Monster Level Guidelines & Quick Adjust

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What should a level-8 Shadowdark monster look like? This page covers the answer the module ships, the editor where you change it, and the token button that re-levels a creature in two clicks.

Quick Adjust (token HUD)

Select an NPC token and click the scales icon in the HUD's right column, tooltip Adjust monster level. GM-only, and it does not appear on player-character tokens.

The panel shows the creature, its current level, and a Target level box with − / + buttons. Everything below is a preview of what would change:

Column	Meaning
Stat	AC, HP, Abilities, Attacks
Now	what the creature has today
Guideline	what the target level expects
Δ	the difference

Rows that already match are dimmed, so your eye lands on what would actually move. Each row has a checkbox. Uncheck one and that stat is left alone. Nothing is written until you press Apply.

The buttons

Along the bottom, left to right:

Button	What it does
Apply	Writes the checked rows to the creature. Disabled when nothing would change.
Create Copy	Builds a new actor at the target level and leaves the original untouched.
Open in Creator	Hands the creature to the full Monster Creator for detailed work.
Revert	Restores the stats saved before your first adjustment. Disabled until an adjustment exists.

How each stat is decided

AC comes straight from the guidelines table.
HP is a formula, not a lookup: level × 4.5 + CON, rounded up. Shadowdark monsters roll a d8 hit die and 4.5 is its average. This is why the HP you get can differ from the table's HP column, which assumes no Constitution modifier.
Ability modifiers shift uniformly by the difference between the two levels, then clamp into the target level's observed range. This preserves the creature's shape: an ogre stays STR-heavy instead of flattening into six identical numbers. A creature whose six modifiers are all the same has no shape to preserve, so it adopts the level's typical modifier instead.
Attacks rewrites every NPC Attack item's attack count, attack bonus, and damage die to the guideline. Special attacks and features are never touched.

Ticking Abilities changes the HP row. HP is derived from Constitution, so unchecking Abilities re-plans HP against the creature's current CON. The preview updates as you toggle.

What Apply also does

The printed stat block in the creature's Description tab (AC 9, HP 30, ATK 2 greatclub +6 (2d6), … LV 6) is rewritten to match. Shadowdark stores that line as text, so without the rebuild the sheet would contradict its own data.

Spells and effective level

If the creature carries Spell items, the panel notes that spells raise its effective level and by how much. It is advice, not an action. The target level is still whatever you set.

The guidelines table

Configure Settings → Shadowdark Enhancer → Monster level guidelines → Edit Guidelines Table. GM-only.

One editable row per level, 0–19 plus 30 (levels 20–29 are interpolated on demand):

Column	Meaning
LV	Monster level
AC	Expected armour class
HP	Typical hit points at that level, assuming no CON modifier
Attack: # / Bonus / Damage	Attacks per round, attack bonus, damage die
Ability Modifier: Typical / Lowest / Highest	The band ability modifiers are clamped into
Talent DC	Suggested DC for a monster's special ability

Every value is editable. Buttons:

Button	What it does
Recalculate	Rebuilds the table from all NPCs across world and Actor compendiums (requires 10+ monsters). Fills the form; click Save to apply.
Reset	Discards your edits and restores the shipped table. Asks first.
Export	Saves the table as JSON.
Import	Loads an exported JSON file. It is validated before anything is replaced.
Save	Commits your edits.

Your edits are stored as a sparse diff over the shipped defaults, so editing one row still leaves you inheriting improvements to every other row in future module updates.

Talent DC is advisory. Unlike the other columns it is never written to a creature. It exists to help you pick a DC while authoring. It is also the softest number in the table, since it was derived from DC mentions in feature prose instead of a structured field.

Where the shipped numbers come from

They were computed, not copied. The module scans the monsters that ship with the Shadowdark system, takes the median AC, HP, attack count, attack bonus and damage die at each level plus the 10th–90th percentile band of ability modifiers, and smooths the result so that a level represented by a single monster cannot distort the guideline and no level ends up weaker than the one below it.

That is the same routine the Recalculate button runs. The difference is only which monsters it reads. If you play with a heavily homebrewed bestiary, recalculating will give you a table that matches your game.

Level Baseline in the Creator

The same guidelines drive a Level Baseline section inside the Monster Creator, which applies them to a draft instead of to a live actor. See that page for the walkthrough.

Troubleshooting

The scales button isn't on the token HUD. It is GM-only and only appears for NPC tokens. Check the token's actor is type NPC, not a player character.

Apply is greyed out. Nothing would change at that target level. Move the target, or check a row that is currently unticked.

Revert is greyed out. There is no saved restore point. Either you have not applied an adjustment to this creature, or the restore point was cleared (see below).

Revert vanished after I edited the creature in the Creator. Deliberate. The restore point describes the stats from before the quick adjustment and references attack items by identity. Once the Creator has rewritten those items, restoring it would put back a half-truth. The Creator tells you when it clears the point.

HP came out different from the table's HP column. Expected. HP applies level × 4.5 + CON, while the column assumes CON 0. A creature with a positive Constitution modifier gets more.

A dump stat crept upward. Ability modifiers shift as a group to keep the creature's shape, and are clamped into the level's band. If you want one ability left exactly as it was, untick Abilities and set it by hand in the Creator.

Recalculate says there are too few monsters. It needs at least 10 NPCs across your world and Actor compendiums. Install a monster compendium, or edit the rows by hand.

I recalculated and the table looks wrong. Nothing is committed until you press Save. Close the window without saving, or press Reset to return to the shipped table.