Macros: the things you do every turn, in one click
FreeThink of the attack you make every round: choose advantage or not, pick the goblin, roll a d20 with your bonuses, check it against the goblin's armour, roll damage if it hits, and ask the GM to take it off. A macro is that list of steps saved under a name. Press it and RollQuest asks your questions, rolls with the numbers on your character sheet and posts a chat card with a Roll damage button. Running macros is free on every plan.
What a macro does
A macro is a list of steps that run in order. It can ask you something when you press it, such as Normal, Advantage or Disadvantage. It can target a token and read its armour class, attack with the weapon your character has equipped, and roll dice with numbers from your sheet against a target number. It can do one thing if something is true and another otherwise, post a chat card with buttons such as Roll damage and Apply damage, and pop the result up on screen as HIT, MISS, CRIT or FUMBLE. It can whisper to the GM, roll one of the game's rollable tables, press an action on your sheet, play a sound or run another macro. For the GM, it can also switch the scene or its phase and play or stop music.
Press one from the Macros panel, a slot on the Shortcut Bar (or its key), the bar above your selected token, or by typing its shortcut, such as #attack, in chat. On a narrow screen, Macros is in the menu under Your tools.
Ready-made for your game system, free
You don't have to build anything to start. Every game system comes with its common moves already made into macros, and adding one is free on every plan:
- D&D 5e and 5.5e: Weapon attack, Roll initiative, Spell attack, Roll a d20 and Secret check.
- Ashfall: Weapon strike, Melee strike, Dodge and Steady your nerves, all rolled on a d100 under the skill.
- Brightline, Tidewrack and games with no system: Roll a d20 and Secret check.
Click Add and the macro is yours: put it on the Shortcut Bar and it rolls with your character's numbers. A ready-made macro you add comes with you into every game you play in, and stays private to you.
Build your own on Pro, without code
The macro editor has two views of the same steps. The Steps view builds a macro from forms: add an Ask, a Roll, a Chat card, and fill in the boxes. The Text view is for people who like typing. Switch between them at any time, and press Test run to see the result before you save. On Pro you can also Customise a ready-made macro, such as giving the spell attack your own spell's damage.
Fair by design
Nothing a macro does gets round the game's rules. Every roll is checked by RollQuest before it posts, and damage only lands when the GM presses Apply damage on the card. If a sheet value a macro uses goes missing, the macro still runs where it can, tells you what went wrong, and the Macros panel marks it so you can fix it in a couple of clicks. A macro that fires over and over is stopped and switched off before it floods the chat.
What a macro can't do
Worth knowing before you build: a macro can't change a number on a character sheet or heal (damage goes through the GM's Apply damage button), can't move tokens or add conditions, and has no loops. It can't roll keep-highest or exploding dice either: advantage and disadvantage are a setting on the roll instead. You can keep up to 200 macros of your own, and a game holds up to 200 game macros.
Works with
Character sheets supply the numbers every macro rolls with.
3D dice land on the board for every roll a macro makes.
Homebrew can give a system of your own its own ready-made macros, on Pro.
Frequently asked questions
Are macros free?
Running macros, adding the ready-made ones for your system, fixing a missing value and deleting your own are free on every plan. Building and editing macros needs Pro. Adding a macro to a game for the table needs the GM to be on Starter or Pro.
Do players need a paid plan to use the GM's macros?
No. Players on any plan run the macros their GM adds to the game.
Do I need to know how to code?
No. Start with a ready-made macro, or build one from forms in the Steps view. The Text view is there if you'd rather type.
Is it like Roll20's API scripts?
No. Macros run inside a game and follow its rules: they ask, target, roll and post. They can't reach outside RollQuest or change the rules, and damage still waits for the GM's Apply damage button.
Can a macro roll secretly?
Yes. The ready-made Secret check asks for a bonus, rolls a d20 plus it, and shows the result only to you and the GM.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes. On a narrow screen there's no tool rail, so Macros is in the menu under Your tools.
Try it
Open the Macros panel in any game on the free plan, add the ready-made Weapon attack and put it on your Shortcut Bar. Building your own is on Pro.