Encounters

Overview

Combat prep usually means a statblock in one tab, a calculator in another, and a sticky note that says “6 goblins? maybe 8?”. ScryRPG’s encounter builder lets you pick creatures from the bestiary, check a system-specific difficulty estimate for the party size and level you enter, attach loot, and deploy when the door swings open. Creature and NPC initiative is rolled on the server. Player characters join with an initiative value entered by the player or GM. Players see only revealed encounters, with enemy and NPC health bands instead of exact HP.

The Three Moments of an Encounter

The Bestiary

SRD Creatures

Every account starts with the D&D 5e SRD 5.1 bestiary: goblins, ogres, dragons, and the rest of the creatures published under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. Attribution is preserved on each creature, so the licensing stays visible instead of swept under the rug.

Custom Creatures

The SRD doesn’t know about your homebrew bog witch or the owlbear you reflavored into a moss golem. Create a custom creature with its own stat block (hit points, initiative modifier, challenge rating) and it slots into encounters exactly like an SRD entry.

Fork from the Marketplace

Other GMs share creatures in the marketplace. Fork one into your library, tweak the numbers to fit your table, and use it like any creature you built yourself.

Campaign NPCs in the Fight

The mercenary captain your party has been drinking with for six sessions can finally draw steel. Add a visible NPC from your lore if it has a stat block, either in its metadata or by linking a creature. It takes its place in initiative alongside everything else.

Building an Encounter

1. Create a new encounter and set Party size and Party level for the difficulty estimate.
2. Add creatures from the bestiary, or enter a custom creature and stat block. Search the bestiary by creature name and review each creature’s challenge rating.
3. Watch the difficulty meter as you go. It estimates difficulty and XP for supported game systems using the party size and level you enter. It is guidance, not a verdict. Rows without a recognized challenge value do not contribute to the estimate.
4. Set a fixed count, a range, or dice notation such as 2d4 in a creature’s count field. The roster count is rolled when you deploy, so the final group can vary.
5. Attach a loot template. When the encounter ends, ScryRPG attempts to deploy that loot to the party, subject to template access and deployment limits.

Printing an Encounter Deck

Open a saved encounter and choose Print full set to send a table-ready reference set to Print Studio. The set starts with an encounter overview, then adds one card for each unique authorized creature in the roster and each unique authorized item in the attached loot. The overview keeps the combatant count or dice range, so a six-goblin encounter does not silently become six duplicate stat blocks.

Linked bestiary creatures retain their complete system-native stat blocks. Valid inline creatures become encounter-scoped cards. Each creature and attached-loot source is checked independently, so a visible encounter never makes private content printable. Table Reference projects each creature onto one bounded face without guessing mechanics from prose; choose Full Rules when long traits and actions should continue onto numbered faces. Required source and license notices travel on grouped Credits & Licenses cards and in the PDF, browser-print, PNG, and ZIP records.

You can also open the encounter’s one-face Table Reference showcase, download its card set, or add it to an existing deck and choose Full Rules. See Printable Cards for paper sizes, duplex setup, calibration, QR links, and export formats.

Deploying and Running

Deploy

1. Open the encounter and choose Deploy to Party, then choose a party you run. You can optionally set a name override.
2. The server rolls initiative for creatures and NPCs using their modifiers. These rolls are recorded with the encounter. Player characters join with an initiative value entered by the player or GM.
3. Any count ranges resolve now. Your 2d4 wolves become a group within that range.

A party runs one encounter at a time. End or cancel the current fight before deploying the next one.

Reveal

Deployed doesn’t mean visible. Encounters deploy hidden by default unless you switch on Reveal to players immediately. A hidden encounter is not shown to players. On reveal, party members see the encounter, initiative order, and combatants. You can hide it again.

Hit Points and Health Bands

GMs and managers can track exact HP for combatants and update it during the fight. Players see health bands for creatures and NPCs, while each player can see their own character’s HP:

Ad-Hoc Encounters

The party picks a fight you didn’t prep. GMs and managers can start a quick encounter from the party’s Encounters page, give it a name, then add creatures, NPCs, or party characters as needed. Creature and NPC initiative rolls the same way as a deployed encounter. If the improvised brawl turns out to be a keeper, choose Save as template afterwards.

Ending an Encounter

When you end the fight, three things happen:

1. The loot drops. If the attached loot template remains accessible and deployment succeeds within your limits, it creates a revealed loot pile. Players can claim or receive items from that pile; items do not go straight to character sheets.
2. The timeline remembers. A battle event is recorded in party lore. If the encounter is revealed when you end it, the event is party-visible; if it is hidden, the event is GM-only.
3. The XP is tallied. For supported systems, the summary uses creature and NPC combatants with challenge ratings, regardless of remaining HP. If there are no rated combatants, or any combatant lacks a rating, no total is returned. The summary does not award XP to character sheets; handle advancement as your table prefers.

Limits

Building encounters is not counted against the deployment allowance. A party can have one active encounter at a time, so end or cancel the current fight before another one goes live.

What your plan meters is deploying. Deploying an encounter template to a party, or starting a quick encounter at the table, each counts as one deployment. Free and Player plans have a monthly allowance; GM and Patron plans have unlimited encounter deployments. See the Subscription Guide for the current plan limits and reset details.

Cancelling a deployed encounter does not return that month’s deployment, so deploy when the fight is ready to reach the table.

Your Familiar and Discord

Build by Conversation

Your familiar can help build and manage encounters in its private page or the shared party room. Free rein is on by default. It asks before revealing an encounter or making a large change, and you can turn free rein off in settings. A failed change rolls back. Every plan includes monthly AI usage for your familiar, imports and art. Paid plans include more, and it resets each month. It can also roll server-side dice on request.

Discord

Use /encounter show for the active encounter’s initiative and health bands. GMs and managers can use /encounter deploy or /encounter start, /encounter add creature, /encounter hp, /encounter reveal, /encounter hide, /encounter end, and /encounter cancel. Players can add their own character to initiative with /encounter join initiative:12. Run /encounter show again for current state. See the Discord Bot Guide for the full command reference.

Common Questions

Can my players see creature hit points? GMs and managers see exact HP for combatants. Players see bands for creatures and NPCs after reveal, and each player can see their own character’s HP. Hidden encounters are not shown to players.

Can I run a fight I didn’t prep? Yes. A GM or manager can start a quick encounter from the party’s Encounters page, add creatures, NPCs, or player characters, and save it as a template afterwards.

How is XP calculated? For supported systems, the XP summary includes all creature and NPC combatants with challenge ratings, regardless of whether they are defeated. If none are rated, or any lacks a rating, ScryRPG omits the total. It does not award XP to character sheets.

Can two fights run at once? No. One active encounter per party. End or cancel the current one first.

Ready to Roll (Initiative)?

Build the fight once, deploy it at the perfect moment, and let the bookkeeping handle itself.

What’s Next?

• Loot Guide - Build the treasure your encounters drop
• Lore & Knowledge Graph - The NPCs who join your fights live here
• Printable Cards - Turn an encounter and its authorized creatures into table references
• Foundry VTT Integration - Learn about the invited beta for gear, shops and loot; encounters are not supported
• Discord Bot Guide - Follow the fight from game chat