What do you do with the character sheets after a session?

[Kid Socrates]

I keep them; each PC has a folder they keep track of handouts and their own notes in, and since we always game at my house, it's easier just to take the folders, sit them on the bookshelf, and there we go.

It helps me, too, when designing encounters and enemies; I can double-check their attack and defense scores to make sure that the enemies are not going to be invincible.

 

[sniffles]

I can't imagine giving my sheet to the GM at the end of every session. My GMs trust me and the other players not to mess with our sheets betwee sessions. Occasionally someone will forget their character sheet or bring the wrong one, but it doesn't happen often enough to be a problem. We all have binders for our sheets - in fact, I have a different binder for each character I play. Several GMs I regularly play with like to keep copies of all the players' sheets for encounter planning, but they'd never ask us to hand over the original sheets.

 

[Herremann the Wise]

I (the DM) hold onto them after a session.
I have a folder for each PC in my game which holds all manner of interesting stuff - the character sheet being one component. I prefer to do this for several reasons:
- I can keep up to date with feat and skill choices so I can plan for opportunities for players to use their new abilities
- I don't have to worry about character sheets getting lost.
- I update the character sheets fairly regularly for my group (I have a real neat adobe illustrator character sheet I created).
- I can play the PC as an NPC if the player can't make it.
- I can keep track of items in terms of crafting future loot and who wants/needs what.
- when I get my website happening, I can put the character sheets up on that and keep them updated.

It takes a little bit of extra work but it helps the game run just that little bit more smoothly and enjoyably.

Best Regards
Herremann the Wise

 

[Nellisir]

I, as the DM, hold onto them. Players are welcome to take them home if they ask, but a) most don't do anything with them between sessions, b) it's handy for me to have them as reference, and c) it's a hassle if someone forgets one, even once. It turns the whole night into "wait, I think I have that feat...my attack is something like +7...or +11, I forget...I don't know what my Spot bonus is..."

We're changing over to a wiki-based character sheet built on the "new" statblock format. I or they can print out copies at will, it's accessible to myself and the player, information that doesn't matter isn't there, and players that don't update their online records will be forced to use whatever version of their character -is- online.

 

[painandgreed]

As a player, I'll kick over a copy to the Gm, but i always keep the one I actually use.

As a GM, I let the players decide but I require a copy of their character sheet before they are allowed to get/spend XP.

 

[Tamlyn]

The players keep their sheets, but are also required to post them on the campaign forum (and keep them up to date).

Ditto.

 

[arscott]

In the game I run, players keep their own sheets (except for one player, who's chosen to leave his sheet with me). In the game I play, the DM got so sick of people showing up w/out in his last campaign, he keeps all the sheets.

 

[Glyfair]

In my game, I ask the players to give me a copy of their character sheet. That way I can plan plots based on their abilities. I can make sure they get to use a skill, feat, etc. they have and I can also take their "firepower" into account when planning encounters.

 

[JoeBlank]

I've never played in a campaign where anyone even suggested or considered that the DM might keep all of the character sheets. I'm not against the idea, it is just foreign to me.

The most common method I have seen is that the players keep their own sheets, and email updates to the DM and/or post them on a group messageboard or yahoo group.

I do recall in high school one player knowing that he was not responsible enough to keep up with his character sheet, and asking the DM to do so.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

I keep copies of the charsheets and spellsheets. I have a copier in my gaming room so if the players want a copy they can run one off, or better yet, I post up their sheets intersession in pdf form so that they are available for viewing from just about anywhere.

I even take it a step further, I have created binders for each of the players, within which are:

[ ] Character sheet (double sided page from Heroforge)
[ ] Spell sheet (single piece of paper from Spellforge)
[ ] Equipment certificates (slips of paper for magic items and expendables)
[ ] Copy of the table and house rules
[ ] Copy of anything they have ever sent to me (e.g. backstory, journals, etc)
[ ] Spell cards representing their spellbook / available spells (TheOtherGameCompany.com)
[ ] Initiative Card (GameMechanics.com)
[ ] Tokens representing any animals they control (e.g. a horse)

I like this idea. I have a lot of the things on this list in my game so I think that it would be quite useful to keep them all together. It would stop my players from losing stuff as some of them are quite prone to doing. Consider this idea stolen!

Olaf the Stout