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View Full Version : [D&D 3.5] The Ultimate Charactersheet?



Swooper
2009-02-19, 08:45 AM
There are a lot of different charactersheets out for D&D 3.5 - There's the standard two page one, there's the "deluxe" four page one, and then there are two and four page versions of sheets designed for most classes. To add to that, there is a whole host of 3rd party sheets.

None of the ones I've seen have everything I need or want on a charactersheet. I've never seen a skill list with all the psionic skills, Martial Lore and Truespeak on it. There's usually not enough space for everything, in particular the class/racial abilities and feat list space tends to be very cramped when you're playing gestalt with two flaws and two traits... Know what I mean? :smalleek: Also, a lot of them require you to write really cramped because the linespaces are so small. I hate that, it makes the sheets illegible.

So I'm setting out with the mission of creating my own, Ultimate Charactersheet. I'm thinking it'll be around 6-8 pages. I'm hoping to be able to arrange it so that not everyone will need all the pages, since not everyone will be using every mechanic. Modular, if you will.

Before I set out, I turn to you, Playgrounders. Because every person's perception of how they like to arrange things is a bit different. What are your opinions on the subject? What do you want more space for on a charactersheet? What is redundant? What is usually arranged in a poor manner? What absolutely needs to be on the first page and what can come later? What needs to be on the same page as something else?

Also, if you know of a 3rd party sheet that you consider "perfect", let me know. Maybe there's one that already does what I want, but I haven't seen it yet. I can probably at least pick up something useful from the various 3rd party sheets.

EDIT:

So, I've jotted down some outline for what goes where. Comments? :smallsmile:
PAGE 1:
Basic mechanical stuff: Character name, player name, DM name, Campaign, Class/Level (a huge line for all those PrCs and multiclassed gestalt characters), LA, ECL, Race/Templates, Type [Subtype], Alignment, Size.
Ability Scores: Similar to the WotC Deluxe sheet, but with space for Ability Damage.
Defenses: Saving Throws, AC, Touch AC, Flatfooted AC, Hit Points (Max, Current, HD, nonlethal damage, temporary HP), DR, Immunities, Resistances (possibly one line for each energy type?), Situational modifiers (like that dwarven +4 dodge bonus vs. Giants), Fast Healing/Regeneration, Spell Resistance, Power Resistance.
Attacks: BAB, Melee/Ranged Attack Bonus, Grapple, number of AoO's per round (?), 3-5 slots for weapon attacks (probably limited by space, but how many do you feel you need?)
Senses: Spot/Listen/Search modifiers, a checkbox for Lowlight vision and another for darkvision with space for range, and then a few extra lines where you can write stuff like blindsense or scent and things like that.
Misc: Speed (Base/Armoured/Hustle/Run/Hour Walk/Hour Hustle/Day Walk/Special), Initiative, Action Points, Luck Rerolls.
PAGE 2:
Skills: Including Autohypnosis, Iaijutsu Focus, Martial Lore, Psicraft, Truespeak and Use Psionic Device (did I miss anything?). Should take the left half of the page.
Racial Traits: A box for each ability, like the feat/class ability boxes on the deluxe sheet. About half of the remaining space.
Languages: Self explanatory. Doesn't need all that much space.
Skill Synergies: I love that feature of the Deluxe sheet. I always forget to look up synergies when it's not there.
Skill Tricks: I definitely need to fit this in there somewhere.
PAGE 3:
Entirely devoted to feats, flaws and traits. Each box will have space for name, type, effect, reference page and source (why your character has the feat). If you don't play with flaws and/or traits you can use those extra boxes for feats.
PAGE 4:
Similar to page 3, but for class features. I'm not sure if the entire page needs to be devoted to this, or if I can stick maybe a box for spellcasting in there as well. How many class features can a single character have?
PAGE 5:
This page will be for miscellaneous class features that need more room, like wizard specialist schools (with space for up to 5 forbidden schools for those focused specialist/red wizard/incantatrixes), domains/psionic mantles (is 6 enough?), rage, psionics, invocations etc. What exactly needs to be here?
PAGE 6:
Gear: Item name, weight, page reference, location. Should take up most of the page.
Encumbrance: Similar to Deluxe Sheet, with space for light/medium/heavy load etc.
PAGE 7:
Bodyslots/Chakras: Similar to the last page of the MoI sheet, without all the extra space for the silly silhouette.
Wealth: Like the space for wealth on the MoI sheet, which includes cp, sp, gp, pp, gems, art and other.
Experience: Current, needed, LA, ECL (yeah, those were on page 1 too, but it's nice for cross-reference).
Wands/Staffs: The WotC 4 page Warlock sheet has a neat little box for marking off charges on your expendables. I like it.
PAGE 8:
Entirely devoted to fluff.
Basic description: Height, weight, age, date of birth, gender, hair, eyes, skin, handedness, region of origin/nationality, religion/patron deity.
Personality: Enough space for a brief description, for roleplaying reminders if nothing else.
Background: Again, not intended for the character's entire backstory (depending on the game I guess), but at least a brief version.
Allies & Enemies: I don't know about you, but I tend to forget NPC names unless I write them down.
Notes: For other miscellaneous stuff you need to remember.
Portrait space: For the artistic types to sketch their characters or their heraldry, or you can just use it for extra notes.

Edit: Added Luck Rerolls and Skill Tricks.

Nohwl
2009-02-19, 08:58 AM
i prefer the 4 page one from wizards. i like how its easier to write on than the 2 page one.

DrizztFan24
2009-02-19, 09:20 AM
Have you checked out TheOnlySheet yet? Its very nice, and customizable. Any templates you need can be integrated into the sheet and any custom races and classes can be built into the sheet.

Blackfang108
2009-02-19, 09:32 AM
Have you checked out TheOnlySheet yet? Its very nice, and customizable. Any templates you need can be integrated into the sheet and any custom races and classes can be built into the sheet.

The one thing I personally don't like about TheOnlySheet is that it's macro based, and you have to pay for it. (At least, you needed to to get more than a few levels on your character. Might be free now, though I have my doubts.)

Swooper
2009-02-19, 09:46 AM
Have you checked out TheOnlySheet yet? Its very nice, and customizable. Any templates you need can be integrated into the sheet and any custom races and classes can be built into the sheet.
I hadn't heard of it, but after taking a look it's not what I'm looking for - it's a spreadsheet, and if I want the most recent version I'd have to pay. It also looks like it suffers from the "cramped space" syndrome.

Swooper
2009-02-19, 12:05 PM
Sorry for the doublepost, but I just edited into the OP my current idea of how it will look. Comments appreciated.

Xenogears
2009-02-19, 12:33 PM
Personally I almost never used a character sheet. Partly because they were always so cramped but mostly because I could never get my hands on any....
I just wrote all the stats down on one or two pieces of paper and I never had any problem with that method. I think one of the main problems with the character sheets was that they had the giant list of skills of which I only even had maybe 5. Even had I wanted more skills it would have made more sense to me to simply put a bunch of blank lines that I could fill in with the skill I wanted (if i remember right this is what was in 3.0).

Also carrying around 7-8 pages for one character seems excessive to me. Maybe you would like to but I would never carry that much paperwork for just one character.

Swooper
2009-02-19, 01:45 PM
Personally I almost never used a character sheet. Partly because they were always so cramped but mostly because I could never get my hands on any....
Well, they're free on wizards.com to download and print out.

I just wrote all the stats down on one or two pieces of paper and I never had any problem with that method.
I'd have a huge problem with that. Charactersheets are good because everyone's sheet has basically the same layout (assuming the people in your group aren't using wildly different sheets), making it quick for anyone to look at anyone else's sheet for precisely the information they need. With handwritten sheets, two of your own sheets may even have different layouts, not to mention other people's! Also, I can imagine them getting messy really fast. But to each his own.

I think one of the main problems with the character sheets was that they had the giant list of skills of which I only even had maybe 5. Even had I wanted more skills it would have made more sense to me to simply put a bunch of blank lines that I could fill in with the skill I wanted (if i remember right this is what was in 3.0).
I disagree there, because personally I fill in my ability modifiers for all the skills that can be used untrained. This also means that every sheet has them in the same order, and you always know where to look for the skill modifier you're rolling for. What I do agree with is that putting your skill list on the front page is unnecessary and space-consuming.

Also carrying around 7-8 pages for one character seems excessive to me. Maybe you would like to but I would never carry that much paperwork for just one character.
...You've never played a wizard, have you? :smalltongue:

Seriously though, for those who don't want to bother with a huge sheet like I'm planning: Fine, they can use the sheet that suits them. But it bugs the hell out of me (and by extension, probably someone else, too) to never have enough space for everything I want on my sheet, so I'm making one with PLENTY of space for everything I could think of. :smallsmile:

valadil
2009-02-19, 02:06 PM
I did a char sheet of my own a while back, which I'm obviously partial toward. The sheet was made for Grimble, my level 24 gnome wizard. He had more bonuses and skills than could fit on a standard character sheet.

It's a modification of the original character sheet. Everything has space for more bonuses. The bonus types are unlabeled and can be filled in accordingly. Skills for instance have 5 blank bonus types after modifier and ranks. Oh and there are 13 lines for new skills. Feats and special abilities are on the front page and have plenty of room. Attack options were shrunk. There's still 3 attack options, but they don't have quite so much room. Some people complained about that, but I mostly play casters and this sheet was meant for me.

On the back I have an items worn section with a list of slots. Every good character sheet should have this. Spells has been converted to notes. Anyone with a serious spell list does it on another sheet anyway.

http://files.thuranni.net/valadils_char_sheet-RC2.pdf

Bulwer
2009-02-19, 02:10 PM
Don't forget Iajutsu Focus, from OA (I think). It's 3.0, but never properly updated, and I know people that use it.

I would suggest making a bunch of different sections that are each a 9th or 16th of a page. Something like skills would obviously be more than one, but a standard size would help when you're looking for a way to shuffle them around.

Keld Denar
2009-02-19, 02:14 PM
www.myth-weavers.com

Mostly macro free (it does sum up your save bonus, and autopopulate your skill list ability bonuses, but you can easily overwrite it), free, and saves your characters online on their database. Skill list is modable with PLENTY of room for non-standard skills like Autohypnosis and the like. You can even remove skills that you don't use (like untrained Forgery) to remove clutter. Lots of room for special abilities, feats, equipment, and even descriptions.

Lots of people use it around here due to the ease that you can send your character sheet to friends across the intarwebz. Just make the sheet public, copy the URL, and link it (http://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/view.php?id=109197). This is a character that I made to apply to a PbP game. See how clean and easy it looks, and it took me 10 seconds to link it to you.

sonofzeal
2009-02-19, 02:56 PM
My ultimate charsheet - notepad.

Otherwise, you either end up with a massive 20-page monstrosity that has columns and space for a dozen different things your character never uses, and the stuff you do need is buried haphazardly throughout... or you get a minimalistic template with not nearly enough room to cover all your various situational modifiers to AC, saves, whathaveyou.

Notepad has room for everything I need, without burying the useful stuff under dozens of empty sections. It's more flexible than the biggest one I've seen (several of my characters would fit on no charsheet known to man), but never has extraneous information when I make a lvl3 Barbarian.

Arcane_Snowman
2009-02-19, 03:23 PM
Personally I manufacture a character sheet using an excel spreadsheet, but it uses a lot of equations to auto do a lot of the work for me, it's based on the fact that my RL group has several laptops and internet connection at our congregation point, so all I need to do is either send an email with the offending file, or just slam it onto a USB.

Swooper
2009-02-19, 06:20 PM
I did a char sheet of my own a while back, which I'm obviously partial toward. The sheet was made for Grimble, my level 24 gnome wizard. He had more bonuses and skills than could fit on a standard character sheet.

It's a modification of the original character sheet. Everything has space for more bonuses. The bonus types are unlabeled and can be filled in accordingly. Skills for instance have 5 blank bonus types after modifier and ranks. Oh and there are 13 lines for new skills. Feats and special abilities are on the front page and have plenty of room. Attack options were shrunk. There's still 3 attack options, but they don't have quite so much room. Some people complained about that, but I mostly play casters and this sheet was meant for me.

On the back I have an items worn section with a list of slots. Every good character sheet should have this. Spells has been converted to notes. Anyone with a serious spell list does it on another sheet anyway.

http://files.thuranni.net/valadils_char_sheet-RC2.pdf
Not bad. It has some ideas I might yoink, like how you set up the Touch/Flatfooted AC (I always have to pause to think about which modifiers apply!) and leaving some modifiers blank (I had been wondering about how to solve the "15 different modifiers may apply to this stat" problem, and now you've solved it). :smallsmile:

Don't forget Iajutsu Focus, from OA (I think). It's 3.0, but never properly updated, and I know people that use it.
Aha, I knew I was forgetting something! Thank you :smallsmile:

I would suggest making a bunch of different sections that are each a 9th or 16th of a page. Something like skills would obviously be more than one, but a standard size would help when you're looking for a way to shuffle them around.
I was thinking I'd do something like that, for some sections of it at least.

www.myth-weavers.com
[stuff I already know cut out]
Give me some credit here man, I know about Mythweavers (although I mostly use TTW myself)! :smallbiggrin: While online sheets are very useful (essential even) for PbP games, not everyone plays with laptops in regular sessions. I'm the only one in my group who brings his (and two out of five of us don't own one), and we don't always play where there's available internet. The online sheets are also really just slightly more spacious versions of the two-page sheets and lack lots of important stuff (like bodyslots, incarnum stuff, domains etc.). Take a look at the link marked "Kabrain" in my signature spoiler. It's a 12th level gestalt character, and he's got almost no space left in the feats & special abilities area, and his gear space is completely full (admittedly, I'm one of those guys who tend to buy one of everything mundane, but still!).

ShneekeyTheLost
2009-02-19, 07:18 PM
There is a character sheet that I use that I consider to be 'the ultimate'.

THIS (http://www.scribd.com/doc/9277889/DD-v35-Character-Sheet-All-Class-Compatible-v2-Color-Coded)

It has everything I need in a character sheet. It's even color-coordinated to make it simple to use.

I don't use it to make my spell lists. For that, I use SpellGen2, which can print out a very good spell list all on its own, which I can then append to the end of my front-and-back character sheet.

If I have a metric tonne of stuff, I have it all written down on a separate page and appended.

Xyk
2009-02-19, 09:52 PM
I use a word document on my laptop now that I have it. It's as long or as short as you want, easily edited, simple.

Thurbane
2009-02-19, 09:56 PM
I'm quite partial to the sheets over at Necromancer Games for nostalgia reasons "3.5 sheets with a 1E feel".

Swooper
2009-02-20, 06:01 AM
There is a character sheet that I use that I consider to be 'the ultimate'.

THIS (http://www.scribd.com/doc/9277889/DD-v35-Character-Sheet-All-Class-Compatible-v2-Color-Coded)

It has everything I need in a character sheet. It's even color-coordinated to make it simple to use.

I don't use it to make my spell lists. For that, I use SpellGen2, which can print out a very good spell list all on its own, which I can then append to the end of my front-and-back character sheet.
I've seen this one before, and personally I don't like it. I can see how the colour-coding is useful, but there's too much wrong with it (imo, of course). Very cramped, little space for feats, special abilities and gear, and what's up with the ordering of the skill list? :smallconfused:

If I have a metric tonne of stuff, I have it all written down on a separate page and appended.
That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid :smallwink:

I'm quite partial to the sheets over at Necromancer Games for nostalgia reasons "3.5 sheets with a 1E feel".
*Googles*

Ooh, nice. I can see the appeal, I guess. If nothing else, it has at least a few things I can add to my sheet: Handedness, date of birth and daily movement rates.

The Mormegil
2009-02-20, 09:17 AM
I think I would have appreciated this for my characters back in the old 3.5 days. I may even use your sheet in my last D&D sessions if it comes out in time.

On a note: add a Flat-footed AND Touch AC. I needed it a couple of times in Epic play (you know, when you are flat-footed in Epic games this comes up. It's ALWAYS a touch attack).
On n° of weapons I suggest 5: can be useful for Natural Weapons users and Dancing Weapons (something that actually comes out a lot in Epic, where you can Persist Dancing Blade).

Heliomance
2009-02-20, 09:34 AM
Agreed on (optional) extra space for more attacks. One character I'm playing at the moment has three longswords, a bow, a bite attack, a slam attack, and a negative energy touch attack. Even if you don't use them all in a full attack action, you might switch around and use one weapon in one combat and a different one next time, depending on what you're facing.

ShneekeyTheLost
2009-02-20, 10:01 AM
I've seen this one before, and personally I don't like it. I can see how the colour-coding is useful, but there's too much wrong with it (imo, of course). Very cramped, little space for feats, special abilities and gear, and what's up with the ordering of the skill list? :smallconfused: Little space for feats? How so? I've never run out of room for feats. Special abilities, maybe. Of course, they have WAY too much space devoted to mounts/animal companions/familiars. Delete it entirely and you've got plenty of room for more feats/special abilities.

I actually love how skills are organized on this sheet... by use. Look at it closely. First you've got all the sensory/stealthy skills, then the movement skills, then the social skills, then the Skillmonkey skills, then the caster skills, and finally the 'I know this' skills.


That's exactly what I'm trying to avoid :smallwink:

Well, that is where we will have to 'agree to disagree'. You see, I consider a character sheet to need the important things that you will constantly reference in combat. Specifically, it should *NOT* contain all the extraneous stuff cluttering up the sheet.

However, if you like, you can just make a longer 'sheet'. Two pages similar in concept to the one I linked; a different sheet for gear storage which you can print multiples of if you just have that much stuff (keep Gear Equipped on the character sheet, but clearing out gear storage and animals will give the sheet enough space for plenty of feats and special abilities); and a 'blank' of SpellGen2's printable sheet, and you can print out as many as you like to fill out, maybe even printing out one sheet per spell level of character to keep them all organized.

valadil
2009-02-20, 10:14 AM
Not bad. It has some ideas I might yoink, like how you set up the Touch/Flatfooted AC (I always have to pause to think about which modifiers apply!) and leaving some modifiers blank (I had been wondering about how to solve the "15 different modifiers may apply to this stat" problem, and now you've solved it). :smallsmile:


Glad you like it :) Feel free to mooch any elements you find useful. That's how I got the different AC types to work so nicely after all. Oh and make sure you post yours when it's complete.

herrhauptmann
2009-02-20, 02:21 PM
Personally I don't like using preprinted character sheets. As stated, I don't need a full list of my skills on teh front page.
I've tried once to use a macro'd character sheet (DM at the time wanted us to email our sheets to him in a pdf or something). That character had 3 base classes, and 3 prestige classes, and generally one or more of them weren't allowed on the different sheets. And even when they were allowed, there often wasn't enough spaces on the sheet for all my classes.

I ended up creating one on Excel, then duplicating it and changing slightly for my character. (I had boots of haste, so I had a set of attacks, saves and defense for when I was hasted, and not hasted.) It also lets me set it up how I like. AC: 10 +6stat +10magic +3 dodge +2 nat ....= 40. Then when something happened to change something, shield wrecked, ability damage etc, I could just pencil in the change, and erase it when it ended.

Since I was also a dwarven defender, I also took extra space on each sheet for my attacks, saves, and defense. Full attack series in stance, full attack not in stance, full attack after stance. Saves/ac in stance and out of stance.

The downside of all this was printing it out. Since I didn't plan ahead enough, it was difficult to get relevant parts of the sheet to print on a single page. And since I suck at excel, when I leveled up, or had somethign major affect my character, it took forever to go and back and change things on the original file one at a time. And I often had to check multiple times, make sure I included the changes if my stats changed or I got a new magic item.

So currently I write all mine on printer paper by hand usually, since it's easier than messing with somethign pre-printed, or trying to create a template from scratch.

Darth Stabber
2009-02-20, 03:13 PM
+1 for just writing it on a sheet of notebook paper. Yeah different peoples sheets aren't necessarily consistent, but mine are consistent with my own. And i format like so

DarthStabber Style Sheet

White space before lines start contains
Name:________________ Race________ECL__
Religion:_______________ Template_______ECL__
Class(es)_________________________
In lines
STR__mod__/temp__mod__ HP___Current___Temp___
DEX__mod__/temp__mod__ AC__Touch__Flat__
CON__mod__/temp__mod__ REF__
INT__mod__/temp__mod__ FORT__
WIS__mod__/temp__mod__ WILL__
CHA__mod__/temp__mod__ DR__/-__/__,__/__

ATTACK1:Weapon________________
To Hit____Damage___________Crit Range_____Crit Multiplier___
{repeat as needed}

SKILLS
_____total mod___ranks__stat mod__synergy__misc__
{repeat as needed}

FEATS
Feat Summary
__________ _______________________________________
{repeat as needed}

CLASS FEATURES
Name Summary
___________ __________________
{repeat as needed}

{spell casting and other similarly complex type things generally get their own sheet with a format made up on the fly, Meldshaping and prepared spells usually end up on a small whiteboard}