Compendium

Official content vs. homebrew

Official content (SRD) is the built-in rules reference, the same Goblins, Fireballs, and Longswords in every install. You can browse it and search it, but you can't edit or delete it, it's meant to stay accurate to the real rules.

Homebrew content is what you create yourself: your own custom monsters, magic items, and equipment. It shows up mixed in with the official entries in the same lists, with a small "HB" tag next to the name so you can tell it apart at a glance. Unlike official content, you can edit or delete your homebrew entries any time.

Only three categories support homebrew right now: Monsters, Magic Items, and Equipment. Spells, Conditions, Rules, and the rest of the reference categories are official-content-only for now.

SRD 2014 vs. 2024

Dalang's reference data is compiled and cross-checked in-house, drawn from the official SRD text and checked against multiple community sources rather than trusted from any single one, instead of vendoring a third-party dataset directly.

Monsters, Spells, Conditions, and Weapon Properties are available in both the 2014 rules (SRD 5.1) and the 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1). Both editions show together in these categories, tagged so you always know which one you're looking at, and the source filter lets you narrow to just one edition if you'd rather not see both.

Equipment and Magic Items are still 2014 only for now, matching item variants cleanly between the two editions needs its own pass before they can be added. The rest of the reference (Rules, Rule Sections, Damage Types, Skills, Languages, Ability Scores, Magic Schools) is 2014 only as well. 2024 coverage will keep expanding as more categories get compiled and cross-checked.

An NPC or Encounter link to a Monster remembers which edition it points to, so a link made before 2024 data existed keeps showing the same 2014 stats it always did, it won't silently switch editions just because both are now available.

Homebrew is shared across all your campaigns

This is the part worth understanding clearly: your homebrew library isn't tied to one campaign. Create a homebrew monster while working on Campaign A, and it's already there, ready to use, when you switch to Campaign B. You never have to recreate the same custom monster twice.

Because it's shared, editing or deleting a homebrew entry affects it everywhere, not just the campaign you happen to have open. If you tweak a homebrew monster's hit points, that change applies wherever you use it. If you delete one, it's gone from every campaign, not archived.

One thing to watch for: if you've already added a homebrew monster to a Planned Encounter or a Live Run, and you later delete that monster from the Compendium, the encounter keeps the token but loses its connection to the stat block, HP won't auto-fill and its full stat block won't show anymore. Editing a homebrew monster is always safe. Deleting one you're actively using somewhere is the thing to be careful with. The same rule applies to an NPC linked to a deleted monster, see NPC.

Creating a homebrew entry

1. Open the Compendium tab and pick Monsters, Magic Items, or Equipment.
2. Click + New Homebrew [Category] above the list.
3. Fill in whatever fields apply, name is the only one required.
4. Save. It appears in the list right away, tagged "HB".

Click any homebrew entry to view it, then use the Edit or Delete buttons on its detail page. Official entries never show those buttons, that's how you can tell at a glance whether something is yours to change.

Portraits

Homebrew Monsters can have a portrait image (just paste in an image link). It shows up on the Compendium entry and on that monster's token whenever it's placed on a battle map, the same way NPC and Player portraits already work.

You can also add a portrait to an official SRD monster without making a homebrew copy of it, open the monster's page and use Edit Portrait, the field expands inline right there in the stat block. Since SRD content is shared across every campaign, that portrait shows up everywhere too, not just your current campaign.

Magic Items and Equipment don't have portraits, they never appear as tokens on a map, so there's nothing to show a picture for.

Using a homebrew monster in a fight

Homebrew Monsters work exactly like official monsters everywhere combat happens:

• Campaign Prep → an Encounter → Combatants, there's a Homebrew tab alongside Players/Monsters/NPCs, search and add your monster the same way.
• Active Campaign → Add Combatant during a live run works the same way.

Once added, it gets a token with the right size, portrait if you set one, and hit points pulled from what you entered in the Compendium.

See also: NPC for linking a whole NPC to a Compendium monster (SRD or homebrew) instead of adding the monster separately.

Sharing homebrew with another install

When you export a Campaign or Adventure to a file (My Campaigns → Campaign Settings → Export), your whole homebrew library goes along with it automatically. Whoever imports that file gets their own copy of every homebrew Monster, Magic Item, and Equipment entry you'd made, added to their own library, so any Encounter in the file that uses your homebrew monster still works correctly for them. The Compendium tab also has its own Export/Import buttons for sharing just your homebrew library on its own, separate from a whole Campaign or Adventure.

A couple of things worth knowing about how that works:

• Every homebrew entry carries a permanent identity that survives exports. Re-importing something you already have (from the same original creator) is recognized instead of always creating a duplicate.
• If an imported entry has changed since you last got it, the import screen asks whether to keep your version, use the imported one, or keep both, rather than silently picking one.

Quick search

Press Ctrl+K (or Cmd+K on Mac) from anywhere in the app to pull up a quick search without leaving what you're doing. It searches homebrew content too, not just the official SRD, and shows source alongside category on each result.