Announcing Roll20 Characters!

Nice! Now A TON of my Characters I had in the Vault has gone MISSING! I had over 100 Characters in my vault and now they just vanished... GREAT! Is there a way to get the OLD character Vault and all my missing Characters back?! Just COUNTED them: I only see 30 Characters! It is the EXACT SAME ERROR with the new compendium! The List does NOT expand!

Great. But there is one MAJOR Bug: The List does NOT expand! So only 30 of my over 100 Characters are visible! How do I get my other characters that I can import and use those again?! It is the SAME Error / Bug with the new compendium where the List also does NOT expand automatically past a certain point! (which makes the new compendium unusable!) So, is there a way to get the OLD character Vault back until this is fixed? And could you please minimize the space between the buttons? Those entries are way too huge... especially when using keyboard and mouse and not touch... Bianca said: To add a character to Roll20 Characters from an existing game, use the Import button next to My Characters: To move the character to a game, use the new Move button on the character's card: "Current unsupported" means that you can't edit the sheet directly in Roll20 Characters; we're starting with 11 systems and expanding. You can still edit them in the VTT.

Bianca said: It should load more characters as you scroll down (infinite scroll), is that happening for you? No. It does not! I would not write it if it would scroll down... It only shows 30 Characters! The "new" Compendium has the exact same Bug! (I also gave Feedback for this (BUG Report))

It would be nice to see on the main character sheet if the character was created in the Characters screen, or if they were imported from a game ((And include date and time of import).  I have a few versions of the same characters that I imported from games, and it previously gave a date/time the import happened, so I knew which the most recent version of that character I was looking at.  

Love the new layout! What does this notice mean?

Bianca explained this. You can not build that character via the new Characters as the system is not yet supported... keithcurtis said: Love the new layout! What does this notice mean?

This notice comes up whenever a change is made to the sheet, even if it is just expanding an ability. I can see the need for such a notice, but I can also see the current placement becoming annoying during play. Could it be made smaller and maybe moved up into the header, where it does not overlap the sheet?

TheMarkus1204 said: Bianca explained this. You can not build that character via the new Characters as the system is not yet supported... Derp. Missed that. Thanks.

One thing I don't see mentioned is eventual access to Abilities (character macros). I know these are not currently on the Marvel sheets, even in-game. A LOT of Roll20 users rely heavily on them. Are they slated for inclusion?

Amazing job gang! (this is sarcasm) Broke the page to not be able to load more characters Removed functionality of exporting a copy of the character Please give the option to revert to the old system

+1 Death said: Amazing job gang! (this is sarcasm) Broke the page to not be able to load more characters Removed functionality of exporting a copy of the character Please give the option to revert to the old system

OK start, however it needs to display the date on the characters, I have several versions of one character on there and now cannot differentiate them.  Also the list is not infinite scrolling for me either (Win 11, Firefox). The blurred "currently unsupported" message overlaying all the images of unsupported systems prevents viewing of the character portrait! Since I game mainly with non D&D/Pathfinder rules this feature isn't of much use, I see why you've done it, but, it really needed more thought before it was unleashed, in it's current state it's not usuable.

It is not easy to understand what the "Currently Unsupported in Roll20 Characters" means.  To most that looks like they will no longer be able import that character using the character vault.  I do appreciate the fact that Roll20 is attempting to move their system forward, however it often comes across as if it's a step back when they introduce these new things. It would have been as effective to set all the character tokens to display normally, then popup an error if a user attempted to edit them...  "This character is unable to be edited in the character generator yet.  Stay tuned for further updates!"  Obviously this is just my opinion but it seems like another one of those "Gotcha" moments we get with Roll20... Edit - I do appreciate the job Keithcurtis and Bianca are doing to try and keep the community informed.  Kudos!

I love the progress, a remark: If you have 0 characters, the heading 'My Characters' and Import button are not shown.

Death said: Removed functionality of exporting a copy of the character Please give the option to revert to the old system Is the export button not working on your end? Or do you mean something else? The old system is still currently available where it always was: <a href="https://app.roll20.net/vault/characters" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/vault/characters</a>

Good changes for a work-in-progress! More remarks: the DND charactermancer references that&nbsp; your GM that needs to set the proper compendium sharing for the game - but there is no way to reference a game. Also there is no way to limit compendiums as a player. Screenshot:

The forced deletion of characters from the "My Characters" page upon export is a HORRIBLE option that creates HUGE issues.&nbsp; I understand that it's meant to help avoid having multiple copies of outdated versions of a character, but many players like having those backups. Removing the character removes any backup you have of that character in case something goes wrong.&nbsp; If you export a character to a game, and (as currently is forced to happen) it deletes your character from the My Characters page, but something happens where the export didn't go through correctly into that Roll20 game, or you export into a game but the DM deletes your character before you can save it back to your My Characters page, your Character is now GONE FOREVER.&nbsp; Which can be devastating and should NEVER be something that is a forced possibility. Giving the option to delete when exporting is fine, but it should not be the default nor should it be forced.&nbsp; Nor should it require you to make a copy that you can sacrifice to be exported, which just creates more of a mess which I assume this feature was meant to help solve.&nbsp; Number 1 rule of data, ALWAYS have backups, never rely on one singular copy as your working copy, c'mon now Roll20.

Tom said: It would be nice to see on the main character sheet if the character was created in the Characters screen, or if they were imported from a game ((And include date and time of import).&nbsp; I have a few versions of the same characters that I imported from games, and it previously gave a date/time the import happened, so I knew which the most recent version of that character I was looking at.&nbsp;&nbsp; Agreed!&nbsp; This was a nice feature I'd like to see kept with the My Characters page!

THIS should be FIXED ASAP! Characters should only be deleted&nbsp; by us Players AND given a prompt to confirm that! They should NOT be removed from characters just by exporting them! (BAD DESIGN!!!) JmanX said: The forced deletion of characters from the "My Characters" page upon export is a HORRIBLE option that creates HUGE issues.&nbsp; I understand that it's meant to help avoid having multiple copies of outdated versions of a character, but many players like having those backups. Removing the character removes any backup you have of that character in case something goes wrong.&nbsp; If you export a character to a game, and (as currently is forced to happen) it deletes your character from the My Characters page, but something happens where the export didn't go through correctly into that Roll20 game, or you export into a game but the DM deletes your character before you can save it back to your My Characters page, your Character is now GONE FOREVER.&nbsp; Which can be devastating and should NEVER be something that is a forced possibility. Giving the option to delete when exporting is fine, but it should not be the default nor should it be forced.&nbsp; Nor should it require you to make a copy that you can sacrifice to be exported, which just creates more of a mess which I assume this feature was meant to help solve.&nbsp; Number 1 rule of data, ALWAYS have backups, never rely on one singular copy as your working copy, c'mon now Roll20.

Keith/Bianca, Here is a very specific difference between old and new that is problematic for me.&nbsp; I'm also sending this in using the Feedback form, but perhaps you have an insight I may have missed.&nbsp; I could just be a pack rat, or a power user, but I've lost count of the # of lobbies I have access too...&nbsp; In the Legacy Character Vault, when I select the Lobby drop down I am able to press a key on the keyboard to "shortcut" to the lobby's that start with...&nbsp; the letter "S" for example.&nbsp; Which allows me to move a character pretty quickly. With the new "Roll20 Characters" I am forced to use the mouse scroll wheel to find the lobby.&nbsp; With...&nbsp; perhaps hundreds of lobbies this indeed takes some time.&nbsp; It actually seems a little easier on a mobile now since I can just tap and scroll.&nbsp; I'm still not fond that we only have copy or move as options.&nbsp; I always just want to export a copy of the character into a lobby.

JmanX said: The forced deletion of characters from the "My Characters" page upon export is a HORRIBLE option that creates HUGE issues.&nbsp; .... Never forget to press copy before exporting.... Organized play initiatives would need to have an export without delete option. If players own the characters, they should be in full control of the lifecycle of the character. Now, when a player joins a oneshot they should stay owner of their characters, GMs can 'alter/remove/destroy' characters that are temporary in their game.

You should NOT be forced to "copy" the character first! Besides there is NO explanation that exporting a character to a game actually removes it from the "Vault" as this was NOT the case for the old Character Vault! So this is definitely on Roll20 and should EITHER be explained somewhere OR simply Undone! (BAD Design) Martijn S. said: JmanX said: The forced deletion of characters from the "My Characters" page upon export is a HORRIBLE option that creates HUGE issues.&nbsp; .... Never forget to press copy before exporting.... Organized play initiatives would need to have an export without delete option. When a player joins a oneshot he should stay owner of his characters, GMs should not be allowed to 'destroy' characters that are temporary in his/her game.

An option to copy or move would be more intuitive, given the familiar Vault behavior.

Ski098 said: Keith/Bianca, Heh, thanks for the compliment, but in cases like this, I am just a helpful end user. I do some contract conversion work, but Bianca is the Roll20 person, here. :)

+10000 Death said: Amazing job gang! (this is sarcasm) Broke the page to not be able to load more characters Removed functionality of exporting a copy of the character Please give the option to revert to the old system

Both of these!&nbsp; We need this roll-out pushed back until this is fixed.&nbsp; Folks do NOT want to risk losing all their hard work building these characters and then not realize the implications of them "moving" to a game and then they are no longer theirs to manage on their own account.&nbsp; And we need a clear UPFRONT communication plan on changes of this magnitude.&nbsp; Not just a, "you logged on today and well, the screen is different, and you no longer have the functionality you used to have without any proactive explanation." TheMarkus1204 said: THIS should be FIXED ASAP! Characters should only be deleted&nbsp; by us Players AND given a prompt to confirm that! They should NOT be removed from characters just by exporting them! (BAD DESIGN!!!) JmanX said: The forced deletion of characters from the "My Characters" page upon export is a HORRIBLE option that creates HUGE issues.&nbsp; I understand that it's meant to help avoid having multiple copies of outdated versions of a character, but many players like having those backups. Removing the character removes any backup you have of that character in case something goes wrong.&nbsp; If you export a character to a game, and (as currently is forced to happen) it deletes your character from the My Characters page, but something happens where the export didn't go through correctly into that Roll20 game, or you export into a game but the DM deletes your character before you can save it back to your My Characters page, your Character is now GONE FOREVER.&nbsp; Which can be devastating and should NEVER be something that is a forced possibility. Giving the option to delete when exporting is fine, but it should not be the default nor should it be forced.&nbsp; Nor should it require you to make a copy that you can sacrifice to be exported, which just creates more of a mess which I assume this feature was meant to help solve.&nbsp; Number 1 rule of data, ALWAYS have backups, never rely on one singular copy as your working copy, c'mon now Roll20.

Welp, another feature on Roll20 that has been rendered useless due to a lack of coding know how, and without testing whatsoever... -.- I wasn't really using that feature before, because I never could get it to work properly. I think I used to have 2 or 3 characters in there, from last year maybe? I just checked a few minutes ago and my Character Vault is completely empty. So I guess the "New" part of the feature deletes older characters? I still barely post on the Forums, the "New" color codes makes everything a chore to read. The "New" measuring tool is still un-useable for me, takes too much real estate and the bubble at the end of the tool is still too big. I don't need to see the distance in both feet AND squares. Any chance we can transfer what we purchased on Roll20 over the years onto another platform like D&amp;D Beyond or something? #AskingForAFriend

+1 TheMarkus1204 said: You should NOT be forced to "copy" the character first! Besides there is NO explanation that exporting a character to a game actually removes it from the "Vault" as this was NOT the case for the old Character Vault! So this is definitely on Roll20 and should EITHER be explained somewhere OR simply Undone! (BAD Design) Martijn S. said: JmanX said: The forced deletion of characters from the "My Characters" page upon export is a HORRIBLE option that creates HUGE issues.&nbsp; .... Never forget to press copy before exporting.... Organized play initiatives would need to have an export without delete option. When a player joins a oneshot he should stay owner of his characters, GMs should not be allowed to 'destroy' characters that are temporary in his/her game.

TheMarkus1204 said: You should NOT be forced to "copy" the character first! Besides there is NO explanation that exporting a character to a game actually removes it from the "Vault" as this was NOT the case for the old Character Vault! So this is definitely on Roll20 and should EITHER be explained somewhere OR simply Undone! (BAD Design) When you press the button there is a clear message (but i agree with your remark about design).

The NEW Design for the VTT is an explicit OPT-IN. The new "Characters" (Replacement for&nbsp; the Character Vault) is NOT. WHY?! Why are we FORCED to use the "BETA" Version and be treated as Guinea Pigs? WHY is there no Opt-In or Opt-Out for this?! You could KINDLY ASK People to test this for you and give feedback! But forcing "features" on people leaves ALWAYS a VERY BAD TASTE in players mouths, especially if there are BUGS or other features simply NOT WORKING as expected and you have to figure out things first before you can actually start using it! And tbh, it would NOT be that bad IF Roll20 would have COMMUNICATED the Change PRIOR to its release AND would EXPLAIN how to use it and NOT expect us to find out! Especially with the Removal of characters after exporting them since the "old" character vault simply did NOT do that! AND just counting the different Page layouts here on Roll20, the "new" Characters is the fourth Layout they use... (Site itself, Marketplace, Helpcenter, Characters)... WHY not decide on 1 Template and use this throughout the site?! Do I want to OPT OUT of this? YES PLEASE! Andrew Searles said: Death said: Amazing job gang! (this is sarcasm) Broke the page to not be able to load more characters Removed functionality of exporting a copy of the character Please give the option to revert to the old system Hey Death, Thanks for the feedback. Seriously! I understand the frustration. We're going to continue to work to improve; I can promise you that. I've dedicated the rest of our roadmap for the rest of the year to focusing on feedback for this rollout. While we do this work, you absolutely can go back to the old system. Keith put in the old URL which is still active, but I wanted to highlight it again.&nbsp; <a href="https://app.roll20.net/vault/characters" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/vault/characters</a> . That link is still active and works the same as it did before. We're going to keep that link active as long as possible so that way you have a fallback option to use until we iron out these changes. However, due to the complexity of databases and our coding to make things work, we'll have to discontinue it. I'll make sure you all are aware before that happens. Again, thank you for your feedback. It really does help us improve.

Another BUG: Just tested the pagination and what did I see? "New Investigator" ALL OVER THE BOARD... And I can say this for sure: I did NOT CREATE THEM!!! Why are they in my Character Vault?! IF you are TESTING things, be sure to do this on DUMMY Accounts and not on those of actual customers! AND one more thing since you are showing the character sheet used: WHY Not show the GAME the Character was imported from?! As this would ACTUALLY prove useful! EDIT: Deleted those "New" Blank Characters!

Ok, I see the potential value in this, but I think you've really handled this "beta" wrong.&nbsp; After a summer of letting us opt-in to changes, this appears to be forced, with no way back to the old Character Vault while you work out the bugs. It's not a beta if it's mandatory. Big Time Fail, Folks! As others have said, deleting on export to a game is a problem. But @Andrew Searles, I think you missed part of the point.&nbsp; You seem to be planning (based on the launch announcement) that a character copied from (or to) a game is linked to that game, ultimely live.&nbsp; And that defeats the purpose of the Vault as a backup.&nbsp; I want a clean copy, unlinked to any game, which I can, with my DM's permission, export back into the game if the old sheet gets corrupted (which the VTT sometimes does when there are network problem or similar).&nbsp; I probably want more than one, so I can fall back to an older backup if the most recent is also corrupted. As a DM, I'm going to want to block any transfer of characters from this system into my game, EXCEPT when starting a new character from scratch or to fix a data corruption problem, which is how I handle Vault-to-game exports today. I make edits to my players characters in between games (to reflect downtime activities and correct errors), and I don't want them overwriting that. So a live link to a copy only they can edit doesn't work at all for my style of play, unless there's a way to say "this external character is also editable in-game and changes flow both ways but you cant import some other character in its stead" (which may be where you're headed, I can't tell). Ideally I'd want to be able to enable "create one new character and send to game", but disable any future send-to-game changes, even for the same character. Some other thoughts: As someone noted, these need to be dated so multiple copies of the same character can be told apart.&nbsp; That's not just needed for backup purposes. I know players who play separate instances of the same character (same name and class, but different levels and other details) in separate DM's games, because they're really fond of that one character archetype. Love it or hate it, it's a valid way to play. Per the above, a linked character needs to be labeled with the game it's linked to, and if not linked then the game it came from (so I can tell Thud the Barbarian from DM A's Phandelver from Thud in DM B's Yawning Portal). The per-character buttons (tiles, whatever you call them) are much too large, even if you're reserving room for additional data later. The delete button is uncomfortably close to the others, it should be set off to avoid accidents. Folders, my God does this UI need folders!! Now, on the plus side, you did launch with 11 games supported, and that's a big improvement over the one-game-at-a-time rollout of the earlier Vault character creation. And I like the concept of "character outside the VTT but playable".&nbsp; I can see that working very well with a tablet at a table-top session, where the VTT isn't needed or wanted. Just don't take away the character-backup capability we previously had in the process, or break the way some of us presently play using the VTT.

100% Agreed! Ken S. said: Some other thoughts: As someone noted, these need to be dated so multiple copies of the same character can be told apart.&nbsp; That's not just needed for backup purposes. I know players who play separate instances of the same character (same name and class, but different levels and other details) in separate DM's games, because they're really fond of that one character archetype. Love it or hate it, it's a valid way to play. Per the above, a linked character needs to be labeled with the game it's linked to, and if not linked then the game it came from (so I can tell Thud the Barbarian from DM A's Phandelver from Thud in DM B's Yawning Portal). The per-character buttons (tiles, whatever you call them) are much too large, even if you're reserving room for additional data later. The delete button is uncomfortably close to the others, it should be set off to avoid accidents. Folders, my God does this UI need folders!!

What is it with those HUGE menus? And thanks to it being as transparent as can be seen in the image above, it becomes barley readable! AGAIN: PLEASE LET ME OPT OUT OF THIS! I do want the OLD Character Vault BACK until this becomes fully usable! (As stated above, it is NOT A BETA if it is mandatory for everyone! And since there was NO OPT IN, we are all treated as Guinea Pigs for this)

I like the layout and the (now fixed) scroll of the page.&nbsp; I too always have charcter backups for my players, sometimes they utilise the same character in different games, so it makes sense to be able to refer to the right one.&nbsp; It also makes sense in terms of data management.&nbsp; I would go one stage further, I was working on 4 different live games yesterday and backed up a shed load of characters.&nbsp; There is no time stamp in either version of the vault, which is something I would find handy.&nbsp; Yes, the workaround is to delete anything dated today before importing, but again, i prefer to keep the backup and delete it once I know the export has been successful.&nbsp; Until this version of the vault is working as desired I will continue to use the old version <a href="https://app.roll20.net/vault/characters" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/vault/characters</a> , but am pleased with the intention, I feel it will be a welcome change once ready.

I wonder if we only get support for official Roll20 character sheets OR if it will be for every sheet / system there is. AT LEAST it would be Nice to SEE THE AVATAR and not the "this is currently unsupported" message!

THANK you for the link to the legacy character vault! And thanks to Roll20 for it still being available! NOW it would be nice to simply have an OPT OUT option, so that we do not need to bookmark the link to the old vault when we want / need to use it. I will stay with the old character vault as well for as long as there is no option to resize those HUGE Menu Buttons and other Bugs are squashed! Simon G. said: I like the layout and the (now fixed) scroll of the page.&nbsp; I too always have charcter backups for my players, sometimes they utilise the same character in different games, so it makes sense to be able to refer to the right one.&nbsp; It also makes sense in terms of data management.&nbsp; I would go one stage further, I was working on 4 different live games yesterday and backed up a shed load of characters.&nbsp; There is no time stamp in either version of the vault, which is something I would find handy.&nbsp; Yes, the workaround is to delete anything dated today before importing, but again, i prefer to keep the backup and delete it once I know the export has been successful.&nbsp; Until this version of the vault is working as desired I will continue to use the old version <a href="https://app.roll20.net/vault/characters" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/vault/characters</a> , but am pleased with the intention, I feel it will be a welcome change once ready.

TBF props to Keith Curtis for the link

Andrew, Why not an OPT IN for the "new" Characters feature? Why not ASK us (paying) customers (!!) to test this like you did with the redesign? Andrew Searles said: Death said: Amazing job gang! (this is sarcasm) Broke the page to not be able to load more characters Removed functionality of exporting a copy of the character Please give the option to revert to the old system Hey Death, Thanks for the feedback. Seriously! I understand the frustration. We're going to continue to work to improve; I can promise you that. I've dedicated the rest of our roadmap for the rest of the year to focusing on feedback for this rollout. While we do this work, you absolutely can go back to the old system. Keith put in the old URL which is still active, but I wanted to highlight it again.&nbsp; <a href="https://app.roll20.net/vault/characters" rel="nofollow">https://app.roll20.net/vault/characters</a> . That link is still active and works the same as it did before. We're going to keep that link active as long as possible so that way you have a fallback option to use until we iron out these changes. However, due to the complexity of databases and our coding to make things work, we'll have to discontinue it. I'll make sure you all are aware before that happens. Again, thank you for your feedback. It really does help us improve.