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Sessions are recorded and transcribed. A filter on the admin's computer removes off-topic talk first, and only the game content goes to Claude, which drafts a recap with key moments. A reviewer reads, edits and publishes it. You only see published recaps, on Story: Previously on… (the latest) and All sessions.

Search the story (the box at the top of Story) finds the sessions whose recap, key moments or DM's notes mention every word you type, opens them with the words marked, and clearing it shows every session again. It searches Story only, not the Campaign page.

It has four tabs. World is everything the party has met, to read: names down the left, grouped into People (the party's own characters too, with a Character sheet button), Places, Factions, Items and Creatures, with chips above to show only some kinds, and the one you pick on the right with its description, the quests it's part of, its connections (everyone it's tied to, drawn around it: parents above, spouse and siblings beside, children below, allies and enemies on one side, factions and quests on the other; click a name to read about them), what the table knows, and a timeline of its key moments. A blue dot marks names that came up in the last session's key moments, and Last session (above the names) shows only those. The search looks through names, other names and descriptions, and the ↑ and ↓ keys move through the names.

Quests shows every open quest at once: who gave it and since when, its last few key moments (earlier opens the rest), who and where it involves, and what the table knows. If an open quest hasn't been in a key moment for three sessions, it says so. Finished quests are listed under Done; click one for everything about it. Relationships draws a small tree for each family (couples, then their children) and lists the other ties: factions and their members, who serves whom, allies, enemies and who gave which quest. Click anyone there to see their connections; a name in that window puts them in the middle.

Each entry and tab has its own address, so you can share a link to it. Elsewhere (a recap, a key moment), clicking a name still opens a quick side panel, with Open in Campaign for the full entry.

Use Suggest a correction or addition under the recap, or on any person, place or other entry (on the Campaign page, or in its side panel when you click its name elsewhere), or in a glossary term's panel. Write what's wrong or what to add; it shows in the panel right away. Every suggestion helps: corrections also teach future drafts.

The DM, reviewers and admins have Edit on each entry, and Mark done (or Reopen) on a quest in the Quests tab's quest log. Edit is a large window to change the name, kind or quest status, hide an entry from the table, write the description in their own words (or have Claude redraft it from the facts), manage relationships (including who gave a quest) and pictures, add a key moment, merge a duplicate into the entry to keep, or delete it (Manage › History can bring it back). They also add new people, places and other entries with + New entry (or + New quest) on the Campaign page, and can write a session's recap by hand on Manage › Recaps › Add session. Manage › DM guide walks the DM through all of it. When Claude's redraft works a fact in, accepting it moves that fact under Done; they can also mark any fact Done by hand. Undo brings it back.

It goes to the DM and the admins (and any reviewers) on Manage › Inbox. Nothing changes until one of them decides: accept it as you wrote it, edit it first, ask Claude to work it into the description or recap, or dismiss it.

Once the DM (or anyone) writes or edits a description or recap, Claude keeps those words: later updates from a session or a redraft only add or fix what's new, and the DM sees each change marked up before accepting it.

You can see what happened to each of yours on Your suggestions (in the account menu, or under More on a phone), and on the entry's side panel: Waiting, Added (on the page as you wrote it), Used (worked into a description or recap) or Not used. There are no notifications.

The DM's own suggestions skip this step, because the DM controls the story. A DM fact goes straight onto the page, and a DM correction to a session shows under the recap as "From the DM" right away.

When Claude isn't sure about something while drafting ("who told the party about the library?"), a reviewer can send the question to the person most likely to know. Your answer goes into the next draft. You can also tick that it should be used in every future draft, which helps with things like name spellings.

Campaign names and words with their correct spelling, plus how a transcript tends to mishear them. It keeps names consistent in recaps and links. The DM and reviewers can edit it directly; anyone can suggest a term.

From your character's page on D&D Beyond. It has to be set to Public there (Character Settings › Character Privacy), and the DM or an admin links it on the campaign's Manage › Table. askdnd keeps the last good copy, so if D&D Beyond is down you still see your character, with the time it was last updated.

D&D Beyond doesn't officially offer this data, so if they change their format, refreshing may stop working for a while. The numbers have been checked against D&D Beyond's own sheet; if one ever looks different, tell an admin.

Use Live in the menu bar. The pill answers one question, whether your sheet is connected, and its colour whether a change you make reaches D&D Beyond: green Connected when your sheet is open in Chrome with the askdnd bridge (changes go both ways within seconds); yellow Through the DM · open your sheet when your sheet is closed but the DM has D&D Beyond open and the campaign uses the DM as a backup (your changes still reach D&D Beyond; your rolls reach its Game Log only from your own sheet); red Open your sheet to connect while the table is playing and nothing can reach your sheet, or didn't go through when the bridge couldn't make a change (open it for Try again and Undo); grey when no one at the table is connected. The DM, who has no character, sees how many of the party's sheets are connected, and how many through them. Without the askdnd bridge in your browser it says to add it, and opening it gives you the link. Open it to see how everyone's sheet is connected.

There's nothing to turn on. While askdnd is open, it reads each sheet that isn't connected from D&D Beyond every 2.5 minutes (the character you're looking at, or your own, first), and a running fight keeps the bridge awake however quiet the table is.

Whenever askdnd gets a new copy of a character (its regular read, Refresh now, or the bridge hearing the sheet save), a page showing them updates itself in place: same tab, same place on the page, once you've closed any side panel and aren't typing. A number that changed glows green for a moment with the change ("−11"), wherever the change came from. Refresh <character> now is for anyone; reviewers also get Refresh everyone.

Where your campaign has the D&D Beyond bridge, a damage roll the DM makes for a monster in D&D Beyond's VTT comes into Table rolls (heard on any player's open sheet), D&D Beyond's roll doesn't say the damage type, so askdnd takes it from that attack in its rules data and says so ("bludgeoning (SRD 5.2.1)"); change it in the window when the DM's monster differs. On your screen it has Apply to your character; the DM's has Apply to… anyone. A healing roll anyone makes has it too. Without a roll (a trap, a fall), press − or + on the Hit points tile on Battle, type the number and press Enter. Temporary Hit Points are in the same window.

The window shows the working by the 2024 rules: Immunity, then Resistance (halved, rounded down), then Vulnerability, with where each comes from (in Wild Shape, the form's as well as yours); Temporary Hit Points first; the Concentration save's DC; what happens at 0 Hit Points (see What happens at 0 Hit Points?). Click a step to cross it out when the DM rules otherwise. The button makes it on your D&D Beyond sheet through the bridge. A roll is applied once to each character, and Table rolls says who took what. The Concentration save is yours to roll: it shows with its Roll the save button in your Table rolls, also when the DM applied the hit.

On Battle's Wild Shape row, press a form's pill. A window says what shifting takes and does: a Bonus Action, one Wild Shape use, and the form's Temporary Hit Points (your Druid level, three times that with Circle of the Moon). They don't add up, so if you already have more, it offers to keep yours. Shift spends the use and gives the Temporary Hit Points on D&D Beyond where your sheet can be reached (D&D Beyond has no "in a form" of its own, so the form is askdnd's), and the corner card has Undo for all of it.

In a form, Battle is your usual page with the form's AC, Speed, Initiative and saves (edged green) and your own Hit Points with − and +: damage takes the Temporary Hit Points first. Concentration, conditions and Rest stay. Leave (or Normal) is a Bonus Action, and leftover Temporary Hit Points stay until used. Sheet stays your own and greys what the form can't do, with why; Cast says when a spell can't be cast in your form. Everyone else sees "Cole (Polar Bear)" with the form's picture and AC, on Party, in the fight and in Table rolls. The DM rules on all of it.

At 0 Hit Points your Hit points tile on Battle and Sheet becomes the Dying tile: 0 of your maximum, three success marks and three failure marks (the ones on your D&D Beyond sheet), and Roll for your death save. A death save marks itself by the 2024 rules: 10 or more is a success, under 10 a failure, a 1 two failures, and a 20 brings you back with 1 Hit Point. A reroll or an added die moves its mark. Three successes and you're Stable (no more death saves); at three failures askdnd marks nothing more and the DM rules. askdnd never decides that someone dies.

In the hit points window, damage that drops you to 0 starts Unconscious on your sheet; damage while you're at 0 marks a failure (two for a critical hit; tick A critical hit when it was one); and healing from 0 ends Unconscious and clears the marks. Each is a step you can cross out when the DM rules otherwise. Damage left over at least your Hit Point maximum is massive damage: the window names it and the DM rules. During a fight heard from D&D Beyond's VTT, a card reminds you to roll as your turn starts, and the DM gets one to know. Everyone at the table sees the marks: your token in the fight band is striped with "0 HP", and Party shows your marks and how others can help (healing; the Help action with a DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check; Spare the Dying). The marks are made on D&D Beyond through the bridge, only while your sheet is open there; a mark made on D&D Beyond shows here within seconds.

A change askdnd makes on your D&D Beyond sheet (a hit, a heal, a condition) shows in askdnd the moment you make it. It usually reaches D&D Beyond within a second or two; if it takes longer, a small grey ↻ appears right after what changed; a condition you end stays, faded. When D&D Beyond has it, the mark just goes. The card in the corner follows it: On its way, Trying again (2 of 3) if D&D Beyond dropped it, then ✓ On D&D Beyond. If it didn't go through after three tries, the card turns amber with Try again and Undo, the number is back to D&D Beyond's with an amber ! after it, and the same two buttons are in the Live window and in the panel beside your sheet. Everyone at the table sees the same marks.

Where the campaign has The DM as a backup (part of Sync with D&D Beyond, which its DM or an admin switches on, on Manage › Settings › Features), the DM's browser makes your changes while your sheet is closed: the DM needs the askdnd bridge in Chrome and any D&D Beyond page open there (the VTT counts). It works because a D&D Beyond campaign's DM may change its players' sheets, so your character has to be in that D&D Beyond campaign. Nothing new is decided: they're the same changes you or the DM made in askdnd, made on their own, and your own open sheet always goes first.

Your Live pill turns yellow and keeps asking you to open your sheet, since only your own sheet sends your rolls to D&D Beyond's Game Log. D&D Beyond doesn't show who made a change; askdnd's log does ("made through the DM"), and the DM's Live window lists them.

Only where your campaign has Sync with D&D Beyond switched on (its DM or an admin does it, on Manage › Settings › Features). Otherwise askdnd only reads your public character, and hit points, spell slots and the rest are changed on D&D Beyond.

With it on, a small Chrome extension in your own browser keeps your D&D Beyond sheet and askdnd in step, both ways: a change you make on your sheet shows in askdnd within seconds, and a change you make in askdnd (drinking a potion, taking damage, spending a slot) is made on your sheet, as you. That works while your D&D Beyond sheet is open in Chrome with the extension, or, where the campaign uses the DM as a backup, while the DM has any D&D Beyond page open in Chrome with the extension (see What if I forget to open my sheet?); otherwise askdnd says so where you pressed it and keeps nothing waiting, and you make the change on D&D Beyond. askdnd counts a change only once it reads it back from D&D Beyond. A change still waiting when your sheet closes is made by itself as soon as the sheet is open again (unless D&D Beyond changed meanwhile, when it asks you to check). One that didn't go through has Try again and Undo, or you make it on D&D Beyond yourself: it ticks itself off once D&D Beyond has it, so it's never asked for twice. A roll you make on your sheet also comes into Table rolls, marked "on D&D Beyond".

To add it: open the askdnd bridge on the Chrome Web Store ↗ in Chrome and choose Add to Chrome. Then open askdnd once, signed in, and your character's sheet on D&D Beyond: a red askdnd tab on the left of the sheet opens what the bridge is doing, and the bridge's icon in Chrome's toolbar says whether your sheet is open, what's on its way and the extension's version. It works in Chrome on a computer; on a phone, a change reaches D&D Beyond while your sheet is open in Chrome somewhere, or through the DM.

D&D Beyond's terms don't allow tools like this. The extension doesn't hide what it is, and if D&D Beyond blocks it, askdnd goes back to listing changes for you to make by hand. What it reads and sends is on About.

Yes: ? in the menu bar › Take the tour. It walks through your own pages (Story, Campaign, your character's Battle, Sheet and Plan, and Party), lighting one thing at a time with what it is and why. It only shows things: on Battle it opens + Add, a row's details and the Spell Book, on Plan a battle combo, the pins and notes it shows are examples, and a druid's Wild Shape is a preview, so nothing on your character changes and the table sees nothing. The bar at the top of its card shows how far along you are. Use Next or the arrow keys; ✕ or Esc asks before ending it. What askdnd adds (the first tab here) is the same to read, with Show me to start the tour at that part.

Each character has one page with three modes, switched at the top right of the page: Battle, Sheet and Plan. Your character (portrait and name) in the menu bar is one click to it, in the mode you used last. Party ▾ starts with Everyone at a glance (the Party page), then lists every character with class, level and HP; pick one to open it in the mode you're in. The DM has no character, so only Party shows for them. On a phone, the bar at the bottom has Story, Campaign, your character, Party and More.

• Battle: your plan for a fight, grouped by action, bonus action and reaction: the columns show only what you pinned (+ Add in each column's heading lists what you haven't pinned yet, and See all under it lists everything you could do), plus all six saving throws (● proficient), your Reminders and your Battle combos. The DM, who can't see pins, sees the usual options instead. The whole party is on Party. Rules (n) at the top right of a column lists class and feat rules that change it (hover or tap). The Action heading says how many attacks your Attack action makes (Extra Attack), and On a hit lists extras you can add when an attack hits, such as Sneak Attack, Stunning Strike or Savage Attacker, with what they cost. Weapon masteries show only on weapons you've mastered. Anything that uses something up says what and how many are left: "1 Focus Point ●●", "1st-level ●●●●", "Free cast ●". Your limited resources (Focus Points, Luck Points…) sit above the numbers, in Wild Shape too, and spell slots have their own line. ? › Take the tour walks you through your own pages. On a phone, Action, Bonus and Reaction are tabs.
• Sheet: the full sheet in tabs: Actions, Spells (Prepared, your Shortlist, or All you could prepare, with the same filters as the Spell Book), Wild Shape (for druids), Inventory (Equipped, your Shortlist or All, filtered by kind, magic, use, attunement and rarity), Features (All or your Shortlist, filtered by where they come from, what they are used as and limited uses), Skills & situational rules, and Background (personality, ideals, bonds, flaws, appearance and backstory, from D&D Beyond).
• Plan: your own planning, in tabs: Battle combos, Leveling strategy, Personal quests, General notes, Reminders, and Spells and Wild Shapes, each with your Shortlist (to compare) and All (to pick from), with the same search, filters and sorting as Sheet (Full notes shows your notes on spells and forms in full instead of one line). Players only: the DM never sees Plan.
• Party: three tabs. At a glance has a card per character with their hit points, armor class, speed, best saves, resources and slots, and during a fight a Rows view: one line each, in turn order; click one for a short version of that character. Spells and Items pool the whole party's, grouped by what they do, with the same search and filters as everywhere else (what it does, who has it, Concentration, and level and casting time under More filters). Each row shows who has it by portrait ("item" when it comes from an item); click a portrait to open that character's.

Click any row to open the side panel with everything about it: costs, numbers, what it does, and the full text. From a list in the panel (like "See all"), ← Back returns to the list.

The number tiles at the top (HP, AC, Speed, Initiative, Spell DC…) and Battle's Inspiration star open too: each explains what the number means and how it adds up, naming the feature or item behind every part.

The pin puts something you do on your turn (an action, bonus action or reaction) on Battle, and also adds it to your Shortlist. The bookmark adds a spell or Wild Shape form to your Shortlist on Plan without preparing or learning it (more kinds of things will follow as each list gets a Shortlist view). The bell adds it to your Reminders on Battle and Plan (for example, Advantage against being Charmed); you can also write a reminder of your own in the Reminders box ("Ask the DM about the map"). Each thing can have one note, written in its side panel ("save for the sea leg", "only when concentrating"); it shows under that thing wherever it appears and in full in the side panel. Only your character's player can set these; not admins, and the DM never sees them.

Plan on your character's page holds your own notes: Battle combos (a setup turn and a payoff turn, each split into action, bonus action, reaction and movement), a Leveling strategy (level by level, with what you'll take and why), Personal quests (goal, why, who's involved and the leads) and free-form General notes (with buttons for bold, italics, headings and lists, so no formatting codes to learn). Spells, features, items, Wild Shape forms, people and places you mention become links. Your combos also show on Battle, where you can add one too. On Plan each kind is a compact list (notes are tiles); click one for the whole thing (combos and leveling plans in a large window, the rest in the side panel), drag to put them in your own order, and saving keeps you on the tab you were on.

Only your character's player can write them. Every player can read them; the DM never sees them.

A small Adv badge next to a save, skill, Initiative or attack means something gives you Advantage on it. Rest the mouse on the badge for when it applies and where it comes from (a species trait, class feature, feat, item, or a Wild Shape form's trait such as Pack Tactics). A dashed outline means it only applies sometimes, such as War Caster's "to maintain Concentration". It's the same badge on Battle, Sheet, Party and the Wild Shape cards. Advantage that applies to every save (for example "against being Charmed") is said once under the saves.

Table ↗ in the menu bar opens where your table plays, which today is D&D Beyond's VTT, in a new tab. On a phone it's under More. It shows once a campaign is linked to its D&D Beyond campaign.

The small ↗ beside a character's name opens their sheet on D&D Beyond, and so does each sheet's row in the Live window. With the askdnd bridge, its icon in Chrome also opens your sheet, your character in askdnd and the table.

On Battle, characters with spells have a spell bar under the header: the Spell Book button, your spell slots, your pinned spells (the four you used most recently; click one to roll it) and what you're concentrating on.

The Spell Book lists the spells you have prepared, one per row, with your note on a spell under its name. Filters on the left narrow it down: Level, Effect (Damage, Heal, Control, Support, Utility), Casting time and Concentration, plus More filters (ritual, attack or save, what a successful save does, area, damage type, range). Within a group a spell can match any chip you pick; across groups it must match all of them. Each chip shows how many spells it would leave; click it again to turn it off. Searching looks through every spell and pauses the filters. Your filters are remembered in this browser for a day. Save spells say what a successful save does (half damage, nothing, or damage that needs no save). The Damage / Healing column shows each spell's average (healing in green); Cast at shows them at a higher slot level, for upcasting, and you can sort by Amount. Click a spell for its side panel: the full text, your note, and Pin, Shortlist and Remind me. Averages are just the dice's average: they inform, they don't recommend.

Concentrate on a spell to track it: it's first in Battle's Status row, before the conditions, with the spell, its level and the round (press +1 each round); like a condition, it has its own color on the page's edge and a badge after your character's name. Save opens the Concentration save: enter the damage you just took and it works out the DC (10, or half the damage if higher), with your Con bonus and any Advantage (War Caster). ✕ asks before ending it. Spend the spell slot on D&D Beyond as usual; askdnd reads it on the next refresh.

Potions, scrolls and items with charges are in the column of what they cost on Battle: pin the ones you want and they show in that column's Items section, and All items opens the rest in the side panel. Where the bridge reaches your sheet, an item's Drink, Read or Use opens a small window: using it spends it on D&D Beyond, a healing potion rolls in Table rolls and heals you (or Give it, and the roll offers Apply to), and what it starts (Enlarged, Water Breathing, Invisible) shows under the header. The card that follows has Undo. Every potion is a Bonus Action to drink or give; an item that doesn't say what it costs sits under Action, so check its text, and an item's side panel says where its cost came from. Items that just happen when something sets them off sit under No action needed. If an item comes in kinds, such as a Dragon-Touched Focus's dragon family, mark yours in its side panel, and it moves to the right place.

Items that give you an action show under + Add and See all in the right column on Battle, ready to pin: a Ring of Invisibility offers Turn Invisible (a Magic action) and Become visible (a Bonus Action). Pressing Turn Invisible puts an Invisible pill in the Status row under Battle's header, which everyone at the table sees; + Condition adds any of the 15 conditions (Exhaustion by level) or an effect. Open a pill for what it does and to end it. The roll window lists what each one changes for that roll (Advantage, Disadvantage, an automatic failure, or Exhaustion's −2 per level) without choosing for you: a creature that can see you cancels Invisible's Advantage, and the DM decides. An item that needs attunement works only once you're attuned; its side panel says how many of your 3 attunement slots are in use.

Preparing spells and handing items over (where your campaign has the D&D Beyond bridge and these tools are on): Prepare spells on Sheet › Spells, in the Spell Book and in the Long Rest window opens a large window for the lot: tick and untick, with your count against your class's number at the top, your notes under each spell and the always-prepared spells listed but not counted, then Make these changes sends them all at once. For one quick swap, a spell's side panel has Prepare or Unprepare, for a class that prepares from a list (a Cleric or Druid from the whole class list, a Wizard from the spellbook). Its window says how many you have prepared and your class's number at your level; going over is allowed, as D&D Beyond allows it, and is the DM's call. An item's side panel has Give: pick someone at the table and how many. D&D Beyond can't move an item between characters, so they get a fresh one of the same item and its charges used or attunement stay behind; both sheets have to be open, so an item is never taken without arriving. + Add item on your Sheet › Items opens the item browser: D&D Beyond's items from the 2024 books, with search and filters by kind, rarity, attunement and book. A name shows what the item is (its picture where D&D Beyond has one, its numbers and its book's words) and, for your character, each number it would change, now and with it, against the weapon or armor it would take the place of (you pick which); each row of the list shows its biggest changes, ▲ or ▼; + puts it in Adding, where you pick the bag it goes in and, if you're buying, tick Pay from the purse: what you pay starts at the book's price for ordinary gear and is yours to change to whatever the DM agrees (a magic item has no price in the books: the DM says). One press adds them all. Each item in the list has an icon saying whether your character can use it (a tick, or a triangle for a catch such as no armor training or attunement full; hover or tap it for why), and its details have a For section with what it would mean for them: the attack it would make, the Armor Class it would give and what it replaces, Strength and Stealth, attunement and what a magic item grants. Facts from the sheet; the DM rules. The DM has the same window as Give loot on each character's Sheet › Items and in its window on Party, with coins and no paying. Homebrew and custom items are added on D&D Beyond for now. Move to in an item's side panel puts it in another of your bags, or back to carried, as on D&D Beyond. A Rest ends your Concentration when it outlasts the spell (a Short Rest is an hour, and a Long Rest's sleep ends any): its window lists it ticked, and you untick it if the DM rules it lasts.

While the DM runs a fight in D&D Beyond's VTT, askdnd follows it: above the name on every character page and at the top of Party, a band shows the round, whose turn it is (Your turn when it's yours, you're next just before), and the order: each one's picture and name (a character's portrait; a creature's token art from the VTT, or its Monster Manual picture), enemies outlined in red, whose turn ringed. It comes from D&D Beyond as the DM presses Next, within a second or two, and askdnd never changes anything there. It needs someone at the table with the VTT open in Chrome with the askdnd bridge (usually the DM); without that the band isn't shown. A creature the DM hid in the VTT stays hidden here too. Your own creatures are in it as well (where your campaign has Your creatures on): a Homunculus or summon right after you, a familiar as its own token when the DM added it (or under you until then), and its turn comes as a card for you.

Rolling Initiative (where your campaign has Initiative from askdnd, in Labs): once the DM presses Add all tokens in the VTT, Party's Rows and the band say Roll for Initiative. Press Initiative on your Battle: the number fills in your line in the VTT's combat sidebar, as a roll from your sheet does, and your familiar rolls its own with the same press (a Homunculus goes right after you by itself). Rolling again before Start Combat replaces it. After Start Combat the order is the DM's: a roll still shows in Table rolls but doesn't move anyone. The DM drags a row on Party's Rows (or uses ↑ ↓, or presses a number to type one) to change the order; it goes to the VTT through the DM's open VTT page, with Undo.

Where your campaign has Your creatures on (Manage › Settings), a creature you control gets a switch by your name on Battle (Vi · Homunculus): press it and Battle is the creature's, with its own Hit Points, Armor Class, actions to roll and when its turn comes. Numbers that grow with you are worked out, with where they come from. Its rolls say whose they are ("Vi (Homunculus Servant)").

A familiar exists once you cast Find Familiar (the Cast window picks its form, Celestial, Fey or Fiend, and its name). Its Battle sends it to the pocket dimension, brings it back or dismisses it until you cast it again, and at 0 Hit Points it disappears until you cast the spell again. While it's here, your own Battle offers See through its eyes and Deliver a touch spell. A druid's Wild Companion casts it from a Wild Shape use; it leaves at your next Long Rest. Summons and Find Steed are askdnd's own creatures, worked out for the level you cast at; a summon goes when your Concentration ends.

On Party a creature has its own card, as the second half of its master's, and it joins the fight's order. A familiar or steed also gets its own entry in Campaign › World, linked to you: where it is, the forms it has taken, and when it went away and came back, with what the recaps say about it under Key moments. Where your campaign syncs with D&D Beyond, its Hit Points and the familiar's form, type and name are kept in step on your sheet's Extras.

Everyone looking at a character sees what it's under as small badges after its name, at the top of Battle, Sheet and Plan: Concentration first, then each condition in its own colour and icon. Point at a badge, or tap it, for what the condition does; Exhaustion's shows its level and a Prone one leans. On Battle there's more: its pill in the Status row, where you start and end it, and the page's edge, a thin line in the colours of the newest three (Concentration's always, when you're concentrating), so it's there wherever you've scrolled. Blinded or Unconscious also darken the page towards its edges, and Invisible fades your portrait. When a condition starts, its badge pops in and the edge brightens once; after that nothing moves. Your character's button in the menu bar has a dot per condition, and each Party card has the same badges after the name. The icons are askdnd's own.

How long it lasts: when you start one with + Condition, choose Lasts: until it's ended, until the start or end of someone's next turn, a number of rounds, 1 minute (10 rounds), longer (10 minutes to 24 hours), or until a save (the ability, the DC, and whose turns it's rolled at the end of). During a fight in D&D Beyond's VTT, askdnd follows the turns as the DM presses Next: its pill says how long is left in a few words ("to your next turn", "Wis 13 save", "3 rounds"; click it for the whole of it), and its badge gets an amber dot on the turn it ends. When its time runs out, a card in the corner reminds you (and the DM): End it or Keep (the DM says it lasts). A save comes as a card when your turn begins, to roll at its end, with Roll the save. Nothing ends by itself. Concentration counts its rounds by itself on your turns, and reminds you when its time is up. Without a fight heard, nothing is counted, and Concentration keeps its +1.

With D&D Beyond: the 15 conditions and Exhaustion live on your D&D Beyond sheet. What's ticked there shows in askdnd. Where your campaign has the D&D Beyond bridge, starting or ending one in askdnd makes it on your sheet (only while the sheet is open with the extension). Without the bridge, one ticked on D&D Beyond is ended there. Item effects D&D Beyond doesn't have (Enlarged, Flying, Water Breathing) and where a condition came from (a Ring of Invisibility) are askdnd's.

Hide: on Battle's Action column, Hide (under What anyone can do) opens its rule with a Stealth · DC 15 roll. Rolled at the table, 15 or more starts Hidden in your Status row with your total as the DC to find you: the Invisible condition, which gives your attacks Advantage (and goes on your D&D Beyond sheet where yours syncs). An attack's roll window offers to end it, ticked; end it yourself with End Hidden when you're found, make a noise or cast a spell with a Verbal component. Whether you can hide is the DM's call.

Ready: Ready opens Ready…: pick what you'll do (an attack, a spell cast as an action, or moving) and say when. It waits at the top of your Reaction column with its own Roll or Cast, Used it and Let it go, and it's gone when your next turn starts. A spell with a slot: cast it as you ready it (its slot is spent) and it's held with Concentration.

Every message askdnd shows you is a card there, newest at the bottom: something done ("Saved", green ✓), something for your information (someone rolling for the DM, blue i), someone's roll when their dice aren't thrown (their die), a button that didn't work and why (amber !), and something that didn't save (red ✕). Done cards go after a few seconds, the others a little later, and an error stays until you close it. ✕ closes any card, and pointing at one keeps it. A card's buttons sit under its words, like Undo after using an item, or Roll the save and Saved: end it for a save. On a phone one card shows at a time, just above the bottom bar.

Yes. Click anything that rolls: a to-hit number (the boxed +7), a save, Initiative's Roll, a spell's or item's Roll or Heal (Potion of Healing, Second Wind…), and on Sheet's Skills tab any skill or ability bonus. The same buttons are in the side panel (an option's details and "See all"). Features that make Unarmed Strikes, like Flurry of Blows, roll the Unarmed Strike. A small roll window opens next to it (at the bottom on phones):

• Normal, Advantage or Disadvantage. Advantage that always applies is already chosen, and the window lists what gives you Advantage and when, plus Lucky's Luck Points and Heroic Inspiration. The DM decides.
• Add dice or a bonus (folded): click dice to add them (− then a die subtracts one, like Bane) and type any bonus.
• Who sees it: Table, DM only or Only me. Your choice is remembered on that device.

Spells, Wild Shape attacks and items roll exactly what the rules say. askdnd keeps a checked "recipe" for every spell in the 2024 rules' free reference (the SRD), the Player's Handbook spells the table uses, the Beasts and common items: every damage part with its type (the Giant Toad's bite is piercing plus poison), each dart or ray on its own (Magic Missile's darts, a separate attack roll for each of Scorching Ray's rays), and choices where the rules give one (Toll the Dead on an unhurt or hurt target, a Rhinoceros's charge, a Bloodied swarm). For a spell that gets stronger with a higher slot, choose Cast at level in the roll window (levels you have no slot left for are marked); cantrips grow with your level by themselves. Healing spells add your spellcasting modifier only when the spell says so. A spell from another book uses D&D Beyond's numbers, and the window says they weren't checked. The full audit is in docs/rules/rolls-audit.md.

House rules. The DM can correct how an item shows at this table (what it costs, whether it's on Battle, or hide it) with Correct this in its side panel; only this campaign changes. The DM can also change how a spell rolls at this table (for example, one roll for all of Magic Missile's darts) or add a short ruling to it, on Manage › House rules. The roll window then says House rule and what it is. House rules apply to this campaign only; askdnd's own recipes don't change.

Press Roll (or Enter; Shift-click a roll button to skip the window). Enter rolls and Esc closes the window whatever you clicked in it last, such as Advantage, a die or Just me; Space presses the option you're on. The window turns into the result after a short dice tumble (click to skip). From there you can roll damage after an attack (every die doubled on a natural 20, added dice too), reroll with Heroic Inspiration (or a 1 with a Halfling's Luck), or add a die such as Bardic Inspiration. They stay attached to the roll.

Rolls for your own character go to the table unless you pick otherwise in the roll window: askdnd's server rolls the dice and everyone sees them in Table rolls within a second, a sidebar on the left of every page (a sheet at the bottom on phones). It starts closed, and a small tab at the left edge opens it; when a fight starts it opens by itself, once, and after that it stays how you leave it. Your choice holds on every page and is remembered on that device. In a narrower window it opens over the page. When you roll, your dice are thrown across the page (it dims behind them) and land on askdnd's result; click once they've landed to clear them. Someone else's roll is thrown across the page too, in their dice, with their name at the top; if you'd rather it didn't cover what you're looking at, turn on the Dice tray in Your dice (off unless you choose it), and others' rolls tumble in a small tray in the bottom-left corner instead, except on askdnd's own table. With the dice animation off, someone else's roll is a card in the bottom-right corner instead. A roll the whole table sees starts its dice on every screen at the same moment; a DM-only or private roll arrives a moment later, because askdnd first checks who may see it. Your dice (the link at the bottom of the sidebar, or your account menu) picks your set and material, whether damage dice take their damage type's look (fire, cold, radiant…), the dice tray, and dice sounds on that device; everyone sees your rolls in your dice. Dice animation in Your dice turns the throwing off on a device. How the dice move and how long they stay is the same for everyone; admins set it on Manage › Dice tuning. At its bottom, Checks, skills, saves, Death save, Hit Die rolls for your character, and Manual roll is for when the DM asks for "2d6" (click d6 twice). On a phone, the sheet closed down to its bar shows one picture per person with their latest roll (green for a natural 20, red for a 1); a new roll makes that picture pulse, and tapping it says what the roll was. While it's closed, other players' rolls still arrive as cards in the bottom-right corner. Rolls made while askdnd's tab is out of sight aren't replayed when you come back: they're in Table rolls, and one card says how many. A roll says sending… until askdnd has it; if it can't get through, it says so and offers Try again. The dice animation can be turned on or off in Your dice for your device.

In D&D Beyond's Game Log too: where your campaign has the D&D Beyond bridge and your character's sheet is open with the extension, a roll you make in askdnd also goes into the game's Game Log, so the DM sees it where you play, and the roll window says so. If your sheet isn't open, it says that instead, and the roll still goes to Table rolls. It's marked as askdnd's, with a ⓐ after your character's name: Cole ⓐ · Pistol: To Hit. It goes to whoever you sent it to (everyone or the DM), and it isn't counted twice in Table rolls.

Only me keeps a roll to yourself. A roll on someone else's character is always private: it's rolled in your browser, nobody else sees it, and it doesn't go to D&D Beyond's Game Log.

Choose under Who sees in the roll window (it starts at Table each time you open askdnd):

• Table: everyone.
• DM only: you and the DM see the number. Everyone else sees only "Cole rolled for the DM": not what it was for, the dice or the total. The DM can roll dice the same way: the table sees "rolled behind the screen".
• Just me: only you, not even the DM.

Damage, rerolls and added dice go to the same people as the roll they belong to. The server decides who gets what, so a hidden number never reaches anyone else's browser. Only a character's own player can roll for it at the table. The DM still makes every ruling.

For druids, it lists the Beasts you could learn now (from the free 2024 rules and, when your campaign has the book on, the 2024 Monster Manual, labelled MM 2024; with D&D Beyond's pictures), filtered by your Druid level: the Challenge Rating limit (higher with Circle of the Moon), and no Fly Speed before level 8. Each form is a row with its picture, CR, AC, Temporary Hit Points, attack bonus, damage per turn and speeds, with the same kind of filters as the spell lists (status, Challenge Rating, how it moves, size, and the book it's from). Known shows the forms you've picked on D&D Beyond and All you can learn everything else; the bookmark adds a form to your Shortlist on Plan, for comparing. Click a form to see it as you: the Beast's Strength, Dexterity, Constitution and attacks with your Hit Points, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma and proficiencies, plus Circle of the Moon's AC, Temporary Hit Points and Radiant option, laid out as battle cards. Your feats and class features (from every class) carry over and are counted: for example Alert adds to Initiative, and War Caster's Advantage shows on the Constitution save, but only for keeping Concentration. Species traits (Darkvision, Fey Ancestry…) don't carry into a form. You keep your languages and can speak in a form (a 2024 change). Unarmored Movement, when kept, adds to every speed the form has. Hover any number for how it adds up.

Your DM may let you keep some things in a form. Tick them under Kept in Wild Shape in any form's window, in two groups: Traits (class traits such as Unarmored Defense and Unarmored Movement) and Equipment (worn items such as a Luckstone or Insignia of Claws). The numbers update for every form, and the choice is saved until you change it.

On Battle, the Wild Shape buttons switch the page to a known form until you press Normal. Everyone at the table sees which form you're in. askdnd informs; the DM makes the rulings (for example, which of your other features work in a form).

Rule terms such as Unarmed Strike, Prone or Abyssal. Rest the mouse on one, or tap it, for a short definition. Only the first mention in a panel is underlined, and terms everyone knows (Advantage, Long Rest…) aren't. The definitions are askdnd's own short summaries of the 2024 rules; the DM makes the call at the table.

On Battle, the actions anyone can take (Dash, Dodge, Hide, Search…) are underlined the same way: each opens its rule in the side panel, with the checks it rolls (Hide's Stealth, Search's Perception and the rest). An Unarmed Strike's panel lists its three ways, Damage, Grapple and Shove, with the save's DC worked out from your sheet. Its roll window has the same three: Damage rolls the attack, and its flat damage (1 + your Strength modifier) comes with the roll, with no second step; Grapple or Shove rolls nothing and puts your DC in Table rolls, for the DM to roll the target's save. A damage that can only be 0 says so before you roll.

• Custom: made on D&D Beyond for this campaign, not from a book. Its description is whatever was typed there.
• Changed: someone renamed it, added a note, or changed details such as cost on D&D Beyond. The side panel says what.
• Note: the player wrote a note on it. Open the item to read it.

The table plays the 2024 core rules only, so options from other books (Forgotten Realms extras, for example) are left out, and anything non-core already on a sheet is labeled. An admin can also move or hide things that D&D Beyond groups oddly, for every character at once.

Four kinds of information, each kept in its own place:

The rules knowledge is the same for everyone and changes only when askdnd is updated. The campaign holds what happened at the table, who plays which role there (DM, reviewer, player) and the DM's house rules. A character holds what's about the character: its D&D Beyond copy and its player's own marks and notes, which the DM never sees. A character joins a campaign on a date and could later move to another, while what it did stays in the first one's story.

Rules content (monsters, spells, magic items) comes from the free 2024 rules (the SRD) that are part of askdnd's code, plus the rules books a campaign has on (Manage › Settings › Books), whose content is kept only in askdnd's private database. A book's entry replaces the free rules' copy of the same thing and says where it's from ("MM 2024 p. 373"); a DM's own creation comes before both.

Changes are layered, most specific last: askdnd's rules knowledge, then an admin's tool correction (fixing how askdnd reads D&D Beyond, for everyone), then the DM's house rule (for this table only). Removing a correction or a house rule brings back what's underneath.

Yes. The campaign you're in is always named next to the logo. If you're in more than one, click its name (or open More on a phone) to switch. askdnd remembers the one you were in last. Story and Campaign pages carry the campaign in their address, like /c/main/campaign, so a link you share opens the right campaign; old links open the campaign you're in.

Each campaign has its own recaps, Campaign pages, map, glossary, table rolls, house rules and roles: you can be the DM of one and a player in another, and you only see campaigns you have a role in (admins see them all). A character is in one campaign at a time, like on D&D Beyond. If it moves, what it did stays in its old campaign's story; its D&D Beyond copy, notes, pins and reminders go with it, and personal quests stay with the campaign they were written in. A campaign marked Test is where Brett and the DM try the virtual tabletop while it's being built; it uses test copies of the table's characters (the same D&D Beyond sheet, their own play state), so nothing tried there touches the real ones. Admins set campaigns up on Manage › Campaigns. Each campaign's own Manage pages (its inbox, sessions, table, house rules, history and settings) are at its address too, like /c/main/manage, so they always act on that campaign.

• Everything for the table (recaps, Campaign, characters, each character's D&D Beyond background and backstory, item notes) is visible to everyone signed in, the DM included.
• Character notes (a player's notes on why they built their character this way) are never shown to the DM.
• Pins, the Shortlist, Reminders and notes belong to the character's player and are hidden from the DM.
• Pages that aren't published yet are only visible to reviewers.

• Player: read everything for the table and suggest corrections.
• Reviewer: also drafts, edits and publishes sessions, decides on suggestions, refreshes characters and adds pictures.
• DM: everything a reviewer does; their own corrections skip review, they decide on everyone else's suggestions, edit campaign entries (names, descriptions, relationships), edit the glossary and add pictures. The DM never sees the character notes, pins, shortlists, reminders or notes on things of the characters in the campaign they run.
• Admin: also manages accounts, roles, character links and regrouping, and sees usage and costs. An admin who is also the DM still never sees those notes.

Player, Reviewer and DM are roles in a campaign, so someone can run one campaign and play in another. Admin is about askdnd as a whole. Admins set who can sign in (and who's an admin) on Manage › Accounts, and anyone's place in a campaign on its Manage › Table. The DM runs their own campaign's Table: they add people who have an account, change roles and characters, and remove people and characters (nothing is deleted, and Left the table brings them back). The DM can also change its name and their own name (as Claude writes it in recaps) on Manage › Settings, where they also switch finished virtual tabletop pieces on for their table.

Wherever a picture goes (a World entry's, a familiar's or companion's on its Battle), pressing it, or Add a picture, opens the same Picture window. Upload one (drop it, paste it or choose it; on a phone, from your photos), Describe it and pick one of four drawn for you in the campaign's art style, or, for a creature, use D&D Beyond's art. A familiar keeps one picture across its forms. A drawn picture is framed for what it is: a head-and-shoulders portrait for a person, the whole item for an item, a wide view for a place.

The DM, reviewers and admins change the World's pictures; a player changes their own creatures' (and the DM can too). The DM sets the campaign's Art style on Manage › Settings, or switches Describe it off there.

Player characters show their D&D Beyond portrait. The DM, reviewers and admins can add a picture to any person, place, faction or other entry from its page (Add a picture). Uploads are shrunk, and hidden information such as a phone photo's location is removed. Pictures are kept in askdnd's private file storage (Amazon S3) and are only shown through askdnd, to people who can see that entry; there are no public links to them.

No. Transcripts are filtered on the admin's own computer, only game content is sent to Claude, and only the extracted story (recaps, key moments, the campaign record) is kept.

askdnd keeps a history of every change to the campaign record (entries, other names, relationships, facts and key moments), the glossary, sessions, characters, people and players' notes: what it was, what it became, who changed it and how. Reviewers and admins can open the campaign's Manage › History and press Restore to put an earlier version back (deleted notes and glossary terms can be brought back too). Each entry also links to its own history. Players' notes stay hidden from the DM there as well. Changes to accounts, which belong to no campaign, are on the admins' own History.

Imports on Manage › Backups and imports show a preview before anything is saved, and a whole import can be undone afterwards.

Yes. Every night (3 am Pacific) the whole database is copied to a private Amazon S3 storage bucket, and the last 30 days of copies are kept. That copy lives outside Railway, where askdnd runs, so even a problem there wouldn't lose the campaign. The backup job has its own key that can only reach its backups folder. Restoring one is a deliberate step the admin takes with the restore script; it's been tested. If a night's backup fails or doesn't run, it shows on Manage › Needs you for admins.

Pictures aren't in that nightly copy: they stay in askdnd's private file storage, and the copy lists them. Each night the backup job also checks every listed picture is still there (a missing one shows on Needs you too), and a picture that's replaced or removed is kept for 35 days, so any kept backup can be restored with all its pictures.

Not for players. Claude is paid per use by the admin, with a monthly limit: drafting a recap costs a few cents, and regenerating a Campaign description about 1–2¢. Admins see spending on Manage › Usage and can set askdnd's own monthly limit there: once a month's spending reaches it, askdnd pauses drafts and description rewrites until the 1st (or until the limit is raised) and says so.

An admin adds their Google email on Manage › Accounts, or with + Add to the table on a campaign's Manage › Table. While the Google sign-in is in testing, the admin also adds them as a test user in Google Cloud Console.

Yes, to check what the DM or a player sees: View as on Manage › Accounts or a campaign's Table. A banner says who you're viewing as, and nothing can be changed until Stop viewing, so nothing happens in their name. An admin who is a campaign's DM can't view as its players, because that would show them their players' notes.