Practical Limit on Characters in the Journal?

I've seen scattered around the forum and documentation that too many character sheets contribute to lag issues, but I really have no frame of reference for how many that is. I'm in the initial stages of working on setting up my next campaign, and since we have nothing really resembling a custom compendium to support homebrewing - some aspects of it will be dramatically improved by keeping a set of template sheets in the game. Transmogrifying them in/out constantly seems like a hassle. For custom monsters/creatures, I can use handouts or notes easily enough, but for things that impact the character sheets it seems like the easiest way. Any sense of just how many is too many? Edit: This is 5e D&D, with a handful of purchased compendiums

Anecdotally, it's more about how big the character sheets are, in terms of attributes.  Some character sheets are pretty heavy weight (looking at you, Shaped Sheet), others are not as bad.  If you're using the DnD5e sheet by Roll20, you probably won't notice any difference between 10 characters and 100 characters.  Probably you won't notice a difference between 100 characters and 200 characters.  Compendium won't cause you any lag unless you are pulling all the characters out of the compendium and putting them in the journal.

I generally try to run at under 200 at any given time, but that's totally arbitrary. Another factor to consider is the amount of info (i.e. filled attributes) on a given sheet. 100 spell-intensive monsters will almost certainly run laggier than 500 variations on a goblin. The only real answer is "add them until it gets laggy". There isn't a one-size fits all guideline I can think of.

Super helpful, thank you both.

The reason why there is no set answer is because the rule is generally there for the folks using the naughty third party extensions.  Those extensions are really really poorly written and character sheets in the journal cause insane lag the more you have in there.  I personally do not have an issue with the transmogrifier and honestly...if you don't want to use the transmogrifier, then you are throwing away the best part of a pro sub.  That feature is amazing for on the fly improv.  You can drag and drop everything right into the session.  Then delete it cause its stored elsewhere safely.  or transmog it into the backup session.  If anything they need to stop hiding the great stuff at the bottom of every dang window.  LDL is down hidden at the bottom, transmog is hidden at the bottom, permissions for macros are hidden down bottom, its annoying how many user interface issues they just leave there blatantly looking awful and we endure them cause its all we got.  

I really encourage you to use the Transmogrifier etc., because it will make your workflow much easier and your game more responsive in the short term and the long run. It’s a valuable tool for Pro users and increases your value for money.  For example, I do all my monster Journal entries in the Archive game, test all the macros, etc., and no player can see anything because no player is in the game. Then session prep includes using the Transmogrifier to put monsters in the Live game and getting the battle maps set up. 

Andrew R. said: Then session prep includes using the Transmogrifier to put monsters in the Live game and getting the battle maps set up.  I often set up custom maps in a map library game and then use the transmogrifier to bring that map into the active game.  Then, just as DM Eddie mentions with character sheets, I can delete that map from the active game once I am done with it since it is safely stored elsewhere in case it needs revisited at some point.