Combat

Reference. Part of the GM reference. For the steps of a task, read the GM guide.

Combat screen

The combat screen runs one fight at the full width of the page.

On a wide window the combat screen fits the window, and each column scrolls on its own. On a phone the ribbon chips scroll sideways, and a bar at the bottom of the window shows whose turn it is with Previous turn and Next turn.

A click on a ribbon chip inspects that combatant without a change of turn. The left column then reads Inspecting and shows a Back to current turn link. A click on the link, on the chip of the current turn, or on the inspected chip again returns the column to whoever’s turn it is. The next turn and the end of the fight also return it.

The Damage and Heal box in the left column shows to the GM only. Its Target select picks the combatant that the box acts on, and the buttons name that combatant, as in Heal Mirelle. The target defaults to the inspected combatant, then to the card selected on the board. With neither, the select reads Choose a target, and Damage and Heal stay disabled until you pick one. The box never defaults to the combatant whose turn it is. A new selection on the board or a new inspection resets the target. A selection lasts for one turn, and Next turn clears it. A dying ally can be selected, so you can heal it on a foe’s turn. The Amount starts at 1, and each Damage or Heal press sets it back to 1, so a second click does not repeat a big hit. A click in the field selects its number, so you can type the next amount over it. An empty field, or a number below 1, disables both buttons.

Unless the party lost, End combat offers the XP of the defeated foes. The XP is split evenly among the living characters and rounded down, and the dialog states any XP that the split leaves over. A foe with no challenge rating is worth nothing. You can change the amount. The dialog opens before the fight ends, so Back to the fight keeps the fight, the XP, and every foe as they are. End and award ends the fight and gives the XP. A foe that falls while the dialog is open gets no fate, so a dead foe is never logged as fled.

Each hostile creature that still stands gets a select with three choices.

To make a captive a foe again, set its disposition back to hostile in the creature dialog. To keep a foe that fled in the story, pick Still hostile and move it to its new tile in the creature dialog.

The same dialog hands out loot. Loot lists the weapons and the armor of each defeated foe, such as “Scimitar (Goblin 2)”. A natural weapon, such as a bite, drops nothing. Tick the items to keep, and pick the character who takes them in Loot goes to. The items join that character’s inventory. Total gp takes the coins found on the foes, and splits them evenly among the living characters, rounded down, into the gold field of each character’s Coins row. Each part logs one travelogue line. The dialog also opens for a fight with loot and no XP.

A fight also ends when no creature of the fight is left on the tile of the party or on the eight tiles around it, and no hostile creature of the fight is left within the nearby range (8 tiles by default). A walk out of that range ends the fight, and so does the deletion of the last creature in it. The wider range lets a foe that joined from farther away keep the fight open.

Combat setup

Start combat opens the setup dialog. The Set up combat button of the Encounter! dialog opens it too. It lists the characters with the party and any split-off character within one tile of the party, the live hostile creatures on the tile of the party and on the eight tiles around it, and any friendly or neutral creature on the tile of the party. Hostile creatures line up as foes, and friendly and neutral creatures line up with the party. Only a hostile creature starts an encounter. To fight a friendly or neutral creature, set its disposition to hostile first.

Under Party members elsewhere, the dialog lists each character split off to a tile farther away or to another map. Tick Join on a row to bring that character into the fight.

Under Add nearby foes, the dialog lists the other live hostile creatures within the nearby range, nearest first, with the distance in tiles. Tick Join on a row to bring that foe into the fight. When two or more foes stand on one tile, an Add the whole group box above them ticks every Join box of that tile at once. A joined foe rolls initiative with the others. The Stealth contest covers only the rows above the list. During a fight, the Nearby encounters tab has an Add to fight button on each hostile row that is not in the fight. Open the line of the foe to reach its row. It rolls initiative for the foe, logs the roll, and puts the foe into the order.

Combatants that share a name get a number after it, such as “Goblin Scout 1” and “Goblin Scout 2”. The numbers follow the order of the creature list. The rows of the Encounters panel, the combat status line in the sidebar, the combat screen, and the attack and spell dialogs use the same numbers. The Active tab and the setup dialog number the foes of the fight that Start combat would begin, or of the fight that runs, so a foe shows the same label in the panel, the dialog, and the fight. A foe that is the only one of its name in the fight shows no number. The Nearby tab counts on after the fight, so a second wolf nearby reads “Wolf 2” beside a lone “Wolf” in the Active tab. A defeated foe keeps its place in the count of a running fight. The log and the stored name keep the plain name.

For the initiative rules, see Initiative.

Surprise

The GM decides who is surprised. The Stealth contest ticks the boxes for you, or you tick Surprised on each row by hand before you press Start combat. The log records a line such as “Goblin Scout is surprised.”

A surprised combatant wears a Surprised chip and keeps its place in the initiative order. Until its first turn ends, its Reaction pip is spent. On that first turn, the Action and Bonus action pips are spent too, so every button that needs them refuses. The app does not track movement, so the GM keeps the surprised combatant in place. At the end of that turn the chip ends and the reaction comes back, and its next turn is a normal one. To overrule a spent pip, press it to mark it free.

Stealth contest

The contest is optional. With Who sneaks at No one, the dialog shows no Stealth controls. Pick the side that sneaks, and each row of that side shows a Stealth total. Each row of the other side shows its passive Perception (PP). Pick Both sides when each side tries to sneak up on the other. Then every row shows a Stealth total and its PP.

Roll Stealth rolls d20 plus the Stealth bonus for each sneaker. A character uses its sheet bonus, and a creature uses its stat block. The chips of the roller slant the roll. For a character, armor with stealth disadvantage and armor that the character is not proficient with also give disadvantage. You can type a total in any sneaker row instead of rolling. A row with no total takes no part.

The app compares each watcher’s passive Perception with every sneaker total. A watcher notices the threat when its passive Perception is higher than at least one total. A total equal to the passive Perception stays hidden. A watcher that notices no sneaker is surprised. Each change to a total runs the contest again. It ticks Surprised on each watcher that notices no one, and it clears the box on each watcher that notices. The boxes of the sneaking side do not change. The outcome line under the picker names every total and each surprised combatant.

With Both sides, the app runs one contest for each side. The foes’ passive Perception is compared with the party’s totals, and the party’s passive Perception with the foes’ totals. A sneaker still watches the other side, because surprise is decided for each creature, so a sneaker can be surprised too. Each side has its own outcome line.

You can change any Surprised box after the contest. When you press Start combat, the travelogue records each outcome line, such as “The party sneaks (Stealth Ayla 16, Bren 11). Goblin 1 and Goblin 2 are surprised.”

Parley

Parley in the setup dialog records that the party settled the encounter without a fight. It closes the dialog, starts no fight, and writes a note to the travelogue that names the foes. The foes stay on their tiles, but they stand down and become neutral, so the Encounter! dialog does not open again when the party next moves next to them. Undo makes them hostile again. If the truce breaks later, change the disposition of each foe back to hostile in the creature dialog.

Attack dialog

A weapon button in the action bar opens the attack dialog.

Action, bonus action, and reaction

The Actions heading on the combat screen shows three pips: Action, Bonus action, and Reaction. A free pip has a filled dot. A spent pip has an empty ring, and its label is struck through. A combatant with Extra Attack also shows how many swings are left. A button that needs a spent cost has a muted label and a dashed edge, and its tooltip names the cost, as in “Action spent”.

The whole turn comes back when the turn of that combatant starts again. The reaction comes back at the same time, not at the top of the round. A combatant that the turn order steps past because it cannot act, such as a Lethargic or Stunned one, gets its reaction and its legendary actions back, and keeps the rest of what it spent. A combatant that is dead or defeated gets nothing back.

The pips never block a button. Instead, the dialog refuses a swing or a cast that the turn cannot pay for. The dialog then offers an Ignore action cost box that goes ahead anyway. Use the box for a rule that the app does not model.

Each pip is also a button. Press a free pip to mark that cost used, for example when a bonus action goes to something the app does not track. Press a used pip to mark it free again, for example after a spend by mistake. The combat log records each press.

The Standard actions group under the spells has one button for each standard action. A button spends the action and writes a log line, such as “Ser Aldric takes the Dash action.” The app does not move tokens or track hidden creatures, so the GM resolves the rest. Dodge also puts a Dodging chip on the combatant until the start of its next turn, and attack rolls against a Dodging creature roll at disadvantage. The Dodging creature rolls its Dexterity saves at advantage, both for a spell save in the cast dialog and for a save from the character sheet. A Rogue of 2nd level or higher also gets a Cunning Action (bonus action) group with Dash, Disengage, and Hide, which spend the bonus action instead. A button whose cost the turn already spent shows a toast and does nothing, so press the pip first to free the cost.

A Fighter also gets a Fighter group with a button for each class pool that the character has (see Class feature pools). The button title shows the uses left. Second Wind spends the bonus action and one use, and the fighter regains 1d10 plus the fighter level in HP. The log line shows the roll, such as “Ser Aldric uses Second Wind and regains 9 HP (d10 5 + 4).” Action Surge costs no part of the turn. Press it at any point in the turn for one more full action. After the action is spent, the Action pip becomes free again. Before the action, a “+1 action (Action Surge)” pip shows next to the Action pip, and the first action spends that pip instead, so the Action pip stays free for the second. An Attack action with the new action gets its Extra Attack swings again. The app allows one surge per turn, as 5e does, even for a fighter with two uses. A button with no use left, or a second surge in one turn, shows a toast and spends nothing.

A Barbarian gets a Barbarian group with a Rage button while the character has the Rage pool. The button spends the bonus action and one use, and it puts a Raging chip on the barbarian for 10 rounds (1 minute). While the chip lasts, a melee weapon hit that uses STR adds the Rage damage bonus: +2 up to barbarian level 8, +3 from level 9, and +4 from level 16. The barbarian also resists bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, and rolls STR checks and STR saves at advantage. The attack line of a hit names the bonus, such as “Rage +2”. To end a Rage early, remove the Raging chip. The app does not end the Rage when the barbarian skips an attack, and it does not stop spellcasting or concentration, so the GM applies those rules.

A Cleric of 2nd level or higher gets a Channel Divinity group. Each button opens a dialog first, and a cancel keeps the use and the action.

• Turn Undead lists every undead in the fight, all ticked. Untick the ones that are out of range (30 feet) or cannot see or hear the cleric. Each ticked undead rolls a Wisdom save against the spell save DC of the cleric. An undead with the Turn Resistance box in its creature form rolls the save with advantage. On a failure, it gets a Turned chip for 1 minute. Damage ends the chip, and a Turned creature takes no reactions. It keeps its turns, and the GM moves it away or has it take the Dodge action. From cleric level 5, Destroy Undead destroys an undead of a low enough CR instead (CR 1/2 at level 5, 1 at 8, 2 at 11, 3 at 14, 4 at 17). An unrated undead is only turned.
• Preserve Life (Life Domain) shares out 5 times the cleric level in HP among the allies in the fight. The dialog has one amount per ally below half its max HP, and each amount stops at half the max HP. Undead and constructs get no row. A share-out over a limit shows a toast and spends nothing.

A casting time longer than a turn, such as a ten-minute ritual, is refused in a fight in the same way, and it offers the same box.

Two-weapon fighting

A character with two light melee weapons equipped gets an Off-hand (bonus action) group in the action bar. An example is a dagger and a shortsword. The group shows after the character swings a light melee weapon with its Attack action, and only while the bonus action is unspent. An Attack action spent only on a longbow or another weapon that is not light melee does not show it.

The group offers both weapons, and you pick the one that the second hand swings. The off-hand swing rolls to hit like any other attack.

Its damage gets no ability bonus, which is the 5e rule. A negative ability modifier still applies. A character with the Two-Weapon Fighting style adds the ability modifier (see Fighting styles). The combat log marks the swing “off-hand”.

Reactions and opportunity attacks

A reaction happens between the turns of its owner, so its controls are on the board card, not in the action bar. A card shows a Reaction row when all of these conditions are true:

• The card is not the current turn.
• You can act for that combatant.
• The combatant can still act.
• Its reaction is unspent.

The row has one button per melee weapon, as in Opportunity attack: Rapier. It also has one button per spell that casts as a reaction, as in Cast Shield.

Apart from a hit on a Shield caster or an attack on a creature with Redirect Attack (see below), the app does not watch for a trigger. It tracks no distance between tokens, so it cannot see a creature leave the reach of another. You call the trigger at the table and press the button.

An opportunity attack rolls like a normal swing and keeps its ability bonus on damage. It spends the reaction, and the log marks it “opportunity attack”.

Its defender starts as the combatant that takes the turn, because that is who the reaction interrupts. A card that you pick on the board overrides that. A reaction spell opens the usual cast dialog and spends the reaction instead of the action.

Legendary actions

A creature with Legendary actions per round set in the creature dialog takes that many legendary actions each round. Its board card shows a row named Legendary action (N left) when all of these conditions are true:

• The card is not the current turn.
• You can act for the creature.
• The creature can still act.
• It has a legendary action left.

The row has one button per weapon of the creature. A button opens the attack dialog, titled “Legendary action: attack with”, and the swing costs one legendary action instead of the Attack action. It offers no Multiattack box, because a legendary attack is one swing. The log marks each swing with its number, as in “legendary action 2 of 3”. The creature gets every legendary action back when its own turn starts.

The 5e rule allows a legendary action only at the end of the turn of another creature. The app does not enforce that timing, so take the action when the turn ends and before you click Next turn. A legendary action that is not an attack, such as a move, has no button, so describe it at the table.

Creature actions

A creature can have save actions, such as the Cold Breath of a winter wolf. To add one, click Edit actions in the Actions section of the creature dialog, pick Add an action, and click Open. The action dialog asks for a name, the saving throw, the DC, one damage term (dice, die, and type), a Recharge face, and whether a save halves the damage. To change or remove an action, pick it in the list and click Open. Tick Remove this action to remove it. Click Done to go back to the creature dialog, and then click Save.

In a fight, each action shows in the spell list of the creature, beside its spells. It opens the cast dialog with the DC of the action, spends no slot, and costs the Action. Each target rolls its save, and the damage goes through the defenses of the target, as for a save spell.

An action with a recharge face (6, 5-6, or 4-6) is spent after one use and leaves the spell list. At the start of each turn of the creature, the app rolls a d6 for each spent action. On the recharge face or higher, the action is ready again. The log shows each roll. The end of a fight makes every action ready again.

The Library creature form does not edit actions. A template that you save from a creature keeps its actions, and a creature spawned from the template gets them.

Evasion

A character with the Evasion feature (rogue 7, monk 7) takes no damage when it makes a DEX save against a spell that deals half damage on a success, such as Fireball or Lightning Bolt. On a failed save it takes half damage. The log line adds “Evasion” after the damage. A creature with an Evasion trait gets no automatic change, so adjust its damage by hand.

Legendary resistance

A creature with Legendary resistance per day set can turn a failed saving throw into a success. When such a creature fails the save of a save spell, or its save against Turn Undead, a dialog asks “Use legendary resistance? N left today”. Click Succeed instead to spend one use, or Let it fail to keep the failure. A success takes half damage from a spell that halves on a save and no damage from any other, and no condition lands. The log records each use and the uses left.

The uses come back when the party takes a long rest. The app does not ask about the save that a weapon hit forces, such as the poison of a giant spider. Handle that one by hand.

A spell that fails the target by its hit points, such as Power Word Stun or Sleep, rolls no first save, so the dialog does not open for it. The repeat save of Power Word Stun at the end of each turn is a real save.

Shield against a hit

When an attack roll hits a combatant whose reaction spell raises its AC, such as Shield, a Reaction dialog opens before the damage. The dialog names the roll and the AC, and the AC that the spell really adds. A floor such as Barkskin can take up part of the bonus, so Shield on a combatant at AC 16 from Barkskin over a base of 12 adds only +1. The dialog opens only when the higher AC would turn the hit into a miss, so it never opens on a natural 20, which hits whatever the AC.

Press Cast Shield to cast the spell at the lowest slot that the combatant can spend. The cast spends the reaction, and the attack then rolls against the new AC. The log line of the attack names the spell beside the AC. Press Take the hit to let the attack land as rolled. Against Magic Missile, the spell blocks every dart. A combatant that already has Shield takes no Magic Missile darts, and no dialog opens.

The dialog opens only in a tab that can act for the defender: the GM tab, or the Player tab bound to that character. When a player attacks a foe that knows Shield, the attack does not pause. Cast the foe’s Shield from its reaction control, and undo the damage by hand.

Resisting a hit

When a weapon hit, a spell attack hit, or a save spell deals a damage type that a combatant’s reaction spell can resist, a Reaction dialog opens after the damage roll and before the damage lands. The spell is a buff that casts as a reaction, and its chip resists the type through Resists or Caster picks one of. The dialog names the damage before resistance, and for a save spell it names the save result too, such as “Mage fails the save against Burning Hands and takes 12 damage.” Press Cast to cast it with that type picked, so the damage of that type is halved. Press Take the damage to let the damage land as rolled. The dialog follows the same tab rule as Shield.

A spell that damages several combatants, such as Burning Hands, opens one dialog for each combatant that can react, in target order. When the spell attack also offers Shield, the Shield dialog comes first. A combatant that casts Shield has no reaction left, so it gets no second dialog. If the fight ends while a dialog is open, your answer still counts and the damage still lands.

Redirect Attack

A creature with Redirect Attack, such as a goblin boss, can use its reaction when an attack targets it. It swaps places with an ally, and the ally becomes the target. A goblin boss can pick only another goblin within 5 feet, and its notes say so. The app tracks no positions, so before the attack roll a Redirect Attack dialog lists every ally of the creature in the fight that is not down. Pick an ally that qualifies and press Swap places. Press Keep target or Escape to keep the creature as the target, with its reaction unspent.

The dialog opens for a weapon attack and for an attack spell, such as Fire Bolt, but not for a save spell. It opens only while the creature has its reaction and can act, and only in the GM tab. When a player attacks the creature from a Player tab, the attack does not pause. A redirect spends the reaction, and the log names the swap. The attack roll then uses the AC of the ally, and the damage, the resistances, and any save that the attack forces apply to the ally. When Multiattack is ticked, only the first swing can redirect, because the redirect spends the reaction.

Cover and Sneak Attack

You decide both of these in the attack dialog. The app tracks no distance between tokens and no line of sight, so it cannot see a wall, a barrel, or where the rogue stands.

Half cover adds 2 to the AC of the target for that swing, and three-quarters cover adds 5. The log prints both numbers, such as vs AC 12 (10 half cover +2).

Total cover is not offered, because a target in total cover cannot be attacked. Cover in 5e also adds its bonus to Dexterity saving throws, and the cast dialog does not apply that. Add it to the save bonus that you type for a foe, or pick a roll mode for a character.

The Sneak Attack box shows when the attacker has the feature and has not used it this turn. The label states the dice, such as Sneak Attack (+2d6). The level in the class that granted the feature sets the count.

The Sneak Attack dice are d6, they take the damage type of the weapon, and a critical hit doubles them. The damage line of the log names them.

The 5e condition for the dice is advantage on the attack, or an ally next to the target. The app checks neither, so the box is where you state that the condition was met. A swing at disadvantage can never use Sneak Attack. When you pick Disadvantage in the dialog, the box is disabled and its label says not at disadvantage. When the swing rolls at disadvantage for another reason, such as Poisoned under Auto, a ticked box adds no dice and spends no use.

The app tracks the once-per-turn limit. After the dice land, the box is gone for the rest of the turn, and it comes back on the next turn of any combatant. So a rogue that spent the dice on its own swing can spend them again on an opportunity attack, which is the 5e reading of once per turn. A miss leaves the box, because Sneak Attack applies only on a hit.

Pack Tactics, on-hit saves, Surprise Attack, and Multiattack

A creature with Pack Tactics has advantage when an ally of the creature stands within 5 feet of the target. The app tracks no positions, so tick the Pack Tactics box when the condition is met. The attack line of the log names Pack Tactics advantage.

A creature weapon can force a save on each hit, such as the DC 11 Strength save of a wolf bite. After the damage lands, the target rolls the save with its own bonus and chips. The log names the total, the DC, and the result. A target that fails gains the condition, and a target that the hit dropped to 0 HP rolls nothing. A creature immune to the condition keeps its chips, and the log says so.

A creature with Surprise Attack adds its dice to a hit in round 1 when the target is still surprised, which lasts until the end of the first turn of the target. The app applies the dice without a box. They take the damage type of the weapon, a critical hit doubles them, and the damage line of the log names them.

A creature can have one attack of its Multiattack that rolls with disadvantage, such as the second scimitar attack of a goblin boss. The app counts the swings of the Attack action and adds the disadvantage to that swing, and the attack line of the log names Multiattack disadvantage. An advantage chip cancels it, and a roll mode that you pick in the dialog replaces it.

Damage riders on hits

Some spell chips add damage dice to hits, and the app rolls them with the hit. Divine Favor adds 1d4 radiant to each weapon hit of the paladin who holds it. Hunter’s Mark goes on a foe, and each weapon hit of the ranger who cast it adds 1d6 of the weapon’s damage type. The mark does nothing for the hits of anyone else. A critical hit doubles the rider dice, and the damage line of the log names each rider, as in , Hunter's Mark +2d6.

When the marked creature drops to 0 HP, cast Hunter’s Mark again on a later turn and pick Repeat (no slot). The repeat costs a bonus action and no slot, and it marks the new target under the same concentration. The app does not check that the old target is at 0 HP, so you check it. The advantage on Wisdom checks to find the target, and the longer duration of a 3rd-level or higher slot, stay with you.

Combat rules

The app follows the 5e rules for the rolls in this section.

Attack rolls

• The roll is 1d20, plus the ability modifier of the weapon, plus the proficiency bonus of the attacker, against the AC of the defender.
• A character adds the proficiency bonus only when its proficiency lists cover the weapon, by category or by name. Otherwise, the roll takes the ability modifier alone, and the log says “not proficient”.
• A creature is always proficient with its own weapon, like a 5e stat block.
• STR modifies a melee weapon, and DEX modifies a ranged weapon. A finesse weapon uses the higher of the two.
• A shot at long range takes disadvantage, which combines with the condition chips. A Roll value other than Auto still overrides it.
• A thrown melee weapon, such as a dagger, lists Melee first and the two throw distances after it. The throws count as ranged attacks. So a prone defender is harder to hit with a throw and easier to hit with a melee swing.
• Armor that the character is not trained for gives disadvantage on every attack roll.
• A natural 20 hits whatever the AC is, and every damage die rolls twice.
• A Champion fighter scores a critical hit on a weapon attack with a natural 19 or 20 from level 3 (Improved Critical), and with a natural 18 to 20 from level 15 (Superior Critical). Such a roll also hits whatever the AC is.
• A critical hit with a melee weapon adds more weapon damage dice that do not double. Brutal Critical adds one die at barbarian level 9, two at 13, and three at 17, and the half-orc Savage Attacks trait adds one. The damage line of the log names them, as in , extra critical dice +2d12.
• A natural 1 always misses.
• On a hit, the damage dice roll with the ability modifier added. Proficiency never adds to damage.

Damage and damage defenses

The app applies the damage to the defender. An encounter or an NPC loses HP at once, and the log records a defeat. A character or a creature loses bonus HP first, then real HP. The combatant card shows bonus HP beside the HP bar.

A weapon or spell hit checks the damage defenses of the defender first.

Each damage type in the hit changes separately. For a spell with half damage on a successful save, the save halves first, and the defenses apply after that. The app rounds down only at the end. The types with no defense add up and round down together, and each type with a defense rounds down on its own. For example, a save against 7 bludgeoning and 13 cold deals 10 with no defenses, 6 with cold resistance, and 16 with cold vulnerability.

A character resists the damage types of its race, such as fire for a tiefling. A creature takes its three lists from the creature dialog. A chip can add resistances too. Stoneskin resists bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from a nonmagical weapon, and a spell gets through it. Protection from Energy resists the one type that the caster picks at the cast. A weapon counts as magical when the Magical weapon box in its item form is ticked, and the pact weapon of a Pact of the Blade warlock counts as magical too. A creature takes the flag from the library weapon that arms it. The log names each defense that changed the damage, with the amount taken.

The Damage button on the combat screen and on the panels deals the typed amount with no damage type. No defense applies to it.

Death saves

A party character at 0 HP is dying, not dead. It gets a death-save tracker on the combat screen and on its sheet, and the Unconscious and Prone chips. A heal takes off Unconscious, and Prone stays until you remove it when the character stands up. A cast that puts Unconscious on a target, such as Sleep, also adds Prone. An Unconscious chip that you add by hand does not.

• The save is 1d20 against DC 10, with no ability modifier and no proficiency. A Bless chip still adds its die.
• Three successes stabilize the character. It stays at 0 HP and unconscious, and it rolls no more saves. The Stabilize button does the same thing without a roll.
• Three failures kill the character. The app says so and changes nothing else, so you decide what happens next.
• A natural 20 wakes the character at 1 HP. A natural 1 counts as two failures.
• Any damage at 0 HP is an automatic failure, with no roll. A critical hit counts as two failures. Damage on a stable character starts the saves again.
• If the damage left over past 0 HP is at least the HP maximum, the character dies at once. A 12 HP character hit for 24 dies, and so does a character at 0 HP hit for 12. Bonus HP absorbs the hit first.
• The hit that drops the character to 0 HP costs no failure.
• Any healing above 0 HP clears the tracker of a dying or stable character. Healing from the combat screen, from the HP stepper of the sheet, from a spell, and from a rest all count.
• A dead character regains no HP. A heal or a rest has no effect on it, and the combat log says so.
• Only a spell that raises the dead brings a dead character back. Revivify and Raise Dead are the built-in ones. Each clears the tracker and heals the character to 1 HP. Neither has an effect on a character that is not dead, a dying one included. In a custom spell, the Raises the dead box of a heal gives the same rule.
• Spare the Dying stabilizes a dying character, the same as the Stabilize control. It has no effect on a character that is not dying, or on a creature. In a custom spell, the Stabilizes the dying box of a heal gives the same rule.
• A healing spell has no effect on a creature at 0 HP, because a creature rolls no death saves. Revivify and Raise Dead bring a creature at 0 HP back to 1 HP. The heal control of the combat screen still heals a creature at 0 HP, so you can bring back an NPC that was only knocked out.
• The roll is a button, not an automatic step, so nobody rolls for the player when the turn advances.
• In a fight, a dying character keeps its place in the turn order. When its turn starts, the log and a toast say “Mirelle is dying. Roll a death save.” The Roll death save button shows only on that turn, and it goes away after the roll, so the character rolls once per turn. A stable or dead character loses its turns.
• The GM sees Stabilize on any turn, because an ally stabilizes a friend on the ally’s own turn.
• A dying character has no action bar, because it cannot act.

An encounter and an NPC have no death saves. Both are defeated at 0 HP.

Initiative

Initiative uses the DEX modifier, which is floor((DEX - 10) / 2). A character adds more terms to it. Jack of All Trades (bard 2) adds half the proficiency bonus, rounded down. Remarkable Athlete (Champion 7) adds half, rounded up, and the larger of the two applies. The Alert feat adds 5. The default initiative value is 10 plus the modifier. On a tie, the combatant with the higher DEX modifier goes first, and then the name decides.

Initiative is a Dexterity check, and it rolls as one.

• A condition chip that affects ability checks affects initiative. So a poisoned or frightened combatant rolls two d20s and keeps the lower one.
• Armor that the character is not trained for does the same.
• Exhaustion of level 1 or higher does the same.
• Feral Instinct (barbarian 7) gives advantage.

The log line says what happened to each roll, for example: Initiative rolled: Ser Aldric 17, Mirelle 6 (at disadvantage (dropped 15), Poisoned disadvantage). Every value stays editable until you press Start combat. After the start, the GM fixes a value in the initiative field of the left column on the combat screen.

A creature that a spell summons into a running fight rolls a plain d20 plus its DEX modifier, with no condition or armor effect. You can edit the value afterward.

Armor class

A Barbarian keeps its unarmored defense while it carries a shield. A Monk loses it, but the shield still adds its bonus. Both lose the formula when they put on body armor.

Body armor has two more 5e traits.

Both traits come with the armor presets. Armor already in a saved campaign has neither trait until you pick its preset again or set the fields by hand.

Armor proficiency

A character that wears armor its proficiency lists do not cover takes these penalties. A shield counts as its own entry in the armor list.

• Every STR and DEX save or check from the sheet rolls at disadvantage. The log says “not proficient” and names the armor.
• Every weapon attack rolls at disadvantage, because every attack uses STR or DEX.
• The character cannot cast a spell. The refusal names the armor and spends nothing. The cast dialog offers an Ignore armor box, which casts anyway.
• A spell that forces a STR or DEX save makes the wearer roll that save at disadvantage.

These penalties combine with the condition chips, so an advantage chip cancels them. The AC of the armor still applies. A creature has no proficiency lists and never takes these penalties.

Conditions

Eleven condition names have rules. The app applies them to every roll that they affect: a weapon attack, a spell attack, a spell save, and a save or a check rolled from the character sheet.

A chip that you type matches a row when it spells one of the names above. Case does not matter. Any other chip has no rule.

Charmed, Deafened, and Grappled have no rule. They need a relationship between two combatants, or movement, and the app has neither. Decide their effects at the table.

Timed conditions count down at the start of each round and end on their own.

Some spell chips end at a turn boundary instead of a round count, such as the Blinded of Sunbeam, which ends at the start of the caster’s next turn. Such a chip shows “next turn”. Some chips deal damage at the end of each turn of their holder, such as the chip of Acid Arrow. Point at a chip to read what it does and when it ends. A dying character still takes this damage, and each hit costs it a failed death save. When the fight ends, the damage that such a chip still owes lands at once. Outside a fight the app deals no later-turn damage, so apply it by hand.

A chip that deals damage on later turns, or that the holder retries a save against, stays apart from a chip of the same name from another caster or spell. A combatant can therefore show two Acid Arrow chips, and each one deals its own damage. Point at such a chip to read which caster and spell wrote it. The remove button of a chip removes only that chip, so the other cast keeps its chip.

Two casters who put a chip of the same name on one combatant each leave their own chip. When two clerics cast Bless on one fighter and one cleric loses concentration, the fighter stays blessed by the other. The effect still counts once, through the stronger chip, so two Blesses add one d4 and two Shields of Faith add +2 AC. A once-only chip such as Guidance is used up one chip at a time. From one caster, a combatant keeps one chip of each name. A longer chip from another spell of that caster stays, and of two casts of one spell with different strength, such as Aid at 2nd and at 3rd level, the stronger one stays.

A combatant that loses its turn keeps its place in the initiative order. Next turn steps past it without a message. A save that fails at once never reaches the dice, and the log names the chip that failed it.

A spell such as Hold Person lets its target repeat the save at the end of each of its turns. A target that loses its turn still has that turn end, so Next turn rolls the save as it steps past the target. A success ends the condition, but the target still loses the turn that it was held for.

NPCs have condition chips too. The chips sit on the row of the NPC in the NPCs panel of the Story tab, and on its card in the fight. The NPC list of the Build rail is for authoring and shows no chips.

Advantage and disadvantage

Advantage and disadvantage from any number of sources combine by the 5e rule. If both are present, the roll is normal. Otherwise, the one kind that is present applies.

Chips on both sides of an attack count. The log names every chip that affected the roll, including the ones that cancelled.

A roll that no chip affects uses the d20 mode of the dice tray. A roll that a chip affects does not change the d20 mode. The mode changes only when you click it.

Exhaustion

Exhaustion is a level from 0 to 6, not a chip, and the app stores it as its own number.

The app uses the 2014 rules for exhaustion. Each level keeps the effects of the levels below it.

Exhaustion does not change any printed bonus. The log line of a slanted roll names the level, such as “Exhaustion 3 disadvantage”.

The rest of the rules in the app also follow 2014, with one exception. Skill Expert is a feat from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything. Skilled can be taken once, as in 2014.

A row of six numbered pips sets the level, and the pips up to the current level are filled. The row is on the character sheet under the chips, and on each creature row in the Encounters and NPCs panels. The top line of the character sheet also names the level, beside AC and speed.

Only a GM can click the pips, because the sixth pip kills. A player on a bound tab sees the row but cannot change it.

The sixth level kills.

• A character gets three failed death saves and goes unconscious. The log says that the character died of exhaustion. The HP number stays where it was, because exhaustion kills without damage.
• A creature goes to 0 HP and drops out of the fight, the same as a killing blow.
• A heal that brings a character or a creature back also takes the level from 6 down to 5.