Character maintenance

[Roadkill101]

I write very lightly, or use a drafting pencil with a hard lead which only leaves light marks, and use a whit drafting eraser to preserve the character sheet as long as possible. Eventually, it'll end up looking like crud so I have to copy everything over to a fresh sheet.

 

[Psionicist]

This always happens: I create a new character in a text editor. I just barely finish it technically before the first game, so I just print it out and write HP and XP and new items etc on the back of the paper. I promise myself I will either print a new updated version or copy the character to a real character sheet. A couple of sessions later my original printed version is full of drawings and incomprehensible nonsense. I promise myself I will fix the sheet as soon as possible. Of course, this never happens.

 

[Orius]

"Bah, kids these days! In my day, we didn't even have fancy character sheets, we wrote our characters down on notebook paper. We wrote over and erased then over and over until they looked like crud, and we liked it! and when we wore holes in the paper, we copied it all over, uphill both ways!"

 

[shilsen]

I use a stat block for my characters nowadays, which I keep in a Word document on my computer. So I update it regularly there and print out a fresh copy for the game as needed.

 

[Ellie_the_Elf]

Two of my players made a self calculating character sheet- I've even put some recurring NPCs on it and it makes life so much easier. If anything changes (levelling, for example) all you need to do is change the sheet on the pc and print a new one. They also made a spell database in our last campaign where they were both playing arcane casters from which they printed custom spell lists whenever they gained new spells- the data entry is a pain but hopefully we'll get chance to enter the other spell lists before long so it's more multipurpose.

Myself, I do all my DMing and PC management off my laptop at the game so no problems there

I'm planning to give my players index cards next session for HP tracking. There are also some really nice ammo/trail ration tracking cards in the Artifacts of the Arcane series (sold at rpg now) which are illustrated and can be printed out then crossed off as the item is used- you could easily laminate those or put them in plastic sleeves to make them reusable- that's what I'm planning to do anyway.

Ellie.

 

[Aaron L]

Aww, c'mon! I have a 13 year old 1E character sheet that looks like parchment that I was still using up to last year.! But we typically would use a sheet until the stains made it unreadable and the holes were big enough to drive a wagon through. Your chartacter sheet didnt have anough character until it had at least a nice aroma of hot wings about it.

But nowadays Im a bit obsessive about it, and for fun I would ctually make 3 different sheets and update them all as needed, but only use one in session. I never did like software sheet programs, but thats just my personal preference. I enjoy filling them out by hand.

 

[HeapThaumaturgist]

Seems like I say this every thread these days:

I use DMGenie. Even when I'm a player.

It lets me track pretty much every aspect of my character and I just print out a fresh sheet every level. I don't mind it looking like crap, I even crib my XP in the margins with calculations and everything. It looks a little rough, but when the next level rolls around I have a fresh sheet.

My last GM used DMGenie (Alot of us liked it) and it was nice to have him be able to check the sheet and let me know what was what, and when we leveled up I could send him an export of the PC and he'd upload it and have it ready to rock and roll.

A trick I picked up BEFORE I used software ... for all the erase-prone parts of the sheet ... cover those areas in mid/non-glossy clear tape. You can still write on it with a #2 pencil, but it doesn't wear out when you erase it. You have to rub pretty hard with your finger to wipe it off, but it's not as permanent as writing on the paper itself. Worked well for me, anyway.

Now, though, with DMGenie, when I run games I keep the PCs for my players and print them out a new sheet each level. Everybody seemed to really like that. Nobody was SOL if they forgot or misplaced their character sheet, the sheets were always clean looking, stuff was well laid out and easy to find, etc.

--fje

 

[NCSUCodeMonkey]

Oddly enough, even though I enjoy using computers for almost everything else, I like a good old fashioned character sheet, pencil smudges and all. I'm a fan of the sheets on mad-irishman.net (also humorus since he's a UNC fan ), which I usually print out on a nice weight of cardstock. It keeps you from drilling through the paper with the eraser, and it gives your sheet this nice, hefty feeling. I usually create a new sheet every level.

~ NCSUCodeMonkey

 

[Starglim]

I've learned to have my char sheet as the layout, but to write everything that changes a bit on a legal pad (the big long yellow pads of paper). One page for possessions, one for treasure we find, one for xp, etc. It saves on the char sheets I have to redo and keeps things organized.

I do more or less the same. This has the advantage that I can do all my record and note-keeping in ink, so my adventure notes don't smudge and get hard to read.

I keep my character sheet in electronic format, update it each level (equipment included) and reprint a clean copy.

 

[Romnipotent]

there is no sheet