D&D General Tips for Using Paper Character Sheets

[Blue]

I do the same thing. My grandmother recently joined my table earlier this year at the start of a new campaign, and since she still struggles with some of the mechanics/spells/rules, I take the time after each level up to cover anything about her character’s abilities she is still unclear on or wants clarification on.

Side Note: Her dragonborn cleric is a certified badass.

Three cheers for Grandma! Wooo!

And that reminds me of one of the best things about paper character sheets. If you have to fill them out yourself, you know what is on them - in other words you know everything your character can do. I have played with veteran players who used apps for their characters and didn't even realize that they had gotten a new feature on level up.

 

[Stormonu]

I exclusively use beyond these days, but still play with several people who use paper sheets.

If you’re running a Druid, beastmaster ranger, necromancer or any sort of summoner, get cards with the creatures stats for quick use.

I prefer to fill out all the modifiers for all skills, not just the ones I am proficient in. As others have stated, noting the page number by any abilities is also a good idea.

If you have an attack combo, I find it helpful to have the round-by-round actions on a sticky note or such for quick reference (I did this for my hexblade recently). Also, if you cast spells or regularly use abilities that grant ongoing bonuses (guidance, bless, bardic inspiration) get tokens made with the effects that you can pass to folks as reminders.

For the love of God, whatever you do, write legibly. We have a player in my game whose handwriting is so atrocious, he can’t even read his own writing. That individual has lost serval items and clues because of their poor writing.

 

[SlyFlourish]

I don’t really have any tips but paper characters are one of the joys of playing at the table for me - although I find D&D Beyond helpful for online play. I keep my characters sheets in clear plastic folders along with any handouts etc. My Cthulhu character’s health & stability have been rubbed out and rewritten many times but that’s all part of the charm of a physical sheet.

I think we should get comfortable using paper-based sheets even when playing online.

 

[SlyFlourish]

I just want to add that the wear and tear on a physical character sheet is part of the fun and charm of the sheet. Sometimes I look back at old sheets and think, "wow, based on the ring-shaped stains on this I really was drinking too much Dr. Pepper back then!"

Edit: Then again, I am a proponent of writing in my RPG books!

I agree on both counts!!

 

[Zaukrie]

"should" is a very strong word.....

 

[Stormonu]

I work for a company that went "paperless" ten years ago, where there is now a printer at everyone's desk because managers won't give up their requirement for employees to print out their work so it can be scanned into our document imaging system for reference. I was recently involved with helping clean out the office when one of those managers retired - and we tossed two 6 ft. tall, 3 ft. wide bookshelves filled with binders of system screenshots as far back as 20 years ago. All screenshots where you could pull the screen up on the PC today and see what was entered those years ago (for systems we still have, that is).

I will do anything I can for paper character sheets to go away in the RPGs I am involved in.

 

[RichGreen]

I think we should get comfortable using paper-based sheets even when playing online.

yep, I’m comfortable with it but Roll20 + Beyond20 makes playing D&D easier!

 

[Zaukrie]

I work for a company that went "paperless" ten years ago, where there is now a printer at everyone's desk because managers won't give up their requirement for employees to print out their work so it can be scanned into our document imaging system for reference. I was recently involved with helping clean out the office when one of those managers retired - and we tossed two 6 ft. tall, 3 ft. wide bookshelves filled with binders of system screenshots as far back as 20 years ago. All screenshots where you could pull the screen up on the PC today and see what was entered those years ago (for systems we still have, that is).

I will do anything I can for paper character sheets to go away in the RPGs I am involved in.

I spent an internship at 3M convincing them to stop printing and sending inventory reports all over the world. They agreed to test it, and let's just say no one complained and they saved A LOT of money after that....

 

[SlyFlourish]

I work for a company that went "paperless" ten years ago, where there is now a printer at everyone's desk because managers won't give up their requirement for employees to print out their work so it can be scanned into our document imaging system for reference. I was recently involved with helping clean out the office when one of those managers retired - and we tossed two 6 ft. tall, 3 ft. wide bookshelves filled with binders of system screenshots as far back as 20 years ago. All screenshots where you could pull the screen up on the PC today and see what was entered those years ago (for systems we still have, that is).

I will do anything I can for paper character sheets to go away in the RPGs I am involved in.

I don't think that's a tip for using a paper-based character sheet.

 

[SlyFlourish]

yep, I’m comfortable with it but Roll20 + Beyond20 makes playing D&D easier!

But at what cost, Richard? WHAT TERRIBLE COST???