I think this is something to do with the new character sheet backend, which I just got at some point in the last day or two (3.0.0-alpha.63), but the number of spells and items that now have an asterisk next to them is a little extreme. It looks like it pops up when you've done anything in the customization section. Which makes sense if what you've done is adjust your to-hit bonus on a spell attack. But if what I've done is clicked the 'show as attack' box or added a note to remind myself to heal my character by 2 HP when I cast this spell, I don't need to see an asterisk. A., because the change is already present in the sheet -- it's now on the attack page, or it's now got a note showing in the notes field -- B. because it obscures important changes, like changing that to-hit bonus. Indicating changes to function (to-hit) and flavor ('Animal Friendship' is now called 'Snake Friendship' on my yuan-ti) feels like it's asking for confusion. Especially for the 'display as attack' and 'notes' fields, which literally change nothing about how a spell or item actually works.

Also, since the asterisk is a different color depending on where it is (red on spells, varying color for items or actions) and the asterisk is already used in the spells column for wonky spells like Ice Knife, this provides further confusion as to what the asterisk could mean.

OK, and now I'm seeing on one of my characters (not all) that his dagger attack has the asterisk, but the only thing 'customized' in the dropdown is the 'display as attack' (which, did weapons always have this as an option? Why? Unarmed strike, sure, but dagger?). Yet the mace, which also has the same 'customization,' doesn't have an asterisk. This may be associated with the other buggy aspects (though I can't see how), as like I said, I have other characters without this issue, but it sure doesn't help the clarity.