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I've heard about dailies but I'm new to D&D and will be starting a game with the D&D Next playtest materials.

Are there any daily powers in the pre-generated character sheets we will be using?

SevenSidedDie
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user1305
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3 Answers3

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'Dailies' or 'Daily powers', as seen in 3.5/4e are once-per-day special abilities. These differ from 'Encounter Powers' which are used once-per-encounter and 'At-Will' powers usable all the time.

In 5e there's no specific 'Daily Powers' - instead you get allotted a certain amount of uses of your class features, such as Wild Shape, Ki, or Rage per day. At lower levels this will be 1/day but the number of times you can use your powers will increase as your class level increases. However, some feats are still specifically once-per-day - for example Distant Spell, Maximize Spell, etc.

Also as mentioned below, a 'day' is specifically the time between long rests for your party, not a calendar day.

(Edited to clarify how the allotment of resources works and added a note on Feats).

The Forest And The Trees
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    Welcome to the site! 3.5 has 1/day type of powers, doesn't it? I suspect the poster would find it relevant to his question to know if D&D Next carried over any of that mechanic. And when you have 20+ rep, feel free to join the chat! – BESW Jul 08 '13 at 11:00
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    Yes, I was going to add that dailies have existed prior to 4th edition and in-general are part of the traditional D&D wizard class sterotype and many tropes. – Joshua Aslan Smith Jul 08 '13 at 15:19
  • Also, certain martial classes in 4e have a list of dailies from which they choose a number (smaller) to use that day rather than having a group of fixed dailies as with other classes. – Joshua Aslan Smith Jul 08 '13 at 15:27
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Yes

Classes such as the Monk, Wizard, and Cleric have "Dailies" or powers that you can use once per day. The classes mentioned above get a limited number of high power spells to use each day and once those uses are done, you are stuck with low level spells (orisons, cantrips) and weapon attacks until after your next extended rest.

It's important to explain that a day in the case of dialies is not a chronological day, but rather the period of time between extended/long rests. This period known as an adventuring day should be roughly the course of time of a chronological day, but some groups will try to game the system and take extended rests as often as possible (opinion: in essence power game).

Joshua Aslan Smith
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An important thing to remember is that D&D Next doesn't have a standardized list of powers like D&D 4th edition. Instead each Class, Item, Monsters has a list of specific abilities with a description on how to use them along with how often you use them.

The overall design is setup not to make each element (Class/Item/Monster) a balanced part of a game but rather reflect how it exists in the implied setting of D&D Next. The implied setting of D&D Next at this point is a generic vaguely medieval fantasy world involving, among other things, the exploration of wildernesses and dungeons. If something has an ability usable once a day it because it made sense for that element in the D&D world to be that way.

This focus of the design is the major difference between D&D Next and its predecessor D&D 4th edition.

RS Conley
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  • It is worth noting at this point that thanks to careful design Next seems to be doing a pretty decent job in the balance aspect as well. Certainly better than earlier editions, though probably not as balanced as 4e due to system constraints. – Eldebryn Jul 14 '13 at 09:25