Character Codex

Character sheets overall utility depends on what you as a consumer are looking for.

Me? I'm about 90% a go with the official free downloadable character sheet. The other 10% is standard pen and lined paper. Note that this doesn't mean when I find something really useful that I go, "No, must have official" as I've already seen some 4th ed stuff, like Ema's Charsheets, Ema's Charsheets or for the older edition, the Mad Irisman, Mad Irishman Productions Homepage , who don't make me go whoa!

In that context, an unofficial character sheet has to have a whole lot going for it for me to buy it and more importantly, use it enough to buy it again.

The Character Codex from Goodman Games gets off to a good start with another cover by William O'Connon. The cover is a bit busy and might not be the best for a character sheet as it's a very specific type of character, but it certainly catches the eye and it's by a high profile artist doing a lot of work for Wizards of the Coast and has an "official" look about it.

The interior has all the things you might need ranging from the standard spaces to put your ability scores and skill modifiers, as well as pages which are essentially linned paper to put house rules, history and maps.

Overall, it boast some great design but content wise, much of it is simply linned paper with fancy symbols. And if you're not using pencil, very lightly, it's overall utility is down. Compare this with various downloadable character sheets and it's overall utility is reduced even further.

4e is one of those few games where because every class has it's own list of powers, having character specific classes with all of their rules lineed out, would work much better than a generic character sheet that can be switched up as needed.

For those who love character sheets and want it all in one spot, the 16 page format works to your advantage. You don't have everything spread out over several lose leaf sheets and you're good to go.