The Hall of Heroes: Characters, NPCs and Card Battles
Browse player-submitted characters, use a saved encounter for campaign inspiration or try the guest Battlegrounds Prologue. The guide separates public browsing from account features and explains how to introduce your own hero.
Jan
4 min read
A finished campaign leaves a lot of characters in a folder called final_final_2. The Hall of Heroes gives them somewhere to live. It's a free gallery of player-submitted portraits and character stories.
You can use it three ways. Browse it for ideas, turn a hero into an NPC for your next session, or borrow one for a fight.
| If you want to | Start here |
|---|---|
| Find an NPC for your next session | Roll an Encounter |
| Put your own character into words | The Character Quest |
| Play a quick battle | The Battlegrounds Prologue |
| Give your own hero a home | Add a hero to the Hall |
Browse the gallery
Search by name, or filter by race and class. Be specific, since "a cleric for the ruined shrine" gets you further than "someone interesting."
Every card opens the character's story, and the player who made them gets the credit. When a hero catches your eye, look for a detail you can see and a relationship you could build a scene around.
Favorites, Saved and Following do different jobs. A favorite helps you find a hero again. Saved keeps an encounter you want to run, and Following tracks new material for heroes you've favorited.
Guest saves stay on that device. Signed-in saves use your Hall account. Check that an encounter appears in Saved before relying on it from another device.
Turn a hero into an NPC
When you need a stranger for Thursday's game, open Roll an Encounter and pick a hero, or let it surprise you. You get an NPC with a reason to talk to your party, plus how they react if the players help, ignore them or push too hard.
Anyone can browse the encounters already saved in the Hall. Rolling a new one needs a free account, and the tool shows how many you have left. You can export a DM version and a player handout, and the handout leaves the secrets out.
Read the encounter once before the session. Keep what the players can discover apart from what stays behind your screen, and if it comes with stats, check them against your own rules before a fight.
For an NPC you can use at the table, note what they want, what they offer and where they draw the line. Build their scene around a visible clue, a choice and a clock.
Borrow a hero for a fight
Battlegrounds is a card battle built from Hall characters. You can play the Prologue as a guest with a borrowed hero, and you don't need an account.
For your first fight, read the instructions in the guest Prologue and the upgrade cards offered in that run.
Add your own hero
If your character has a portrait you're allowed to share, add them. Write the story for a stranger, and lead with what someone would notice first.
A hero intro that works
- Who they are
- A cheerful guide who refuses to cross bridges.
- Noticed first
- Mud to the knees and a map folded into a hat.
- Wants now
- Get everyone through the pass before the snow.
- A habit
- Counts the party twice at every stop.
That tells a stranger more than a page of place names. Keep private details out of the portrait and story you publish in the gallery. Read your story once as someone who's never met your table.
The Hall also runs a portrait giveaway. The rules and dates are on the Hall page.
When you come back signed in
Signed in, the Hall adds your own collection, with Profile, Events and a Shop. Packs, parties and daily activities live there too, so read what each one does before you spend anything.
Questions about the Hall
Is the Hall free?
Yes. Browsing, the saved encounters and the Battlegrounds Prologue are all free. Rolling new encounters and playing with your own heroes need a free account.
Do I have to buy a portrait to use it?
No. You can browse, run encounters and play without buying anything.
Can I use a Hall character in my campaign?
Yes, at your table. The story belongs to the player who made them, so treat your encounter as your own version.
Someone's favorite character could be your next NPC.
Open the Hall of Heroes and find someone for your next session. For every free tool on the site in one place, see the free D&D tools list.
