the-sunken-reach/docs/ENCOUNTERS.md

Encounters

How encounters work in this app: the two kinds of scene, who can be in one, how a battle is run, and how rewards are handed out.

This describes the code as it stands. The rules live in backend/src/routes/encounters.routes.js. Related: CHARACTERS.md, MONSTERS.md, NPCS.md, WEAPONS.md, ITEMS.md.

Contents

1. The basics
2. Battle, quest or free roam
3. Status
4. The scene and DM notes
5. Who is in the scene
6. Hit points
7. Initiative, turns and rounds
8. Conditions
9. Rewards
10. Trade
11. What each side sees
12. Permissions
13. What is not modelled

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1. The basics

• An encounter is one scene the DM runs: a fight, a meeting with people who want something, or a stretch of free roaming between places.
• Encounters belong to a campaign and are listed on the campaign page. The DM creates them and sees all of them.
• A player only sees an encounter that one of their own characters is in. Until the DM adds their character it is not in their list and its page will not open, so scenes the DM is still preparing stay hidden, name included. Taking their character out hides it again.
• The encounter page updates live for everyone who has it open.
• The DM runs everything. Players watch, and see less than the DM does.

2. Battle, quest or free roam

Every encounter has a mode, chosen when it is created and switchable at any time from the top of the page.

	Battle	NPC quest	Free roam
For	A fight	A scene built around people and an objective	The party wandering between places: shopping, meeting people
Layout	Everyone in one list, in initiative order; once in progress, those who have had their turn move to "Next Round" at the bottom	Three groups: "People you meet", "The party", "Creatures"	A card per place, then the party
Rounds and turns	Yes	No	No
Initiative	The d20 roll, typed in per combatant; the bonus is added	The same; each group lists highest first	Not needed
Start button	Begin Battle	Begin Quest	Begin Roaming
End button	End Battle	Complete Quest	End Free Roam
Trade (section 10)	No	Yes, while in progress, with the NPCs in the scene	Yes, while in progress, at the place a character has gone to
Who is in it	Whoever the DM adds	Whoever the DM adds	Whoever the DM adds

Everything else (hit points, conditions, rewards, the scene description, DM notes) works the same in all three.

Free roam

A free-roam encounter lays out places the party can go to: some of the campaign's locations, picked by the DM as the ones nearby.

• Who is in it is up to the DM, as with any encounter: nobody is added automatically, because the party may be split, with some of them somewhere else. Add the characters who are here from "Add to the scene"; a player sees the scene once their character is in it.
• Places. On its page the DM ticks which of the campaign's locations are part of the scene ("Places in this scene"), and can tick more, or untick some, while it is in progress. Locations are made on the campaign page.
• Each place is a card showing its description, who of the party is there now, the NPCs found there (name, role, description, what they sell and the rate they change money at), and the place's own shop. Everyone in the scene sees every place in it, whether or not they have been there.
• Going somewhere. Once the DM presses Begin Roaming, a player picks their character and presses Go here on a place: the character is now there (it shows on their sheet too, and the place joins the ones they know). The DM can send anyone.
• Shopping. A character buys from a place's shop, and buys from or changes money with an NPC found there, only while they are at that place. The Buy button says so otherwise.
• Setting it up (DM). A place's own shop is stocked from its card ("Set up this place's own shop"): weapons and items from the campaign's pools, with a price and stock, exactly as an NPC's wares are. It belongs to the location, so it is there in every free-roam scene that includes the place. An NPC is put at a place with Found at on the NPC's pop-out (NPCS.md); what they sell is set there too.
• An encounter's own location (the picker at the top) does not pull the party together in free roam: each character is where they were sent.

3. Status

Status	Meaning	How to get there
Planning	Being set up	Every new encounter starts here
In progress	Being played	Begin Battle / Begin Quest / Begin Roaming, or Reopen
Complete	Finished	End Battle / Complete Quest / End Free Roam

Status is a label. Nothing is locked when an encounter is complete: the DM can still change HP, add people and award rewards. Encounters cannot be renamed from the screen.

Location

The DM can give an encounter a location from the campaign's list, with the picker at the top of the page. While the encounter is in progress its characters are at that location: beginning it, changing its location, or adding a character to it moves them there. Each place a character is moved to (this way or by the DM on the sheet) is remembered, and a player can see only the locations one of their own characters has been to — on the campaign page under "Places", and on the encounter itself. Archiving or deleting the encounter does not take a visited place away again.

Order, archive and delete

Order. The campaign page lists encounters on its "Overview", under the characters, in the campaign order, which the DM arranges with the ▲ and ▼ buttons and everyone sees. A new encounter, battle or quest, goes to the bottom unless the DM picks otherwise in the menu beside the name when adding it: at the bottom, at the top, or straight after any encounter on the list. Top or bottom is remembered per browser. The "Sort by" menu re-sorts the list by name, status, type or date instead; that choice is remembered per browser and changes nothing for anyone else. ▲ and ▼ only show while sorting by campaign order.

The list shows ten encounters a page, with Prev and Next beneath it (and, with three pages or more, a menu to jump to any page), and the DM's archived list is paged the same way. The order runs on across pages: moving the last encounter on a page down carries it to the top of the next.

Completed encounters are hidden. An encounter that is Complete is left off the list, for the DM and the players alike, so the list is what is still to play. A Show completed (N) tick box above the list brings them back; the choice is remembered per browser. ▲ and ▼ move an encounter past its neighbour on the list as shown. Opening a completed encounter from a link still works, and nothing about it changes.

Archive. "Archive" (on the list or the encounter page) puts an encounter away without changing it. It moves to the DM's "Archived" section and disappears from the players' list; a player whose character is in it can still open its page from a bookmark. "Restore" puts it back on the list.

Delete. "Delete" (on the encounter page, or on an archived encounter in the list) removes the scene, who was in it and its reward list, after a confirmation. There is no undo. Rewards already handed out stay with the characters, and characters keep their current HP.

4. The scene and DM notes

Box	For	Who sees it
The Scene / Quest	Describing the battlefield, or what is being asked of the party	Everyone
DM Notes	Tactics, secrets, what happens if the party fails	DM only

Both save when the DM clicks out of the box.

In a battle under way the Scene box is only there between rounds: while the first in the turn order is on turn. For the rest of the round it is out of the way, for the DM and the players alike. Before the battle begins and once it is over it is always there.

Folded panels. While a battle is in progress, "Add to the scene", Experience and Rewards on the DM's side column start folded to their title (click the title to open one), so the fight is what fills the screen. They open again when the battle ends, or before it begins.

5. Who is in the scene

The DM adds people from the "Add to the scene" panel.

Kind	Comes from	Can be added more than once
Character	The campaign's finished characters, except dead ones	No
Monster	The campaign's monster list (MONSTERS.md)	Yes
NPC	The campaign's NPC list (NPCS.md)	No

Several monsters at once. With "Monster" chosen there is a number beside Add, 1 to 20. More than one adds that many copies, numbered: "Goblin 1" to "Goblin 4". Adding more later carries on from the highest number in the scene ("Goblin 5"). One on its own keeps the plain name. An initiative roll typed in is given to all of them; left empty, each can be rolled separately (section 7).

The turn strip. With two or more in the scene, a row of small buttons runs across the top of the page, one per combatant, in the order they act. It stays under the top bar while the cards scroll (on a phone it scrolls sideways). Each button has the name, HP where the viewer may see the numbers (otherwise the initiative total), a thin health bar and "⚑" with the number of conditions. Whoever is on turn is gold and marked ▶, a target is red and marked 🎯, the viewer's own characters are blue and marked ★, and in a battle those who have acted this round are dimmed. A click scrolls to that card. The fallen are not on it.

Finding your own character. A player's own characters stand out: their cards have a blue border and background and say "★ Your character", and their buttons on the turn strip are blue and starred. The DM sees the same for any character of their own.

Sheet. A character's card has a "📋 Sheet" button for the DM and for that character's own player. It opens the character panel on that character, beside the encounter: saving throws, every skill, passive scores, special abilities, everything they hold, what is equipped and what each thing does (CHARACTERS.md, section 14). The floating 🧙 button opens the same panel from anywhere. A card's details also list what the character's equipped gear is doing; the AC, speed and other numbers on the card already include it.

The spotlight. On a wide screen the column beside the cards starts with one combatant's whole stat block: whoever is on turn in a battle. It is everything their card has under "details", so the DM reads the attacker's numbers there while scrolling to a target. 📌 Pin on any card with details puts that combatant there instead (in a quest too, where nobody is on turn); "✕ Unpin" or a second click on Pin goes back to whoever is on turn. Pinning is for the viewer's own screen only. The side column stays in view and scrolls on its own. On a screen narrower than 960px there is no spotlight and no Pin: the list is one column and the card on turn is at its top.

Rolling. The underlined numbers on a card and in the spotlight roll when clicked: a character's saves, skills, ability checks, initiative, attacks and damage, and for the DM a monster's or NPC's attack and damage and a monster's ability scores. "🎲 Call for a roll…" in the header (DM) rolls one check or save for all the characters in the scene at once (CHARACTERS.md, "Rolling from the sheet").

Keys (DM, battle in progress). N is Next Turn. S opens the sheet of the character on turn, or pins the monster or NPC on turn to the spotlight. Keys do nothing while the cursor is in a field.

Each has a card. The card's left edge is coloured by kind, and it shows:

• Characters: level, species and class; HP, AC, speed, initiative bonus, passive perception, proficiency bonus and spell save DC. Under "details": ability scores, the weapon and items the character has equipped (with attack and damage numbers), spellcasting numbers with the spell slots left, the spells they can cast, saving throws and all eighteen skills (● proficient, ◆ expertise) with passive Perception, Investigation and Insight, and special abilities. A weapon that is not equipped is not on the card and cannot be used; "No weapon equipped" shows when there is none. Equipping is changed from "📋 Sheet". In a battle in progress a player can change the weapon in their character's hand (equip or unequip) at two moments only: as the battle begins, before anyone has made a move (round 1, still the first combatant's turn, nothing declared or landed), and on their own turn once their attack has landed, before the turn passes. At any other moment the sheet refuses and says why. The DM is not held to this and can change it at any time; items are not affected, and neither is a quest or free roam. The name links to the character sheet.
• Monsters: for the DM, AC, speed, attack and damage, and under "details" ability scores, trait and notes.
• NPCs: role, attitude and description; for the DM also AC, attack, damage and DM notes.

In a battle every card's details start closed, so the list stays short: on a wide screen the spotlight shows whoever is on turn in full, and on a narrower one the card of whoever is on turn opens its details by itself (and closes them again when the turn passes). In a quest or free roam the details start open for the DM and closed for players. "▸ Show details" / "▾ Hide details" on a card overrides this for that card. Weapons and spells above a character's level are left out, because the character cannot use them.

A dead character cannot be added to any encounter: they are left out of the list to pick from and the server refuses them, until they are revived. A character who dies stays in the encounters they were already in.

The DM removes someone with "Remove" on their card. Removing whoever is on turn passes the turn to the next combatant.

6. Hit points

The DM types an amount and clicks Damage or Heal on a card.

Combatant	Where the HP lives
Character	On the character sheet. The encounter shows the sheet's HP and changes it directly, so the two always agree. Max HP comes from the sheet.
Monster	In the encounter, per copy. Starts at the monster's max.
NPC	In the encounter. An NPC with no HP set has no health bar.

• HP always stays between 0 and max.
• What players see of it. A character's HP is always shown in numbers. For monsters and NPCs it depends on the campaign setting "Players see the exact hit points of monsters and NPCs": on (the default) shows the numbers, off shows only the health bar. The DM always sees the numbers.
• At 0 HP a monster or NPC is out of the fight: see "The fallen" below.
• A character at 0 HP is Dying instead, and its card grows a death-save box: see below.
• A character's temporary HP is shown beside its HP but is not used up automatically.

A character at 0 HP

The full rules are in CHARACTERS.md, section 7; the box on the card is the same one as on the sheet, and both change the same character.

• Dying. The box shows two tallies, Saved and Failed, three pips each. Type what the d20 showed and click Death save: 10 or more is a success, less is a failure, a 1 is two failures, a 20 puts the character back up at 1 HP. The DM can do this for anyone; a player for their own character.
• Damage while down is one failed save, added when the DM clicks Damage. For a critical hit the DM clicks the next Failed pip to add the second.
• Stabilise stops the saves without a roll (a Medicine check, a spell). Three successes do the same. A stable character stays at 0 HP.
• Heal on a dying or stable character puts them back up and clears the tallies.
• Dead after three failures, or when one blow leaves as much as the character's max HP still to take after reaching 0. Healing is refused; the DM clicks Revive at 1 HP, or an ally revives them (below).
• The DM can click any pip to set a tally by hand.

Nothing rolls by itself: the app does not prompt for a save when the turn comes round. A dying or stable character keeps its place in the order and still gets its turn.

The fallen

A combatant is out of the fight when it is:

• a monster or NPC at 0 HP (one with hit points to track), or
• a dead character. Dying and stable characters are not: they stay in view.

What that does:

• Players no longer see it. Its card is gone from their screen, along with any target mark on it; the server does not send it to them at all.
• The DM's screen leaves it out as well, until the DM ticks Show dead above the list (the box shows how many there are, and only appears when there are any). Ticked, they are listed in a group of their own at the bottom, "Out of the fight, hidden from players", each with a "Hidden from players" badge, and everything on the card still works. The tick is not remembered: it is off again when the page is reopened.
• It has no turn. Next Turn, Next Round and Begin Battle pass over it.
• It stays in the encounter: nothing is removed, and gold is still split with a dead character.

It is worked out from hit points each time, not stored, so it undoes itself: heal a monster or NPC above 0, or revive a character, and they are back on everyone's screen and back in the turn order.

Reviving a dead character. Players see dead characters by name only, in a ☠ Fallen box above the list. There are two ways back:

• The DM ticks Show dead and clicks Revive at 1 HP on the dead character's card (or does it on the sheet), at any time.
• An ally tries it: in a battle in progress, the player whose character is on turn gets a Try revive button beside each name in the Fallen box, if that character is capable. Capable means on their feet (above 0 HP) and knowing a spell that is ticked Revives in the campaign's spell list (SPELLS.md), at a level they can cast. The library's Revivify (level 3) and Raise Dead (level 5) are ticked already.

Either way the character comes back at 1 HP with the death saves cleared. The app does not use up the spell, check how long ago they died, or end the reviver's turn.

7. Initiative, turns and rounds

Initiative is entered in battles and quests alike. Turns and rounds are for battles only.

• Each combatant has an initiative roll field. Type what the d20 showed, 1 to 20; the field accepts nothing else. The app adds the bonus for you and shows the total, which can go past 20 (a 20 on the die with a +3 bonus is 23): a character's initiative bonus from their sheet, a monster's Dexterity modifier, nothing for an NPC.
• The DM can enter the roll for anyone, when adding them or on the card. A player can enter the roll for their own character on its card.
• 🎲 Roll initiative for N monsters and NPCs, in "Add to the scene" while any of them has no roll, rolls a d20 for each of those and adds their bonus. Monsters added together each get their own roll. Rolls already entered are left alone, and characters are left to their players.
• The list is ordered by the total, highest first; ties keep the order they were added in. Anyone who has not rolled yet waits at the bottom.
• The bonus is worked out when the roll is entered. If a character's sheet changes afterwards, enter the roll again to pick up the new bonus.
• Begin Battle puts the first combatant on turn. Their card is highlighted, the header names them, and their stats fill the spotlight (section 5).
• Next Turn (or the N key) passes the turn to the next in the order. After the last combatant it returns to the top and the round goes up by one.
• Next Round skips straight to the top of the next round.
• Anyone out of the fight (section 6, "The fallen") is passed over.
• The turn-order track. While a battle is in progress a line of names stays at the top of the screen: whoever is on turn first (larger, with ▶), then everyone still to act this round, then a 🏁 Round N+1 flag where the round ends, then the whole order again for the round after. It is names only, coloured by what each is: blue for a player character, green for an NPC, red for a monster. A struck-through name is dying. The DM can read off who is next, and who follows the end of the round, at a glance. Before the battle begins the older strip (names with HP) is shown instead.
• What now. Under the track the DM gets one line saying what the scene is waiting on: "Aria's turn: waiting for them to pick a target", "Aria's Longsword: enter the d20 against Goblin 1 (AC 15)", "Fireball: 3 saving throws to enter (DEX, DC 14)", "Goblin 2's Attack is ready (Aria: hit for 5). Accept, change or discard it." A player gets the same line for what is theirs to do: "Your turn! Pick a target", "Roll your d20 for Longsword", "make a DEX saving throw and enter your d20".
• The list follows the turn. While a battle is in progress, whoever is on turn is at the top of "Initiative order" with those still to act this round beneath them. Each combatant whose turn has passed moves down to a Next Round section at the bottom, still in initiative order. When the round rolls over everyone is back in "Initiative order". Everyone sees the same arrangement. Before the battle begins, and once it is complete, it is one plain list.

Targets

Combatants can be marked as targets: whoever is being attacked (or healed) right now. One target is an ordinary attack; more than one is an area attack.

• Three ways to mark someone, each a toggle: click their name on the turn-order track; click 🎯 Target beside their name on their card; or press 1 to 9 for the first nine combatants in turn order (leaving out whoever is on turn). Each one marked is added to the targets.
• The DM can mark anyone at any time, in a battle or a quest. A player can while their own character is on turn in a battle, so they can show the DM who they are going for. A player cannot mark someone who is out of the fight, and is not shown a mark the DM leaves on one.
• The combatant on turn cannot be marked: nobody targets themselves, and their card has no Target button until the turn passes. To heal or hurt them on their own turn, use the buttons on their card.
• A target's card is outlined in red for everyone and reads "Targeted by ".
• In hand. The card of whoever is on turn, and of every target, shows a highlighted "In hand" line: the weapons the character has equipped, with their to-hit and damage (or, for the DM, a creature's attacks). So both sides of an exchange show what they are fighting with.
• While anyone is marked the DM also gets a quick damage bar above the list, for changing HP by hand without an attack (below). It shows who is attacking whom, each target's AC and HP, and the attacker's attacks: a character's equipped weapons (none, if nothing is equipped) and damaging spells, or a monster's or NPC's attack and damage. The amount box is ready to type in; Damage (or Enter) and Heal change HP exactly as the buttons on a card do.
• Targets stay marked after damage, for a second attack. They are cleared when the turn or round moves on, when the encounter begins, ends or is reopened; a target that is removed from the encounter is unmarked.

Area attacks

An attack on several targets is harder to land and its damage is shared.

• Harder to hit. Every target's AC counts as higher for each target beyond the first, by the campaign's area attack AC penalty. The DM sets it in the campaign settings, from 0 (no penalty) to 10; it starts at 2, which gives:

  Targets	Added to each AC
  1	0
  2	+2
  3	+4
  4	+6

  The attack bar shows the AC to beat with the penalty already added ("17 (15 +2)"), and each target's card says "area attack, AC +2".

• Who was hit. Each target has a tick box, ticked to begin with. Untick anyone the roll missed; they take nothing.

• Sharing the amount. Type the total. "Split between those hit" (the default) shares it evenly, any remainder going one point each to the first targets marked: 7 between three is 3, 2 and 2. "Full amount to each" gives every target hit the whole amount. Each target's share is shown before it is applied.

• A target with no hit points to track is left out of the sharing.

The damage bar does not roll or decide anything: it is for when the DM already knows the number. An attack that is to be rolled and judged goes through Attacks and spells, next.

Attacks and spells

An attack or a spell is declared, rolled, and then applied by the DM. The app works out whether it hits (or whether each target saves) from the d20 that is entered, and the DM can overrule it at every step.

1. Declare. Once a target is marked, a box " attacks with…" lists what they can use, one button each:

• a character's equipped weapons (outlined, so the weapon in hand stands out), each with its to-hit and damage;
• the spells they know, each saying how it lands: a spell attack ("+6 to hit"), a saving throw ("DC 14 DEX save"), or no roll;
• for the DM, a monster's or NPC's own attacks;
• for the DM, ✎ Something else…: an attack roll, a saving throw or an effect spelled out on the spot (a trap, a breath weapon, a monster's spell): its name, bonus or DC and ability, and damage dice.

A player declares for their own character, on its turn. The DM declares for anyone. Declaring replaces that combatant's unfinished action.

2. Roll. The action appears as a card for everyone, with a row per target:

The action is	Each target's row asks for	And says
An attack (a weapon, a spell attack, a creature's attack)	The attacker's d20 against that target	"17 vs AC 15": HIT, MISS, CRITICAL HIT on a natural 20, a miss on a natural 1
A saving throw spell	That target's d20 for the save; their save bonus is filled in	"14 vs DC 14": SAVED or FAILED
Something that just lands (Magic Missile)	Nothing	It hits

• The d20 is typed in (press Enter or click away) or rolled by the app with "🎲 Roll the d20". A player follows the campaign's dice setting; the DM can always do either. With several targets an attack takes one d20 per target, and the area-attack AC penalty is counted in.
• The attacker's player enters the attack rolls; a player enters the save for their own character when a spell or trap is aimed at them; the DM can enter anything.
• Damage: once something hits (or someone fails a save), "🎲 Roll damage" rolls the dice shown, or the total rolled at the table is typed in. On a critical hit the app rolls the critical damage as well, by the campaign's rule (the dice twice, or the dice at their most plus one roll), and that target takes it. A save that succeeds takes half, or nothing, as the spell says.

3. Overrule (DM). Beside each target the DM has Hit / Miss / Crit (or Saved / Failed) buttons that rule the outcome whatever the dice say (a ruling shows a ✎; pressing it again goes back to the dice), and a dmg box to set what that one target takes. "Aim it at" moves a single-target action to someone else, keeping the d20 already rolled.

4. Apply (DM). ✔ Apply (or the A key) lets it land: each target loses what the card says, with temp HP, death saves and the fallen handled as for any damage; a spell spends the slot it was declared with from its caster (a cantrip spends nothing); anyone hurt while Concentrating gets a line telling the DM the save to call for. The card then moves to ⚔ What just happened in the side column, where the last few actions stay for everyone to read. ✕ Discard throws it away; a player can call off their own.

Passing the turn discards whatever was left unfinished.

Auto-rolled monster and NPC attacks

With Auto-roll monster attacks (and, separately, Auto-roll NPC attacks) on in the campaign settings, a monster's or NPC's turn begins with its attack already declared and rolled by the server:

• Who it goes for. Monsters and hostile NPCs attack the party (characters and friendly NPCs); friendly NPCs attack monsters and hostile NPCs; a neutral NPC attacks nobody. Among those still standing the target is drawn at random, weighted: whoever it attacked last and whoever has hurt it count for more, and so, a little, does a lower AC. A creature with several attacks tends to keep at one foe.
• What is rolled. The d20 against that target's AC, and, on a hit, the damage (critical damage on a natural 20). A monster with named attacks (MONSTERS.md, section 2) makes each of them, as many times as its multiattack says: one card each.
• The DM decides. The card reads, for example, "🤖 Goblin 2: Attack → Aria: 17 vs AC 15, HIT, −5 HP". ✔ Accept applies it; or change the target, the d20, the outcome or the damage first; or ✕ Discard it and run the turn by hand.
• Players do not see it until it is accepted, when the campaign keeps the DM's monster rolls hidden (the default); then it appears in "What just happened" like any other.

A creature with no attack bonus or damage, or with nobody to attack, declares nothing.

8. Conditions

The DM adds a condition to any card from the "+ Condition" list, and removes one by clicking its ✕. Everyone sees them. Hovering over a condition shows its rule (on the card, in the spotlight, on the sheet and on the party overview).

A character's conditions are the character's own. One given on an encounter card is on their sheet and in their panel too, is still there when the encounter ends, and shows on their card in the next one, until the DM removes it (from any of those places). A monster's or an NPC's conditions belong to that one card.

A character's card also shows ✨ Inspired and Exhaustion N when they apply, and under "details" (and in the spotlight) their class counters: Rage, Ki, Channel Divinity and the rest, with a Use button for the DM and for that character's own player (CHARACTERS.md, section 7).

The list: Blinded, Charmed, Deafened, Frightened, Grappled, Incapacitated, Invisible, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Restrained, Stunned, Unconscious, Concentrating.

Timed conditions. The "rounds" box beside "+ Condition" says how long the next condition added lasts. Its chip shows what is left ("Frightened 2 rd"). Each time the round goes up (Next Turn past the last combatant, or Next Round) every timed condition loses a round, and one that reaches 0 comes off by itself, from the character's sheet too. The DM is told what wore off ("Frightened wore off Aria."). Given for 1 round, a condition lasts until the next round begins; a condition added with the box empty stays until the DM removes it. The countdown belongs to the encounter: it does not run outside one, and removing a condition by hand drops its countdown.

Concentration. "Concentrating" marks someone holding a spell. When the DM applies damage to them, from their card or the attack bar, a notice gives the save to call for: Constitution, DC 10 or half the damage if that is higher, with their Constitution save bonus (a monster's Constitution modifier). The site does not roll it or end the spell: on a failure the DM removes the chip.

Conditions are reminders for the table. They do not change any numbers.

9. Rewards

The DM lines up loot in the Rewards panel, on any encounter at any time.

Reward	What the DM sets
Coins or cash	An amount, and which: gold, silver, copper or cash ($)
Weapon	A weapon from the pool, a level (not below its starting level), a quantity
Item	An item from the pool, a level, a quantity

Each can carry a short note ("Goblin chief's purse").

A reward does nothing until it is awarded, and it can be awarded once.

Button	What happens
Award (pick a character)	The whole reward goes to that character. It can be any finished character in the campaign, not only those in the encounter.
Split (coins and cash only)	Shared evenly between the characters in the encounter. Any remainder goes one each, highest initiative first: 101 gold between two is 51 and 50.

• Coins or cash are added to the character's balance with a money-log entry reading "Reward: ".
• A weapon or item is added to what the character holds, at the reward's level, stacking with any they already have. If the character is below that level they hold it but cannot use it yet.
• Removing a reward from the list does not take back what was awarded.
• Spells cannot be rewards; the DM grants those on the character sheet.

Until a reward is awarded only the DM can see it. Afterwards players see what it was and who received it.

Experience and difficulty

The DM's Experience card, above Rewards, reads the fight and hands out its XP. Players see none of it.

What the monsters are worth. Each monster's challenge rating (MONSTERS.md) is worth a set amount of XP, and the card adds them up, standing or fallen. A monster whose challenge is empty or is not a rating ("boss") is not counted, and the card says how many are not. NPCs have no challenge rating and are never counted.

Challenge	XP	Challenge	XP	Challenge	XP	Challenge	XP
0	10	3	700	9	5,000	15	13,000
1/8	25	4	1,100	10	5,900	16	15,000
1/4	50	5	1,800	11	7,200	17	18,000
1/2	100	6	2,300	12	8,400	18	20,000
1	200	7	2,900	13	10,000	19	22,000
2	450	8	3,900	14	11,500	20	25,000

Ratings 21 to 30 run from 33,000 to 155,000. "0.5" is read as 1/2, and "CR 3" as 3.

How hard it is. Several monsters are harder than their XP says, so to judge the fight the total is multiplied for their number: ×1 for one, ×1.5 for two, ×2 for 3 to 6, ×2.5 for 7 to 10, ×3 for 11 to 14, ×4 for 15 or more. That figure is held against what the characters in the scene can take, each adding their own level's thresholds:

Level	Easy	Medium	Hard	Deadly
1	25	50	75	100
2	50	100	150	200
3	75	150	225	400
4	125	250	375	500
5	250	500	750	1,100
6	300	600	900	1,400
7	350	750	1,100	1,700
8	450	900	1,400	2,100
9	550	1,100	1,600	2,400
10	600	1,200	1,900	2,800

(Levels 11 to 20 continue to 2,800 / 5,700 / 8,500 / 12,700 at level 20.) The fight is Trivial below the party's Easy figure, then Easy, Medium, Hard, and Deadly from the Deadly figure up. The rating is a badge on the card and in the page header, beside the round, and it moves as monsters and characters are added. There is no rating until the scene has at least one character and one monster with a challenge rating.

Awarding it. "Award N XP each" shares the XP evenly between every character in the encounter, rounded down, and adds it to each one's XP. The amount is what the monsters are worth (not the multiplied figure) unless the DM types another: for a quest, a clever escape, or a scene with nothing rated in it. It can be awarded at any point, and once per encounter; the card then reads "✓ 75 XP awarded: 37 each". A mistake is put right on the characters' sheets. XP never levels anyone up by itself (CHARACTERS.md, section 6).

10. Trade

In an NPC quest the party can change money and buy things. (In free roam they do the same at the place each character has gone to: section 2, "Free roam".) Both take someone to deal with and the time to do it, so:

• Trading is open only in an NPC quest that is in progress. Before "Begin Quest" and after "Complete Quest" everything on offer is still shown, but the buttons are off.
• There is no trading in a battle. Switching a quest to a battle hides the Trade card and the server refuses any trade; switching back brings it back.
• An NPC trades only while they are in the scene and not at 0 HP.
• The character trading has to be in the encounter and alive.

The "Trade" card sits beside the scene, above Rewards. It appears for players when there is something to trade, and always for the DM in a quest.

Part of the card	What it does
Who is trading	Picks the character. A player chooses among their own characters in the scene; the DM among all of them. Their purse is shown beside it
💱 A money changer	One row per NPC in the scene who has an exchange rate. Type an amount, choose "gold into cash" or "cash into gold", and the button shows what comes back
🛒 " sells"	Everything that NPC has for sale: what it is, its level and dice, the price, and how many are left. "Buy" buys one
🛒 "For sale here"	Things sold by the scene itself rather than by anyone in it
Set up (DM only)	Puts weapons and items from the campaign pools up for sale at this encounter, and edits their price and stock

• Changing money uses the NPC's own rate, the same both ways, and only gold and cash: no silver, no copper, no change. The amount handed over has to be a whole multiple of that side of the rate. The full rules and examples are in NPCS.md, section 5.
• Buying pays the price from the character's purse (coins make change; a cash price takes cash only), adds the weapon or item to what the character holds at the level it is sold at, and uses up stock. A character below that level holds it but cannot use it yet.
• Every trade is written to the character's money log.
• An NPC's rate and wares are set on the campaign page, in the NPC's pop-out, and follow the NPC into every quest they are in. An encounter's own wares are set here, in the DM's part of the card, and exist only in this encounter: a market stall, a vending machine, a chest with a price tag.
• Removing an NPC from the scene takes their rate and wares out of it. Deleting the encounter deletes its own wares; what was bought stays bought.

11. What each side sees

	DM	Players
Scene description	Yes	Yes
DM notes	Yes	Never
Characters	Full card	Full card
A character's saves, skills and passive scores	Yes	Yes, as on the sheet
A character's inspiration, exhaustion, conditions and class counters	Yes, and can change them	Yes; a player can spend their own character's counters
A character's inventory, spells and purse	Yes, for everyone	Their own characters only
Monsters	Full stat block	Name, HP, conditions
NPCs	Everything	Name, role, attitude, description, HP bar
Monsters and NPCs at 0 HP	With "Show dead" ticked, marked hidden	Nothing
Dead characters	Full card with "Show dead" ticked, marked hidden	The name only, in the Fallen box
Rewards	All	Only awarded ones
Difficulty and the monsters' XP	Yes	Never (awarded XP shows on their own sheet)
Exchange rates and things for sale	Yes	Yes, for NPCs they can see and for the scene itself
An attack or spell being resolved	Yes, all	Yes, but not a monster's or NPC's AC, and not the DM's hidden (auto-rolled) ones until they are accepted
What just happened (the last few actions)	Yes	Yes
Controls (add, damage, turns, rewards)	Yes	None, apart from their own attacks and rolls

The server only sends a player what the right-hand column lists, so hidden information cannot be dug out of the page.

12. Permissions

Action	DM	Players
Create an encounter	Yes	No
See and open an encounter	Yes, all of them	Only ones their own character is in
Change mode, status, scene or DM notes	Yes	No
Rearrange, archive, restore or delete encounters	Yes	No
See archived encounters in the list	Yes	No
Add or remove anyone	Yes	No
Change HP or conditions	Yes	No
Enter an initiative roll	Yes, for anyone	For their own character only
Mark targets	Yes, any time	On their own character's turn
Pick a free-roam scene's places, stock a place's shop	Yes	No
Send a character to a place in free roam	Yes, anyone	Their own character
Declare an attack or a spell	Yes, for anyone, and anything spelled out	For their own character, on its turn, with its weapons and spells
Enter or roll an attack's d20 and damage	Yes	For their own character's attack
Enter or roll a saving throw	Yes, for anyone	For their own character
Overrule a roll, set a target's damage, change the target	Yes	No
Apply or accept an action	Yes	No
Discard an action	Yes	Their own
Enter a death save, or stabilise	Yes, for anyone	For their own character only
Set death-save tallies by hand	Yes	No
Revive a dead character outright	Yes	No
Try to revive a dead character	Yes, for the character on turn	On their own character's turn, if it has a reviving spell
Advance turns and rounds	Yes	No
Roll initiative for the monsters and NPCs	Yes	No
Call for a roll from all the characters	Yes	No
See the difficulty and what the monsters are worth; award XP	Yes	No
Click a number to roll it	Yes	Yes, for what they can see
Give a condition a number of rounds	Yes	No
Add, remove or award rewards	Yes	No
Set exchange rates, and put things up for sale	Yes	No
Change money or buy, in a quest in progress	Yes, for any character in it	For their own character in it

People outside the campaign cannot open its encounters.

13. What is not modelled

• Rolling initiative for characters into their field (a player clicks their Init chip to roll it, then types what came up)
• Advantage and disadvantage on an attack or save within an action (roll both d20s and enter the one that counts), resistances and vulnerabilities (set the target's damage by hand), and upcasting a spell for more damage
• Healing through an action (use + Heal on the card or the damage bar)
• A monster choosing among different attacks by itself: with auto-roll it makes all of its named attacks, or its single one
• Death saves for monsters and NPCs, and prompting for a save on a dying character's turn
• A roll, a spell slot or a time limit for reviving the dead
• The mechanical effects of conditions, durations counted in anything but rounds, and rolling a concentration save
• Maps, positions, distances and areas of effect
• Adjusting difficulty for a very small or very large party, and awarding XP to some of the characters only or in unequal shares
• Spells as rewards, and spells for sale
• Selling to an NPC, haggling, and buying more than one of a thing in a single step
• Renaming an encounter from the screen
• A log of what happened during the encounter