# Hero Lab

> Digital character creation and management tool for Pathfinder and D&D 5E. (iPhone/iPad app by Lone Wolf Development.)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hero-lab/id628821549 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Lone Wolf Development](https://appshunter.io/developer/628821552)
- Category: Games, Role Playing
- Price: Free
- Rating: 3.20/5 from 68 App Store ratings · 105 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 4+
- Requires: iOS 9.0 · 104 MB
- Languages: American English
- Released: 2013-04-08
- Data updated: 2026-06-10
- Monetization: free
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hero-lab/id628821549/reviews.md

## What is Hero Lab?

Character creation software has finally leveled up - Hero Lab now supports the D&D 5th Edition SRD as well as Pathfinder!

With a Hero Lab license, you can create, advance, and play Pathfinder & 5th Edition SRD characters and NPCs just like you can on your Windows or Mac computer. We've adapted the familiar Hero Lab interface for iPad, allowing you to build characters just as easily as you can on your desktop or laptop.

For users who don't own Hero Lab, any character created in Hero Lab on Windows or Mac can be used with Hero Lab for the iPad. This allows GMs who own Hero Lab to provide electronic character sheets to any members of their gaming group, regardless of whether the player owns Hero Lab or not. With this flexibility, more players than ever can now realize the benefits of an intuitive, dynamic and fully electronic character sheet!

Because this app has the Hero Lab engine under the hood, it's much more than just a plain record sheet - everything about your character is *automatically calculated as you build and play*, including ability modifiers, stat bonuses, encumbrance levels, and more.

Just entered a Barbarian Rage? Tap the box and watch your Strength go up, and with it your damage, attack bonus, and skills. Apply the effects of feats, class abilities, and spells with another tap on the screen. Track your character's damage and see immediately how it impacts his abilities (assuming he's still standing...).

Conditions and effects can be instantly applied and removed. Martial classes can quickly swap out their weapons and spellcasters can swap out their spells, as appropriate. Find and create new magic items and have Hero Lab automatically calculate their stats. See the spells in your spellbook and pick between them when you rest for the night. You can even purchase new gear and have the cost automatically deducted from the character’s treasury.

With full support for the Pathfinder game system, players can now see all of the character’s abilities and pick which one is optimal for a particular encounter. This speeds up game play by eliminating the need to search through multiple books at the table to find the details of a specific facet of a character.

There's much, much more to Hero Lab than can be described here, but if you can do it in Pathfinder, Hero Lab supports it. Download the app and play with the example characters to see just why Hero Lab won a Gold ENnie Award!

PLEASE NOTE: If you are encountering crashes with the app, please email us at support@wolflair.com so we can help you resolve them! We cannot contact people who leaves a review on the app store, so emailing us is the only way we can help fix your problem.

## Key features

- Character creation and advancement
- Automatic stat calculation
- Dynamic character sheets
- Support for Pathfinder and D&D 5E SRD
- NPC creation
- In-game effect tracking

## What do users think of Hero Lab?

Overall sentiment: negative

**Pros**

- 👍 Comprehensive character creation tool
- 📊 Excellent for Pathfinder and D&D 5e players
- ⚡ Convenient portable gaming solution
- 🎯 Detailed spell and ability references
- 🧮 Automatic bonus/penalty calculations
- 📱 Seamless desktop-to-iPad integration
- 🎮 Great for both players and GMs
- 📚 Extensive game system support

**Cons**

- 💰 High cost with required licenses and add-ons
- 🐛 Frequent crashes and stability issues
- 📵 Text cut off on screen edges
- 🔄 No landscape mode support
- ⚠️ Limited support for multiple game systems
- 🚫 Abandoned/minimal support since 2020
- 🍎 Apple policy restrictions preventing updates
- 📱 Poor compatibility with newer iPads
- 🔐 License server connection issues
- 💾 Data loss after updates
- 🎨 Clunky and unintuitive UI
- 🔌 Removed Dropbox integration

**Commonly reported bugs**

- App crashes on startup
- Crashes when adding spells or gear
- Crashes when taking damage to HP
- Text rendering issues with cut-off content
- Data pop-ups don't fit on screen
- Import/export functionality broken
- Portfolio corruption after updates
- License verification failures
- Tabs disappearing from interface
- Black screen on launch
- Memory leak causing crashes on lower-end devices
- Script errors on older iPad models
- Spell tab vanishing after updates
- Character deletion issues
- Portrait image deletion impossible

**Most requested features**

- Landscape mode support
- Custom content support from desktop version
- Dark theme option
- Dice roller for all rolls
- GM tools and encounter builder
- Support for more game systems (Shadowrun, Mutants & Masterminds, 3.5 edition)
- Portfolio sharing and cloud sync (Dropbox, iCloud)
- Split-screen functionality
- PDF export and printing options
- In-app license purchasing
- Better tutorial and documentation
- Landscape keyboard support
- Initiative and HP tracking for GMs
- Character sheet customization

## Recent user reviews (10 of 105)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hero-lab/id628821549/reviews.md

### 1/5 — Very buggy

*2025-07-23, version 8.8.8*

No more support. They told me it has to do with apple. Now unusable

### 5/5 — Love Lone Wolf hate Apple.

*2025-06-22*

This app use to work amazing. Apple is just greedy and makes this app unusable on newer iPads. **Edit if you highlight test and translate you can read the text***

### 4/5 — Best Character App I’ve used

*2024-04-06, version 8.8.8*

Without question, the best app I’ve used for character creation… after paying for all the additional content. 2 issues keeping me from giving this app 5 stars. 

1. The app should support custom content that is available on the computer version.
2. Since changing iPads recently, the data pop-ups no longer fit on the screen, making them impossible to read. VERY annoying.

### 3/5 — Good app, frequent crashes.

*2023-04-17*

I love the app, but it crashes every time I attempt to take damage to my HP. Can’t seem to figure out why.

### 2/5 — Text cut off

*2023-01-27*

I was excited to have hero lab on my ipad, but was dismayed to find that the text is cut off on the right side of all text windows. You lose entire sentences and there is no way to scroll sideways. There is no in-app setting to adjust text size that I can find, and the ipad setting to reduce text size had no effect on this app. This makes it impossible to read information in the app. I will be uninstalling.

### 1/5 — iPad no longer supported

*2022-12-10, version 8.8.8*

The company is no longer supporting the app and appears to want everyone to use their online service.

### 1/5 — Very disappointed

*2022-09-28, version 8.8.8*

Having used this app for years I am very disappointed to report that it does not work on my new iPad. Having reported the issue the developer replied that it was down to Apple policy preventing them from updating because there is nothing in the app for them to take a share of!

### 1/5 — Love Lone Wolf hate Apple.

*2022-06-15, version 8.8.8*

This app use to work amazing. Apple is just greedy and makes this app unusable on newer iPads.

### 1/5 — iPad version terrible

*2022-01-11, version 8.8.8*

I have the newest iPad Mini and not one section can you read the entire section. It cuts off a good quarter to third of all the pop ups.

### 1/5 — Abandoned

*2021-12-09*

They haven’t updated this app since April of 2020. There are numerous bugs that need to be addressed and each new iOS update just reveals more. 
The company has focused all of there resources on their new subscription based online web version. They are allowing this software to languish and I’m betting eventually die. Sadly I have lots invested in the data.

## Frequently asked questions about Hero Lab

### What does Hero Lab do?

Hero Lab is a character creation software that supports Pathfinder and D&D 5th Edition SRD. It allows you to create, advance, and play characters and NPCs, automatically calculating all their stats, abilities, and effects as you build and play.

### What are the key features of Hero Lab?

Key features include automatic calculation of ability modifiers, stat bonuses, and encumbrance. It also allows for instant application and removal of conditions and effects, quick swapping of weapons and spells, and creation of magic items with automatic stat calculation.

### Is Hero Lab free to use?

The application itself is free to download and use. However, to create and manage characters for Pathfinder and D&D 5th Edition, a Hero Lab license is typically required, which can be purchased separately.

### What systems does Hero Lab support?

Hero Lab fully supports the Pathfinder game system and the Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition SRD (System Reference Document). This means you can create characters and NPCs for both of these popular tabletop role-playing games.

### How does Hero Lab help during gameplay?

During gameplay, Hero Lab speeds up the process by eliminating the need to search through multiple books. All character abilities, effects, and stats are readily available and automatically updated, allowing players to focus on the game rather than rulebook lookups.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 8.8.8 — 2019-04-23

Bug fixes

### 8.8.7 — 2019-04-03

Fixed potential crash, errors updating data.

### 8.8.6 — 2019-03-05

Bug fixes

### 8.8.4 — 2019-01-30

Bug fixes

### 8.8.1 — 2019-01-22

Bug fixes and scripting enhancements.

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## More apps by Lone Wolf Development

- [Army Builder Roster Viewer](https://appshunter.io/ios/app/army-builder-roster-viewer/id728500307)

All apps by Lone Wolf Development: https://appshunter.io/developer/628821552

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-06-10.*