Ever just redo a players character sheet?

[Schmoe]

As a DM, I have taken the liberty of copying a player's character sheet if the sheet is ratty and torn and the player leaves it with me at the end of a session. It allows me to point out any errors and give them an opportunity to start with a "clean" sheet.

The few times I did this, I made sure to try to stick to the original organization and I returned the original sheet, as well. I think the gesture was appreciated. At least I didn't get any wet willies afterward.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

I've only done so if the players are total newbs to the game and didn't use character sheets. If the sheets are so terrible they can't understand it, there's a problem.

 

[Beckett]

There was serious temptation to redo a sheet at my last session. One of the players couldn't make it, so another player was entrusted with his character. It quickly became apparent why the player was always re-adding his bonuses to hit- the sheet was an organizational mess. Add on to that bad skill and feat choices which are this player's hallmark (he makes very flawed characters under the guise of "role-playing", although the only role he seems to play is stupid and/or annoying). In the end, the player just threw his hands up and figured the other player could suffer with his current sheet.

 

[Lanefan]

Some of the people I play with and DM are *atrocious* bookkeepers, even using a 1e-based system where there's not as much to keep track of. Usually, there's enough information there to muddle through, but when a player's absent and the rest of us are trying to decode what's written (or make our saving throw to even read the writing) it can get interesting. And everyone has their own format for sheets; though I long ago did up a template, not everyone uses it (including me!)

That said, I wouldn't dare completely re-do one. I will sometimes make up a cheat sheet for reference and clip it to the main sheet, but that's it.

One of my players had (and still has) a character with a character sheet that was on its way to becoming unreadable about 5 years into her career due to simple wear and tear. So does she re-do it? Of course not. She has the original one laminated! Of course, this has two effects: one, there's almost no way to write on the laminate material, leading to use of lots of little stickers; and two, the ink under the laminate has started to bleed a bit, making it even less readable than before.... :\

Lanefan

 

[sjmiller]

As a DM I would not think of redoing a players character sheet without first asking them if it was okay to make a copy. As a player, I would not even think of redoing another player's sheet. I am practically at a loss for words regarding this. Unless a character is causing problems, or the player specifically asks me to go over their character, there's no reason whatsoever to justify doing that. It's rude, that's the nicest thing I can say.

As a player, it's my character and my character sheet, and if I am lax in maintaining it then that's my problem. Nobody else has the right to do things with my character sheet without permission. The DM can ask me for a clean copy for his records if he likes, but the original stays with me.

If a DM insisted on keeping and maintaining a groups character sheets I would be rather put out by the whole thing. How irresponsible does he think I am? What bigger insult can a DM give me than to say he does not trust me to keep my own character?

I can neither imagine doing anything like this, nor can I imagine anyone doing this to me and my character. I would have to seriously reconsider being in any game where this was allowed and accepted.

 

[Imagicka]

Greetings...

We are talking aboiut Crothian here, who finds time to read all the posts here... reply to half of them... read a couple of PDFs... and write reviews for them... brush up on a couple of old game books because someone mentioned 'TORG' or 'All My Children the RPG' and so he thinks it would be fun to reread the game over again.... write a few modules/campaigns for the games he's running... and this all before breakfast!

Seriously... Crothian, what are you on, and where can I get some?

 

[WayneLigon]

So, anyone else ever redo a players character sheet?

Yep, several times. One guy was missing like ten points in skills, one guy hadn't upped his BAB from 2nd level (he was a fifth level fighter) and other stuff. Most of these people are newbies, but still...

 

[atomn]

Once I had a character sheet that was just the stats written on a sheet of looseleaf paper, so it didn't look official and didn't have the standard set up. I was absent for a game and I guess because it bugged him the GM redid my sheet for the next session. Opposite to what most other people have been posting, the GM made a bunch of mistakes in transferring the character sheet and I ended up with mistakes on my new sheet! It was a nice gesture and I felt bad that his effort went to waste but I kept using the looseleaf paper.

 

[Aaron L]

As a DM I would not think of redoing a players character sheet without first asking them if it was okay to make a copy. As a player, I would not even think of redoing another player's sheet. I am practically at a loss for words regarding this. Unless a character is causing problems, or the player specifically asks me to go over their character, there's no reason whatsoever to justify doing that. It's rude, that's the nicest thing I can say.

As a player, it's my character and my character sheet, and if I am lax in maintaining it then that's my problem. Nobody else has the right to do things with my character sheet without permission. The DM can ask me for a clean copy for his records if he likes, but the original stays with me.

If a DM insisted on keeping and maintaining a groups character sheets I would be rather put out by the whole thing. How irresponsible does he think I am? What bigger insult can a DM give me than to say he does not trust me to keep my own character?

I can neither imagine doing anything like this, nor can I imagine anyone doing this to me and my character. I would have to seriously reconsider being in any game where this was allowed and accepted.

No need to overrect. No one is suggesting that we seize someones character sheet and erase it in front of them, or that we sneak their sheets away from them to make sure they add up. Crothian said he'd copy it onto another sheet and correct the errors, make it easier to read, and then point out any problems to the player. If someone gave me their character sheet to play while they weren't there and the thing was a horrible mess, you're damn right I'm going to make a more legible copy. And then let the player know if he was missing feats or skill points. I've done it myself. Some people don't have a clue and their character sheets are a complete mess. And judging by the responses on this thread, those people aren't that uncommon.


I myself can't imagine being so lax as to actually forget feats! Do they actually have any interest at all in the game? Then again, I can't fathom drinking while gaming either, and it appears that thats a common practice.

And as far as the DM doing it goes, if the DM wants a copy of your character then he should be able to get one without question. Ideally he should already have one. And occasionally going over it to make sure everything adds up I would say is well within the realm of his job.

 

[IcyCool]

I myself can't imagine being so lax as to actually forget feats!

I had one player complain about a lack of wealth and magic items. So I went through everyone's sheets and totalled up character wealth. When I got to his sheet, I found only a few items written down. I looked over his sheet more closely and discovered that while he hadn't written down several of the magic items he had received, he sure had their benefits written down on his sheet (like a deflection bonus for his ring of protection). I had to go back to the player and ask where certain bonuses came from. There were numerous math errors as well (the player would add up his total attack roll every time).

Edit - It turns out that all the characters were pretty well off for their levels (given the wealth by level chart, they were a bit above norm), and his character had an abundance of items.