Change So Importing NPC Sheets from Compendium Creates Unique ID Sheet in Game

Currently, whenever a NPC sheets is pulled from the Compendium into a Roll20 game, it creates a NPC sheet of it in the game that has a hidden Identifier tag that marks it as the "default" sheet that came from the compendium.  Which means that if you pull a second copy of that NPC from the Compendium, it does not create a new sheet, it just drops a token of that NPC that is connected to the "Default" sheet that exists in the game.  If you delete the "default" NPC sheet that was first imported, you can then drag a new copy from the Compendium into the game, again created a new "default" sheet with the hidden identifier marking it as the copy from the Compendium (doesn't matter the book source).  I'm sure the reasoning behind this is to help keep the amount of character sheets loaded in Roll20 down to only what's necessary to help with load times and resource management. HOWEVER, this creates an issue for games where you have multiple different un-related adventures that use the same stat block, such as the case with Adventurers League play games.  When you have the default stat block as the only version in the Roll20 game room, you cannot place that same sheet in multiple folders to be used in each game it's needed, you would need to have all your monsters in one singular folder that all the adventures pull from (similar to how Roll20 structures Hardcover Campaign modules). Example: see the "All NPCs" folder in below screenshot, that Goblin NPC sheet is the default sheet from the Compendium) The PROBLEM is that when you have to make custom versions of a stat sheet, or have many different adventures (300+ in my case) so you need to keep them in multiple backup Roll20 game rooms (otherwise keeping that many adventures in a single room kills Roll20 performance to a snail's speed).  You cannot just have one singular folder with all the monsters, because you do not know which adventure each one goes to, or what is needed for each adventure.  It also is poor organization management.  Additionally, it causes problems using the Transmogrifier because it will see that if the destination and the source sheet have that same hidden "default/compendium" identifier, it will need to overwrite in order to transfer, which can create an issue especially if there are custom stat blocks you've edited. Currently the workaround for this is that you have to Duplicate the default sheet, which creates a new copy with a unique hidden Identifier tag, and then delete the default sheet so it's able to be re-added from the Compendium for the next adventure you need that stat block.  Then you can properly sort the Duplicate sheet into your specific adventure folders that can be transmogrified to other games or properly sorted. This can be seen below for "Game 1" and "Game 2". While this workaround does work, it creates a lot of extra work for the DM.  Because each Duplicate copy also needs to have the default token re-associated with Duplicate copies because otherwise they will be still be keyed to the "default" NPC sheet, which if deleted, means the token is now not associated with any NPC sheet, same with the Default token on each Duplicate copy of the NPC sheet: So in order to have a unique copy of an NPC sheet, the DM currently must do the following: Import NPC from Compendium Make a copy of the default NPC sheet Delete the original default NPC sheet Give the Duplicate copy a unique name (e.g. "Game 1") and then save. Update the token to connect to the duplicate sheet (the "Game 1" version) and save updated token settings. Re-open the Duplicate copy, click Edit Sheet, and then save the updated token as the default token. What I'm proposing is that when the NPC sheet is drawn from the Compendium, it is given a unique hidden identifier that is different that whatever the stored Compendium sheet identifier has.   This way you can draw in multiple copies of the NPC sheet from the Compendium and each one is a unique sheet that does not share the hidden identifiers as the others or the default sheet, and can be transferred or organized however the DM wishes.  Which also reduces the steps the DM needs to take to the following: Import NPC from Compendium Give the Duplicate copy a unique name (e.g. "Game 1") and then save. And done. Thank you.

I do like the idea... Nevertheless, as I see you tell you have to reassociate the token, I suggest you look into dupchartoken Mod. You may like that ;)

Hi JmanX,  You do not need to perform all of the steps you are performing. Steps 2, 3, 5, and 6 are unnecessary.  Here are the adjusted steps: 1) Drag NPC from Compendium 2) Rename NPC Now you can drag new NPC from Compendium.  Note that step 2 also changes the link for tokens linked to that NPC. (ie: you do not need to perform steps 5 and 6) Example, if you have a Character named Orc, then you change that to Orc1, the token will represent Orc1 without you having to do anything.  Also, the reason for this is so that folks don't overwrite existing Characters that may have been modified with Compendium data. 

Hi Gauss, appreciate the suggestion, however it doesn't address the situation I'm speaking about.  Unfortunately, even if you rename the sheet, but use the same one, when you drag out a new Orc from the compendium, it will not import a new default orc sheet to your game, as it will recognize the renamed Orc 1 sheet as the default one.  The ID marker is hidden from the user and cannot be manually changed, you can only generate a new one by duplicating the sheet. I'm also aware that renaming an NPC sheet keeps the default token associated with that sheet, however, a duplicated sheet keeps the same default token as the original, so the token is still associated with the original and must be re-associated to the new duplicate.

Hi Jiboux, thanks I'll look into that if it's a helpful shortcut to some of these steps until the fix/change is made! :-)

JmanX said: Hi Gauss, appreciate the suggestion, however it doesn't address the situation I'm speaking about.  Unfortunately, even if you rename the sheet, but use the same one, when you drag out a new Orc from the compendium, it will not import a new default orc sheet to your game, as it will recognize the renamed Orc 1 sheet as the default one.   The ID marker is hidden from the user and cannot be manually changed, you can only generate a new one by duplicating the sheet. I'm also aware that renaming an NPC sheet keeps the default token associated with that sheet, however, a duplicated sheet keeps the same default token as the original, so the token is still associated with the original and must be re-associated to the new duplicate. I am not seeing that behavior (that I bolded).  When I rename the Orc to Orc1 I am then able to drag a new Orc out from the Compendium.  Could you provide exact step by step reproduction?  Edit: I am wondering if we are doing something different when it comes to renaming. How are you renaming yours? 

You know what Gauss, you're right! Apparently, Roll20 has already implemented a change to the process at some point.  So it appears that now, as you stated, if you rename the default sheet pulled from the Compendium, it does change whatever the hidden ID is so it no longer registers as the default copy from the Compendium, allowing you to pull out a new clean/default sheet from the Compendium. I guess I got so used to doing it the hard way and just haven't checked to see if it still worked that way since. Curiously though, changing the name of a character sheet does not otherwise change that hidden ID tag though.  So like, if I take said Orc from the Compendium, and then rename it to Orc 1, it changes the ID away from the default.  But if then take Orc 1 and change the name to Orc One, that identifier doesn't change (so like using Transmogrifier it will want to overwrite Orc 1 with Orc One, instead of them being two different sheets). But still, that's a much lesser common situation for prepping mods that I use. Either way, I think this essentially settles the issue I brought up as it solves the problem I had.  Thanks all for your help and comments!