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Introduction:

The purpose of this page is to set forth the rules and clarifications regarding the timing of magic use in Therra.

There are two basic classifications of magic with regard to timing. The first is the regaining of spells. The second is the regaining of other magic, specifically abilities and magic items that are usable a certain amount or times per day.

The basic 3.5 edition D&D rules are silent on precisely how the regaining of daily magic works. Specifically, it does not state whether an item or ability that is usable X times per day regains those uses at some given time of day each day, or whether each use of the item cannot be used again until 24 hours have passed.

There are strong arguments for each interpretation. The former, which I will term "Time-Specific (or TS)" means that the DM must set a time at which magic items reset. There is really no way that the denizens of such a world would not realize this time and, accordingly, plan for it. This means that raids, assaults, and even entire armies that are heavily based on daily abilities would take into account the fact that if you save your TS abilities and begin your offensive actions just before the reset time, then you can essentially double your effective uses of those abilities and items.

For example, consider a force of eladrins who have the ability to cast a lightning bolt 3/day, and let's say they want to attack a group of fiends. If TS items and abilities reset at midnight, then if the eladrins mount their assault at 11:55 PM, they can cast all 3 lightning bolts in 5 minutes and then, at 12:01 AM they regain the use of 3 more lightning bolts, effectively giving them the use of 6 lightning bolts in a 10 minute battle.

Of course, thereafter the eladrins will be without lightning bolts for the next 24 hours, until the next midnight. So over time this advantage fades away. And of course the defending fiends will also have their abilities usable in the same manner. But it does mean that denizens of the world will plan accordingly, and attackers with TS going up against defenders without TS will certainly arrange their actions to occur at the reset time.

On the other hand, the use of the 24 hour reset method (or "24") means that users of such items and abilities lose flexibility should they run into encounters that do not fall along a steady 24 hours interval.

While the basic 3.5 edition rules are silent, page 221 of The Magic Item Compendium, states: "Unless otherwise noted, any item with daily uses regains all of those charges at dawn each day."

This, then, is official pronouncement that the TS interpretation is correct for magic items. It is therefore logical to assume that X per day abilities work in the same fashion.

But even so, a problem arises. The D&D world is one of instantaneous travel over long distances, especially at higher levels. This means that in any campaign world where the sun moves (or the earth spins), there will be issues of time zones. If the sun moves across the sky in a campaign world, even in one where the world is a flat disc and the sun descends into the underworld at night, different parts of the world will experience different times of day. If the sun is just rising in the east, then it will not yet be visible in the west. The east will be at dawn and the west will still be in nighttime.

The world of Therra is, like most D&D worlds, a sphere. As such, it has time zones for all of the same reasons that the real earth does, despite the fact that Therra is stationary and the sun moves around it, rather than vice versa. When the sun rises over Morakki Lands, it is night in Onlor.

This means, if TS reset at dawn, the question arises as to whose dawn? If the answer is simply "dawn", then all sorts of abuses open up. What happens if a PC waits for dawn, regains his abilities, uses them, and then teleports westward to catch the dawn an hour later? Does he regain all of his TS again an hour after having previously regained them? I could see elite forces in such a world having specialized mages who teleport them in the midst of a battle to the dawn and then back to the battle and then back to dawn and so forth.

I could envision powerful mages setting up permanent teleportation circles in towers along an east-west axis so that they can always have a dawn every 2 hours at any point in time. In effect such an arrangement would allow all TS to recharge every 2 hours.

Neither of these is acceptable, and this is why it has been ruled that Therra has a definitive, objective "dawn" for magic items and a quasi objective dawn for spellcasters.

Regaining Spells:

Regaining spells is fairly clear in D&D. All spellcasters have a time of day wherein they "recharge" their spells. This time is entirely different from the actual casting of their spells, and because of this feature, spells work differently from TS. In essence, spells work much more like the 24 method detailed above.

A spellcaster has a daily allotment of spells prepared or spell slots. Under normal circumstances a spellcaster can never prepare a spell or regain a given slot more than once in a 24 hours period. Note the distinction here between prepare and cast. A caster CAN cast a given spell from a given slot more than once in a 24 hours period. But he cannot prepare a spell more than once ina 24 hours period. This is why spellcasting can use the 24 system and not disadvantage the PCs or hinder their flexibility.

Example: Vivane prepares her spells at 2 PM on day 1. She can now cast all of her spells. She cannot regain those spells until 2 PM on day 2. However, she can cast her spells at 5 AM on day 2 and then still completely regain them at 2 PM of day 2. She does NOT have to wait until 5 AM on day 3. Thus, Vivane can CAST all of her spells twice in a period of 9 hours.

Of course, there is an ancillary rule in D&D that says that any spell cast within 8 hours of subsequent preparation counts against that new day's preparation. So in the above example, if Vivane waited until 1 PM on day 2 to cast her spells, then she would not be able to regain them until 9 PM on day 2.

Most Casters:

Most casters can regain their spells when they choose, within the limits of once per 24 hours and needing 8 hours of rest. But they can choose which time of day to regain their spells and this time can change at will. This is true equally of casters that prepare their spells and spontaneous casters. So a favoured soul, having rested 8 hours and not regained his spell slots within the last 24 hours can choose to spend his mind-focusing time to regain his spell slots whenever he has the time and inclination to do it.

Some Casters:

Some casters have an additional requirement. Clerics, druids, paladins, and rangers fall into this category. They must regain their spells at a specific time of the day. The time chosen is based on the culture and religion of the caster. The time chosen cannot normally be changed, and the time chosen is an ABSOLUTE time, meaning it is based on the time of day at the Hall of Slumber in Therra where the gods reside. This means that a cleric who in his homeland regains his spells at dawn, when travelling to a distant land may find himself regaining his spells at dusk or even midnight! What matters is that it is dawn in his homeland.

Because of this, there is no way for such PCs to abuse the time differences or to be abused by them. Moving across time zones has no effect other than the local time of day that spells are regained.

Any caster who gains spells at a certain time of day has an innate sense as to when that time comes. This innate sense is a result of his connection to the gods (or to the land itself) and when the slumbering gods or the land itself recognizes that the proper time of day is at hand, the caster senses this as well due to his mystical link to the entities he worships. Thus, there is no way for a distance-hopping cleric to lose track of time and miss his opportunity to regain spells. Furthermore, this means that such a caster who is inadvertantly transported against his will will eventually be able to figure out his rough longitude by guaging when his prayer time arises.

It should be noted that the time to regain spells is not an instant one. It is a rough 2 hour block of time. So a cleric who regains his spells at dawn Slumber Time actually has a window from 5 AM to 7 AM Slumber Time to regain them. He will know when the 2 hour windows has opened or is about to open and will know when it is about to close as well. This window allows such casters to regain spells without completely hosing them should they miss the precise time of regaining.

Changing Regaining Time:

It is possible for a caster who regains his spells at a certain time to change the time to accommodate a new locale. Such a change is a slow process, though perfectly easy and inevitable to effect if desired. Such a change basically involves the caster wishing to make the change, and spending a long time in the time zone desired, with the majority of the time spent in that rough time zone.

So, for example, if Joshua is normally set to regain his spells at dawn Slumber Time and now in Azotchtla Lands he wants to regain his spells at dawn in Azotchtla Time, he simply has to declare his intent and spend a goodly amount of time in the Azotchtlan Lands to attune himself to the new dawn time.

How long this transition takes is up to the DM, but any length of time is appropriate as long as it is long enough to stop abuse. As such, as little as a month and as long as a year is appropriate.

Therra Mores:

Some Jerranqi and Morakki casters who regain their spells at a certain time of day do so based on Slumber Time. This recognizes the fact that the gods are the source of divine power and is a means of showing respect to them. Thus, such goodly clerics would choose dawn of Slumber Time as the time to regain spells and evil clerics would choose dusk or midnight Slumber Time to regain their spells.

Many Jerranqi and Morakki casters, however, choose local time. This is especially true of worshippers of the Sun, Moon, Stars, and Night as they have reasons to sanctify their own local time as a part of their worship. In addition, many clerics of other religions choose local time simply as a matter of expedience. Living in a part of the world where dawn of Slumber Time equals 2 AM local time can wreak havoc on the sleep pattern and life of an otherwise devout priest.

Most Mordants choose to follow Slumber Time, and this fact causes many Mordants in certain time zones to worship and regain spells at odds hours of the night, further incurring the suspicions of non-Mordants at to why Mordants are gathering at all hours of the night.

On continents like Sazhansiir where the inhabitants do not even know of the existence of Slumber, local time is used. Generally, this is where the priest's tribe is located, or where he was ordained, or where a significant center of power exists. Thus, the wandering goliaths base their regaining of spells on the only static location of significance to them, Thella-lu. The Temple of the Sapphire Eidolon regains spells based on dawn at the Temple. The killoren regain spells based on dawn in theland of Aladur.

Magic Items:

Unlike spells, magic items are all based on Slumber Time. This is necessary because the only other way to handle them is to base them on the local time of their creation, and there is no way a DM can or should have to track and determine where each item was crafted.

Using Slumber Time is logical anyways, since all magic flows from the gods, and therefore it should be based on the gods' experience of the dawning of a new day, and that experience is dawn at Slumber Time.

Where is Slumber Time?:

On the Jerranq map, Slumber Time is easy to see because that map includes the Hall of Slumber. On the Sazhansiir map, this is not so easy to determine.

On the Sazhansiir map, Slumber Time proceeds precisely along the western most tip of Dragon Isle and brushes the easternmost tip of Sazhansiir

Every 1437 miles on Therra is an hour's time difference. For most purposes, you can round this up to 1500 miles. Thus Aladur is about 3 hours behind Slumber Time. The City of Ghostly Feathers in Xicalanca is about 6 hours behind. The Temple of the Sapphire Eidolon is about 3 3/4ths hours behind.

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