Builder's Manual · Chapter 3

Adding Spells, Monsters, and the Rest

Every content type has conventions the 1,595 existing records follow. Match them and new content is indistinguishable from the SRD; break them and the sheet's math quietly goes wrong.

Spells

A spell carries its level, school, casting time, range, components, duration, concentration and ritual flags, its effect text, and — load-bearing — its classes list, which the prepared-spell pickers filter on. Use 2014 wording and 2014 class lists: schools and effects differ between editions (2014 Cure Wounds is 1d8 Evocation, and True Strike is the concentration cantrip nobody prepares). When authoring in bulk, work from the SRD 5.1 text itself rather than memory.

Monsters

The stat block encodes the 2014 conversion math: challengeRating drives XP (per the printed tier tables) and proficiency bonus (max(2, 1 + ceil(CR/4))). Fill ability scores, AC, hit points, speed, senses, traits, actions — and put the behavior in the tactics notes, because that is what the GM plays from. @Missing file is the worked example: the drilled discipline of the temple guard it used to be, in one paragraph. @Missing file documents every field.

Items

  • Weapons: damage die and type plus property flags — finesse and ranged feed the attack formulas, so set them honestly. No mastery properties in this edition.
  • Armor: acBase, addDexterity, dexterityCap, strength minimum, stealth disadvantage. An armor file never states a wearer's final AC.
  • Magic items: rules text for the reader, wired fields for the sheet — the aggregated bonus fields from chapter 2, score-override fields for Ogre-Power-style items, and the attunement flag. If the text promises a bonus the fields don't carry, the sheet cannot keep the promise.

Classes, subclasses, races, backgrounds, feats

A class file is the engine block: hit die, save proficiencies, armor and weapon training, casterProgression, pactMagic, spellcasting ability, and featuresLevel120 as rules text. Subclasses mirror it with their own level fields — including levels 1, 2, and 8, added for this edition because Cleric domains land at 1, Wizard schools at 2, Divine Strike at 8. Races carry traits plus the auto-applied abilityScoreIncrease fields; backgrounds carry skills, languages, equipment, and their feature; feats are categorized Feat / Fighting Style / Epic Boon (no Origin or General — those are the other edition) and integrate through the shared bonus fields.

Conditions

Fifteen files, each the complete 2014 text of what it changes. The GM applies conditions from the file; if you add one, write it so it can be applied verbatim — and note that the sheet already taxes exhaustionLevel automatically, so its file must not instruct double-application.

Manual updated Jul 29, 2026.