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I'm fairly new to D&D 5e, but I have played some Pathfinder and 3.5e, so I have some experience with D&D. We are playing our current game in 5e by the rules as written.

Our DM had our party encounter a Mezzoloth (MM, p. 313) with 3-4 other enemies two sessions ago. We are level 6. We fled because we didn't prepare well enough for the fight and the terrain was working again us. At some point afterwards, he threw a cloudkill spell at us and we all nearly died, so we fled again.

Last game, we found the new location of the same Mezzoloth and decided to kill it, since the terrain was to our advantage this time (they were in a small room). About 16 hours elapsed between our two encounters.

The mezloth at some point cast cloudkill again. How does the mezzoloth's cloudkill spell work? The statblock says the mezzoloth can cast it with a frequency of "1/day". Does this mean it resets at midnight, or does it have to wait 24 hours between each use?

illustro
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ordi
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1 Answers1

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Abilities like this recharge after the monster takes a Long Rest

Monster's can have X/Day abilities that recharge. Your question is essentially "when do they recharge". The "Limited Usage" portion of the Statistics section at the front of the Monster Manual provides this answer.

X/Day. The notation "X/Day" means a special ability can be used X number of times and that a monster must finish a long rest to regain expended uses. For example, "1/Day" means a special ability can be used once and that monster must finish a long rest to use it again.

A monster, like any other creature, can only take 1 Long Rest per 24 hour period, and a Long Rest takes 8 hours to complete (unless there are exceptions specifically noted for that monster).

You have noted that ~16 hours passed between the two encounters, which is more than enough time for a Long Rest to have been taken by the Mezzoloth.

illustro
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