Spell-like and supernatural abilites daily uses

[zaragoz]

Hi from Spain

Honestly, sometimes there are game situations that makes me doubt about the clarity of the rules.
I'm meaning about the use of spell-like and supernatural abilities. Spell system is well detailed. You must rest some time and then you prepare your spells, or not, if you are an spontaneous caster.

But what happens if you are, for example, a cleric and have spent your daily uses of channel energy?
Maybe that you possess an ability that works 1/day. What about this?

I remember that in old D&D and AD&D, we ruled that this type of powers could be used XX times per every natural day (that is abilities were reloaded at midnight though that were a little unnatural), but I also read some supplement that stated you have to wait 24 hours between uses. When you only have 1 use, that rule could be easy, but if you are a cleric with 6 o more uses of channel energy, keep tracking of the exact momento of every use is madness.

I'd appreciate any idea.

Greetings

[RuyanVe]

Greetings, fellow traveller.

I have SP's and SU's recharge at the same time as the cleric PC prays for new spells - simple and smooth.

Ruyan.

[Ilja]

I generally let them refresh when the characters has rested, except for sp/su abilities from divine caster classes (like wild shape, lay on hands and channel) where I let them refresh the abilities when they prepare their spells.

Note that divine spellcasters do not require sleep to prepare their spells; rather, they have a set time where they do it every day.

[Grimmy]

Not sure if it's bad forum etiquette to necro, but I was about to start this same topic and it seems harmless to bump this one instead.

I'm leaning towards a natural day being the 24 hour period from midnight to midnight but I would like to hear how others do this and why.

[seebs]

FWIW, I am all for using old threads instead of starting new ones on existing topics.

I think it's up to setting and character. Clerical spells are typically "sunrise" or "sunset" or something. Or you could pick midnight. Anything works as long as you're reasonably consistent about it.

[wraithstrike]

For simplicity and tracking 24 hours. I go from sunrise(or character wakeup) until the next one. Sometimes that might mean adding or subtracting a few hours if they wake up at 6AM instead of 9AM, but it has never really mattered. Unless someone tried to game the system I will keep doing it that that way.

[Ascalaphus]

For clerics it feels natural to refresh them at the hour that the cleric also refreshes spells - that's the holy clock he's on.

For most others, I'd say that 8 hours of rest seems most natural; just like sorcerers, except for the focus time.

[DM Grimmy]

I'm leaning towards midnight-midnight. Everything else is seeming arbitrary and leading to needlessly complicated scenarios.

I can't find anything about a rest requirement anywhere for (sp)'s and (su)'s and other abilities with uses per day. I don't think there is one.

I like that holy clock notion but I'd rather have uniformity I guess.

If I get up at 6AM and use smite evil on an enemy, go back to bed until 8 and then start my day, how many uses of smite evil have I used today? 0 or 1? I say one, because 6AM was today, even though I hadn't had breakfast yet.

[wraithstrike]

I agree there is no rest requirement mentioned, but most parties rest and wake up at about the same time, in my experience, so that helps keep track of the 24-hour(per day)/reset time.

I am only speaking for myself, not the other posters.

[Grimmy]

I hear you, but I'm running an exploration heavy sandbox hex-crawl, and there are lots of rest interruptions throughout the night.

[Diego Rossi]

It can depend with the ability.
- A magus arcane point are recharged when he memorize spells (I have a magus and in some occasion I had to stay up all or part of the night, so I checked that);
- some wizard school ability can be changed when you memorize your spell but then stay up until you change it;
- some have X uses/day;
- some ability say they recharge every 24 hours (or some other amount of time);
- a good number of hex can be used on the same time only after 24 hours have elapsed from the last use on him.

So there is not a rule that is applied in all instances.

As a general rule that see several exceptions, I use:
- Arcane spellcasters and alchemists recharge their class powers when they prepare their spells for the day. they need to have rested as required for recharging the arcane spells. The powers used in the last 8 hours aren't recharged.
- Divine spellcasters recharge their class powers when they prepare their spells. They don't need to have rested. The powers used in the last 8 hours aren't recharged.

Generally for powers that have a small number of daily uses I will allow to recover the uses used during the 8 hours before spell preparation at a later time during the day, after the 8 hours from the last use have elapsed (if someone can put this phrase in a more readable form, he is welcome, English isn't my first language).

Abilities with a set number of daily uses for creatures and classes that aren't arcane or divine casters are generally reset as preset daily moments (daybreak, sundown, midnight, midday) as appropriate for the creature or power (a undead or damper powers will recharge at sundown, for most living creature at daybreak) or after rest.

For NPC that generally isn't so important as (most of the time) they don't have a chance to recover their powers. For player character the most important thing is to be coherent.
Luckily generally they don't have so many powers that you need to track.

Note about barbarian (again a personal interpretation of the rules): staying up all the night make you fatigued (it is in one Dev reply and maybe even in the FAQs) so a barbarian shouldn't recover his rage, but if he receive a lesser restoration or has other ways to remove the fatigue he would receive the full amount of his rage rounds.