An example checklist.
Checklists can be added to Dailies and To Do's. Checklists allow players to subdivide large tasks into smaller steps or combine several small tasks into a single item.
The user can mark the overall item containing the checklist (the "main item") as completed without ticking any of the checklist items, and ticking all checklist items does not automatically complete the main item.
Ticking a checklist item does not provide immediate gold, XP, or mana. On a To Do, each checklist item increases the main item's reward as if it were a separate To Do. On a Daily, the main item's reward is the same as for a Daily without a checklist, but the consequences of not marking the main item as completed are reduced if checklist items are ticked; the player gains a partial amount of mana and receives less damage. See The Value of a Checklist Item below for more details about the effects of checklists on To Do's and Dailies.
Working with a Checklist[]
Adding[]
A sample checklist being created
To add a checklist, open the task in edit mode. To do this, on the website or the app, click/tap the task's title, or on the website you can click the three dots on the top right corner of the task. This will bring up a screen that allows you to create checklists. Once the first item appears, you can create further items by clicking to the next item. On the website, pressing the "Enter" key or the "Tab" key will also go to the next line. When finished adding items to the checklist, make sure to click the Save button.
Deleting[]
To delete a checklist item, edit the task as described above, and click on the little trash can to the right of the checklist entry you want to delete. Click the "Save" button to finalize your deletion.
Collapsing[]
The red arrow indicates where you should click to collapse or expand the checklist.
To collapse a checklist in your task screen, click the arrow to the right of the number of checklist items. Click a second time to expand the display of the checklist back to its full view.
Adding an Item[]
To add an item to an existing checklist, edit the task and click in the field labeled "New checklist item." When done, click the "Save" button to finalize your changes.
Rearranging[]
Click and hold the dots to the left of each checklist item to rearrange
To rearrange or change the order of checklist items, edit the task, hold down the cursor, and drag the item to its desired location. When finished, click the "Save" button to finalize your changes.
The Value of a Checklist Item[]
Checklists have differing reward and damage values depending on whether they belong to a Daily or a To Do. Both, however, modify the item drop chance in the same way: +50% per checklist item to the drop chance bonus subtotal.
A checklist on a Daily helps you reduce health loss if you can't complete a full Daily; a checklist on a To Do increases the earnings from the entire To Do (as if each checklist item were a separate To Do item).
Dailies[]
A Daily with an expanded checklist on the Habitica iOS app.
When an unchecked Daily has a checklist and some of its items are ticked, the incomplete Daily will deal a fraction of its normal damage. It will also award the player partial Mana at Cron.
Note: Ticking all the checklist items does not also complete the Daily itself. You must also mark the Daily as completed manually to receive the rewards; if you don't mark the Daily as completed, you will avoid any damage, but you will lose your streak on that Daily.
Marking the Daily as completed without first completing all of its checklist items will give you the same amount of gold, XP, and Mana as if the checklist had been partially or fully ticked; however, every ticked checklist item gives you a slightly better chance of receiving a drop when you mark the Daily as completed. For this reason, it is best to tick all the checklist items you have completed before marking the Daily as completed.
Damage[]
Ticked checklist items protect you from damage proportional to the percentage of the task that they represent. If you have nine checklist items attached to a Daily, then each of those items represents one ninth (1/9) of the total task. For example, say you have a Daily that would normally deal you one point of damage (1 HP), it has a checklist with four items on it, and you tick three of those items. When damage is calculated during Cron, you will only take 0.25 HP of damage (or one fourth of the total damage amount).
Mana[]
If you don't complete a due Daily but you do tick some of its checklist items, the Daily will partially count towards earning Mana.
For example, if you have 10 Dailies and complete 9 of them, Cron would give you 90% of your total possible Mana. However, if you completed 9 Dailies and also ticked half the checklist items on the final uncompleted Daily, Cron would give you 95% of your total possible Mana.
An intended side-effect of this is that if you don't complete a due Daily but do complete all of its checklist items, your Mana gained on Cron will NOT be reduced because of that Daily (in the same way that your health is not reduced). For example, if you have 10 Dailies and complete 9 of them, and also ticked all of the checklist items on the final uncompleted Daily, Cron would give you 100% of your total possible Mana.
Gold and XP[]
Checklists do not have any effect on the experience points (XP) and gold points (GP) received for a Daily. A Daily gives XP and GP only when the Daily itself is checked off. The amount of XP and GP received is not affected by the number of checklist items, nor by the proportion of checklist items that have been completed.
Carryover at Cron[]
Checklists for due (not grey) Dailies do not carry over from one day to another. The next morning, Cron will untick the Daily (if you completed it) and untick all of its checklist items.
That also happens for Grey Dailies that you mark as completed. The next morning, Cron will untick the Daily and untick all of its checklist items.
However, this does NOT happen for a Grey Daily if you did not mark the Daily itself as completed. Cron will not untick any checklist items until the end of a day when the Daily was due, or until you complete the Daily itself. You can see uses for this below.
To Do's[]
On a To Do, each completed checklist item increases the main item's reward as if it were a separate To Do.
For example, say that you have a To Do that would normally reward you with 10 experience (XP), 1 gold point (GP), and 1 Mana point (MP). The task has a checklist with two items on it. When you tick both checklist items and mark the To Do as completed, you will gain 30 XP, 3 GP, and 3 MP (i.e., one set of rewards for each checklist item and one for the To Do itself).
However, rewards are only given when you complete the To Do itself. Ticking items in the checklist alone does not give you a partial reward. Currently, only checklist items you have ticked will affect the reward. Any checklist items left unticked will have no effect when you mark the To Do as completed. Returning to the example above, if you were to tick the To Do but leave the checklist items unticked, you would receive 10 XP, 1 GP, and 1 MP.
Resetting Checklist To Do's[]
Unchecking a completed To Do with a checklist will deduct the same amount of GP, XP, and MP that you gained when you completed the To Do.
However, if you first untick all the checklist items before you uncheck the To Do itself, you would lose only the base GP, XP, and MP for the To Do, not the rewards given for the checklist items. Because of this behavior, To Do checklists can also be used for regular tasks that don't fit in a daily schedule (e.g. weekly lists of goals): you would check off the full To Do at the end of the week to earn the rewards, and then reset it for the following week.
Uses[]
Organizing To Do's and Reducing Clutter[]
A long list of To Do's that could be organized into a checklist.
A nice, organized checklist.
As mentioned above, checklists can be useful for dividing long, complicated tasks into easier, more manageable parts. This is especially true of To Do's, as it not only cleans up the list of tasks, but increases the value of the "main task."
To the left and right are two examples of the same list of tasks, with one done as a long list of single tasks, and one done as one task using a checklist. The latter example looks much more organized and includes the benefit of seeing completed work while still on the Due section of your tasks.
It also helps to keep large tasks separate from other unrelated tasks that may get lost in a long list of single tasks.
Making Big Tasks More Manageable[]
Having a big task by itself, like "Pack for trip", can seem daunting. Having a checklist allows it to be broken into smaller, discrete chunks that may prove motivating. It also helps to define the task itself and ensure all steps are done before checking off the box.
In this way, it can help you focus on your goal and see the outcome more clearly. You might feel like all your work is pointless after working for an hour and still having an empty suitcase, but your list might already be almost halfway done!
Keeping Track of Dailies[]
Some Dailies need to be done more than once per day, but it doesn't make sense to have them as Habits. This could be for things such as brushing your teeth, cleaning up after meals, or caring for pets.
In the example to the right, a Daily for brushing teeth has been made with a checklist for morning and evening. This ensures that, come evening, you've remembered whether or not you followed through in the morning, and helps to specifically define the task (if the task just said "Brush teeth" you could check it off as long as you did it once; by specifying morning and evening, you are holding yourself accountable).
Remember: As is mentioned above, after ticking all items in a checklist, you must still mark the Daily itself as completed!
Variable Dailies[]
Some Dailies can be completed in different ways each day. The fact that a Daily with a checklist can be checked off even if every checklist item isn't ticked allows the player to use it to provide additional information about what they have done.
- For example, a student may want to use the checklist to mark off the subjects they studied each day, but not feel obliged to study every subject every day.
- In the checklist to the right, a person has decided to exercise each day, but allows themselves to get credit if they do one exercise from a list of preferred activities.
Tracking Weekly Activities[]
Since ticked checklist items in Grey Dailies carry over to the next day (if the Daily is not marked as completed), you can use it to track weekly activities.
Say you have a set of tasks that you want to complete each week, but it doesn't matter on which days they are completed. For example, you want to go to the gym three times a week. You can then create a Daily called "gym", and you make it due only on Sundays. It is then a Grey Daily every day of the week other than Sunday.
You would give that Daily three checklist items ("day 1", "day 2", "day 3"). On any day that you go to the gym, you tick one of the checklist items but NOT the Daily itself! The next day, that checklist item will still be ticked.
On Sunday, the Daily is no longer Grey, but all the checklist items that you previously ticked off have remained ticked. You can now see how many times you went to the gym. If you have ticked off all of the checklist items, you can mark the whole Daily as completed. If you ticked off some of the checklist items, Cron will punish you as usual for not completing the whole Daily by removing some health and by reducing the amount of Mana that Cron gives you.
Challenges[]
If you need a day of rest during a challenge, you can add a checklist to a challenge Daily with one item and tick that item on days when you don't want to do the Daily, but don't deserve punishment for it. The Streak is lost, no XP and GP are gained, but no health is lost. Note that a challenge creator cannot add checklists to challenge tasks, but the challenge participants can.