendar day rule. Only once per calendar day, and there must be 8 hours between uses. So 11:59pm use... then 7:59am, ok. 12:01am use... gotta wait til 12:01 am the next day.

That seems perfectly fair.

-The Souljourner