Slash Command Reference
Every DND.chat tavern slash command — syntax, aliases, what it does, who can use it, and whether it posts to chat.
Slash commands are how you play in the DND.chat tavern. Type one in any channel's composer and it resolves the moment you send. Some roll dice, some conjure cards, some quietly toggle a panel, and a few ask the AI a question. This page lists every command, its aliases, what it does, who can run it, and whether the result lands in the channel for everyone to see.
Two quick rules that run through everything below:
- Every roll is audited. Anything that rolls dice — /roll, /attack, and AI combat — is computed server-side and written to the
roll_eventslog. The visible message and the logged roll are the same result. See DND.chat for how the audit log works. - Role gating is real. A handful of commands are DM-only. For some they silently do nothing for players; for others the server answers
DM only. The /help list itself is filtered to your role, so players never even see the DM-only commands.
Command summary
| Command | Aliases | What it does | Who | Posts to chat? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| /roll | /r | Roll dice; audited to the log | Everyone | Yes (dice message) |
| /summon | /card | Conjure a campaign card onto the table | Everyone | Yes (card message) |
| /attack | — | Auto attack-vs-AC, hit/miss/crit + auto-damage | Everyone | Yes (dice messages) |
| /w | /whisper | Private message to one member | Everyone | Yes (whisper) |
| /pin | — | Pin the most recent message | DM only | Pins a message |
| /scene | — | Ask narrative distance (anyone) or set it (DM) | Mixed | Yes |
| /init | /initiative | Jump to the initiative tracker | Everyone | No (client-only) |
| /sheet | — | Toggle your character sheet drawer | Everyone | No (client-only) |
| /recall | /lore, /chronicle | Ask the Chronicle a campaign-memory question | Everyone | Yes |
| /catchup | /missed, /previously | Summarize the last ~45 messages | Everyone | Yes |
| /gm | /codm, /assist | Private co-GM nudge, shown only to the DM | DM only | No (private banner) |
| /help | /commands, /? | List commands available to your role | Everyone | Yes |
Dice & play
/roll (alias /r)
Rolls dice and writes the result to the audit log. Type a standard formula in the composer:
/roll 1d20+5
/r 2d6+3Two extras layer on top of a plain formula:
-
Advantage / disadvantage. Prefix a lone
1d20with adv or disadv to roll twice and keep the higher (or lower). This only applies to a single1d20— it's ignored on other formulas./r adv 1d20 /r disadv 1d20 -
Skill modifier. Add a trailing skill name and the roll picks up your active character's modifier for that skill, read from your sheet.
/r 1d20 athleticsRecognized skills include athletics, acrobatics, stealth, perception, investigation, insight, persuasion, deception, intimidation, arcana, and survival.
Every /roll is computed on the server and saved to roll_events with its formula, total, and a full per-die breakdown (advantage handling, natural 20 / natural 1, any warnings). The dice message you see in chat references that same logged roll — there is no second, hidden roll behind it.
Cards & combat
/summon (alias /card)
Conjures a card from your campaign deck onto the table as a card message.
/summon goblinThe server searches your campaign's cards and posts the matching card. DMs see the full card; players see a filtered view. To stage a head-to-head, add versus= with another card's name or its UUID — that triggers the dual-card EncounterCinema showdown:
/summon goblin versus=heroThe card you conjure is read from the shared library that DNDCards.com owns, so a card you build or Invoke there is exactly what /summon pulls up here. (Note: Invoke is the DNDCards/DNDWar action that mints a compendium card; /summon is the chat command that conjures one — they are different things.)
/attack
Resolves an attack against a target card's AC, end to end.
/attack goblin longswordThe server reads the target's AC from its full card stats (never shown to players), rolls the attack, and reports hit, miss, or crit. On a hit it auto-rolls damage as a follow-up message and syncs the damage to the target's HP. A crit doubles the damage dice, not the flat modifier. Each attack and each damage roll is its own audited entry in the log.
Communication & table control
/w (alias /whisper)
Sends a private message to one party member. Address them with @name:
/w @rogue meet me behind the tavernOnly the sender, the recipient, and the DM/owner can see a whisper. Whispers mirror to Discord only if your campaign opted into discord_post_dms.
/pin — DM only
Pins the most recent real message in the channel so it sorts to the top. This is a DM-only client command; for players it simply does nothing.
/pinIf there's nothing pinnable yet, you'll see _No message to pin yet._
/scene
Handles narrative distance. As a question, anyone can ask how far something is, answered from the campaign's recorded scene distance:
/scene how far is the goblin?As a DM, set a target's distance in feet:
/scene goblin 30Asking is open to everyone; setting distance is DM-only and returns DM only for players.
/init (alias /initiative)
Scrolls the page to the initiative tracker panel. It's a client-only command — no message is posted and no server call is made.
/init/sheet
Opens or closes your own character sheet drawer (and clears any other character you were viewing). Like /init, it's client-only and posts nothing.
/sheetAI assists
These commands call the table's AI and need an OpenAI / narration key configured on the campaign. Without one, they reply The Chronicle is quiet — no AI is configured on this table.
/recall (aliases /lore, /chronicle)
Asks the Chronicle a question about your campaign or imported module. The answer is drawn only from ingested module memory plus the recent table log — so it tells you what's actually been recorded, and admits when it doesn't have the answer.
/recall what was the duke's name?The reply posts to the channel as a Chronicle message for everyone to read.
/catchup (aliases /missed, /previously)
Summarizes the last ~45 messages into a few bullet points — built for a player rejoining mid-session.
/catchupThe summary posts to the channel.
/gm (aliases /codm, /assist) — DM only
A private co-GM nudge: ask for the next story beat, a quick NPC, a fair ruling, or a couple sentences of read-aloud, grounded in the recent log and the active scene.
/gm what's a good complication here?The answer is shown only to the DM as a private banner — it is never written to the chat log and other players never see it. For non-DMs the command quietly does nothing.
/help (aliases /commands, /?)
Posts a formatted list of the slash commands available to you. The list is filtered by role, so players don't see DM-only commands like /pin and /gm.
/helpWho can run what
| Behavior | Commands |
|---|---|
| Silently no-op for non-DMs | /pin, /gm |
Return DM only for non-DMs | /scene set-distance, all Autopilot session actions |
Filtered out of a player's /help | every DM-only command |
The autopilot DM session controls (Start / Next scene / Pause / Resume / Stop / Async) live in the Tavern Settings panel rather than as slash commands, and they are DM-only too. See DND.chat for the autopilot details.
What posts to chat, and what doesn't
- Posts a message everyone can see: /roll, /summon, /attack, /recall, /catchup, /help.
- Posts privately: /w (sender, recipient, DM) and /gm (DM only, as a banner — never logged).
- Posts nothing: /init and /sheet are client-only with no server call; /pin changes a message's pinned state rather than posting new text.
Gotchas
- An unparseable
/rollwon't fail silently. If the engine can't read your formula it falls back to a single1d20with a warning (Unsupported formula; rolled 1d20 fallback.) — and that fallback roll is still audited like any other. /wto an unknown name returns a helper instead of vanishing:Could not find player "X". Use /w @name message./summonwith no match suggests where to fix it:No card found for "X". Try another name or conjure it in DND Cards first.If you're the DM, a homebrew mint fallback is offered first. Build the card on DNDCards.com and it'll be summonable.- AI commands need a key.
/recall,/catchup, and/gmreplyThe Chronicle is quiet — no AI is configured on this table.when no AI key is set up. - Players can't see exact monster numbers.
/attackreads a target's AC server-side and never returns it to players; the initiative tracker shows players HP badges, not exact HP.
For the bigger picture of the tavern, dice audit log, and the autopilot DM, see DND.chat — The AI-DM Tavern. To author an adventure for the autopilot to run, see the Adventure Format reference.
Walkthrough: Running a Connected Group Session
Wire DNDCards, DND.chat, and DNDWar into one party game — prep cards, chat and roll, sync HP, then go tactical, all on one campaign.
Dice & Rolls
How rolling works across the family — server-audited dice in the DND.chat tavern, click-to-attack resolution on the DNDWar board, character-bound modifiers, advantage, crits, saves, and auto-damage. What "streamlined" and "audited" actually mean.