Player's Character Sheet

[Edgewood]

Just recently I was going over one of my player's character sheet (Paladin 13th level) and noticed a few mistakes here and there. Things like improper enhancements for magic weapons, bonuses to BAB that have no explanation, improper encumbrance calculations, etc... just small stuff. I pointed them out and everything has been fixed. Here's my question to you. Do you actually go over a player's character sheet and find any glaring mistakes? How about someone who has blatantly lied about having an item on her sheet when you know it wasn't there before? How much control do you place on a player's sheet? Do you go over them for accuracy or do you let the players do their own character sheet maintenance and upkeep?

 

[Squire James]

I provide the service of maintaining their sheets, so I tend to catch errors quickly and my players normally agree to corrections immediately (or remind me about something I might have forgotten). Having a group I trust and having a good memory are both good things!

In your situation, I'd bring up these issues with the player, who might simply be bad at math. If the errors are ALWAYS in his favor and keep cropping up, though, then it's a sign that the time has come to have A Talk with him. Trust is a very important thing in any relationship, and a DM-player relationship is no different. Ultimately, if you don't trust him, you're probably going to have to remove him from your game (unless you have one of those rare players who WILL reform if called on his untrustworthiness). The only other option is to trust him completely, and let him cheat if he wants to. This may have consequences with everyone else in the group, but if you can deal with that...

I have only a few friends, perhaps because I don't bother to cultivate a friendship with someone I don't trust. Perhaps that's laziness on my part, but that's how I am.

 

[JiffyPopTart]

I have enough things to keep track of that I have no interest in baby-sitting peoples character sheets.

I also distribute GM jobs amongst the players. One person is responsible to handing out XP. After an encounter I tell them the ECL and that player consults the proper charts and tells everyone what they get.

Another player is the time keeper, both in game and out. He is keeping track of days spent in the World's Largest Dungeon, as well as keeping an eye on the actual time since we play on a weekday and have to be home in bed for the next days work.

A third player is responsible for keeping the map.

A fourth player is newer to DnD and is still getting his head around all the math.

DS

 

[Terath Ninir]

Hell, I out and out told my players that they could reroll their stats if they didn't like the ones that they got.

They didn't.

I don't think it'll ever be an issue for my group, barring a simple math error...

 

[Ambrus]

I'm a character sheet neat freak. Carefully reviewing and filling out a character sheet usually takes me an hour or two. I maintain, update and store all of my players' sheets. That way I'm certain there are no major mistakes (which invariably crop up in less rules-savy players' sheets) that they are complete, that they're up to date and legible. It also ensures that the players won't forget them when they show up to play (an occurance I find nearly incomprehensible but all too common). It's not really a matter of trust but rather just a matter of convenience. By filling out their sheets I'm certain I know what their characters are capable of and which rules, spells and magic items I have to reread to be competent to adjudicate their actions. I've never really had serious complaints and even in games in which I'm a player, other players ask me to fill out and update their sheets because they like my penmanship.

 

[JVisgaitis]

Do you go over them for accuracy or do you let the players do their own character sheet maintenance and upkeep?

When I have the pleasure of being in a regular game and I'm DMing, I always take charge of a player's character sheet.

 

[Crothian]

I check their sheets if they ask. SDome of my players are not that great with the rules yet and do make mistakes. We had one guy get toi 4th level before he realized that con bonuses got added to hit points.....

 

[pntbllr]

I check their sheets if they ask. SDome of my players are not that great with the rules yet and do make mistakes. We had one guy get toi 4th level before he realized that con bonuses got added to hit points.....

I to had this happen but she got only to 3rd level. I only check over my players sheets if asked. If a player is cheating or just mistaken the other players usually can tell and will call him on it.(at least with my group)

 

[Man in the Funny Hat]

Do you actually go over a player's character sheet and find any glaring mistakes?

I never have before really. I don't care to spend my free time attempting to make sure that every i is dotted and every t is crossed. If they've got something wrong, well we'll generally cross that bridge when we come to it. I have always known/trusted my players enough under older editions not to bother - with perhaps one notable exception. When we went to 3.0 however we almost immediately went to the use of software-based character sheets and trusted them to be accurate and complete. Fairly recently I discovered that my players were so INSANELY dependent upon the software they actually had no idea how to level up a character anymore without prompts. That seems more unacceptable than having them actually do it themselves and get things wrong occasionally.

How about someone who has blatantly lied about having an item on her sheet when you know it wasn't there before? How much control do you place on a player's sheet?

Well you know that exception I mentioned above? One player back in the day had a tendency to keep notes - particularly notes regarding treasure - on a single, VERY worn piece of notebook paper. These notes were written at any and all angles, in no order, without dates, or additional data such as where a particular amount of money came from. When said player announced that he had approximately 1/4 million GP's the DM understandably balked and asked to be shown where it came from. When he saw the players clearly unacceptable methods of accountancy things changed a bit. He let him keep to his claim of 250,000+ gp, but definitely required him to keep better records. He at least did BETTER after that although he never was particularly "trustworthy" from that point on as regards his characters money.

Aside from that renowned incident of questionable accounting practices I can say that I have never been involved in a game where a player deliberately lied about something on their character sheet. I've seen questions about how MUCH equipment was supposedly being carried, but not whether certain equipment was carried at all. Well, no I shouldn't say that. There's been a few times when players have questionably found yet another healing potion when it was absolutely needed (noticed because their conscience seemed to force them to at least mark off money to PAY for the magically-appearing resources). But it hasn't happened often enough to be important, and certain not for years now.

I don't place much control over a character sheet at all. I have occasionally asked to be provided with a copy and that probably goes as far as is necessary to keeping players from actually being deliberately decietful.

Do you go over them for accuracy or do you let the players do their own character sheet maintenance and upkeep?

Well when I've asked for them in the past it's really been to get a better idea of what they CAN do, not what they ought to be able to do or not. Since I stay out of how players divide the treasure among their characters I sometimes have no idea what I have handed out, what the PC's have sold or traded away, and so forth. If they want to "cheat" at D&D well they're ruining the fun for themselves more than anyone else. I won't take action until it starts interfering with the game in general or with other players enjoyment of the game.

 

[ThirdWizard]

I keep the PC character sheets. Every once in a while, I check skill ranks, bonuses, and calculate wealth audits.