Release notes for new features, improvements, and other meaningful changes to Alchemic Arts.
- Added a seeded Trap Generator for level-appropriate mundane, magical, and spell traps, with eight themes, SRD-facing statistics, warning signs, activation sequences, optional intended solutions, and selected Alchemic Arts showcase traps.
- Added Power Gamer mode to the Encounter Generator. It raises the target encounter level, favors larger enemy groups when possible, increases enemy damage dice, and supplies more coordinated, high-pressure setup and tactics.
- Added clearer feedback links across the generator suite so users can suggest new data, features, and improvements.
Dice roller
- Added browser-saved dice macros for named roll expressions and their advantage, disadvantage, and reroll settings.
- Added repeated-roll notation such as
6(1d20+5), making it easier to resolve multiple attacks or checks at once.
Character sheets
- Added Quick Add to D&D 3.5 inventories for simple, sheet-specific items that only need a name, quantity, value, and weight.
- Added local draft recovery to D&D 3.5 and Black Void sheets so recent unsaved field changes can be restored after a refresh or interrupted session.
- Added session-expiration detection and guidance that preserves unsaved sheet work before users refresh to sign in again.
Handbooks and site improvements
- Added Cultivating an Engaged Tabletop Party, a guide to encouraging player preparation, story investment, and confident participation.
- Added the trap showcase A Lesson in Chemistry, which builds an explosive encounter from electrolysis, environmental clues, and an everyday spark.
- Expanded several Black Void guides and the DM Descriptions reference with more examples, clearer explanations, and additional table-ready advice.
- Redesigned the Contact page with clearer paths for support, bug reports, feature suggestions, email, and Discord.
- Added a public Tools hub and five free generators for items, loot hoards, NPCs, shops, and encounters. Public generation works without an account.
- Made results reproducible with seeds and built each generator from explicit game rules, SRD material, and curated data rather than generative AI.
- Added a rules-aware Item Generator for SRD and procedural items, including value and level ranges, keywords, special materials, enhancements, intelligent items, and curses.
- Added a Loot Generator for difficulty-scaled, value-bounded hoards with configurable items, valuables, and coin denominations.
- Added basic and advanced NPC generation with configurable identity details, roleplaying prompts, classes, statistics, spells, equipment, and lockable sections.
- Added an Item Shop Generator with specialist shop types, settlement and prosperity scaling, themed inventory, storefront descriptions, and ready-to-play shopkeepers.
- Added an Encounter Generator that assembles party-adjusted encounters from a local SRD monster catalog with environment and creature filters, encounter setups, tactics, complete stat blocks, optional hazards, reinforcements, alternative resolutions, and loot.
- Added copy-ready output and reroll controls throughout the suite, plus the ability to add eligible generated items to a signed-in user's Item Shop.
- Added Tools links to the main navigation and footer, along with sitemap coverage for every new public generator.
- Improved generated-item sign-in handoff so an eligible item can be retained and added to the user's Item Shop after authentication.
- Corrected D&D 3.5 Armor Class handling so only equipped body armor applies a maximum Dexterity bonus and non-armor body-slot items no longer clear the stored armor bonus.
- Improved production session storage and cleanup so authenticated sessions can reliably use the intended six-hour inactivity window.
- Updated site and handbook language to reflect Alchemic Arts' official endorsement by Black Void Games, the creator of Black Void.
Black Void character sheet
- Regular skills now default to an associated trait from the Black Void reference sheet while remaining freely assignable to any trait.
- Tailored the Black Void dice roller with d2 and d3 presets, removed the d8, d10, d20, and d100 presets, and removed the Normal Roll, Advantage, Disadvantage, and Reroll 1s options from this sheet's roller.
Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 character sheet
- Expanded custom item management with item deletion, clearer field-level validation, warnings before discarding unsaved changes, and more reliable item type, equipment slot, damage type, critical multiplier, and magic bonus handling.
- Improved item browsing with sorting by creator and magic bonus, corrected empty equipment messages, and more consistent item-detail and modal behavior.
- Made equipment enhancements easier to manage by allowing magic bonuses and special enhancements to be saved together while preserving enhancements built into the base item.
- Improved spell-library management with creator filters and bulk selection by source, creator, level, or the current search results.
- Corrected Armor Class calculations so the most restrictive maximum Dexterity bonus from equipped armor and shields is applied.
- Added the missing Sleight of Hand skill to the D&D 3.5 SRD skill list.
Friends, groups, and sharing
- Added a rolling daily friend-request limit and strengthened request, cancellation, blocking, and notification handling to prevent conflicting actions.
- Added a Blocked Users list so users can review and unblock people directly from the Sharing page.
- Added notifications when a friendship is removed and clearer feedback when a request has already been canceled or handled.
- Added a list of pending group invitations sent by the current user, with controls to cancel them and immediate updates after sending a new invitation.
- Improved sharing-page layouts for long usernames and smaller screens.
Site and release improvements
- Added a maintenance mode that returns a temporary service-unavailable page while deployments are in progress.
Black Void character sheet
- Added explanations for each Health Status so the effects of damage are visible directly on the character sheet.
- Applied the correct injury penalty automatically to regular and combat skill totals: -1 while Hurt and -3 while Injured, Incapacitated, or Dead.
- Made skill names and total modifiers keyboard-accessible dice-roll controls that send the complete 1d12 skill expression to the global dice roller.
- Separated descriptive rank labels from numeric rank modifiers, keeping saved rank values and calculated totals accurate when sheets load.
- Improved the health and skill layouts on desktop and mobile, including additional room for rank descriptions and health-effect text.
- Prevented browser-specific number arrows from appearing on read-only skill fields while preserving controls on editable numeric fields.
Site improvements
- Refreshed sitemap modification dates so search engines receive current page and handbook metadata.
Black Void character sheet
- Added support for combining multiple sphere effects in a single phenomenon, with separate potency values for each effect and an automatically calculated total potency.
- Updated saved phenomena to display all included spheres, effects, and potency values, while preserving effect order and supporting repeated effects.
- Improved the phenomenon builder with add/remove controls, clearer loading and validation feedback, safer saving, and a keyboard-accessible delete confirmation.
- Made the phenomena table easier to use on smaller screens and corrected the Forces sphere label.
- Added descriptive skill-rank labels and clearer signed modifiers throughout the sheet.
- Corrected Defense so an unacquired Defense skill no longer applies the standard untrained penalty to Defense Value.
Accounts and password recovery
- Improved login and signup error handling so users return to the form with a clear message and their non-sensitive entries preserved.
- Added stronger form-expiration and rate-limit handling to login and signup, plus additional password and account-field validation.
- Simplified signup by making the backup email optional after account creation instead of requiring it on the signup form.
- Improved password resets with CSRF protection, password confirmation and visibility controls, clearer invalid or expired-link feedback, and a direct return to login after success.
Site improvements
- Corrected notification timestamps so they display reliably in each user's local timezone.
- Aligned handbook canonical URLs and sitemap entries to improve search-engine discovery and avoid duplicate URL variants.
- Added Patreon support links to the home page and footer.
- Updated the Privacy Policy and Terms of Service with clearer information about analytics, planned advertising, privacy choices, third-party services, and general terms.
Behind the scenes
Added the database migration, compatibility handling, and integration coverage needed to support multi-effect Black Void phenomena without disrupting existing saved phenomena. Release checks were also expanded for signup validation and notification timezones.
This release marks the transition from an early Black Void character sheet into a multi-system tabletop RPG platform. It introduces support for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5, social features, content sharing, numerous quality-of-life improvements, and a significantly expanded handbook library.
Major features
Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 support
- Added full support for Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 character sheets and system-specific character management.
- Added automated abilities, armor class, saves, combat statistics, size modifiers, conditions, rest recovery, and spell DC tracking.
- Added inventory, equipment, item enhancements, charge tracking, an SRD item shop, skills, feats, notes, spellbooks, and SRD spell importing.
- Added support for custom items, skills, feats, spells, and class features, including dynamic spell slots and expanded class, prestige class, psionic, and language data.
Friends
- Added a friends system to make it easier to connect with other users.
Groups and content sharing
- Added groups for sharing custom user-generated content with other players and Game Masters.
- Added support for sharing homebrew content between users, with group membership and editor controls.
Notifications
- Added an in-site notification system for important events and interactions, including friend requests and group invitations.
User settings
- Added user settings for managing profile details, account preferences, email addresses, and passwords.
- Added account email verification and improved remembered-login security.
Character management
- Added the ability to edit and rename existing character sheets after creation.
- Added pagination to the Character Sheets page for improved navigation and scalability.
- Added deletion confirmations and warnings for unsaved character-sheet changes.
Improvements
Black Void
- Significantly improved mobile responsiveness and overall performance across the Black Void character sheet.
- Improved the phenomenon builder and added stronger authorization around sheet changes.
Dice roller
- Improved the global dice roller for faster interaction, better responsiveness, and more accurate average calculations.
Mobile experience and accessibility
- Improved mobile responsiveness across the site for easier navigation and readability.
- Made links distinguishable without relying on color alone and refined keyboard, focus, and touch interactions.
- Added a custom not-found page and improved post-login redirects so users return to the page they originally requested.
Handbook additions
Added the following handbook articles:
Dungeons & Dragons 3.5
- A Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Mechanics Deep Dive on Action Economy
- A Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Mechanics Deep Dive on Combat
- A Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Mechanics Deep Dive on Healing vs. Buffs
- A Dungeons & Dragons 3.5 Mechanics Deep Dive on Skills
- D&D Core Base Classes Explained (3.5)
- Why Play Dungeons & Dragons 3.5?
- D&D 3.5 Character Sheet
Site guides
- Sharing
- Building Your Own Campaign Setting and Its Benefits
- Dealing with Metagaming
- Running Campaigns: Improvising vs. Planning
- Session 0: A Guide to Starting Campaigns
Behind the scenes
This release also includes numerous stability improvements, UI refinements, bug fixes, database and infrastructure updates, rate limiting, CSRF protection, and other security improvements to support future development.