Buying sourcebooks on Roll20 vs DnDBeyond

 Hi everyone, I am interested in hearing opinions on the following questions related to buying the sourcebooks on Roll20.net vs. DnDbeyond I know that as a player in a Roll20 campaign, I can create a character within that campaign using the sourcebooks that the DM has (if they have the Pro license). I also know how to transfer a character from a campaign to my vault.  But I still have some open questions (see below) that I welcome thoughts. 1.  There appears to be no way to print a character sheet within Roll20 is that correct? I have been doing screen grabs of my character and pasting those ina. word document as the only way to get a character out of Roll20 into my personal files.  Is there something I am missing here? 2.  I play other places besides Roll20 but I really like the Character generation tool for D&D 5th in Roll20. But to get access to that creation tool, I had to create a practice campaign, roll the character in there and then screen grab his information to put into a word file so I can print a copy to take with me to the in-person gaming session. I also can do this with DnDbeyond. However, both Roll20 and DnDBeyond want you to buy sourcebooks to get access to all of the classes, skills, etc. If I create the character on DnDbeyond, I can print the sheet but there doesn't appear to be a way to import that to Roll20 other than just retyping it.  If I do this, will I be able to link to spells and equipment within Roll20? If yes, I am going to guess that spells that are not part of the base Roll20 set can't be linked unless I buy the sourcebook in Roll20, is that your understanding as well? 3.  Can you manually enter spells into Roll20 to get around not buying the sourcebooks? 4. Buying the sourcebooks in Roll20 doesn't give me a PDF  right? If that is correct, how do you read them for fun or are you just buying the linking ability through the compendium?  5.  DnDBeyond-- if you buy their digitial source books, are you getting PDFs or is the same thing that you can only read them if you are logged into their website? SO MY PROBLEM IS THIS: 1. If I am going to buy digital copies of the sourcebooks, I would like a PDF -- will either of those sources provide that? 2. If there was a way to import DNDbeyond characters into Roll20, I would buy the sourcebooks there. 3.  Is the only way to use the Roll20 character generation tool by creating a campaign and rolling the character within the campaign? 4. If I buy the sourcebooks on Roll20, is there any way to export/print characters for use outside of Roll20? Thanks in advance for any help or thoughts! DJ

First Set 1. Roll20 does not offer a print solution. Some folks have had limited success by printing the popped out version to PDF, but with generally meh results. 2. Lot of questions mixed up in this one. There is no perfect integration between the two services, and it's a moving target, since you are dealing with two independent dynamically evolving code bases that have not vested interest in making it easy for a third party to maintain a solution . 3. Yes. 4. Roll20 is difficult to read through in a linear fashion. The sourcebooks and modules contain all of the material, but in a way that maximizes their utility in using within the app. So there's no "read through" for a module, since the book sis presented as shorter handouts designed to be referenced while interacting with a particular map or encounter. There is a limited "Next Page" set up in may of the source books, but the performance of this varies. 5. No one sells pdfs of WotC's hardcover books. Nobody, not even WotC. If you find one somewhere, it is pirated. Second Set 1. No. You cannot buy them in PDF anywhere. 2. There is a script (Pro subscription to use) that purports to import DnDBeyond characters into Roll20. In my limited experience, it appears to break whenever DDB or Roll20 makes changes to the code structure. There is a browser extension that allows you to interact with a DDB sheet from Roll20. Some folks swear by it. I felt it was like trying to type while wearing mittens. 3. Yes. That is the paradigm. However there are multiple ways to move that character between games, depending on the subscription level of the game creator, and/or whether the game uses a purchased module. In my experience, most GMs wanting to run a long term game would prefer a character to be generated within their game to ensure conformity to setting or house rules. 4. Not in any useful fashion. I believe there may be some import/export capability with the new Foundry Tabletop software, but since that has no licensing deals with WotC at this point, it likely breaks a EULA or TOS.

Thanks so much Keith-- just as I feared!