The Heart of Daggers Encounter Manager is a completely free encounter builder and tracker designed specifically for Daggerheart.

You can build encounters, add adversaries and environments, track HP and Stress, manage Fear, generate loot, calculate Battle Points, organise multi-stage encounters, reference rules from your GM Screen, and even pull your own creations straight from the Homebrew Vault.

Basically: if you're running a Daggerheart encounter, this is the place to keep everything together.

Where do I find my Encounters?

Open the Encounters area of Heart of Daggers to view everything you've created.

From your My Encounters page, you can:

• Create a new Encounter
• Organise Encounters into folders
• Open existing Encounters
• Duplicate an Encounter
• Rename an Encounter
• Share an Encounter

Standard accounts can create up to 35 Encounters.

Legend subscribers can create unlimited Encounters.

Creating your first Encounter

Select Create New Encounter.

You'll be asked to:

• Give the Encounter a name
• Choose a folder
• Optionally link it to a Campaign

Folders are simply there to help keep things organised.

You might have folders for:

• Campaign sessions
• Boss encounters
• One-shots
• Random encounters
• Encounters you want to use later

Linking an Encounter to a Campaign makes it appear inside that Campaign's Encounters section.

This is particularly handy because several Encounter features can then stay connected to your Campaign, including your players and Fear tracker.

Inside an Encounter

Once you open an Encounter, you'll find several main tabs across the top:

1. Adversaries
2. Environments
3. Notes
4. Loot
5. GM Screen

Let's go through them.

Adversaries

The Adversaries tab is where you'll add and manage the creatures, enemies, rivals, monsters, and other troublemakers your party may face.

Select:

Add Adversaries

to open the Adversary Browser.

Finding an Adversary

You can search and filter Adversaries by things like:

• Name
• Type
• Tier
• Source

Sources can include official Daggerheart material such as the Core Rulebook and Hope & Fear, as well as creations from the Homebrew Vault.

You'll also find:

My Adversary Library

This contains Adversaries you've personally created in the Homebrew Vault, along with custom Adversaries you've created while building Encounters.

Marketplace supplement filtering is also planned, which will make it easier to browse Adversaries from products you own.

Previewing an Adversary

Select any Adversary from the browser to preview its stat block before adding it.

You'll be able to see information such as:

• Difficulty
• Tier
• Type
• HP
• Stress
• Thresholds
• Attacks
• Experiences
• Motives & Tactics
• Features

Once you've found the right Adversary, choose how many you'd like to add.

Adding multiple Adversaries

If you add more than one copy of the same Adversary, you can give each one a custom name.

For example, instead of:

Bandit #1
Bandit #2
Bandit #3

you might call them:

Rook
Mara
Old Fen

If you don't enter custom names, Heart of Daggers will automatically number them for you.

Press:

Add Adversary to Encounter

and they'll be added immediately.

The browser stays open afterwards, so you can keep searching and adding more without constantly reopening it.

What does "Use as Template" do?

Sometimes an Adversary is almost what you need — but you'd like to tweak it first.

Select:

Use as Template

and you'll be able to edit the Adversary before placing it into your Encounter.

You can adjust things like:

• Difficulty
• HP
• Stress
• Thresholds
• Attack
• Attack modifier
• Damage
• Features
• Other stat block information

Once you're happy with it, you can add your customised version to the Encounter.

You can also choose to save it to My Adversary Library, making it available again later.

This is great when you want to quickly remix an existing Adversary without building something completely from scratch.

Environments

The Environments tab works very similarly to Adversaries.

Select:

Add Environments

to open the Environment Browser.

You can search and filter Environments by:

• Name
• Tier
• Type
• Source

Select one to preview its details.

From there you can either:

Add to Encounter

or:

Use as Template

Using an Environment as a template allows you to customise its details before adding it, including Difficulty, Features, and other information.

Using Adversaries during play

Once an Adversary has been added to your Encounter, its full stat block becomes interactive.

Rather than simply displaying the rules, we've made the things you're most likely to use at the table clickable.

Attack rolls

At the top of an Adversary stat block you'll see its Attack Modifier.

Click it to automatically roll:

d20 + Attack Modifier

This gives you the Adversary's attack roll outcome.

Standard Attacks

You'll also see the Adversary's standard attack.

For example:

Claws (Very Close)

Alongside it you'll see the attack's damage, such as:

2d12+4 Physical

or:

2d10+3 Magical

The damage itself is clickable too, so you can roll it super quickly.

Motives & Tactics

The Adversary's Motives & Tactics are displayed directly in its stat block.

These are there to help remind you how that particular Adversary tends to behave during an encounter.

You'll also find its Experiences and their associated modifiers nearby. Remember to spend a Fear each time you utilise an Experience!

Adversary Features

Features make up one of the biggest parts of an Adversary stat block.

Each Feature can show:

• Feature name
• Feature type
• Feature description
• Resource cost

Feature types will include types like:

• Passive
• Action
• Reaction

If a Feature requires a resource to use, you'll see an icon indicating the cost.

For example, a Feature may require:

• Fear
• Stress
• HP

Hover over the icon if you'd like more information.

Rolling dice inside Features

Dice notation inside Feature descriptions is interactive.

If a Feature says something like:

2d8+3

you can simply click it and Heart of Daggers will roll it for you.

Summoning Adversaries

Some Features summon other creatures.

When this happens, you'll see a purple:

Summon

button.

Select it and Heart of Daggers will automatically show you the appropriate Adversaries associated with that ability.

Choose what you need and add them straight into the Encounter. Easy! :)

Tracking multiple copies of the same Adversary

If your Encounter contains several copies of the same creature, Heart of Daggers doesn't show you the same enormous stat block over and over again.

Instead, matching Adversaries are grouped together.

For example, if you've added:

3× Adult Flickerflies

you'll see one Adult Flickerfly stat block containing three individual Flickerfly instances.

Each individual instance has its own trackers.

These include:

• Quick Attack roll
• Quick Damage roll
• Threshold buttons
• HP
• Stress
• Feature trackers
• Conditions

This keeps large encounters considerably easier to manage.

Thresholds and HP

Thresholds are clickable directly inside each Adversary instance.

This gives you a quick visual reference while also making it easy to mark damage and update HP during play.

Each individual creature keeps its own HP separately, even when multiple creatures share the same overall stat block.

Tracking Stress

Each Adversary instance also includes its own Stress tracker.

If the Adversary has a Feature that needs its own tracker, you'll see that underneath as well.

For example:

Relentless (3)

can be tracked directly from the stat block.

Conditions

Select:

Add Condition...

on an Adversary instance to manage its Conditions.

You'll be able to choose from the standard Conditions available in the Daggerheart SRD.

You can also select:

Custom Condition

if something unique or homebrewed is affecting that particular creature.

Each Adversary instance tracks Conditions separately.

Adjusting an Adversary's Tier

Sometimes your players grow stronger. Sometimes you've dramatically underestimated them... and sometimes you just want the monster to hurt a little/a lot/ridiculously more.

That's what Adjust Tier is for.

Select the Adjust Tier button at the top of an Adversary stat block and choose whether you'd like to increase or decrease its Tier.

Heart of Daggers will automatically recalculate the Adversary using guidance from the Daggerheart Core Rulebook alongside Chris Davidson's Making Custom Adversaries guidance. (He wrote the Custom Adversaries section of the CRB! Legend.)

The stat block updates immediately so you can see the new values.

This adjusts the Adversary's relevant statistics to better suit its new Tier without requiring you to manually rebuild the creature. Sometimes the math just doesn't math when you're doing it yourself, ya know?!

It's especially useful when you love an Adversary concept but need it to remain appropriate for a higher or lower-Tier party.

Adversary Settings

Select the cog wheel on an Adversary stat block to open its additional options.

You'll find:

Rename
Give the Adversary a different name.

Change Color
Choose a custom border colour to make that Adversary easier to identify.

Edit Adversary
Edit the complete stat block.

Quantity
Increase or decrease how many instances of that Adversary exist in the Encounter.

Move to Stage
Move the Adversary into another Encounter Stage.

Remove
Remove the Adversary and all of its instances from the Encounter.

You can also click and drag an Adversary's header to rearrange its position within the list.

Environment Stat Blocks

Environment stat blocks work a little differently from Adversaries.

They can show:

• Environment name
• Environment type
• Tier
• Impulses
• Potential Adversaries
• Difficulty
• Environment Features

Potential Adversaries

Select:

Potential Adversaries

to see a compact list of creatures that could make sense within that Environment.

Environment Features

Environment Features display:

• Feature name
• Description
• Feature questions, where relevant

Just like Adversaries, Environment Features may also have a:

Summon

button.

When available, Heart of Daggers provides a curated list of appropriate Adversaries associated with that Environment Feature.

Environment Settings

Select the cog wheel on an Environment to access options including:

• Edit Environment
• Rename
• Change Color
• Adjust Tier
• Remove

The Adjust Tier system works similarly to Adversaries.

Notes

The Notes tab gives you somewhere to keep Encounter-specific information without jumping between other apps.

You can create up to 10 Notes per Encounter.

Each Note supports up to 5,000 characters.

You might use them for:

• Scene introductions
• Secret GM information
• NPC motivations
• Tactics
• Dialogue
• Story beats
• Treasure notes
• Reminders for the next session

Loot

Need treasure quickly?

Open the Loot tab.

The Loot Generator can create rewards using items from the Daggerheart SRD.

You can choose exactly what you'd like included.

What can be generated?

Choose from:

• Items
• Consumables
• Weapons
• Armor

You can enable whichever categories make sense for your Encounter.

Rarity

Choose:

• Common
• Uncommon
• Rare
• Legendary
• Any

Party Tier

Select the party's Tier from:

Tier 1 through Tier 4

This helps keep the generated rewards appropriate for your group.

Number of Picks

Choose how many pieces of Loot you'd like generated.

You can generate up to 12 items at once.

Rolling Gold

Enable the Roll Gold option if you'd also like to generate currency.

You can choose:

• Low
• Standard
• High

Heart of Daggers will then randomly determine an appropriate amount.

Viewing generated Loot

Generated items can include:

• Item name
• Rarity
• Description
• Relevant artwork

If your Encounter is connected to your players or Campaign, you can also send generated items directly to them.

GM Screen

The GM Screen tab gives you quick access to Daggerheart rules, references, utilities, and generators without leaving your Encounter.

You can customise the screen using a large collection of available sections.

You can create up to 5 different GM Screens, and each one can have its own name.

For example, you might create:

Combat

Exploration

Social Scenes

Generators

Rules Reference

and switch between them depending on what you're running.

Fear Tracker

At the top of your Encounter you'll find the Fear Tracker.

Use it to increase or decrease Fear throughout the session.

If the Encounter is connected to a Campaign, Fear is also updated on the Campaign itself.

That means you don't need to maintain two separate values.

You can also:

• Pin the Fear Tracker
• Unpin it
• Drag it around your screen

Put it wherever is easiest to see while you're running the Encounter.

Premade Encounters

Want something ready to run?

Select:

Premade

and browse more than 30 pre-built Encounters.

Premade Encounters can instantly populate your Encounter with things like:

• Adversaries
• Environments
• Encounter ideas
• Goals
• Motives

They're great for inspiration, quick sessions, or those occasions when the party goes somewhere you absolutely did not prepare for.

Encounter Settings

Select the main cog wheel at the top of the Encounter to open your Encounter Settings.

From here you can:

Export PDF
Create a printable PDF containing your Adversary stat blocks for offline or print-and-play use.

Edit Encounter Name
Rename the Encounter.

Reset Encounter
Remove the Encounter's current Adversaries, Environments, and associated Encounter content so you can start fresh.

Delete Encounter
Delete the Encounter entirely.

Be particularly careful with Reset and Delete!

Sharing an Encounter

Select:

Share

to copy a special Encounter link.

You can send this link to someone else so they can view your Encounter.

Battle Points

On the right side underneath the main Encounter menu you'll find your Battle Points.

Battle Points help you understand how challenging your current Adversary lineup may be for your party.

The total updates automatically whenever you:

• Add Adversaries
• Remove Adversaries
• Change quantities
• Adjust the Encounter

Select the Battle Points area to see the full calculation.

You can update:

• Party size
• Party Tier

This is important because the available Battle Point budget depends on the group you're building the Encounter for.

You'll then see information such as:

Budget Available

and:

Points Used

along with a breakdown of how your added Adversaries contribute to the total.

It's designed to make the underlying calculation easy to understand while you build an Encounter.

Countdowns

You can track up to 3 Countdowns inside each Encounter.

Each Countdown can contain up to 24 pips.

You can also give each one a name.

For example:

The Ritual Completes

The Bridge Collapses

Reinforcements Arrive

The Volcano Does Something Extremely Inconvenient

Countdowns can also be marked as public or private.

Public visibility for players is part of the evolving Encounter experience.

Players

Select the Players button to view the characters associated with your Encounter or linked Campaign.

This gives the GM a quick overview of the party without leaving the Encounter.

You can view things like:

• Character statistics
• Class information
• Domain loadout

You can also update relevant player statistics directly from here when needed.

Encounter Stages

Some Encounters aren't just one room.

That's where Stages come in.

Stages allow a single Encounter to contain multiple locations, areas, phases, or rooms.

For example:

Stage 1 — Castle Courtyard

Stage 2 — Great Hall

Stage 3 — The Throne Room

Or perhaps:

Stage 1 — Ambush

Stage 2 — Chase

Stage 3 — Final Stand

This lets you prepare an Encounter's progression ahead of time without needing to create several completely separate Encounters.

Creating a Stage

Select:

New Stage

to add another Stage.

You can rename a Stage using the pencil icon beside its name.

Stages can also be rearranged if you want to change their order.

Moving Adversaries between Stages

Open an Adversary's cog wheel and choose:

Move to Stage

Then select the Stage where you'd like that Adversary to appear.

This makes it easy to prepare reinforcements, separate rooms, different encounter phases, or enemies that only appear later.

Changing how the Encounter is displayed

Underneath your Encounter's name you'll find:

Display

This lets you customise how everything appears while you're using the Encounter Manager.

View Mode

Choose between:

Tab View

or:

Together View

Tab View

This is the default layout.

Adversaries and Environments live inside their own separate tabs.

Together View

This brings both Adversary and Environment stat blocks into one combined view.

Use whichever makes more sense for the way you run your sessions.

Grouping Adversaries

You can choose:

Grouped

or:

Separated

Grouped

Matching Adversaries share one stat block, while each creature still receives its own HP, Stress, Conditions, and other individual trackers.

This is the most compact option.

Separated

Every individual Adversary gets its own full stat block.

This can be useful when each creature is behaving very differently or when you simply prefer seeing everything separately (you're wrong, but ok!).

Card Size

You can also change how wide your stat blocks appear.

Choose:

• Regular
• Medium
• Large

If you're running on a big monitor and want more breathing room, go bigger.

If you'd rather fit more information on screen at once, choose a smaller size. We love using the Medium option.

Adversary Artwork

You can choose whether Adversary artwork is:

Shown

or:

Hidden

Hiding artwork can create a more compact, less distracting Encounter layout, while showing it gives the Encounter a more visual presentation.

How everything works together

We built the Encounter Manager because we wanted running Daggerheart encounters to involve less tab switching, less PDF documents open, and more actually playing the game. And so we built it, and we love it. We hope you do, too!

Have fun with it – and good luck.