2024 Compendium Sharing for Character Building

Hello, I would like some clarification pertaining to the usage of a purchased 2024 PHB Compendium as a free subscription GM. I am aware that as a free subscriber, you can only use it on one game and share with up to 5 players. My game will consist of me (GM) and 6 other players. With the exception of one of them, the other 5 need to create their characters and have never played DnD before, so I wanted to buy it to help them out for our game. Since the other 5 need it, and the sixth doesn't (because his character has already been created in Roll20), how does compendium sharing work with character creation within the game? Suppose I invite the other 5 players to the game first, and have them create their characters. If I then invite the sixth player, the compendium sharing would disable, but would the other 5 players still have access to their characters in my game? Follow-up questions:  Suppose we delete this current campaign because we finished it. Would my purchased compendium then be allowed to be shared with a new game I create in the same way mentioned above (as this would lower my game sharing total to 0 instead of 1)? On top of that, would my players get to keep their characters that they made in the original campaign? Would my players be able to create new characters within this new campaign because of the ability to share my PHB compendium? Any help or guidance is appreciated. Thank you!

Hi Quantum Magnus! To begin with, yes, you have interpreted Compendium Sharing correctly, Once it is more than just you six in the game (GM+5), sharing will turn off for that game. You'll still have access to everything, but they will lose it. However, anything built by them while they had access will still be there. Their characters will not lose functionality, though they will no longer be able to drag and drop things from the PHB. Depending on your campaign, this may not be an issue. Most spells (the most commonly drag and dropped item) are available in the free SRD. That may be enough. Let me suggest a different solution. I haven't tested this, but it should work. Build a second game, and invite just the players who need sharing to it. Share that game instead of the one you are running. They will have access to your compendium outside of the game as well. Have them build their characters outside of the game using Roll20Characters , and import them into your active game. They will need level their characters through Roll20 Characters, but that's what it's for. The sixth player won't have access to your compendium, of course, but you have indicated he doesn't need it. And of course, you will have access to everything in either game, regardless of whether sharing is turned on for it.

Heh. Like I said, untested . I have been reminded that Roll20Characters has a limit of 3 imports on a free account. The Character Vault could be used for the other 2, or for all 5, perhaps. There's not a simple, clean solution here, but it should be doable with effort and planning. Edit: Maybe not. The import limit appears to be by game, not by vault or Roll20Characters.

Hi keithcurtis,  Thank you for the clarification and suggestion! We will give that a try and I will let you know how that goes. We don't plan to start our game until around the first week of August, but I will be sure to report back my findings in this forum post for posterity and future questions/clarifications.

Be sure to read the disclaimer in the second post. It seems like you will still be limited by imports to a game. :(