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Sorc spells in the compendium

I'm incredibly sorry if this has been addressed already - I did try to search function this particular concern but found only closed threads. I'm new to the forums so if there's a better way for me to search please educate me so that I don't make further mistakes or go against any forum rules. Moving on: I was playing a sorc in a recent game and I tried to add the spell witch bolt to my character sheet from the compendium. It just doesn't exist. Witch Bolt is NOT a homebrew spell. It's standard to sorc's in 5e but its not available. I've discovered this with quite a few sorc spells if i'm being completely honest though I will admit that none stick out more in my mind than witch bolt. I was able to work around it by manually entering in all the info but realistically the compendium is there to make things like manually entering in standard PHB stuff something we don't have to do. How to fix?
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Stephanie B.
Forum Champion
Sheet Author
Hi, Acthland! Do you own the Player's Handbook? Witch Bolt is in the PHB, but not in the SRD. As such, it will only appear if you own the PHB, or if the creator of the game you're in owns the PHB and has turned on compendium sharing. If you do own the PHB and are still encountering this issue, please reply back so we can help troubleshoot the problem.
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Edited 1548469377
keithcurtis
Forum Champion
Marketplace Creator
API Scripter
Although Witch Bolt is not home brew, Wizards of the Coat have not released it into the SRD. Unles you have purchased the Players Handbook, it will not be available. IIRC, there are about 20-30 spells that are not freely available, though some have SRD versions: Acid Arrow for Melf's Acid Arrow, for example. This is also why the base Compendium contains only one feat, and each class has only one archetype.
Sorry for the late reply! I didn't realize that the compendium was sourced from digital copies of the books. I own a physical copy of the PHB but not a digital one. I assume I have to purchase it from here in order for it to show up in my sessions that I DM?
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keithcurtis
Forum Champion
Marketplace Creator
API Scripter
The Compendium is sourced from the SRD or System Reference Document, a subset of the rules that Wizards of the Coast have authorized for open use. There is no printed copy of the SRD. The base Compendium of Roll20 for 5th Edition D&D is derived from that. You can drag and drop spells and monsters to your desktop from that (without art, which is licensed). You can also use the Charactermancer to create characters using that SRD subset of the rules. Many people run their games this way, manually adding anything the SRD does not give access to. Purchasing the licensed PHB from Roll20 grants you access to the full text and rules of that book. All spells, classes and races. Purchasing the licensed Monster Manual from Roll20 gives you access to all the monsters from that book, with art and tokens. The same general principle applies with other official books, to varying degrees (not everything is tied into the Charactermancer yet. tl;dr: You do not need to purchase anything to run D&D on Role20. Purchasing books on Roll20 makes running a game easier.
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keithcurtis
Forum Champion
Marketplace Creator
API Scripter
Also, if you purchase compendium books from Roll20, you can share them within games you create with different levels of permission depending on your subscription.