Build a statblock template

A template is the shape of a card. It says which values a statblock of your game has and where they stand, and every note using the template follows it. Change the template once, and all your bog creatures show the new Morale line.

Start from a template

Every template in the vault can be a starting point. To make a new one, run New statblock template… from Obsidian's command palette, or click New template on the Statblocks tab of the collection settings.

The list on the left says where to look:

• This system: the templates of your collection's game system.
• All built-ins: every template Atlas comes with.
• Simple: Creature, NPC and Hazard, for homebrew games.
• From a statblock: a template built from the values one statblock already has.
• Blank: an empty card with its header.

Starts new statblocks for gives the new template to one of the collection's roles right away. Click Use template to open it.

Template	Made for
Creature, NPC, Hazard	Any game, as a simple start
d20 creature	Games that roll a d20 and have six ability scores
B/X-style creature	Old-school games like Shadowdark and Old-School Essentials
Percentile creature	Games that roll a d100, like Call of Cthulhu
Narrative NPC	Games where a character is mostly words
5E (2024 rules), 5E (2014 rules)	Monsters of the 5E rules
Cairn, Draw Steel, Fate NPC	Those games

Templates that come with Atlas stay as they are. When you save changes to one, Atlas asks for a name and saves a new template of your own.

Find your way around the editor

The card on the right is the real card. On the left is the text every new statblock of this template starts with, like a "Tactics" heading. Start from a note… copies that text from a note you already have.

The bar beside the card adds parts, and the bar on top of the card has the template's name, Save and the ⋯ menu.

Click a part of the card to select it. A toolbar opens under it, with the kind of part, Options, Add below, Delete and More. Right-click a part for the same actions. Ctrl + Z (Cmd + Z on macOS) undoes your last change.

Changes count once you click Save. Keep the name to update the template. Every statblock that uses it shows the change. Type another name to save a new template and leave the first one as it was.

Add a part

1. 1

   Click a button in the bar beside the card, or drag it to the place you want. A click adds the part under the one you selected.

2. 2

   Type a name for the part and press Enter. The name also becomes the property the note stores it under, and later name changes do not change that property.

3. 3

   Drag a part by its handle to move it. Drop it between rows, or on the left or right edge of another part to set the two side by side.

Button	What it makes	Example
Value	A label and its value	Speed 30
Metric	Up to six numbers in a box	Major 8, Severe 15
Abilities	A list of names with text	Actions, traits, spells
Table	Rows and columns	Ability scores, an item list
Counters	Limited uses as pips	Spell slots, ki
Text	A paragraph	A description
Divider	A line across the card

The header

The top of the card is the same on every statblock: the name, the token art, the level, the type, the hit points and the description. These parts stay where they are, so tokens, filters and the DM screen always find them.

You can rename them, so "Level" can read "Challenge". Except for the name and the token art, you can also take them off the card: select one and click Hide from card. A hidden part shows faded in the editor, ready for Show on card.

Options of each part

Options in the toolbar opens what that part can do. Shift + Enter opens it too.

Value

Kind says what the value holds:

• Number, with a Unit like "ft." and Numbers shown as 3 or +3.
• Text: one line.
• Dice, like "7d10 + 14". Atlas checks it and makes it a roll.
• Rating, like "1/4" or "3+1*".
• One of a list, with its Choices: "Small, Medium, Large". You can Allow other values or let a statblock Pick several, or give Each with a number for lines like "darkvision 60 ft.".
• Words: a list of words, shown as a Comma list, Chips, Bullets or Numbered.
• Labels and values: pairs like "Stealth +5".

Label puts the name Beside or Above the value.

A number has more choices:

• Show as draws it as a Number, Boxes or a Gauge.
• Tracked makes it a number a character spends and gets back, like Luck or Hit Dice. Choose Counts down or Counts up. The note holds the maximum, or another number of the statblock does if you choose one under Maximum. The current value is kept with the character's tokens.
• Roll as a bonus makes the number a roll: a 2 rolls +2 with your game's dice.
• Add to next roll gives it a switch on the card. Switched on, it adds itself to the statblock's next roll, named by its label.

Metric

Click Add number in the toolbar for each number. Double-click a number's name to rename it, and use the × on a number to remove it. Each number has its own property in the note. With two or more, the group gets a Group name.

Abilities

Each item also has adds short parts to every entry, like Range or Cost. A part can be text, a number, a list of words, dice or one of a list ("Main action, Reaction, Passive").

Split into tabs shows several lists one at a time under tabs, like Actions and Spells. Use Add tab for more. Removing a tab keeps what statblocks wrote there, in case you bring it back.

Table

Under Options you can turn off the Header row, and choose whether Statblocks can add and remove rows or Statblocks can add and remove columns. Click a cell of the table to write what every statblock starts with. Numbers and Roll as a bonus work as on a value. Tables hold ability scores too: the built-in 5E templates work out each modifier and save under the score.

Counters

Each row under Rows is one kind of limited use, with its maximum and, if you want, a dice formula for how many uses come back. Add a row, like Ki starts another. On the statblock, the rows become pips, and each row can say which recovery action gives its uses back.

Recovery actions

Recovery actions are buttons like Short rest and Long rest that give a player character things back. They show beside the note of a player character, once you right-click the character in the Asset Manager and choose Make player character.

1. 1

   Open the template's ⋯ menu and choose Recovery actions. A template holds up to six.

2. 2

   Click the plus and type a name, like "Long rest".

3. 3

   Click what it gives back on the card, like the hit points. Numbers need to be Tracked or read by one of the collection's resources.

   

4. 4

   Choose how:

   • Full: back to the maximum.
   • Amount: back by a formula, like 1d8+@level.
   • Half: back by a share of the maximum.
   • Set: to a number, or to the number a field holds.
   • Spend: the player spends another number, like Hit Dice, and each one gives some back.

Conditions with a number, like Exhaustion, are under the card. Step lowers one and Clear removes it.

Add a step asks the player to choose something during the rest, like one of three downtime moves. Under each step, set what the player is asked, How many the player picks and the Options to pick from. Each option can give things back of its own, and For oneself or another lets the player give it to another character.

Which dice it rolls

A bonus like "+6" rolls with your collection's dice. A template can name other dice for its statblocks: open its ⋯ menu and choose Dice rolls…. See Statblocks in a collection.

Keep a template, or delete it

Your templates are files in the folder atlas-vtt/statblock-templates, and every collection in your vault shares them. Rename or move one in the file explorer as any file. Your notes keep finding it.

To delete a template, open its ⋯ menu and choose Delete template…. Atlas tells you which statblocks and roles use it. You can switch them to another template or leave them as they are. Statblocks keep their values.

If you prefer to type, Edit as JSON in the same menu shows the whole template as text. See Statblock files.