Questions, answered.

Rolling dice from a scene

You must be the GM, inside a campaign.

1. Open a scene and find the Encounter section. Open a creature's stat block.
2. Click an attack bonus (for example +8) to roll a d20 plus that bonus. Click the dice in a damage line (for example 1d6 + 4) to roll damage. Click a saving throw bonus in the ability table to roll that save.
3. Hold a link down for about half a second (or right-click it, or press the menu key) to choose how to roll:
   • Attacks and saves: Disadvantage, Normal, Advantage
   • Damage: Normal or Critical hit (twice the dice, the bonus added once)
4. A small pop-up shows the result and your roll log (bottom of the screen) keeps it, with the creature's name and what was rolled.

Other dice in a creature's text, such as a Strength drain or how many hours until something happens, are links too. Click to roll them.

On a character's card, the Quick rolls box works the same way.

Opinion of the party is a number from -10 (they despise the party) to +10 (they adore it) on characters and factions. It is off in every campaign until you turn it on.

Turn it on: open your campaign, go to Settings, set Opinion of the party to On, and save.

What changes when it is on

• Characters and factions show their opinion, and you can edit it.
• A faction's opinion is where its members start.
• On a scene's Quick rolls, Spotting a lie is the character's Insight against the party's lie. At +4 or higher they want to believe the party, so it rolls with disadvantage. At -4 or lower they are suspicious, so it rolls with advantage. From -3 to +3 it rolls normally.

When it is off: the number is hidden, and Spotting a lie rolls normally. The site still makes up an opinion for new characters and factions and keeps it, so the values are there if you turn it on later.

Only you can see opinions. Players never receive them.

The Encounter builder is free and needs no account. Find it in the Tools menu in the site header.

1. Party: set how many players and their level. Need a mixed table? Choose + Add a group with a different level.
2. Rules: pick D&D 2014 or 2024. They measure difficulty differently (Low, Moderate, High in 2024; Easy, Medium, Hard, Deadly in 2014).
3. Choose + Add creature. Click the box and scroll, or type a name, a type or a CR. The list runs from CR 0 up, under a heading for each CR.
4. Set the Number of that creature. Use the CR box beside it to make the creature stronger or weaker. Its hit points, armor, attacks and saves are rebuilt for that CR.
5. Watch the Difficulty bar. It shows the encounter's XP against your party, and how much more XP reaches the next level.
6. Open a creature's stat block to read it. Copy stat block copies it to paste into Roll20 (Bio & Info or GM Notes).

Narrow the list (optional): under Creature filters, set Creature type (for example Undead) or untick Allow Homebrew to hide the homebrew NPC creatures. Leave both alone to see everything.

Every job the NPC generator uses has a basic stat block: tavern keeper, blacksmith, baker, town guard, thief, hedge wizard and more. They are homebrew, made for Roleplay Journal. They are not official monsters, and each one carries a Homebrew tag so nobody mistakes it for one.

Find one: in the Monster builder, the Encounter builder or a scene's Encounter, click the creature box and type the job (for example "tavern keeper") or the word homebrew to list them all.

Make it fit your party

1. Pick the creature. Most start at a low CR, from 0 to about 2.
2. Change its CR. A tavern keeper at CR 5 hits harder, has far more hit points and gains extra attacks. Its cudgel and thrown tankard stay.
3. Some have a special trick that scales too, such as the cook's boiling stew or the hedge wizard's sleep dust.

Good to know

• Noble, Priest, Acolyte and Bard share a name with an official creature, so theirs read "Noble (NPC)" and so on.
• Copy stat block adds a "Source: Homebrew (Roleplay Journal)" line, so it is still marked when you paste it into Roll20.
• Do not want homebrew in the list? In the Encounter builder, untick Allow Homebrew under Creature filters. It is on by default.
• They follow the same CR rules as every other creature, but they are a starting point. Change what you like.

Only the GM sees the encounter. It is saved with the scene.

1. Open a scene and find the Encounter section.
2. Set the Party, then use + Add creature to pick creatures. It works like the Encounter builder, and the rules (2014 or 2024) follow your campaign's Game system in Settings.
3. Open a creature's stat block. Inside it are hit point bars, one for each creature (numbered 1, 2, 3 if you have several).
4. To hurt or heal, type a number in the Update box and press Enter. A positive number heals. A negative number damages. Set the creature's Max HP on its row in the list.
5. Heal all (above the stat blocks) puts everything back to full.
6. Click an attack bonus, a damage roll or a saving throw to roll it. See the "rolling from stat blocks" how-to for advantage and critical hits.

Changes save by themselves (look for Saved beside the Encounter title).

Reusing a fight: Duplicate on a scene makes a copy that is not in a chapter. The copy keeps the encounter, with everyone back at full hit points.

Open Characters in your campaign and choose New character. You get three ways to start:

• Start from scratch gives you an empty form.
• Random character rolls everything, from name to motivation.
• Build with a wizard lets you choose Race, Gender, Age group, Wealth, Occupation and Tone first. Leave any on Random. The site rolls the rest to fit.

Change just one thing: every field has a small dice beside it. It rolls only that field again, built around everything else already filled in.

Keep what you like: every field also has a lock. A locked field stays put when you roll the whole character. Anything you picked in the wizard starts locked, and so does anything you type.

Tips

• An occupation shapes the details: a blacksmith comes out different from a courtier.
• A faction's opinion of the party is where its members start (if you use Opinion).
• A new character is hidden from your players until you share it.

Free NPC rolls on the site's public pages do not need an account. After signing in, you can add what you rolled to a campaign.

Invite players

1. Open your campaign and go to Settings.
2. Under Invite players, press Copy link and send it to your table. Or press Copy code: they enter it on My Home.
3. Players are always free but need an account. If the link gets shared too widely, press Make a new code.

Choose what they see

Everything you add starts hidden. On any city, location, faction, character, scene or note, open Seen by and choose Only the GM, Specific people (then pick them) or Everyone in the campaign.

Anything new lights up for a player until they have seen it.

Check before you play

In the sidebar, the Your role: GM menu lets you view the campaign as one player, or as Everyone in the campaign. You see exactly what they see. Press Go back to GM mode when done.

Observers can read what is shared and nothing else. Opinions are never shown to players. Players can add their own notes, which you and they can see, and they can share them.

1. Open Locations and the location you want. Find its Staff section.
2. Press Suggest the usual staff to add empty positions for the roles that place normally has (a tavern gets a tavern keeper, a cook and servers, for example). Not what you want? Use Add a role to pick any role for any place. Remove role takes one away.
3. For each role, choose Add a new character or Use an existing character.
4. When you add a new one, set the race and gender if you care (or leave them Any), pick the age group, then press Build. The site makes the person to fit the job.
5. Tick Family of the owner and the character shares the owner's last name and race, and may look and act like them. Build the owner or leader first.
6. Remove takes someone out of a role. They stay in your Characters list.

Staff are hidden from players until you share them with Seen by.

Tip: build the owner, then the family, then everyone else. Then open the character cards to adjust the details.

A note is for something your players should know or do. Each note is one of two kinds, and the kind decides where it lives in the sidebar:

• Information: facts, rumors, lore and clues.
• Quests: jobs and goals the party can pursue.

Share it: use Seen by on the note (Only the GM, Specific people or Everyone in the campaign).

What players see: a note that is new to a player is marked High Priority for that player. They tick Read and it goes back to normal. Players can add notes too. Their notes start out visible to them and you.

Closing a note: when a quest is done, press Close. It folds up and its title is struck through. Reopen brings it back.

On a scene: notes tied to the scene's locations show up there, with sub-notes and replies, so you have them to hand at the table.

1. In your campaign, open Settings.
2. Under Export to spreadsheet, press Download a blank template. It opens fine in Google Sheets. (Export downloads your current campaign in the same layout.)
3. Fill in the sheets: cities, factions, locations, characters, chapters, scenes, notes and location staff. Leave every ID blank for new rows.
4. Under Import from spreadsheet, choose the file and press Import.

Good to know

• A blank ID creates something new, hidden from players until you share it.
• A row with an existing ID updates that item. Blank cells are left as they are.
• Import never deletes anything.
• Importing the same file twice with blank IDs makes duplicates. Export first, then edit that file, and the IDs match.
• Put a * in a cell and the site makes it up: a name, a voice, ability scores or a description. A new row with only an occupation comes in as a whole character. The Read Me sheet lists which columns can be made up.

Share in bulk: Update visibility from a spreadsheet lets you change who sees many items at once.