Do you keep your Players' character sheets?

[Jhaelen]

The group I was in as a teenager, we kept our own. Every single session, someone would forget their character sheet. Every game I've been in subsequently, the GM kept them.

This!

 

[Redshirt]

Whenever a friend of mine DM's he gives all the players a cheap folder at the start of the campaign to keep their sheets and notes in. It's much easier to keep track of everything if its all in one folder. I liked this idea so much I started doing it myself.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Over the years on message boards, I've seen a few references to DMs collecting and keeping Players' character sheets between game sessions.

I've only once in real life gaming met a DM who did this. When I learned this was the DM's way, I made a duplicate of my sheet to give him, because I want my character sheet, myself -- it's freakin' mine.

Do you, or does your DM keep the Players' character sheets between game sessions?

Bullgrit

I have always collected character sheets* at the end of every session unless the player needs/wants it for some reason. The simple matter is we always play at my place and I can state with 100% certainty that 1 or more of my players (in either group) would forget their sheet. Hell I have players who can't remember to bring their freaking dice and must pull dice from the Head of Shame (a ceramic C-3P0 head filled to the top with old dice). Every group I have played in has had the same policy for the very same reason. I think I would find it odd if a DM didn't collect PC sheets at the end of the session.


*= I now give every player a duotang with those clear plastic 'paper pocket' things to keep sheets & notes in. Some also requested card pocket sheets to cut out their power cards and put them in, flipping them when the power is used.

 

[Holy Bovine]

Yes, frequently.

I keep them so I can use them to design encounters and challenges and other things between sessions that are appropriate to the specific resources of the party. Moreover, it means that if a player should not be able to show next time, we have his or her character sheet on hand so that will not present a problem.

To avoid this problem and make everybody happy, I highly recommend creating a campaign workspace on dndsheets.net and having everybody use that free service to do their character sheets. That way, it always available to everybody, everywhere.

DND Sheets currently supports:

• 4e Dungeons and Dragons
• Pathfinder (3.75e Dungeons and Dragons) [Example]
• 3.5e Dungeons and Dragons [Example]
• 3e Dungeons and Dragons
• d20 Star Wars RPG [Example]
• d20 Serenity [Example]
• d20 Stargate
• d20 Modern [Example]

That's very cool. My group and I just found iPlay4e - play 4e Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) online! and it looks promising too.

 

[Uder]

Players lose character sheets, or forget them. Players also have to miss games sometimes, and we may not be in a position to move their PC offstage. On the other hand, as host it is impossible for me to lose a character sheet. Okay, nothing's impossible, but my garage would have to burn down or somesuch.

I provide character folders full of character sheets, a campaign primer, house rules, extra follower/companion sheets, and spellcasting forms. These stay here. If a player needs to take one home to level up I run off a copy and they can take the original. At the end of the campaign they can take the original or a copy if they like (but the folders, notes, forms, etc. get recycled for the next game).

 

[Papa-DRB]

I don't "keep" character sheets, but I do create a character for each PC in PCGen and everyone sends me significant updates, ie. level up, magic treasure.

For several reasons:
1) I have a party sheet so I can say, oops, paladin has a bit much, and the cleric is low so I put an item in the treasure pile that I know darn well the cleric will take.
2) With 4 PCs and 1 cohort, I will play down 1 person so this way I have a sheet to pass out to someone with enough information to run the missing PC for the session.

-- david
Papa.DRB

 

[carmachu]

I think I would find it odd if a DM didn't collect PC sheets at the end of the session.

WHy? We mostly keep ours because we also do alot of RPing in email and message boards off the table(alot of side things that each individual has) as to not take up table time from the group.

I find it odder that a DM would request/demand it.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Only if they ask me to.

It's not a rule I enforce; it's a service I provide.

-O

Yup. I have a couple players that leave theirs with me and others who take them home.

 

[Alan Shutko]

When I was running a campaign, I would periodically scan all character sheets at the end of the night so folks had backup and so that I'd have something to reference in planning between sessions. Most players would take their sheets home, some left them with me. When folks lost their sheets, it was very handy to have scans.

 

[ZzarkLinux]

Ew, why would I let my DM have my sheet?

I can email him a copy if he wants. Or photo-copy it.
Gmail solves. Scanner at work solves.

Besides, if you are still building your character, how can you "build your character" if you don't have the sheet?

"I played with a 5-year-old who forgot his sheet"

So now we let 5-year-olds ruin the game for the rest of us?

Yes, I had a DM demand my character sheet. I already forgot the stats for that character, and the game was less-than-a-year-ago. I was too un-attached to the character to care.