Character Sheet Feedback

[Jeff Carlsen]

Now that the PHB is out, I'm getting ready to update this sheet to the final game. In order to do that, I'm calling for help finding things that are missing or incorrect. Here's a list of what I've found so far:

• No section for traits
• Missing Passive Perception
• Missing Temporary Hit Points
• Missing Inspiration
• Need to update the list of conditions on the Adventure Tracking Page
• Adventure tracking page references marking circles, but of course, they're little hearts now

Then there are things I'm not entirely happy with:

• Languages are in the wrong place
• Background isn't on the front page
• The special abilities section is a bit awkward
• The decorations, while fine in InDesign and when printed, look strange when the PDF is viewed on a screen.

Open Question for you:

• Do you prefer special abilities broken up by where they come from (race, class, background, or feat), or would you prefer a generic section for them all?

 

[Pauln6]

I think the sheet is great. It's the only one to date that has enough room for all my group's attacks.

I think that keeping abilities under separate headers helps you find things but it's not essential. I always find it odd that racial abilities on some sheets get almost as much space as class abilities when class abilities need enough space to last 20 levels. How much space does a human need for racial abilities anyway? So it might be better just lumping them in one section. Also, some classes have no short rest abilities and some classes have loads so having a few slots on the sheets rarely hits the sweet spot.

Maybe race and class abilities need a supplementary sheet like magic items with power cards like 4e with tick boxes to show if an ability is at-will, or refreshes on long rest or on a short rest plus a few usage boxes. It looks like warlocks with invocations and fighters with manoeuvres might be the classes that will need the most space. What I find most useful is enough space to put in reminder lines to summarise mechanics to save keep having to look them up in the book. What we've been doing with basic is cutting and pasting descriptions into crib sheets tailored for each character but can't do that with a hard copy PHB so summary space is important.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

I've updated the static version of the sheet. I want to get feedback before I put in the effort to update the fillable sheet.

Version 1.1 is available from the forum Downloads Section.

Once done, my next project is to start working on alternate and expansion pages for the official sheets. They share a lot of the core design concepts as these sheets, such as the three column layout, grid based design, and a simple core with optional extra sheets.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

I'm bumping this thread in hopes of capturing some of the traffic the front page is driving to this subforum. I really want to make sure people who still use this sheet are happy with the changes before I make it form fillable.

 

[GX.Sigma]

To be honest, I must admit the official 5e sheet appeals to me more than yours--they're very similar, but WotC obviously has more resources to polish it. The WotC sheet seems to have more room to write stuff, and looks prettier. But since you're asking for feedback...

Spell sheet needs to be updated. Save DC is now 8 + ability mod + proficiency bonus, and the term "spellcasting bonus" has been removed. It also doesn't need the whole "spells requiring attack bonuses" part, since that's already covered on page 1.

I actually don't think "magic ability" even needs to be on that page (not in a big box at the top of the page, anyway). I mean, what do you put in there? "Wisdom?" That's something you should remember. Or do you put "16 (+3)"? In that case, that's redundant, since it's already on page 1. I think there should be a box for spell attack bonus, though.

I'd also change "Maximum Number of Prepared Spells" to "Spells Known/Prepared," since different classes have different mechanics. Clerics have spells prepared, Wizards have spells known and spells prepared, and Sorcerers just have spells known. So, a Sorcerer could write "4" while a Wizard could write "8/3" or whatever.

I also think the magic item sheet could be updated. Creator and Nature could be removed, and the whole thing could be more empty so the player can choose what to write down (like maybe this +1 sword has a cool origin story, but the staff of the magi has lots of abilities I need to remember). I do think there needs to be a box for the recharge rate of the item, since that's just as important as the maximum number of charges.

The coinage section should be updated to the gold standard. The silver standard might have felt nice philosophically, but the PHB makes clear that gold is the standard unit of wealth (and players always talk in terms of gold anyway).

The Carrying Capacity formula should be updated. I think you could fit the "simple" encumbrance system and the complex one on the same sheet; just label two of the steps optional.

I'd remove the Feat section and just have lines there. I expect most people will need a lot more room for their class features, and many characters might not have any feats.

Under the "Dex Mod" box in the armor section, you could put little bubbles for "N/A (heavy armor)" and "max 2 (medium armor)."

"-5 ft. from armor" is not a thing anymore.

Under "weight carried," I think the order should be armor, weapons, treasure, and equipment, since that's the order in which they appear on the sheet.

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

To be honest, I must admit the official 5e sheet appeals to me more than yours--they're very similar, but WotC obviously has more resources to polish it. The WotC sheet seems to have more room to write stuff, and looks prettier. But since you're asking for feedback...

Spell sheet needs to be updated. Save DC is now 8 + ability mod + proficiency bonus, and the term "spellcasting bonus" has been removed. It also doesn't need the whole "spells requiring attack bonuses" part, since that's already covered on page 1.

I actually don't think "magic ability" even needs to be on that page (not in a big box at the top of the page, anyway). I mean, what do you put in there? "Wisdom?" That's something you should remember. Or do you put "16 (+3)"? In that case, that's redundant, since it's already on page 1. I think there should be a box for spell attack bonus, though.

I'd also change "Maximum Number of Prepared Spells" to "Spells Known/Prepared," since different classes have different mechanics. Clerics have spells prepared, Wizards have spells known and spells prepared, and Sorcerers just have spells known. So, a Sorcerer could write "4" while a Wizard could write "8/3" or whatever.

I also think the magic item sheet could be updated. Creator and Nature could be removed, and the whole thing could be more empty so the player can choose what to write down (like maybe this +1 sword has a cool origin story, but the staff of the magi has lots of abilities I need to remember). I do think there needs to be a box for the recharge rate of the item, since that's just as important as the maximum number of charges.

The coinage section should be updated to the gold standard. The silver standard might have felt nice philosophically, but the PHB makes clear that gold is the standard unit of wealth (and players always talk in terms of gold anyway).

The Carrying Capacity formula should be updated. I think you could fit the "simple" encumbrance system and the complex one on the same sheet; just label two of the steps optional.

I'd remove the Feat section and just have lines there. I expect most people will need a lot more room for their class features, and many characters might not have any feats.

Under the "Dex Mod" box in the armor section, you could put little bubbles for "N/A (heavy armor)" and "max 2 (medium armor)."

"-5 ft. from armor" is not a thing anymore.

Under "weight carried," I think the order should be armor, weapons, treasure, and equipment, since that's the order in which they appear on the sheet.

Thank you. You've always been properly thorough.

Personally, I agree that on the whole, the official sheets are a better implementation of the same concept. In fact, my next project is to expand upon the official character sheets with things like the magic item sheet, expanded equipment sheet, and alternative main pages. But, people have been asking for an updated version of this, and I'm glad to provide it.

 

[Pauln6]

Not much to add to the above critique. At level 13 my players had run out of room in the class features section. One option might be to remove the encounter powers section and just put more lines in there but even then it might be tight.

The official sheets have their own issues but tweaking them might be a cool project too.

I have to disagree about removing the flavour text sections on the magic items though. Encouraging DMs to add just that little bit of extra info elevates items from boring and generic to much more interesting. I'd leave it on.

 

[sunspot]

My 2 coppers:

- Coinage should definitely be gold standard.

- Definitely needs a temp hit points box
(maybe fit it between HP and HD boxes, and stack hearts and skull above one another for death saves section)

- I'd keep the magic ability box in the spells section.

- I would add more lines for Feats, as some of them can be quite extensive.

- I would add more lines to Race and Class as well.

- I would keep special abilities separate as they are. Much easier to find and looks much better.


Thank you for your work!

PS: This is by far my favorite sheet.

 

[sunspot]

After speaking with my characters, it's been suggested that maybe the top of the spells page should be removed entirely and put on the first page. (much of that info is there already) (It could fit bottom left of 1st page, maybe remove 'Magic Ability' box if necessary. The Spells requiring an attack rolls are already on 1st page with weapons, so no need to have them again.

Much more importantly is the need to have many more lines per spell level. the current limited fields make the section almost useless.
Let me explain:

A 1st level cleric would have 7 prepared spells (includes Wis + domain + level).
As it stands, there are only 7 lines for 1st level spells.
Thus, when this cleric reaches level 2, and has 8 prepared spells, the list will no longer be able to accommodate him.

Further more, I assume that the bubbles next to the spell list lines are to indicate which are 'prepared' on a given day.
But if there are only 7 lines for spells, they would all be defacto 'prepared' that day for lack of space for non-preapred/known spells. Basically, there is no space for the 'not-prepared' spells of the day. In order to fully be able to serve as a casters daily repertoire of 'prepared or not prepared spells, there should be ~ 15 lines per level to write down prepared spells AND known spells. As this would require significantly more space, I suggest you extend the Spells known and prepared section into 2 pages.

I hope that makes sense.

Thanks again!


Ian

 

[B9anders]

Just got the PHB and looking for sheets. This looks by far the best. Thanks!