Sample Custom Rewards

The Custom Rewards feature allows players to add personal, customized purchases to the Rewards list. This page contains some examples of Custom Rewards to help you develop your own.

Time- and Money-Based Rewards
Some Rewards are just another step towards organizing your life. You can earn time doing something you enjoy, but still limit yourself to just that time. This gives you more space in your busy schedule for being productive. Another drain can be your finances and when you set yourself a cyber-gold challenge to earn before spending your real world money on something expensive, setting a monetary gift as a goal can work very well. Here are a few examples of both.

Money-Based Rewards
These can be based on fixed amounts based on the cost:

For a more nuanced approach, you can give yourself a "spending limit" accompanying a monetary budget, and click on the gold value multiple times, up to the limit you specified. In the Reward name, type in your limit (see example below). For example, you could set a spending limit of 3x for buying a new computer screen, or 5x for less important spending such as entertainment, and then only allow yourself to purchase that Reward as many times as the limit states.

Once you reach a goal or milestone (for example, after reaching a 21-day streak on a Daily), you could spend 100 gold by clicking twice on the Blu-ray Reward, and then allow yourself to buy up to $20 worth of Blu-ray movies. Since the spending limit you enacted caps at 5, it would be against your self-imposed rules to redeem it more than 5 times. This way you can limit yourself to spending 250 gold and $50 on Blu-ray discs. This method allows you to redeem your Rewards with some amount of flexibility while also keeping you from over-indulging.

If you enjoy something and buy it often, you could use Habitica's custom Rewards to help moniter the Habit. You could buy what you enjoy in bulk, and make a Reward to open one item. This way you save money, but also get to partake in what you enjoy! Balance is important with this Reward. Creating an achievable yet not too-easy in-game cost is key. One example for setting the in-game price would be to set the in-game cost to an amount that you make in 7 days of game time. If you practice a lot of good Habits, or were able to check-off a lot of To-Dos, the Reward might be purchasable in 3 days. You could also create a limit as to not open/buy too many at once.

For example, if you treat yourself often to a candy or protein bar, you could make the following Rewards to help avoid over-indulging. This habit would help save money and help you prevent eating only your favorite bar all day! Another example could be if you enjoy a Collectible Card Game. If you trust yourself to not binge-open a whole booster box (sometimes called a case, gravity feed, or blind boxes), you could make this Reward to help motivate yourself to get more in-game gold so you can enjoy a real-life reward.

or

Alternatively, "big ticket" items could serve as long-term goals, with smaller checkpoints over time as you make progress toward your ultimate prize. In the case of wanting to buy a computer monitor, you could redeem the Reward in Habitica in 3 installments of 300 gold each, rather than saving up to pay 900 gold all at once at a later date. This offers a more tangible way of seeing your progress toward your long-term goal because you Reward yourself every time you set $100 aside in a bank account, instead of just once when you're on your way to the store to buy the monitor. It can also serve as a price cap, as in the Blu-ray example, so that you don't spend more than $300 on your new monitor.

Buying Gems
Subscribers can buy gems with gold. However, if you don't want to subscribe, but still want to spend real-life money on gems and have it feel like an earned prize, create a gem Reward.

Free Alternatives
Rewards don't have to be expensive purchases. Even a simple cup of coffee can be a good Reward. However, if your budget is very tight, consider making gold Rewards for "buying" or "renting" items that you could otherwise get for free. For example:


 * Borrowing a book or DVD from the library.


 * Listening to a podcast episode.


 * Watching a show/movie on network or cable TV.


 * Downloading a free ebook. (Ebook sellers often have a constantly changing "free books" section on their website and sites like Project Gutenberg let you legally download public-domain books for free.)


 * Making a home version of the mocha or smoothie from your favorite cafe.


 * Going to a museum or zoo on "free admission day," or to any interesting place that doesn't have an admission fee (the park, the beach, etc).

The Time Based Rewards section (above) is another source of ideas for Rewards that don't require extra money.

Custom In-Game Rewards
If you're more motivated by in-game Rewards, but no longer have any to buy, there are a few ways to make your own.

Bonus XP
You can also Reward yourself by paying to enable bonus XP for a day.

First, pay whatever gold price you set. Then, for the rest of the day, whenever you plus a Habit or check off a Daily or To-Do, plus the Bonus XP! Habit as well. (Make sure to set a steep price for this Reward, or else the extra gold you'll get from the Bonus XP! Habit may turn it into free XP. You could also give yourself the extra XP using Fix Character Values rather than a Habit to avoid receiving gold for it.)

Missed Daily
For those with time-sensitive tasks or delayed tasks, such as "Went to bed early last night" or "Woke up at 9:00 a.m.," this Reward gives you a chance to earn a Perfect Day, but at a cost. Another way to think about this Reward is that it allows you to give yourself an earned day off (rather than Resting in the Inn for free). (To avoid abuse, consider adding a note: "limit to one per day.")

Hatching and Feeding Pets
Many people find collecting pets and mounts to be one of the most motivating elements of Habitica. However, burning through every egg, potion, and piece of food as soon as you get it can lead to a sort of burnout, since running out of one of your biggest Rewards can leave you feeling empty. With these customs, you can extend the time it takes to achieve Beast Master and make hatching a pet or raising a mount feel like more of an event.

Wishing Well
The Wishing Well is a gold sink for players who need more uses for gold or desire more drops and do not usually reach their drop-cap each day.

With the above Reward, players can toss gold into the Wishing Well, then click the following Habit to potentially gather drops.

Players who do not want to gain experience and gold when "wishing" for drops can create a Daily or To-Do instead of a Habit, then after checking off the task can immediately uncheck it. The gold, experience, and mana that had been gained will be removed but if a drop was received, it will remain.

Dailies are easier for this since they can be unchecked with no extra steps, assuming you are viewing them from the 'All' tab. Unchecking a completed To-Do requires clicking the "Complete" tab and finding the Wishing Well task.

If you repeatedly tick, untick, then retick a Daily or To-Do without clicking a Reward or other task in-between, you will receive the same drop every time (if you were granted a drop on the first tick). To avoid this, always use a Reward, even if it is for a very small amount such as 0.01 gold (1 silver).

Making In-Game Features More Valuable
You could also add a Reward to make in-game features more expensive, to make the price of already existing features seem less trivial. For those with a high Perception or partied with a Rogue, 25 GP for a Health Potion could be too easy, and thus the incentive for avoiding negative tasks diminishes. You can't change how much a Health Potion costs, but you can add a "tax".

Custom In-Game Penalties
Another way to use custom Rewards is to make them into additional penalties for missed Habits or Dailies or late To-Dos. For those motivated by punishment, incurring a gold tax in addition to health loss may be just the deterrent necessary to kick a lingering bad habit.

Creating a Gold Bank
If you're saving up for a big ticket item, you can use the Rewards section to set up a bank account so you're not tempted to spend your gold in the meantime.

To deposit gold into your gold bank account, click the "Bank Deposit" Reward, then edit the number in its description to keep track of your deposit. To withdraw gold from the account, use Fix Character Values, then edit the number in the description of the Reward to keep track of your withdrawal.

Savings Account: You can use this idea as a savings account where the bank balance Sample Reward is your account balance. Then in case of accidental Death, the Fix Character Values tool could be used to restore some gold from the account.

Installment Plan: You can use the gold bank to pay small amounts toward an expensive item. Then you would just delete the Reward when you've earned enough to claim it.

In-Game Events: This is also a good way to save up for an upcoming Grand Gala. When the event arrives, use Fix Character Values (in the Settings menu) to add the saved gold back into your account so you can spend it on equipment.

Rewards and Long-Term Goals
As Habitican LizLavenza pointed out, Habits, Dailies, To-Dos, and Rewards can all be used as part of a process for attaining real-life rewards. The Habits, Dailies, and To-Dos are the building blocks or stepping stones that can be measured and tracked towards reaching a long-term goal. The gold from completing tasks is used to reward adhering to the process. By focusing on the process, the game gives immediate rewards for the small steps that have long term benefits.

Example 1
Long-term goal: Get an A on a foreign language exam

Sample tasks:In-game Reward (for completing tasks): Real-life reward (for reaching long-term goal): Buy a new book

Example 2
Long-term goal: Lose 5 pounds

Sample tasks:In-game Rewards:Real-life reward: Buy a new dress

Why Set Up Custom Rewards?
You might not see the point in making your own Rewards, but personalizing your Rewards can give you a greater sense of achievement. With Habitica, you can look back over the tasks you've completed to earn the Rewards, and you can encourage yourself to spread them in a way that lets you complete more tasks and work towards something that's just for you.

At a professional level, the truly most satisfying rewards lie in the accomplishments of the tasks you love to do, not what you want to get. In other words, intrinsic rewards can be more effective than extrinsic rewards. Check this TED talk to find out more.

Setting Prices
It's up to the user to decide a fair (expensive yet doable) price; and whether or not the reward has to be bought per Health Potion, or per healing session (if multiple potions are bought at the same time).

The prices shown for the sample Rewards above might be appropriate for a player who earns 20-30 gold per day. If you are a new player, your Rewards should probably be cheaper. If you are a high-level Rogue who gets 5 gold for every task plus large streak bonuses, they should probably be more expensive.

Figure out how much gold you earn on a good day, then decide how often you want to give yourself each Reward. (If you are mixing small daily Rewards and large long-term ones, make sure you can afford both of them!)

There is no maximum or minimum limit on prices for custom Rewards. You can set them as high or as low as you want. For instance, 1 silver is equal to 0.01 gold, which could be useful for the Wishing Well example below, but you could use a smaller number if you prefer. Alternatively, you could use an enormous price such as 10 million or more.

A Question of Balance
All work and no play just isn't healthy or fun. Rewarding yourself is a key part of maintaining productivity; however, you should feel as if you've earned them. It's important to find that middle ground.

Rewards can be used in both a positive and a negative way! You can reward yourself for doing your tasks or you can discourage yourself from doing something by having to spend gold on it.

To prevent yourself from over-indulging, you can set a daily limit (only one cookie a day!) or have a second Reward with the same item for a higher price (low price for the first half hour of TV, but high price if you watch a full hour).

Prove-Yourself-First Rewards
Some Rewards need preparation and planning. The build up can be part of your lists. Other Rewards are more expensive, but become more meaningful with a higher price tag. You can choose the amount of gold to reflect the work you put into earning the prize at the end.


 * Get a dog
 * Buy your first car
 * Go on holiday
 * Buy a new computer/games console
 * Download an app for your iPod

When to Enjoy Your Rewards
You can always decide when to use your Rewards, and you can schedule when you receive your Reward in relation to the completion of the task. For example, if you bake a cake as you exercise, the cake is ready to eat when you're done. You've received the Reward immediately after the task has been completed.

Alternatively, you can enjoy a Reward while you complete a task. Watching television, or listening to an audiobook, while folding laundry can make that task easier to accomplish.

Adding Rewards to This Page
If you'd like to add Rewards to this page, see the instructions on the Talk page.