Statblocks in a collection
Choose which templates a collection's statblocks start from, which folder they go to and which dice they roll.
A statblock note can live anywhere in your vault, and templates belong to the whole vault. What ties them to your game is the collection: it says what kinds of statblock you make and which dice a bonus rolls.
Assign templates with roles
A role is a kind of statblock your collection makes, like Monster or NPC. Each role has one template and one folder. When you run New statblock…, the roles come first in the list.
Open the collection settings and click the Statblocks tab.
The roles of a D&D 5e collection, and the templates of the vault. Choose a template in the role's row. Edit saves the settings and opens that template.
Under the role's name, choose the folder for its new statblocks. Left empty, they go to Obsidian's default location for new notes.
Click Add role for another kind, like one for player characters, and type its name. Each role needs a name of its own. The bin removes a role, but a collection keeps at least one.
Click Save.
A role only decides how a new statblock starts. Nothing about the role is written into the note, so removing a role changes no statblock.
Under Templates, the same tab lists every template of the vault and how many statblocks use it. New template opens the template gallery, and the ⋯ on a row can open, duplicate or delete a template.
What a game system brings
A collection without roles of its own uses the roles of its game system preset. The label above the list says so, like "From the D&D 5e system". Once you change a role, the collection keeps its own list, and Use the system's roles goes back. A collection without a game system starts with Creature and NPC.
| Game system | Roles and their templates | Default dice |
|---|---|---|
| D&D 5e | Monster and NPC: 5E (2024 rules) | d20 |
| Pathfinder 2e | Creature: d20 creature | d20 |
| Daggerheart | Adversary: Creature. Environment: Hazard | d20 |
| Shadowdark | Monster: B/X-style creature | d20 |
| Old-School Essentials | Monster: B/X-style creature | d20 |
| Cairn | Creature: Cairn | d20 roll-under |
| Call of Cthulhu | Creature and Character: Percentile creature | d100 roll-under |
| Cyberpunk RED | NPC: NPC | d10 exploding |
| Draw Steel | Monster: Draw Steel | Power roll |
If a role's template is no longer in the vault, new statblocks of that role start from Creature, and a note in the row says so.
Default dice
Dice written out, like "2d6 + 3", always roll as written. A bare bonus, like "+5", needs your game's dice: 1d20 + 5 in D&D, 2d10 + 5 in Draw Steel. These are the default dice, and a dice set holds them with their rules for critical rolls, exploding dice and advantage.
Open the collection settings and click the Dice tab.
Default dice on the Dice tab, with the sets Atlas comes with. Under Default dice, choose a set.
Click Save.
Make dice for your game
When no set fits, make one in the dice lab. Dice sets belong to the whole vault, so one set serves every collection and template that picks it.
On the Dice tab, click Open dice lab.
The dice lab, here on the built-in Power roll. Click the plus next to Dice sets. To start from a set that is close to your game, select it and click Duplicate to edit.
Type a Name and click Add the first die on the tray. Click a die to set its Sides, Name and Colour.
Choose Critical, Exploding dice, Advantage and Disadvantage. A line under each says what your choice does.
Click Done. The lab saves every change as you make it. Now choose your set under Default dice.
Roll dice explains every rule of the lab.
Give one template its own dice
A template can roll other dice than its collection. Use this when one game mixes rolls, or when a template travels between collections.
Open the template, click the ⋯ next to Save and choose Dice rolls….
This template rolls Power roll, whatever its collection rolls. Choose a set. Dice lab… opens the lab from here too. Collection's dice goes back to the collection.
Click Done, then Save the template.
When Atlas rolls a bonus from a statblock, it looks in this order:
- The set the statblock's template names.
- The set the collection chose under Default dice.
- The dice of the collection's game system.
- A d20.
A set that was deleted counts as not chosen, so the next one in the list rolls. Fantasy Statblocks' notes have no Atlas template, so they start at the collection's dice.
Which collection a note belongs to
A note can link to tokens of any collection. For its card, Atlas uses the collection you opened it from. Otherwise it uses the one collection whose tokens link the note, and otherwise your default collection. Link a token to the note to tie it to your game, and bonuses roll that collection's dice.
Move Fantasy Statblocks layouts
The Statblocks tab lists the Fantasy Statblocks layouts your collection's statblocks use, under Fantasy Statblocks layouts. Move to Atlas… imports a layout as a template and gives it to those statblocks. Every value stays as it is, and a statblock written into a note's text moves out of the text and shows beside the note.
Share a collection with its statblocks
When you share a collection, the .zip file carries the templates its roles and notes use, and the dice sets the collection and those templates roll. Whoever imports it gets them too. A template or set they changed themselves stays, and the shared one comes in as a copy.