Playing in the VTT

This is the short version of DNDWar.com for players — everything you need to take your turn on the board and nothing you don't. Your DM has the full setup guide in Running a Battle on the VTT; you just need to show up and fight with the character you built on DNDCards.

The board reads the same shared account as the rest of the family, so there's no separate login and no separate character — the sheet you built is already your token.

Joining

Open the play link your DM shares (or pick the campaign from your dashboard). The board knows you're a player from your role on the campaign — that's decided on the server, so your view and your permissions are the real ones, not something a browser tweak could change. You land in the player view: the same board your DM sees, with their tools hidden and the map masked to what your character can actually perceive.

Reading the board

• Fog of war. You see only what your character has line of sight to, traced through the walls and lit by the scene's lights and your darkvision. Rooms reveal as you move into them; what's behind a closed door or a wall stays dark.
• Tokens. Yours, your party's, and whatever the DM has revealed. Monster health shows as a state — Healthy, Bloodied, Down — not as exact numbers. Exact HP and AC stay on the DM's side of the screen.
• The initiative rail. In a fight, the turn order and round counter are visible; the active combatant is highlighted. You can see it, but the combat controls (start, end turn, end combat) belong to the DM.

Moving your token

When it's your turn, drag your own token to move it. The board does the tactical work:

• It routes around walls and other tokens automatically (shortest legal path) and animates the walk along that route.
• It counts your movement against your speed — distance is the 5e 5-5-5 grid (five feet a cell, diagonals included). Try to move farther than you have left and you'll get a nudge telling you how many feet you're short; Dash doubles your budget for the turn.
• Standing up from prone costs half your speed (or is free with a bonus action), and conditions like paralyzed or stunned stop you moving at all — the board enforces it so you don't have to track it.
• Watch your exits. Leaving an enemy's reach can provoke an opportunity attack; the board detects it along your actual path and prompts the reaction, so you'll know before it bites.

Movement is only metered on your turn — there's no budget to sweat when it isn't.

Doors and the world

You can open and close doors adjacent to you (the server checks you're actually in reach). That's usually the extent of your interaction with the map itself — walls, lights, fog, and the scene are the DM's to shape.

Taking your action — click to attack

You never type a dice formula. Your token already carries its actions, derived from your sheet and gear:

1. In your action bar, click the action you want — your weapon, a spell, or a utility like Dodge or Disengage. The bar arms it: "Armed: Longsword — click an enemy token to target."

2. Click the enemy token you're targeting. A ResolutionPanel opens showing you → target and any advantage or disadvantage your conditions grant.

3. Roll. One button rolls the attack: d20 + your to-hit vs their AC, a natural 20 crits (your damage dice double), a natural 1 misses. The result writes through to the target and the combat log:

   You → Goblin Archer · Longsword · +5 vs AC 15 · rolled 14 (19) → HIT · 6 slashing

Saves and ability checks work the same way — arm, click, roll — with the right modifier from your sheet filled in for you. Every roll runs through the audited engine, so the number you see is the number on the record.

When it isn't your turn yet

If you already know what you'll do, you don't have to wait staring at the rail — you can pre-declare your action and it fires the instant initiative reaches you. And after attacks resolve around the table, the board surfaces any reaction that's yours to take (an opportunity attack, a Shield) rather than expecting you to remember it.

What stays with the DM

So there are no surprises about why a button isn't there for you:

• Adding or removing tokens, and drawing or editing walls, lights, and fog.
• Starting and ending combat, and advancing the turn order.
• Moving anyone's token but your own.
• Seeing exact monster HP and AC.

Everything you can do is checked on the server, and everything that happens — your moves, your rolls, the doors you open — broadcasts live to the rest of the table.

Prefer to fight in text?

Not every group wants a grid. The same characters and the same audited dice run an entire fight in chat over on the DND.chat tavern — no map required. Many groups prep on DNDCards, roleplay in the tavern, and only move to the board when a fight wants tactics; that whole arc is the Connected Group Session.

Where to go next

• Build your character — the sheet that becomes your token.
• Running a Battle on the VTT — the DM's side, if you're curious what they're driving.
• Dice & Rolls — how click-to-attack and the audit log work.
• DNDWar.com — the board in full, including the no-sign-in demo.