A Guide To Using Compact Stat Blocks
A tool for the discerning DM, these compact stat blocks will allow you to compile the vast arrays of creatures, monsters and NPCs in your campaign into a singular distilled, yet easy-to-navigate, document. Originally posted on Reddit by calculuschild, after using these compact stat blocks in my own campaign, I decided to have a go at updating and fixing a few issues that I had with them. I fixed some squishy paragraph text, adjusted attribute text positions to better suit A4 page printing, reworded a couple of things, ultimately transcribing them here for use on GM Binder.
After spending considerable time using this template and writing up compact stat blocks for each of the creatures in my campaign, I have come up some neat ways to include all of the information you may need for a given creature. This document will give you some examples of how you can use these compact stat blocks for a range of varied creatures, monsters and NPCs, as detailed below.
Comparisons
Let's compare the original stat block from 5e, the original compact stat block, and my updated compact stat block.
Original
The original stat block is nice, but we can improve it.
Kobold
Small humanoid (kobold), lawful evil
- Armor Class 12
- Hit Points 5 (2d6 - 2)
- Speed 30 ft.
STR DEX CON INT WIS CHA 7 (-2) 15 (+2) 9 (-1) 8 (-1) 7 (-2) 8 (-1)
- Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 8
- Languages Common, Draconic
- Challenge 1/8 (25 XP)
Sunlight Sensitivity. While in sunlight, the kobold has disadvantage on attack rolls, as well as on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight.
Pack Tactics. The kobold has advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of the kobold's allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Actions
Dagger. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit 4 (1d4 + 2) piercing damage.
Sling. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 30/120 ft., one target. Hit 4 (1d4 + 2) bludgeoning damage.
Original Compact (Homebrewery)
The GM Binder version doesn't have the squished text issue like The Homebrewery does, but we can't just copy and paste it from The Homebrewery, either. Here's the direct copy and paste from The Homebrewery:
### 12 ### 5 ### 30 #### -2 #### +2 #### -1 #### -1 #### -2 #### -1
***Senses.*** Darkvision 60 ft.
Sunlight Sensitivity. Disadv on Perception in sunlight
Pack Tactics. Adv on attack rolls if ally in 5 ft. of target
***Dagger.*** *Melee Wpn Atk:* **+4, 1d4+2** piercing
Sling. Range Wpn Atk (30/120 ft.): +4, 1d4+2 bludgeoning
Original Compact (GM Binder)
Here is the original compact stat block, suitable for GM Binder. We can do better, though - the format and colours are all wrong and our text is too verbose!
Kobold
Small humanoid (kobold) 25xp
⅛
12
5
30
-2
+2
-1
-1
-2
-1
Senses. Darkvision 60 ft.
Sunlight Sensitivity. Disadv on Perception in sunlight
Pack Tactics. Adv on attack rolls if ally in 5 ft. of target
Dagger. Melee Wpn Atk: +4, 1d4+2 piercing
Sling. Range Wpn Atk (30/120 ft.): +4, 1d4+2 bludgeoning
Updated Compact (GM Binder)
Now we're talking! Minor changes, but necessary.
Kobold
Small humanoid (kobold), LE. 25xp
⅛
12
2d6 - 2
30
-2
+2
-1
-1
-2
-1
Details darkvision 60 ft., knows Common and Draconic
Sunlight Sensitivity. Disadv on Perception in sunlight
Pack Tactics. Adv on attack rolls if ally in 5 ft. of target
Dagger. MWA: +4, 1d4+2 piercing
Sling. RWA (30/120 ft.): +4, 1d4+2 bludgeoning
GM BINDER EDITION | RASPILICIOUS
Kobold Comparison
For a clean comparison between the original compact stat block and the updated compact stat block, check out the last page where I compare a kobold with a kobold.
Compressing A Creature
There are a variety of ways you could compress a creature's information into one of these stat blocks. Here are some examples for a generic creature (a commoner), a unique, named spellcaster customised from an existing creature's stat block (Glasstaff), a homebrew creature with its own unique attack (a minor earth elemental), a named, generic creature 'miniboss' with complex attacks and moves (a spectator, Kiaz) and a generic creature with interesting behaviour (a stirge).
Commoner
Medium humanoid (human), LG. 0xp
0
10
1d8
30
+0
+0
+0
+0
+0
+0
Details understands Common
Club. MWA: +4, 1d4 bludgeoning
Glasstaff
Medium humanoid (human), LE. 450xp
2
13
40 (6d8+6)
30
-1
+1
+1
+3
+2
+1
Details INT+5, WIS+5 saves, Arc+5, Dec+5, Pers+5 skills, understands Common, Draconic, Dwarven and Elvish
Spellcasting. 4th lvl INT, save DC 13, +5 to hit with spells.
Cantrips (at will): light, mage hand, shocking grasp
1st Level (4 slots): charm person, magic missile
2nd Level (3 slots): hold person, misty step
Staff of Defense. MWA: +1, 1d8-1 bludgeoning
Minor Earth
Elemental
Medium elemental, N. 200xp
1
15
8d8 + 24
10
+0
-2
+3
-4
+0
-3
Details 30 ft. burrowing speed, vulnerable to thunder, resistant to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing and slashing, immune to exhausted, paralysed, petrified, poisoned and unconscious, darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., understands Terran, can't speak
Earth Glide. Can Burrow through nonmagical, unworked earth and stone without disturbing it
False Appearance. Indistinguishable from rock while still
Earthen Grasp. MWA: +4, 1d8 bludgeoning, restrains one target (escape DC 14)
Spectator (Kiaz 45hp)
Medium aberration, LN. 700xp
3
14
6d8 + 12
0
-1
+2
+2
+1
+2
+0
Details 30 ft. flying speed, Perc+6 skill, immune to prone, darkvision 120 ft., understands Deep Speech and Undercommon
Hover. The spectator hovers as long as it is alive
Telepathy. Can communicate telepathically within 100 ft.
Bite. MWA: +1, 1d4-2 piercing
Eye Rays. Uses two of the following rays each turn (90 ft.):
— Confusion Ray. DC 13 WIS save or can't react or move next turn, using action to attack random creature if it can
— Paralysing Ray. DC 13 CON save or paralysed 1 min
— Fear Ray. DC 13 WIS save or frightened 1 min, repeat save each turn (at Disadv if spectator visible to target)
— Wounding Ray. DC 13 CON save or 3d10 necrotic, half on save
Create Food and Water. Creates to sustain for 24 hours
Reaction: Spell Reflection. If spectator succeeds on spell save or spell misses, spectator chooses new target for spell
Stirge
Tiny beast, unaligned. 25xp
⅛
14
1d4
10
-3
+3
+0
-4
-1
-2
Details 40 ft. flying speed, darkvision 60 ft.
Blood Drain. MWA: +5, 1d4+3 piercing, attaches to target and deals 1d4+3 damage each turn, detaching for 5 ft movement or after 10 damage dealt
GM BINDER EDITION | RASPILICIOUS
Write This Way, Friend
Compact stat blocks are separated into up to five main sections: Overview, Attributes, Details, Actions, and if applicable, Reactions. Here, you will find descriptions of each section, my suggestions of how to fill them in, and themes for both The Homebrewery and GM Binder.
There is no singular, best way to abbreviate these sections or fill compact stat blocks in, so experiment and see what works best for you!
Overview Section
This section contains general and narrative information about the creature.
Creature Name. The creature's name. If this stat block is for a generic creature and also for a named 'miniboss' (like Kiaz, above), include its suggested name and hit points in brackets.
Size type (tag), AL. 9,999xp. The size and type of the creature, its alignment (abbreviated to two capitalised letters) and the amount of experience it awards.
CR. The creature's challenge rating. Use the ½, ¼ or ⅛ characters for fanciness. Hint: copy & paste!
Attributes Section
This section contains information related to a creature's health and combat statistics.
Armour Class. The creature's Armour Class.
HP. The creature's hit point dice and range. If the stat block represents a named creature that doesn't derive from another creature's stat block (like Glasstaff, above), add the creature's suggested HP as a prefix to the compressed HP range. For example: "40 (6d8+6)" instead of "6d8 + 6"
Speed. The creature's walking speed. Other movement speeds are entered in the Details section.
Ability Modifiers. The creature's ability modifiers.
Details Section
This section contains information about a creature's innate abilities and passive traits.
Details. Any details the creature has. Include abbreviations of any of the following, if applicable:
- Additional move speeds such as "60 ft. flying speed"
- Saving throws such as "STR+1 save" or "DEX+3, WIS+4 saves" (STR, DEX, CON, INT, WIS, CHA)
- Skills such as "Arc+2 skill" or "Arc+2, Dec+3 skills" (Acr, Ani, Arc, Athl, Dec, Hist, Ins, Intm, Inve, Med, Nat, Perc, Perf, Pers, Rel, Sle, Ste, Sur)
- Vulnerabilities, resistances and/or immunities such as "vulnerable to thunder," "vuln to thund, cold," "resistance to fire," "resists cold, poison," "immune to poison/ed, fire"
- Senses such as "blindsight 10 ft." or "darkvision 120 ft."
- Languages such as "understands Elvish," "knows cmn, elv, underCmn," "understands thieves' cant, but deaf," or "knows Draconic, can't talk"
Trait. Include any special, unique or thematic abilities the creature has and abbreviate the description as appropriate. For example: "Trance. Can meditate 4hr/day to gain benefit of 8hr sleep" instead of "Instead of sleeping, you meditate deeply, remaining semiconscious, for 4 hours a day, gaining the same benefit that a human does from 8 hours of sleep."
Actions Section
This section contains information about the various actions a creature can perform in or out of combat.
Action. Describe and abbreviate the action.
Weapon Attack. Abbreviate the melee weapon attack (MWA) or ranged weapon attack (RWA) to simply numbers and the damage type (and range, too, for a ranged weapon).
Reactions Section
This section contains information about the reactions a creature can make in combat, and thus it should only be included in a creature's compact stat block if the creature can perform a reaction in the first place.
Reaction: Reaction Name. Abbreviate the reaction, including its trigger, range or any other important details.
The Templates
Homebrewery Theme
Creature Name
Size type (tag), AL. 9,999xp
½¼⅛
20
12d12 + 12
30
+0
+0
+0
+0
+0
+0
Details additional movement speeds, saving throws, skills, vulnerabilities, resistances, immunities, senses, languages
Trait. Describe the trait here
Action. An action that does something as described
Weapon Attack. MWA: +4, 1d4+2 damage type
Weapon Attack. RWA (5/15 ft.): +4, 1d4+2 damage type
Reaction: Reaction Name. A reaction that does something when a trigger or event occurs, as described
GM Binder Theme
Creature Name
Size type (tag), AL. 9,999xp
½¼⅛
20
12d12 + 12
30
+0
+0
+0
+0
+0
+0
Details additional movement speeds, saving throws, skills, vulnerabilities, resistances, immunities, senses, languages
Trait. Describe the trait here
Action. An action that does something as described
Weapon Attack. MWA: +4, 1d4+2 damage type
Weapon Attack. RWA (5/15 ft.): +4, 1d4+2 damage type
Reaction: Reaction Name. A reaction that does something when a trigger or event occurs, as described
GM BINDER EDITION | RASPILICIOUS
Credits
The Creator
The original Compact StatBlock was created by u/calculuschild and posted on Reddit (posted here, and accessed 01/02/2018).
All credit for the original Compact StatBlock goes to u/calculuschild, all credit for the art goes to GM Binder and The Homebrewery, and all credit for the commoner, Glasstaff, spectator and stirge creatures go to Wizards Of The Coast and their respective owners.
My Own Update
When using these compact stat blocks in my own campaign, I wanted to fix the minor inconsistencies I found in them. Most importantly, I wanted to make sure they would fit nicely on an A4 page and so that the text paragraphs wouldn't get squished if they spanned multiple lines (like in the stat blocks for Glasstaff, the spectator and the stirge).
I am proud of my accomplishment in learning Markdown enough to understand how to fix the aforementioned issues and to have been able to implement the art from GM Binder to make the stat block look fancy. I am also proud of my own creature, the minor earth elemental, and hope that you use these in your own planning, compilations and campaigns!
But How Do I Use Them?
If you're curious about how to use these in your own documents, feel free to have a look at the page source (click the "SOURCE </>" button above). You will find everything you need between the style tags.
Copy one of the compact stat block creature templates (from div to /div, inclusive), and the entirety of the style section (from style to /style, inclusive), into your own document, and go nuts! (:
Note that there are three style sections in this document:
.compactStatBlockOLD: The original version.
.compactStatBlock: Updated Homebrewery version.
.compactStatBlockGMB: Updated GM Binder version.
Change Log
- v1.0 - Created document.
- v1.1 - Added credits, descriptions and usage instructions, and added comparisons between the original D&D 5e stat block, the old compact stat block and the updated compact stat block.
- v1.2 - Created GM Binder Edition (this one!) for use on GM Binder, separating it from the Homebrewery Edition intended for use on The Homebrewery (the two sites require slightly different formatting when writing and filling in stat blocks), and updated various formatting and phrasing issues.
Thanks!
Thank you for taking the time to read this document. Enjoy using these in your own campaigns!
- Raspilicious
A Comparable Kobold
For those who would like to see, here's a clean, direct comparison between the original compact stat block and my updated compact stat block both using the same creature, our lovely little kobold. <3
Kobold
Small humanoid (kobold) 25xp
⅛
12
5
30
-2
+2
-1
-1
-2
-1
Senses. Darkvision 60 ft.
Sunlight Sensitivity. Disadv on Perception in sunlight
Pack Tactics. Adv on attack rolls if ally in 5 ft. of target
Dagger. Melee Wpn Atk: +4, 1d4+2 piercing
Sling. Range Wpn Atk (30/120 ft.): +4, 1d4+2 bludgeoning
Kobold
Small humanoid (kobold), LE. 25xp
⅛
12
2d6 - 2
30
-2
+2
-1
-1
-2
-1
Details darkvision 60 ft., knows Common and Draconic
Sunlight Sensitivity. Disadv on Perception in sunlight
Pack Tactics. Adv on attack rolls if ally in 5 ft. of target
Dagger. MWA: +4, 1d4+2 piercing
Sling. RWA (30/120 ft.): +4, 1d4+2 bludgeoning
A Final Word...
I wholeheartedly apologise if I have ruined the original D&D 5E style stat blocks for you. I only meant well!! (:
GM BINDER EDITION | RASPILICIOUS