diff --git a/docs/source/Components/Prototypes.md b/docs/source/Components/Prototypes.md
index c99e49061f..875dcdd18c 100644
--- a/docs/source/Components/Prototypes.md
+++ b/docs/source/Components/Prototypes.md
@@ -167,9 +167,8 @@ The default protfuncs available out of the box are defined in `evennia/prototype
 |  `$div(<value1>, <value2>)` | Returns value2 / value1 |
 |  `$toint(<value>)` | Returns value converted to integer (or value if not possible) |
 |  `$eval(<code>)` | Returns result of [literal-eval](https://docs.python.org/2/library/ast.html#ast.literal_eval) of code string. Only simple python expressions. |
-| `$obj(<query>)` | Returns object #dbref searched globally by key, tag or #dbref. Error if more than one found. |
-| `$objlist(<query>)` | Like `$obj`, except always returns a list of zero, one or more results. |
-| `$dbref(dbref)` | Returns argument if it is formed as a #dbref (e.g. #1234), otherwise error. |
+| `$obj(<query>)` | Returns object searched globally by key, tag or #dbref. Requires `caller` kwarg in `spawner.spawn()` for access checks. See [searching callables](./FuncParser.md#evenniautilsfuncparsersearching_callables).  ($dbref(<query>) is an alias and works the same) |
+| `$objlist(<query>)` | Like `$obj`, except always returns a list of zero, one or more results. Requires `caller` kwarg in `spawner.spawn()` for access checks. See [searching callables](./FuncParser.md#evenniautilsfuncparsersearching_callables). |
 
 For developers with access to Python, using protfuncs in prototypes is generally not useful. Passing real Python functions is a lot more powerful and flexible. Their main use is to allow in-game builders to do limited coding/scripting for their prototypes without giving them direct access to raw Python. 
 
diff --git a/evennia/prototypes/spawner.py b/evennia/prototypes/spawner.py
index 2a6db5d84c..37976d9449 100644
--- a/evennia/prototypes/spawner.py
+++ b/evennia/prototypes/spawner.py
@@ -653,7 +653,8 @@ def batch_update_objects_with_prototype(
             if it's not set in the prototype. With `exact=True`, all un-specified properties of the
             objects will be removed if they exist. This will lead to a more accurate 1:1 correlation
             between the  object and the prototype but is usually impractical.
-        caller (Object or Account, optional): This may be used by protfuncs to do permission checks.
+        caller (Object or Account, optional): The object requesting the update. Required when using
+            protofuncs that perform searches. For example ($obj, $objlist, $dbref, $search).
         protfunc_raise_errors (bool): Have protfuncs raise explicit errors if malformed/not found.
             This is highly recommended.
     Returns:
@@ -890,7 +891,8 @@ def spawn(*prototypes, caller=None, **kwargs):
             prototype_key (will be used to find the prototype) or a full prototype
             dictionary. These will be batched-spawned as one object each.
     Keyword Args:
-        caller (Object or Account, optional): This may be used by protfuncs to do access checks.
+        caller (Object or Account, optional): The object requesting the update. Required when using
+            protofuncs that perform searches. For example ($obj, $objlist, $dbref, $search).
         prototype_modules (str or list): A python-path to a prototype
             module, or a list of such paths. These will be used to build
             the global protparents dictionary accessible by the input