SpawnMonsters

Referee: spawn monsters and open an encounter at a distance.

Full documentation: SpawnMonsters. Wire type: spawn_monsters.

Legal session modes: battle, encounter, exploring, town

JSON Schema

{
  "description": "Referee: spawn monsters and open an encounter at a distance.\n\nThe party must be standing in a dungeon with no encounter already open, because\nencounters live on the dungeon grid. Spawning is the one referee power a\nterminal session withholds: an encounter is play, and a session that has\nended opens no new play state, so this is illegal in `game_over` and\n`victory` alike. Exactly one of `count_dice` or `count_fixed` is required.\n\nModes:\n    `town`, `exploring`, `encounter`, `battle`\n\nRejections:\n    - `session.command.unknown_monster` - `template_id` names no monster.\n    - `session.command.encounter_in_progress` - an encounter or battle is\n      already open.\n    - `session.command.not_in_dungeon` - the party is not on a dungeon cell.\n\nEvents:\n    `MonstersSpawnedEvent`, then\n    the encounter opening:\n    `SurpriseRolledEvent`s,\n    `EncounterStartedEvent`, the\n    reaction roll, and\n    `StanceChangedEvent`. An attacks\n    stance opens battle at once.",
  "properties": {
    "command_type": {
      "const": "spawn_monsters",
      "default": "spawn_monsters",
      "title": "Command Type",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "The wire discriminator. Each subclass fixes it to its own snake_case literal, like\n`\"move_party\"` or `\"open_door\"`, so you never set it yourself: constructing the subclass\ndoes. It's what `parse_command` and the\n`AnyCommand` union read to rebuild the right class\nfrom a serialized mapping, and it stays the same across releases."
    },
    "source": {
      "anyOf": [
        {
          "minLength": 1,
          "type": "string"
        },
        {
          "type": "null"
        }
      ],
      "default": null,
      "title": "Source",
      "description": "An annotation naming the authored object (a trigger or quest id) or the game\nsystem on whose behalf the command was issued. Execution never reads it: a stamped\ncommand does exactly what the same command unstamped does. It is logged and replayed\nwith the command, so the log alone answers \"why did this happen\". Absent is `None`,\nand the empty string is not a value."
    },
    "template_id": {
      "title": "Template Id",
      "type": "string",
      "description": "Which monster to spawn, from the session's\n`effective_monsters` catalog: either\na shipped id from `load_monsters` (see the monster id\nindex) or one the adventure bundles."
    },
    "count_dice": {
      "anyOf": [
        {
          "type": "string"
        },
        {
          "type": "null"
        }
      ],
      "default": null,
      "title": "Count Dice",
      "description": "How many to spawn, as a dice expression like `\"2d6\"` rolled on the encounter stream. Use\nthis when the count should vary with the seed, and use `count_fixed` when it shouldn't.\nExactly one of the two is required, and a malformed expression is refused when the command\nis constructed, before the session ever sees it. A roll below 1 is treated as 1."
    },
    "count_fixed": {
      "anyOf": [
        {
          "minimum": 1,
          "type": "integer"
        },
        {
          "type": "null"
        }
      ],
      "default": null,
      "title": "Count Fixed",
      "description": "How many to spawn, as an exact number. Use this for keyed content whose count the author\nchose. Exactly one of this and `count_dice` is required."
    },
    "distance_feet": {
      "minimum": 0,
      "title": "Distance Feet",
      "type": "integer",
      "description": "How far away the monsters appear, in feet. This is the distance the encounter opens at,\nwhich decides whether missiles reach, how long closing takes, and whether the party can\noutrun a pursuit. B/X rolls 2d6 x 10 feet for a wandering encounter, so a number in that\nrange reads as ordinary. `0` puts them in the party's face."
    }
  },
  "required": [
    "template_id",
    "distance_feet"
  ],
  "title": "SpawnMonsters",
  "type": "object"
}