Version history
Version 1.13.0 beta 2026-10-30
- When a new version is ready, the update notice now tells what changes: tap “What changes” to read the newest versions in a few words before you update. The changelog and the roadmap are also on the website, in the five languages, where they can be shared and found (the link is in the About page).
- A new Contribute page on the website, in the five languages, explains how to help: translating in the browser on Weblate, reporting a problem, writing to say you like it, or working on the code, which is free under the MIT licence.
- A guided tour for new users: a short walk through the app that lights up each part (characters, build steps, sheet, play, rules, print, menu) with a card that says what it is for. It is offered on the welcome screen and is always in the ☰ menu. The website also has three new guides, in the five languages: how to import Aurora content, how to turn on automatic translation and get a DeepL key, and how to translate Heroquill on Weblate. The Content packs and Automatic translation pages link to them.
- Bringing in a backup (from Google Drive or a file) no longer piles up duplicates: when a character is already here with other content, you choose to use the most recent (backups made from now on carry the date each character last changed), keep the one on the device, or keep both. The guided tour also stops at Content packs and at Automatic translation, to show where an Aurora address and a DeepL key go.
- Printing from iPhones and iPads with Safari is fixed: the sheet no longer comes out with a black border when background graphics are printed, and the double line of the frames prints sharp.
Version 1.12.3 beta 2026-10-29
- The welcome page is easier to find: each language now has a page of its own (heroquill.app, /it/, /fr/, /de/, /es/), written in plain text that search engines can read, with a preview picture for when a link is shared. The app itself is not listed in search results, only the welcome page is. A new guide, in the five languages, explains step by step how to create a D&D 5e character.
Version 1.12.2 beta 2026-10-29
- Quick edits (your own texts and translations of an entry) no longer get lost when a content pack is imported or downloaded again. A pack that comes back under a new name used to leave the edits of its entries behind, so after moving a character to another device a species or a background could show its original text; now the edits find their entries again. The “Try it with Aria” button now opens the Aria already among your characters instead of making another one each time.
Version 1.12.1 beta 2026-10-29
- The welcome page at heroquill.app is new: a night sky with the sheet of Aria, what the app does, the eight colour sets (try them on the page, and the app remembers your choice), a few questions and answers, all in five languages. Its “Try it with Aria” button opens the app with the example character already loaded.
Version 1.12.0 beta 2026-10-29
- A new look, and a few things that make the app feel alive. A welcome screen with the mark and a night sky, with a button to try an example character (Aria Nightbloom, a level 5 elf wizard). A portrait: tap the hexagon beside the name on the sheet to add a picture and cut out the part to keep (it stays on your device and is not in share links). Numbers roll in when they change, and the hit point bar fills smoothly. Icons on the tabs and the menu, a quill under the title and a fine grain on the page. Every roll now shows big over the page, with the die spinning, and a critical hit throws sparks. It stays until you tap it. Screens slide in and buttons give under the finger; all of it stops if your device asks for less motion.
- The app now comes in eight colour sets: Night and gold (the new one, with the colours of the logo), Classic, Bordeaux, Forest, Arcane, Ice, Copper and Obsidian, each with a light and a dark look. Choose yours in the ☰ menu, under Colours. The Modern style is gone, to keep the app simple: everyone now has the Fantasy look, and whoever had picked a look before keeps the Classic colours. Buttons that had the browser's plain grey now take the colours of the set.
- Heroquill has a logo: an H whose crossbar is a golden quill, on midnight blue. It is the new app icon, the tab icon and the colour of the welcome page. On a phone where the app is already installed, the old icon may stay until the app is installed again.
Version 1.11.0 beta 2026-10-29
- Moving from the old address is now a guided path: on the old site a notice and a step-by-step guide save everything (characters, packs, settings, saved translations) to Google Drive and point to Heroquill, and links to shared characters open straight in Heroquill. Heroquill shows a card on the first page for those who come from the old version, with Load from Google Drive or Open a file.
Version 1.10.0 beta 2026-10-29
- The app is now called Heroquill and has a home of its own, heroquill.app, with a welcome page that explains the project; the app itself lives at heroquill.app/app.
Version 1.9.1 beta 2026-10-28
- Automatic translation no longer needs a DeepL account: texts still in English are translated for free while you read them, with a translation run by the relay and MyMemory as a last resort. With your own DeepL key (now under Advanced) the translations are better. The app remembers which engine made each saved translation and, when a better one is available (a key is added, the allowance renews), translates again the texts you read; this can be turned off. The note under a translated text now says which engine made it.
Version 1.9 beta 2026-10-28
- There is a new Rules tab, between Play and Print. Search spells, items, feats, conditions, features and more by name or by a word of their text, or pick a kind and read through the whole list; on a wide screen the text sits beside the list. The magnifier in the header (or the slash key) goes straight to it. On the play screen each weapon has a small “i” that explains its properties, and a new folded panel, Features and traits, lists everything the character has from species, class and feats, to read when it comes up.
Version 1.8 beta 2026-10-28
- Tap a number of the sheet (armor class, initiative, a saving throw, a skill, an attack bonus) to see what it is made of, line by line, with where each part comes from. A new search in the header (or the slash key) finds spells, items, feats, conditions and features by name or by a word of their text. The back button of a phone closes the dialog or sheet that is open instead of leaving the app. Buttons that step a number (hit points, quantity, coins) repeat while you hold them on a touch screen, and a quick run of changes of hit points is taken back with one tap. Each weapon on the play screen is a clean row again: its name, the attack and damage buttons, and the critical hit mark beside them. Importing Aurora content no longer depends on the order the files are read in for items that exist in 2014 and 2024 versions, so packs imported before show “Needs updating”.
Version 1.7.2 beta 2026-10-27
- Swiping between the parts no longer makes the page jolt sideways for a moment on a phone.
Version 1.7.1 beta 2026-10-27
- On a phone you can swipe sideways to move between the parts of the sheet and of the play screen: left for the next, right for the previous. The part slides in from the side (unless your phone asks for less motion). A swipe that starts on a field or on something that scrolls sideways does nothing.
Version 1.7 beta 2026-10-27
- The character sheet is redone for the phone. A row under the tabs always shows armor class, initiative, speed, hit points and hit dice, and five tabs with a small picture each split the page: Profile, Combat, Magic, Pack and Features (the part you were in is remembered). The six abilities sit two to a row, the header is lighter, attacks are a line each with the bonus beside the name, the pack shows one line per item with the coins in a row, and the spell numbers and the sources of features fit the width. On a wide screen the sheet is as it was.
Version 1.6.1 beta 2026-10-27
- The cross that closes the dice sheet no longer has a line under it. A choice made on a pack that was imported again as another pack (the same size picked twice in a custom lineage) is found by its name, so the note about an invalid option no longer appears.
Version 1.6 beta 2026-10-27
- The play screen is redone for the phone. A bar stays under the tabs with your hit points (with − and + to hurt or heal by 1), armor class, a tap to roll initiative, and flags for conditions and concentration. The page is split into four parts with a small picture each: Fight, Checks, Magic and Resources, so each fits in a screen or two and the part you were in is remembered. The dice and the roll history moved into a sheet that opens with the round d20 button. Conditions in force come first and the full list stays folded. A change of hit points can be taken back for ten seconds, the hit points bar turns amber and red as the character gets hurt, a roll gives a short buzz on phones that can, and the screen can be kept on while you play. Advantage and disadvantage stay in the bar, a weapon takes one tap for the attack and the next for the damage, and the coins and rests are more compact, with larger buttons for hit points and death saves.
Version 1.5.1 beta 2026-10-26
- Fix: the ids that Aurora content gets no longer change from one import to the next (they follow the Aurora ids, not the order of the files). When you update a pack, your characters are moved to the new ids by themselves, so a choice made on a feat or a background does not break and the false warning “Charisma is not a valid option” is gone. A character that already has old ids is put right too, when the entry has the same name and there is only one. Update the Aurora packs from the packs page.
Version 1.5 beta 2026-10-25
- The window to move to another device is new: it opens with two clear actions, “Prepare a file” and “Open a file” (which asks for the file at once), the steps have a back button, and one button adds what you chose. When the site is set up for it, the file can also be saved in your own Google Drive and loaded from there on the other device. The app sees only the one file it makes in your Drive, nothing else.
Version 1.4.3 beta 2026-10-25
- Fix: moving to another device now keeps characters that use Aurora content (a Custom Lineage, an Aurora background). The packs downloaded again keep the id they had, and a character that already points at an old id (a transfer made before) is put right by itself when the same content is found, so there is no need to import it again.
Version 1.4.2 beta 2026-10-25
- Fix: the spells that a trait gives (the legacy of the Tiefling bloodlines: thaumaturgy, then disguise self at 3rd level and detect thoughts at 5th) now come with the sub-race, each from its level, also when the spells are in the other index (Core). The footer shows the version. Update the Aurora packs from the packs page.
Version 1.4.1 beta 2026-10-25
- Fix: the sub-races of Aurora (the Tiefling bloodlines and the like) no longer add their increases to those of the race of the app, even when the race and its sub-races come from different indexes (Core and Supplements). The races of the app now carry the same conditions as in the books, and Tasha’s customised origin works with them too. Update the Aurora packs from the packs page.
Version 1.4 beta 2026-10-25
- Rules that depend on other rules are now worked out live. When a pack from Aurora says a rule holds only "unless you have this sub-race" (the Tiefling bloodlines, the variants of a half-elf, the Tasha's custom origins), the rule stays in the pack with its condition and the sheet checks it each time, so it follows what you choose instead of being decided once at import. Packs imported before need updating (the packs page marks them). You can also switch on optional rules for a character, such as Tasha's customised origin (the build step has a list): the fixed increases, languages and proficiencies of the species give way to choices you make. You can also write your own features for a character (a new step in the build screen): a name, a text and, if you like, a number of uses between rests, which show on the sheet, in the print and as marks to tick off in play. In the spells step, “Write a spell of your own” makes a spell for that class (it is saved in a homebrew pack called My spells) and adds it to the list. In the build screen, tapping the title of the open step closes it (to see all the steps at once), the step you open comes into view, and the optional rules stay folded until you need them. The file of a character now carries the homebrew packs it uses (the spells you wrote, a class of your own), and importing it adds them next to yours without overwriting anything.
Version 1.3 beta 2026-10-25
- Move to another device: a window in the character menu makes one file with what you choose (characters, homebrew packs, quick edits, the addresses of the Aurora packs, settings, and on request the DeepL key and the saved translations) and brings it in on the other device, where you pick again what to take. The file can be protected with a passphrase, and can be shared straight from the phone, for example to Google Drive. Aurora packs travel as addresses and are downloaded again.
- Fix in content from Aurora: a sub-race that has its own ability increases, like the Tiefling bloodlines of Mordenkainen (Levistus, Mammon...) and the Feral Tiefling, now replaces the race's increases and legacy instead of adding to them (before, a Levistus Tiefling got +4 Charisma). Packs imported earlier are marked Needs updating: import them again to get the fix.
- Extra damage: the damage a class adds to its attacks is now listed with when it applies, on the sheet under the attacks, on the printed sheet and in Play. It covers Sneak Attack (the die for your level), Rage, Brutal Critical, Divine Smite and the Martial Arts die. In Play, buttons roll the Sneak Attack and the Divine Smite (which spends the slot), a tick marks a critical hit so the dice double, and a switch for Rage adds its bonus to melee damage.
- Features and traits say where they come from: on the printed sheet, in brackets after the name ("Sneak Attack [Rogue Lv. 1]", "Darkvision [Dwarf]"), and on the sheet for class features, which helps when a character has more than one class. The printed list also has a little more room under its title.
- A strip at the top says when packs imported from Aurora need updating, with Update now (every pack that remembers its address is made again at once) or Open the packs, and Later to put it off until the importer improves again. Nothing is downloaded unless you press it.
- Packs imported from Aurora remember where they came from (the address, or the names of the files) and which version of the importer made them. When the importer improves, an older pack is marked Needs updating, and one click on Import again makes it anew from the same address, keeping its place so your characters keep working. There is also a button to update every pack that needs it.
- Coins: counters for copper, silver, electrum, gold and platinum pieces, in Equipment, on the sheet and in Play, with the total in gold. They only keep count, and the printed sheet fills in the coin boxes.
- Equipment, more complete: every item of the rules can be added (gear, tools, mounts and vehicles, not only armor and weapons), each line has a counter for how many, the inventory is listed by type with the load always in view, armor and weapons show their numbers (damage, armor class, strength needed) and every item has a Details section with its text, weight and cost. You can also add an item of your own, with a name, a weight and a note, for what the rules do not list.
- In Equipment, a tick "Only armor and weapons I am proficient with" narrows the list to what your class, species and choices let you use well.
- Equipment: the step starts with a reminder of the starting equipment the rules give your class and background (the choices as text, plus what you get without choosing). The list of items to add now has equipment packs: pick one and everything it holds goes into the inventory. Armor, shields and weapons say what they are next to the name ("Leather [Light armor]", "Longsword [Martial weapon · Melee]"), in the list and in the inventory.
Version 1.2.1 beta 2026-10-22
- Quick edit: a pencil next to the names and texts of classes, species, backgrounds, features, feats and spells opens a window with the name and the text to rewrite, to fix a translation or say it your way. It applies only to the language you are using and to this device, never touches the rules, and can be restored to the original. The edits live in a pack called Quick edits, and when packs give the same text the order is: imported content, your homebrew, then your quick edits.
- The ability scores step shows one card per ability: the score big between round buttons, the total with your species and choices added, the modifier, and in the point buy the cost of the score and a bar of the points spent. Six cards in a row on a computer, two or three on a phone.
- Shillelagh: a club or quarterstaff in the inventory has a tick "Shillelagh is on it": the weapon becomes magical, uses your spellcasting ability for attack and damage, and its damage die becomes a d8.
- Magic weapons: a weapon in your inventory has a Magic weapon section where you tick Magical (for a spell such as Magic Weapon or a ritual), set a +1 to +3 bonus to attack and damage, and pick an enchantment imported from Aurora (a +1 weapon, a Giant Slayer...). Battle Ready now sees them, and the Attacks panel shows the bonus.
- In Automatic translation, a tick (on by default) "Translate descriptions, not names" leaves names in English, since a name on its own often comes out wrong, and saves characters of your allowance.
- In Automatic translation, a short guide says how to get a DeepL key (an account for the DeepL API, the API Keys tab, copy and paste), and the message about a used-up allowance no longer says "this month", since the free plan may be a one-time allowance.
- Fix on phones: in Play, the boxes from Dice down no longer grow wider than the screen (they were cut off and the page scrolled sideways).
- Weapons can use another ability when a feature says so: a Hexblade's Hex Warrior (Charisma, for a one-handed weapon you are proficient with) and a Battle Smith's Battle Ready (Intelligence, for a magic weapon) now change the attack and damage on the sheet. Content packs can use the same rule for anything else.
Version 1.2 beta 2026-10-21
- Equipping is easy to find: the inventory on the sheet has a tick with the word Equipped for each item, the Attacks panel offers an Equip button for a weapon you carry, and the Equipment step says what the tick is for.
- In Play, a Cast button next to each spell spends the lowest slot that fits (a Pact Magic slot if there is none) and says which one in the roll log, and the notes can be written there too. In Equipment, a search box narrows the long list of items. Also: the page is announced better to screen readers (hit points are read out when they change), a "skip to the content" button for the keyboard, the browser tab shows the character's name, and the browser bar takes the colour of the page.
- Fixes: the point buy no longer overflows its box on phones, and printing no longer leaves a blank page after the first sheet (the page's own padding pushed the sheet down; it showed up on computers too).
- A backup of all characters: the character menu exports every character in one file and importing it puts them back (what is already there is left alone, a different version of the same character becomes a copy), and it shows when the last backup was made. First visit: a short welcome. On the sheet, tap the name to type another one and tap species, background, level, alignment or class to change them. The Class step says when a subclass is due. A new version of the app is offered with an Update button instead of installing silently.
- Importing from Aurora files no longer fills the lists with repeats: entries with the same name that say exactly the same are merged, the 2014 version is used when a 2024 one exists (a checkbox keeps both), and the items Aurora keeps for its own books are left out. The import report says how many were merged or left out. The character bar menu now opens on phones too.
- A lighter frame, made for phones: the title and one menu button (settings and every other page, the homebrew editor included) take one line, the character bar fits on one line with the other actions behind a button, the four tabs fit on screen and stay at the top while you scroll, and the pages (packs, about, credits...) no longer carry the bar and the tabs.
- The character list says who is who ("Elowen · Wizard 3"), deleting no longer asks with a browser box: it deletes at once and offers Undo for a few seconds, and in Build on a phone the numbers (armor class, hit points, initiative, ability scores) sit in a strip at the top.
- In Play, quick buttons change hit points by 1, 5 or 10, and the lines you tap to open (traits, features) and the small labels of the sheet are bigger, to be easier to hit and to read.
Version 1.1 beta 2026-10-21
- Magic items can be added to the character in the Equipment step, and what they give counts while they are equipped: bonuses to armor class, saving throws, initiative and speed, ability scores (a belt that sets Strength to 21), resistances, languages and proficiencies. More than three items that need attunement give a warning.
- Race variants from Aurora files now work: the half-elf of the Sword Coast, the dragonborn of Wildemount, the races of the dragonmarks of Eberron and others are picked as a subspecies that replaces what the race gives (and what the base race loses is taken away). Requirements written as "not any of these" are read correctly now.
- More of what Aurora files say now works: the feat a race or background lets you pick (Custom Lineage and the customised origins of Tasha), resistances, immunities and vulnerabilities (listed on the sheet, and given by the SRD's dwarves, tieflings and dragonborn), spells picked by school or level, and groups of tools to choose from.
- Aurora imports: the custom ability score increase of Tasha's Custom Lineage (and other customised origins) is now a choice you make, instead of being lost.
- The Origin and Class steps use the width of a computer screen: the menus stay on the left and, on the right, what the chosen species, background, class and subclass give (size, speed, proficiencies, traits and features, each one tap away). On phones and tablets the two parts stack.
- Aurora Legacy: the whole collection (about 750 files) can be imported in one go. Magic items (rarity and attunement, the rules stay in the text) and deities (picked in the Story step) are now read, sub-races and subclasses that were left out (Artificer, Genasi, Shifter, Merfolk...) find their race or class, and definitions such as sources, proficiencies and flags are no longer reported as unsupported.
- Class features that change numbers now work: fighting styles (Archery, Defense, Dueling), Unarmored Defense for barbarians, monks and draconic sorcerers, Fast Movement, and hit points per level (Draconic Resilience, Dwarven Toughness).
- More features work: Expertise, Jack of All Trades, Remarkable Athlete, Unarmored Movement, and the options of eldritch invocations (with the spells they grant), pact boons, metamagic, Hunter's Prey and the other options of class features, picked as the class grows.
- Subclass spells: the Circle of the Land picks its terrain and gets that terrain's spells by level, a warlock patron adds its spells to the list to pick from, and the Life domain has its missing spell. Subclasses can now give spellcasting (Eldritch Knight, Arcane Trickster) in Aurora imports and in the homebrew editor.
- A fighting style is a choice in the Choices step and in level up, and the sheet lists where each bonus comes from.
- Entries from different books that share a name now show their book in brackets when imported from Aurora.
Version 1.0 beta 2026-10-19
- Guided character building with the SRD 5.1 rules, and a Free edit step to override any number.
- Multiclassing, feats, level up with a celebration, and the story fields of the sheet.
- Play mode: hit points, rests, spell slots, Pact Magic, class resources, concentration, rolls and conditions.
- Printing: character sheet, spell sheets and spell cards, for paper or PDF.
- Sharing: a link, a QR code or a file; a shared link opens the character on another device.
- Content packs: a homebrew editor (spells, items, feats, species, backgrounds, classes, subclasses) and an importer for Aurora files, by file, index or address.
- Five languages (English, Italian, French, German, Spanish) with the official SRD translations, about 87% of the rules texts.
- Automatic translation of the texts that have none yet, with your own DeepL key, and metric units.
- Two styles (Fantasy and Modern), light and dark, and it works offline once opened.
What is coming
What is still missing, from the nearest to the furthest.
- More testing, on more devices and with more kinds of characters: this is a beta.
- The remaining translations: about 170 items, the proficiencies and a few class options. Automatic translation fills them meanwhile.
- Spell attack and damage rolls in Play, with the dice for the slot used.
- Money that does something: buying items takes their cost from the coins, the gold a class starts with, and coins that weigh (50 to a pound).
- The inventory in Play: counters to use up potions, arrows and rations at the table, and the equipment to switch on and off.
- Starting equipment: a button that adds what you get without choosing, and the choices as steps to follow.
- Quick edit everywhere (the lists of items and more), and Edit everything: copy an entry as a new one in your homebrew, or replace the original, rules included.
- The 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1), next to the 2014 ones.
- Features that depend on dice, reactions or spell damage (Great Weapon Fighting, Two-Weapon Fighting, Agonizing Blast, Divine Smite) are still only text: use Free edit for their effects.
- The Eldritch Knight and Arcane Trickster are not in the SRD: they come from Aurora files or the homebrew editor. Their spell lists are not limited to the schools the rules ask for.
- More of Aurora: companions and background variants are not read yet, and rules that need custom logic keep only their text.
- More of what magic items do on the sheet (weapon bonuses, charges, attunement slots), coins and carried weight.
- A richer homebrew editor: effects of features, subclass spells and more kinds of entries.
- Opening the characters saved by Aurora, to move to this app without starting over.
- Automatic visual tests of the screens and an accessibility review (keyboard, screen readers, contrast, larger text).
- Tools for the Game Master: a bestiary with the SRD monsters, an initiative tracker, animal companions and wild shapes.