D&D General What character sheets do you use and what do you put on them?

[GrimCo]

I don't.

I use notebook. Classic A5 format, hard cover ( ones that companies give to business partners as merch goodies), with integrated small usb thumb drive (32 gb one). Thumb drive is for pdf version of books, images etc. Notebook is for character stats, loot, notes etc. I write down feature names, ranges, actions, uses per short/long rest.

We play in person only and having all relevant info on one place is great and keeps screen use during game to minimal.

 

[aco175]

@luiscla27 Welcome to the site. Thank you for this.

 

[luiscla27]

I'm all about paper sheets, but while I used to handwrite everything I now find typing the info into some Excel forms I made up (one for each main class group) gives a far more consistent and readable result when printed out...let's just say people have sometimes told me a successful saving throw is required in order to read my writing.

That said, my character sheets run a minimum of 4 pages, growing as the character's career goes along.

Page 1 - main info
Page 2 - magic and mundane items, equipment, and gear
Page 3 - xp tracking
Page 4 - finances and money

"Pages" 3 and 4 can eventually become multiple pages each. Prior versions of the sheet are kept attached to the current one, in order to check in case there's a transcribing error (not at all uncommon!). End result for a long-running character is that it eventually becomes a character duotang rather than a sheet.

It would be cool to see an example! You mind sharing it?

Your layout sounds interesting, and I may add it as default template to the tool I mentioned

 

[djotaku]

I recommend the character sheet that Kobold Press put out with the Player's Guide 2 recently. (It's free in their store) I think it improves on things, especially having the section for player feats. It's a fillable PDF. I wish all the fields were set to shrink (some are and some aren't), but if you keep the feat info to the key stuff the player needs, it usually works well enough.

It also allows for attaching an image of the player portrait.

 

[Dragonhelm]

I recommend the character sheet that Kobold Press put out with the Player's Guide 2 recently. (It's free in their store) I think it improves on things, especially having the section for player feats. It's a fillable PDF. I wish all the fields were set to shrink (some are and some aren't), but if you keep the feat info to the key stuff the player needs, it usually works well enough.

It also allows for attaching an image of the player portrait.

Is that the Deluxe Character Sheet for Tales of the Valiant?

I like it pretty well, but I wish they had a version for D&D 5e as well as the existing Tales of the Valiant version.

It's pretty good!

 

[tetrasodium]

When playing I use a form fillable PDF in an old copy of PDFxchange∆ so I can edit the parts not formfillable to plug in things as needed & take notes.

As a gm I sometimes try to push a specific sheet but don't fight too hard because too much I'd want to see on the sheet is missing from the sheet or missing from/irrelivant by design in the rules. Id want to see one with something more like the 3.5 magic item compendium sheet that (iirc) had sects for a body slot Paper doll/outline as well as carried inventory & stored (in town?) inventory both with full support for tracking obvious omissions like item weight. A second thing id like to see is room for new noncore skills & structure that supports a skill growth other than proficiency+attrib

All of that would require moderate to significant houseruled fighting against simplicity at all costs things like powerful build & expertise it's generally too high of an ask to expect so I don't even both caring anymore

∆ used to be buy it once and own it before Adobe went yearly licensing and others followed. There might be a solid oss alternative or something but not one I've bothered to seek out

 

[Composer99]

I use More Purple More Better's automated, form-fillable character sheet.

 

[Gorg]

While I have a bunch of 5e character sheets, I mostly just use a piece of notebook paper or printer paper- like we always did back in the day. None of these are "for reals" characters- they're mainly for playtests and solo play.

I like to write down the important bits of text for all abilities and features, and also have a crib sheet with all spells written out. cuts way down on paging thru books during play.

otherwise, it's kind of a custom template. Name, race, class, level and alignment across the top. Size and speed under that.

then ability scores descending down the left margin with bonuses.

next to that, in the middle column is AC, initiative, proficiency bonus, saves, HD and HP.

the right hand side of the page is for race and class abilities.

Combat and Spell sections are below Abilities. Depends on class what comes first, and how much space it gets. For example, I put my Barbarian's Rage stuff in the combat section for ez reference. All spellcasters get spell save DC and spell attack modifiers listed
prominently in the middle of the page. Slots have a simple matrix 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 with 3 of slots for each spell level below.
4 2
Cantrips known are listed first under the Spell Casting header, then spells known or spellbook. Domain spells, too.

Combat mostly just lists what weapons they have, with the attack bonus, weapon damage die, and bonus damage for each. Rogues have sneak attack info listed here, as well. Barbarians have Rage info. Paladin's Smite, etc. If I played a Battle master fighter, that would go here, too.

in the left bottom corner is proficiencies and gear The right corner has languages, and XP. Money is in the middle, by equipment.

the back is for overflow. Background, and the spell cheat-sheet.

I find some classes/race combos FILL the right hand margin quickly- so it carries over onto the back. (Rogue and Paladin, I'm looking at YOU!)

I like it, because all pertinent info is in the same place on every character, and easy to find on the fly. If they get messy, I just rewrite a new sheet. While the official sheets are slick and nicely organized, there's too much stuff on them, and not enough room for writing everything out. Digging thru books mid=play is just irritating to me...

in my DM combat notes, I do a VERY abbreviated version of this, with just the combat stats, saves, AC, HP, and CR/XP value. Underneath I do an initiative list, and a round by round list of who did what. I don't use minis, so this is how I keep track of who is fighting who. for example: Gimli Orc #2 with longsword. 19, hit! - 6 dam. and perhaps: kilt dedder than ded!!! or Squishified!!!