Because I'm tearing out my hair over here, and it's getting to the point where my whole group is considering leaving Roll20 over it, and it's legit over one missing feature: You can't send the descriptive text of spells, feats, or attacks to chat. Every single VTT that I know of does this, and Roll20, before the integration, had this as a feature of their character sheets. Heck, I know there are third parties that have done this with Roll20, so it's not as if it's never been done.
This has been brought up for over a year as something people wanted, and the most we get is a weak "Oh, good idea, we'll tell the devs" response. You can't get any sort of timeline, or even an actual dev, to say that this has any sort of priority.
Why is this feature important?
With feat / spell / ability heavy systems like Pathfinder 2e and Starfinder 2e, it's impossible for the GM to memorize the system with perfect fidelity. Having the text posted to chat cuts down on a lot of pausing as things are looked up, and it cuts down on miscommunication. Trust me, I came from a time when we were working completely from paper, and it sucked. One of the selling points of moving to a VTT was having this sort of thing posted for all to see.
It can also help when a bunch of people are rolling in PF/SF, since different types of rolls might mean different outcomes. A diplomacy roll is not the same as an intimidation roll. A nature check might tell you something different than an occultism check. Perception and stealth have very, very different outcomes in a game. The GM shouldn't have to ask each player, one by one, what they actually rolled. It should just be there.
It also helps cut down on mistakes. With other sheets, everyone can see how a roll was constructed. Time and time again, another player has pointed out that someone is missing a buff, or is rolling too few dice (an extremely common mistake with beginners). I've also had players post a feat for everyone to ask for a clarification. It's way more likely that people are actually going to look at the text if it's right there in front of them.
It can also help with keeping track of conditional bonuses. For example, Trap Finder gives the player a +1 to find traps. You don't want to add this as a flat bonus to the check, because it won't always be pertinent, and the GM won't want specifically ask about it, because that gives away the fact that there's probably a trap in the room. Having it as a note, shown with the roll, makes it so the player doesn't forget it and the GM knows about it without having to ask.
Also, players need to know what's being thrown at them! Some will have resistances to certain attacks, some will have weaknesses, some can completely negate them. There's a whole host of circumstantial bonuses they might have, and being able to see all the details related to the attack lets them actually use them without a bunch of back and forth.
And, I'll say it again, it's a feature we had before, literally everywhere else. This is something that GMs and players have had for over a decade, and it feels weird to suddenly lose it for no reason.
Why am I getting cranky now?
It's been a year. Why am I throwing a fit now? Because of Starfinder 2e.
With Starfinder 2e, we are not being given the option of Demiplane + a sheet local to Roll20, like we have in Pathfinder2e. We can either use Demiplane, and keep the compendium but lose the ability to have sheets that post like they do everywhere else, or we use a vibe-coded community sheet and lose the compendium. Players have asked, begged even, to have our own sheet, but we've been told no.
It feels bad because it honestly feels like the Paizo community was used as a launch pad for this company, and now, we're being screwed over, because the focus seems to be on onboarding new systems. I don't want to look at new VTTs, but it's hard to make the case for sticking around if the sheets aren't going to be fully functional. I've been on Roll20 since the Kickstarter days. I have a ton of purchased materials here. I don't want to leave, but Demiplane is actively making the experience of playing on Roll20 worse.
I'm not even joking when I say that, if we had a sheet we could just fill out by hand, I would not have been raising hell in multiple forums over this. While, yes, the community sheet technically is that, it was vibe coded, isn't a part of the official list of community sheets, and was made by someone who has no footprint I could find. It feels like something that could decay quickly.
What do I want?
From the technical side: Anything you can click on inside of a Demiplane sheet should have the option to send it to the chat. Any rolls you make should absolutely be sent with relevant text. Honestly, just go fiddle with the Pathfinder2e Roll20 sheets. The requirements are all right there!
I would love it if someone with some authority and/or knowledge could give us some idea of whether this feature is on the horizon or not. If it's not, fine, I'll start moving my games somewhere else. If it is, awesome, what's the timeline? If there's a blocker, hey, I get it, I'm two decades into my dev career. Is the blocker being worked on, or does it mean that this feature is dead in the water?
Failing that, then I would love to see Roll20 give us the option to use a sheet alongside Roll20. That at least gives us a stopgap measure.
I would really love to know before I throw any more money at a solution that won't meet my needs in the long run.
