New Character Sheet: Clean & Powerful

[Enforcer]

Blech, okay okay, I'll reinstall Adobe.

*minutes later*

Very pretty, I like it a lot. A form-fillable version would totally sell me.

As for 4e, I'd say you're in for a lot of competition from WotC, given their digital initiative plans.

 

[neceros]

I applaud your effort. One question, why three pages? It's fine on-line, but for print I'd prefer something two-sided.

I'm in agreement. However, the first two pages are pages everyone will need. The third page is only for those that have special rules, like spells, maneuvers, etc. Unfortunately, with the real estate provided from 8.5x11 is only so big. I've reduced everything as far down as I can without reducing visibility extremely.

Perhaps with the new rules and 4e character sheets will require less space?


I don't plan on doing anything digital. I still feel that people will print 'n pen their characters in the majority of time. Even I will use their online products, and we'll have to see what sort of customizations will be available when DDI and whatnot is resolved in the future.

 

[czak808]

I think its great. The layout is very like "The Ultimate" character sheet.
I've yet to see a "spell sheet" that I liked. I tend to self design since it changes so often. Especially with splat books... Not as a criticism, just I don't think you're ever going to "please all of the people all of the time" thought. And trying to make it class neutral (wiz/ sorc, clr, etc...) usually means packing in two out of three things that are not used... unless you're a mystic theurge or such

I like:
- The separate check penalty line for skills
- Single Perform skill line - really, who plays bards? AH, Resist Fire, Resist Fire!!!!
- Worn item location in the equipment section
- Language in skill list - good to keep track of points spent
- Familiar/ Companion data spot

Don't like:
- Psionic skills - just I've never personally played a psionic character, maybe others like...
- Level adjustment line for stats - seems kind of wasted space, most concentrate on their prime ability. And, it happens so rarely I don't think its something you need to document
- Portrait box - just me, but I have never used this in twenty+ years of gaming

Recommendations:
- Seems many classes/ races have bonuses on saves vs particular conditions; Will (Ench) but no sheets give a spot near the Save listing for this
- More armor/ protective item slots - I tend to include all my armor modifiers in this spot so as to keep track of type; Ring of Protection, Amulet of Nat Armor, etc...
- More Knowledge skill lines - seems even the non-wizards are realizing the benefits of taking a few ranks and there are definitely too few
- Make the Equipment section three columns instead of two
- (Maybe) reduce the "Notes/ Extra Feats" on page 2 to allow for more room for equipment. Seems I'm always writing in the margins of sheet...
- Modified lines for stats vice your base & level adjustments - I tend to get buffs from spells or magic items, good for keeping track

Fools are made to suffer, not to be suffered

 

[Dragonhelm]

Very nice sheet! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Infiniti2000]

Please feel free to critic it yourself and let me know what you think.

Personally, I'm a fan of the new stat block layout and prefer my character sheet in a similar format. Attached is my current character's sheet and it has more than enough info for me on one page, formatted as I am used to seeing things when I DM.

 

[neceros]

Thanks for all your replies!

...

Wow, thank you for your honesty.
I'm going to touch on some of the things you've suggested in the next update. these are things other people have mentioned, but the more that want it the stronger it needs to exist.

It is impossible to please everyone. I do this to please myself, however I'm not exempt from hearing what other people want. I try to accommodate as many as I can, but not at the expense of me and mine. Sorry if that sounds rude.


Lastly, I do so love the new NPC stat block myself. I use it when I make NPCs and Monsters. I'm not sure how well it goes for PCs who aren't going to use a computer to make their characters, though. The stat blocks tend to be best used when typed in a word processor.



I want to give my feedback on your recommendations.

Recommendations:
- Seems many classes/ races have bonuses on saves vs particular conditions; Will (Ench) but no sheets give a spot near the Save listing for this

This actually is in the sheet, but it's on another layer. Switch option B around and you'll get your extra modifier boxes

- More armor/ protective item slots - I tend to include all my armor modifiers in this spot so as to keep track of type; Ring of Protection, Amulet of Nat Armor, etc...

I used to do this myself. However, it is made for armor and shield, respectively. Worn items that grant AC bonii should be put under Worn items, technically. Sadly, there isn't much room to change this aspect without losing Feat section on the front.

- More Knowledge skill lines - seems even the non-wizards are realizing the benefits of taking a few ranks and there are definitely too few

Agreed.

- Make the Equipment section three columns instead of two

I'll add another layer to allow switching between three and two columns.

- (Maybe) reduce the "Notes/ Extra Feats" on page 2 to allow for more room for equipment. Seems I'm always writing in the margins of sheet...
- Modified lines for stats vice your base & level adjustments - I tend to get buffs from spells or magic items, good for keeping track

Good idea.


Good gaming!

 

[Infiniti2000]

Lastly, I do so love the new NPC stat block myself. I use it when I make NPCs and Monsters. I'm not sure how well it goes for PCs who aren't going to use a computer to make their characters, though. The stat blocks tend to be best used when typed in a word processor.

Of course they'll use a computer. You have two others besides yourself in this very thread who want it form-fillable. In any case, I was only suggesting formatting the sheet like that, probably using boxes/lines for the hand-written components.

 

[Ant]

In my never-ending quest to find the "perfect" character sheet, this comes closer than most. Excellent work, neceros. I'm already planning on using this as a replacement for all of my players.

Like
- Customisable layout
- Feats and Abilities section on the first page
- Extra columns for stat modifiers
- Bags/Worn Items/Charged Items sections
- Layout is neat and relatively uncluttered
- Character sketch area (my players love these)
- Iterative attacks breakdown
- Suggested use of numbers/letters/symbols to identify items written on the sheet
- Only two pages (I never use the spell pages on character sheets)

Don't like
- the Companion/Familiar/Psicrystal section (though I guess I could always turn off both "Option C"s).
- Weapons at the bottom of the character sheet (just looks at bit ... odd)
- Only five weapons (I love lots of weapons)

Suggestions
- More customisable options (like replacing the Companion section entirely with more notes)

 

[Cobblestone]

Okay, now that I take a second glance, and realize that the third sheet is spells-only, and further realize that you've included layout options, I am very impressed. Great work.

 

[werk]

Maybe it's me, but I get a lot of lines intersecting boxes and some other places of sloppy overlapping. Granted, I don't use Adobe Reader, I use Preview, the Mac OS X PDF viewer, so that may be it.

Ditto, I'm anti-Adobe.