OP players - how dare they remember their abilities [Archive]

Ruslan

2017-01-05, 06:04 PM

So, here's the situation (by the way, this is D&D 5E, but can happen at any system): a party of six. Paladin, Barbarian, Wizard, Rogue, Bard, Cleric.

Four players (Bard, Barbarian, Rogue, Cleric) constantly forget to make use of their characters' abilities.
- The Bard forgets he could use Cutting Words or Inspiration.
- The Barbarian (half-orc) forgets his Orcish Resilience racial feature, or his Reckless Attack class feature. Sometimes he even forgets to enter rage, only remembering mid-combat (on the 3rd round!), "oh, and I rage!".
- The Rogue constantly forgets to move into a flanking position before attacking (well, not really flanking, it's 5E, but you know what I mean), and often forgets to reroll 1's (halfling!).
- The Cleric forgets to make good use of his spells and Channel Divinity.

In contrast, the Wizard and Paladin are completely overshadowing the other PCs simply by virtue of never forgetting to use their spells or abilities. If the (Gnome) wizard is targeted by a spell, you can bet he won't forget his Gnome Cunning racial feature. And you can bet he won't forget to cast Shield when it matters, or in general, is not going to forget he has a spell that's applicable to a situation. And the Paladin never forgets to Smite when needed, never forgets to reroll those 1's and 2's on damage dice (GWF), never forgets the Vow of Enmity against the big enemies, and never forgets to subtract damage due to Heavy Armor Master feat.

The other four PCs feel like they're not contributing, and I sense a certain level of frustration, like they feel the Wizard and Paladin are OP. Of course they are not, they simply play their character's abilities as they are supposed to.

Sometimes, I try to reminds stuff to the forgetful PCs. "Hey, did you notice you could...", but I can't do it every time. I have a whole world and NPCs to run, and can't run four more characters.

Suggestions?

jaappleton

2017-01-05, 06:09 PM

Tailor a few encounters specifically to get them to make use of their abilities.

A former Half Orc Barbarian myself, I made good use of Danger Sense all the time. It's often forgotten. "Jeff, the enemy mage's fingertips crackle with lightning before a bolt streaks from his hand toward you. Look at your sheet. Do you have anything to help your Dexterity Saving Throw here?"

"Jeff, look again. Look harder."

"IT'S DANGER SENSE, JEFF! YOU GOT IT AT LEVEL 2!"

Also, HOW are their abilities written down on their sheets? Are they concisely written, providing a good sense and explanation of what they do? Or just the title of the ability with no explanation as to what it does?

Ruslan

2017-01-05, 06:13 PM

Tailor a few encounters specifically to get them to make use of their abilities.

A former Half Orc Barbarian myself, I made good use of Danger Sense all the time. It's often forgotten. "Jeff, the enemy mage's fingertips crackle with lightning before a bolt streaks from his hand toward you. Look at your sheet. Do you have anything to help your Dexterity Saving Throw here?"

"Jeff, look again. Look harder."

"IT'S DANGER SENSE, JEFF! YOU GOT IT AT LEVEL 2!"
That would be just me reminding them stuff. Which is specifically something I'd like to do less, not more.

Also, HOW are their abilities written down on their sheets? Are they concisely written, providing a good sense and explanation of what they do? Or just the title of the ability with no explanation as to what it does?
Feature name, feature short summary, referral to PHB page. For example:

Danger Sense: you have Advantage on Dexterity saves (see PHB page <so and so>).

jaappleton

2017-01-05, 06:17 PM

Without forcing them to look at it and seeing its use in practice, they'll never learn the abilities.

Falcon X

2017-01-05, 06:18 PM

A very tough situation that I've run into a few times.

Only thing I've seen is forcing situations that either get them engaged or help them remember.
- If a rogue forgets to flank targets, give them a few situations where they have no choice but to do so and they will get used to it. Maybe do shenanigans that split the party and have them converge on an enemy from different sides.
- If a barbarian forgets to rage, start every battle for a little while with something really annoying that will induce rage. Maybe a goblin insults his mother. Maybe he gets spat at. Maybe he gets farted on. Whatever, if you teach him to rage a few times, he will start to rage the rest of the time.

Sometimes it's a matter of a player who just isn't engaged. My current party recently had a girl who was that person. She looked bored half the time and never did anything of her own initiative.
That is, until she created an assassin.
Her and the DM created a backstory where she was formerly a pirate. Well, we ran into a pirate she knew and our Paladin arrested the pirate.
She proceeded to kill the pirate in cold blood in front of everybody (He might have given away her backstory).
Paladin immediately arrests HER.
Between that session and the next, the girl was on edge trying to figure out how to escape the paladin, prison, or beheading.
Since that time, the girl has been our most engaged player. We have to keep up with her. She just had to meet a situation that made it real for her.

INDYSTAR188

2017-01-05, 06:19 PM

I have two new players and I created them a couple of visual aids; cards with their major powers (Barbarian and Cleric) and magic items. I also give them a couple of the "power combo" examples on their character sheets so its visually there.

An example, the Barbarian has GWM, Rage and GWF so I wrote on his sheet in the attack area: +X Raging GWM Attack. Two attacks. 1d12+16 - reroll 1's & 2's. Kind of a lot of work but the guys don't take the hobby as seriously as I do and this helps them better use their characters.

Ruslan

2017-01-05, 06:19 PM

jaappleton

2017-01-05, 06:22 PM

I did force them to look. For each class feature, we had at least one "did you notice you had ..." moment. For many, more than one. The "did you notice you had ..." tactic is clearly not working. Especially since they are, from time to time, leveling up, and more features to forget are added.

Then tell them they aren't allowed to complain about feeling useless or the effectiveness of other players until they shape up. Tough love.

Gryndle

2017-01-05, 06:27 PM

I've ran into similar circumstances before. With my ex especially.

No matter how you deal with it, the problem comes back to the under-performing players. No matter how you try to correct it, ultimately the only real fix is for those players that continuously forget or miss their own abilities to adjust their own attitude/focus/involvement/investment or whatever.

You can nudge them along, help them with custom character sheets or memory aids of your choice, but ultimately it is up to them. This is very much a case where their problem does not constitute a problem for the DM or the other players. That may sound harsh, especially when playing with friends, but it is the truth.

Now if I were gaming with kids or someone completely new to the game, then yeah, cut them as much slack as you can and help them along, enjoy the teaching and sharing opportunity. Try to bring their play level up to that of the other players as much as possible.

Ruslan

2017-01-05, 06:37 PM

Now if I were gaming with kids or someone completely new to the game, then yeah, cut them as much slack as you can and help them along, enjoy the teaching and sharing opportunity. Try to bring their play level up to that of the other players as much as possible.
I agree with you with respect to kids and new players, but the under-performing players are actually not new at all. Ironically, the least experienced player in the group is the Paladin.

<snip>
Since that time, the girl has been our most engaged player. We have to keep up with her. She just had to meet a situation that made it real for her.This is really good!

CaptainSarathai

2017-01-06, 12:22 AM

Chances are, they're not engaged and the fights aren't hard enough.
I'm in a party of 7. The DM hasn't realized that normal-sized encounters don't work for us. My GF is playing a Paladin. She has never used her Smite or Channel Divinity in 3 levels. She hasn't had to: she's only made perhaps 3 attacks all campaign and we're actually dungeon-crawling.
The party loathes me, because I'm playing an optimized BladeLock and am rolling huge amounts of damage. D8+3d6+Dex most of the time. Thing is, that's just because I'm using my abilities.

I'm not saying you're that bad, but if your players don't feel the need to wring every ounce of effort from their characters, they won't bother.
That, or they're just bored. I see this a lot in the gaming community. I play Warhammer, and watched a guy's kid age from 7 to his teens. The guy was always at the store, sometimes with his kid, until one day he bought the kid some models and he started playing. The kid would just be a listless sad-sack at the store, even when playing games. You could tell he didn't really want to play, he just wanted to hang out with his dad. Same happens with D&D - my girlfriend has said she'd quit the campaign and wait for a better DM, but she doesn't want to miss spending time with the other people at the table. If we all just played boardgames or went out for drinks, I'm sure we'd have a blast together. She doesn't really care about what's going on in this campaign, just that we're all together.

djreynolds

2017-01-06, 04:31 AM

Sjappo

2017-01-06, 05:06 AM

It's good to remember that they are probably not doing it on purpose.

Example: One player in my group only ever plays monks. In the whole 3e era he never managed to build an effective one nor did he know how the monks abilities worked, if he remembered having them. He basically played the same character for ten years and still sucked at it. But ... he has his own business that eats up a lot of time, is married and has kids. Building characters and reading rulebooks is not even on his priority list.

We, the rest of the group, could not solve the problem with this player. And neither can you with yours. The problem, if it is one, lies with the players. They have to solve it themselves. That said, you, and the two invested players, can help them out. From the top of my head and blatantly stealing from tips given earlier in this tread:

Explain the problem as you explained it here. Impress on them that the most effective players are the ones using all of their abilities. That it is not an issue with game balance. That the problem will go away as soon as they shape up. Or if they accept that they are less effective if they do not use their abilities.
Keep reminding them of their unused abilities. It would be best if the other players did this as not to interrupt the flow of combat to much.
Come up with or have them come up with some visual aids. A stack of dice representing inspiration dice. Cheat cards, spell cards, a second character sheet focused on combat with the abilities front and center. Poker chips, highlights in hot pink. Anything goes.
Encourage them to (re)read the section in the PHB regarding their race and class. Encourage them to browse through it before every session.
Start scaling up the difficulty of the encounters. Be open about the difficulty of hard and sadly encounters. "This one looks to be a lethal one. You need all you wits and abilities or people will get murdered"

Hope this helps.

StoicLeaf

2017-01-06, 06:07 AM

I sympathise, my players are like that too, the wizard in my group forgot he had fly the other day. he tried to solo a hill giant. Made his death saves though.

Anyway, my experience is is that they don't learn. I tried customising fights to their characters. I still had to tell them what their stuff did. Then you throw the same fights at them next week and they've forgotten already. I'm now moving onto simply letting them die. Perhaps paying the ultimate price (and having to spend hours rerolling and making a new character) will have some sort of pavlovian effect.

XmonkTad

2017-01-06, 06:38 AM

Out of curiosity, what level are they and what was the starting level of the campaign? Starting at level one gives them time to familiarize themselves with their characters and their abilities. It might be a bit late to put that cat back in the bag though.

Human Paragon 3

2017-01-06, 06:44 AM

Deputize the wizard or paladin player to learn the other players' features and be their coach. If they like being tactical, this should appeal to them, and the other players might not mind it as much if it feels like teamwork instead of the DM telling them what to do.

Theodoxus

2017-01-06, 06:53 AM

Gnaeus

2017-01-06, 08:03 AM

Suggest simpler builds? There are people for whom champion is the best fighter archetype, just because you don't have to remember to do anything.

Spacehamster

2017-01-06, 08:16 AM

Maybe sit them down, give them a small arc of paper, tell them to write down the commonly used resources they should remember to use, so they have quick access to what they can do in and outside of combat?

Vaz

2017-01-06, 08:17 AM

Suggest simpler builds? There are people for whom champion is the best fighter archetype, just because you don't have to remember to do anything.

We have a character with Insight as one of their Proficiencies, and picked up a magic amulet giving them a +5 to their insight. They have a check topping +13+1d4 at 5th level. Or would do if they bothered to roll for Insight rather than blindly trusting everything they say. As a Warlock in the party, the best I can do is 1+1d4 to Insight checks, so I'm essentially reliant on a dice roll, and I've learned that the only way that we have a chance is that I say "I cast Guidance on the Monk for her Insight Check" as an Out of Character cue for the Monk to roll Insight.

Lombra

2017-01-06, 09:22 AM

I'm playing a level 6 tiefling and keep forgetting about hellish rebuke T_T

JobsforFun

2017-01-06, 09:37 AM

JobsforFun

2017-01-06, 09:43 AM

100%... remind your players. Some of these players could have jobs and families that may not permit them room in the brains for D&D, let alone taxes, school, appointments, taking out the garbage on Monday, etc... Remind them and they'll catch on.

Also maybe they're just not use to the character? Sometimes whenever I start a new campaign I forget about the new characters abilities I am using.

Hudsonian

2017-01-06, 10:12 AM

One of my players was consistently forgetting how adv/disadv worked and how spell slots worked... I gave him homework.

I had already rewritten his character sheet and given him a rules reference sheet. He was one of the 2 party members that actually owned a PHB so I said he had to read the rules on combat and spellcasting before the next session. HUGE improvement. Most likely because I included a little speel about how I worked really hard to be prepared and have a good environment and how it distracted me when he didn't remember the basic rules.

I don't know if that is helpful, but it worked for me.

EvilAnagram

2017-01-06, 10:29 AM

I tend to be forgiving of this as a DM and a player. I have a pretty exceptional memory for rules, and this means I tend to excel at D&D, but since I've always had a good memory for small facts I've gotten used to expecting others to be a bit more forgetful than me. When my party member forgets an ability, I try to remind him or her as gently as possible.

GhorrinRedblade

2017-01-06, 10:32 AM

I'm playing a level 6 tiefling and keep forgetting about hellish rebuke T_T

Awwww. My tiefling fighter loves hellish rebuke. Just a session or two back I got bitten by an dinosaur who was expecting to do the whole let's-swallow-you-right-up thing, who instead promptly put me right the h*** back down on the ground as if you or I had bitten into a fresh-from-the-oven jalapeno popper. Ever since 4e HR has been one of the absolutely best things about playing tieflings. "Hit me, I dare you..."

MBControl

2017-01-06, 12:13 PM

Sometimes you have to teach when you DM. This could mean you need to lead them for a while.

For the a few encounters, be up front about it.
Before you attack, would you like to rage?
You can use Bardic Inspiration as bonus action if you want.

After you established, what they can do, and when they can do it, be more vague.
Is there anything you want to do before you attack.
Is there anything you'd like to do at the end of your turn.

You also have to be clear, that if they players don't play it correctly, then that's on them. If they screw up, you have to enforce the results of that.

Once it's clear to you that they do understand the what, when, and how, take the training wheels off.

Rynjin

2017-01-06, 12:26 PM

100%... remind your players. Some of these players could have jobs and families that may not permit them room in the brains for D&D, let alone taxes, school, appointments, taking out the garbage on Monday, etc... Remind them and they'll catch on.

It's good to remember that they are probably not doing it on purpose.

Example: One player in my group only ever plays monks. In the whole 3e era he never managed to build an effective one nor did he know how the monks abilities worked, if he remembered having them. He basically played the same character for ten years and still sucked at it. But ... he has his own business that eats up a lot of time, is married and has kids. Building characters and reading rulebooks is not even on his priority list.

The question, of course, is if these people are not invested in playing the game or learning how to play, then why are they playing it?

The same applies to any hobby. If you like to play basketball in your spare time, getting together with a group of friends every weekend to play and after 3 months you still don't know the basic rules of the game because you don't are enough to learn, your friends will be rightfully frustrated with you.

Sometimes "tough love" is the best solution. "Jim, we love ya buddy, but if you don't learn how to play this game so we don't have to stop every time you get the ball and remind you, it might be best if you left the group because we're just going to stop passing to you.". They don't need to be the best players, they could be the absolute worst at the game, but not being bothered to remember the basics of their character...no, worse, that can be excused, but not even bothering to remember to LOOK AT THEIR SHEET to remind them of what they can do is the minimum barrier to entry for this game just like remembering you need to dribble when you run is for basketball.

INDYSTAR188

2017-01-06, 01:14 PM

The question, of course, is if these people are not invested in playing the game or learning how to play, then why are they playing it?

The same applies to any hobby. If you like to play basketball in your spare time, getting together with a group of friends every weekend to play and after 3 months you still don't know the basic rules of the game because you don't are enough to learn, your friends will be rightfully frustrated with you.

Sometimes "tough love" is the best solution. "Jim, we love ya buddy, but if you don't learn how to play this game so we don't have to stop every time you get the ball and remind you, it might be best if you left the group because we're just going to stop passing to you.". They don't need to be the best players, they could be the absolute worst at the game, but not being bothered to remember the basics of their character...no, worse, that can be excused, but not even bothering to remember to LOOK AT THEIR SHEET to remind them of what they can do is the minimum barrier to entry for this game just like remembering you need to dribble when you run is for basketball.

5/6 of my players have not read the PHB cover-to-cover (just the parts relevant to their characters) and definitely don't take the game as seriously as we do here at GitP. That doesn't mean they shouldn't get to play and if I draw some line in the sand, I think that's less helpful. As I said above, I sit with the guys and make sure they know each new power they get, give them visual aids (including a laminated "this is what you can do on a turn, these are actions available outside of attacking" kind of thing). To extrapolate your basketball analogy, for them they're in a semi-consistent YMCA gym featuring pick-up games. For me we're in a league where the goal is to practice and be as good as possible (where good as possible means having fun within the rules). In my opinion that doesn't mean we can't all have fun together, we just have different levels of commitment.

EvilAnagram

2017-01-06, 01:30 PM

I think it's easy to forget that people have lives outside of our hobbies, and it's perfectly okay for them not to devote their free time purely towards improving their D&D skills. Life comes first, or else terrible things will happen.

MBControl

2017-01-06, 01:32 PM

It just takes some extra conditioning time and reminders, to begin with.

Contrast

2017-01-06, 02:41 PM

Can you get the paladin and wizard players to help? A table I was playing at had a similar issue. Had a newer player who was playing a rogue for the first time, and I took her under my wing, as rogue is my favorite class in 5e. The other players appreciated my assist and the DM really appreciated not having to stress over 'half playing' her character.

If you've tried reminders, the above would be my advice.

That said, some people just aren't good at/aren't interested in the rules bits of the game. I play with people who've played for years and still can't build a half decent character or really know how the combat system works. I used to think it was pretty difficult to build a bad character in 5E until I started playing with someone who was new to roleplaying who made a character on his own with no guidance - but he's happy so whatever :P

I don't really get how you could complain about being overshadowed while also not trying to shine however. If you need to go extreme maybe give them a session where their character have been mind swapped so they can see their characters in the hands of someone else/have to explain their abilities to someone else - I'd probably only go through this if you've explicitly discussed the issue with the players and there hasn't been any progress.

Ruslan

2017-01-06, 02:51 PM

Thanks for the advice, everyone. After consideration, I chose the strategy of deputizing the Paladin and Wizard to help the other PCs. We'll see how that goes.

The Shadowdove

2017-01-06, 06:50 PM

Could run a separate game with the other two players running the classes the struggling players are using.

Have them kind of demo the capability of using your abilities in a one shot.

ChildofLuthic

2017-01-06, 07:28 PM

Could run a separate game with the other two players running the classes the struggling players are using.

Have them kind of demo the capability of using your abilities in a one shot.

I DM for a group and I'd really like to run their characters for a combat just to show them how powerful they are.

JungleChicken

2017-01-06, 08:01 PM

Thanks for the advice, everyone. After consideration, I chose the strategy of deputizing the Paladin and Wizard to help the other PCs. We'll see how that goes.

Ugh, why weren't they doing that anyway? Are players not allowed to talk to one another OOC?

Ruslan

2017-01-06, 08:10 PM

Ugh, why weren't they doing that anyway? Are players not allowed to talk to one another OOC?
JungleChicken, are you familiar with the term "backseat driver"? Have you considered that these players might just be polite individuals who didn't want to backseat-drive the other characters?

Samayu

2017-01-06, 08:39 PM

We've got a player right now who misses things. But it bothers him when he has too many suggestions as to what he should be doing. So yeah, you've got to be careful about the "back seat drivers."

I think you should talk with them about their problem. To me, the real problem is not that they're forgetting things, but that they're getting resentful about the "better" players. Without being judgemental, explain that the game works a certain way, and if they don't play their characters to the fullest of their abilities, the ones who do will appear more powerful. They need to either accept that, or fix it.

Alatar

2017-01-06, 09:23 PM

I know that I find standard character sheets to be absolutely intolerable. Utter clutter. Utter clutter that then gets covered in pencil scrawlings. My mind revolts at the image. It does not want to attempt to process any of the information on that page.

I had to live with the 4e character sheet if I wanted to use the character builder. I actually toughed it out and built 4e characters by hand for 2 years before I finally caved when the volume of errata made the printed material almost unusable. But I created my own addenda.

For 5th edition, I make my own character sheet, as I did for 3rd edition. No clutter. Lots of white space. Clearly delineated sections. And these days it's a PDF doc on a tablet, so no pencil scratchings. I do resource tracking in a notepad app. Every spell slot or superiority die used, every damage penalty received, every short or long rest, every hit die expenditure, every xp award, every npc name, every whatever gets it's own line in the notepad document. gamelog.txt. I end up with a complete diary of the entire campaign. I don't have to remember anything.

On the first page of the "character sheet", I'll list the character build's features, under a section entitled Features, but if it's a new 5E race or class for me, and I find that I don't automatically know what one or more of the feature names means, then the entire text of that feature and every other feature goes on another page. Why not?

At level one, the Features section lists the level one features. When I level up, if I get a new feature, I add it to the sheet. It's not a big time investment.

The character sheet has another section entitled Proficiencies. All together, the front page of the sheet is broken up into about 6 sections, each boldly labeled and surrounded by white space. As opposed to a sheet of paper crammed with lines and text. Tiny text.

Just the exercise of making the character sheet from scratch aids the learning process. It's like taking notes in class. Very often, you never read those notes. Just the act of writing the thing down puts it in your head.

If there is a class feature that I keep forgetting to use, like Indomitable, then I edit the character sheet and make that bit of text bold so that it jumps out at me when I glance at the sheet during the game. My character sheet ends up being a very personalized document that is pleasing to my eye and works well for me. If something isn't working well, I change it.

But, if I didn't really care that much about the game and I couldn't be bothered to make any effort at all then, I suppose, I wouldn't do any of that.

Mortis_Elrod

2017-01-07, 12:24 AM

snip.

yo, do you have a link to a blank of your custom ChaSheet?

BW022

2017-01-07, 11:48 PM

Suggestions?

Some players are simply stronger or better players. So... several suggestions...

Character Sheets Have the other players use a good computer-based character sheet. No hand-written scrawls. These often force players to fill them out accurately and present information in ways which easy to see in quickly -- grouping combat/non-combat things, ensuring bonuses and types are listed, etc. Filling them out also tends to ensure that the players spend more time actually familiarizing themselves with them. They are also easier to keep updated than writing over the same piece of paper. If helpful... allow tablets at the table. There are some good PDF and programs for character sheets.

Character Sheets (DM Copy) Have each player print off an extra copy of your character sheet each time they level. Review to ensure they leveled correctly and listed everything. You can also use it to prepare between sessions, (if you have time) prepare at the table, and (if necessary) play them if the player isn't there.

Aids Some players like combat aids such as spell cards. I do recommend (you) using index cards with standard things such as initiative, AC, saves, passive perceptions values, etc. Use the cards yourself for initiative and it may give you an easier way to remember things -- for those players maybe write down a few key abilities.

Mentors Assign the two good players to help the other out -- have them help the players make/level characters using sheets, give them copies to review at outside the session, and/or give them index cards to help out the players. Don't let them tell others what to do, but... maybe talk after their turn and remind them of an ability they forgot to use, or even talk or run some mock combats between sessions.

Prepare Encounters When preparing encounters, refer back to the character sheets for these players and put in notes of abilities which might/should come up. I.e. if you have a PC resistant to poison and you are putting in a spider encounter -- put in a note "Gord - poison resistance"

Tailor Encounters Put in a few encounters to specifically use key abilities from those players. For example, maybe lay out some encounters where only those players can participate.

Nerf the Good Players This requires you talk with the good players. Just be honest, "Look, the others aren't as experienced/tactically oriented and the 'power difference' is becoming an issue. We are working on it, but until then... I'm going to put in a few nerfs so you two don't overpower them." Give the paladin a curse item, have the wizard wanted and therefore not wanting to cast a lot of spells in public, etc. Don't make it permanent, just something so they aren't optimal.

Simple Characters Don't have the poor players play spell casters or those with a lot of options. A human blasting warlock, fighter, or monk... probably isn't going to forget as many things as a dragonborne sorcerer. May not work right now, but in the future.

Simplify Encounters Don't have a lot of complex encounters. Keep your side simple. This helps you spend more time with the players (so you can review their actions), prepare encounters, and gives them less chances to miss things -- vs. a complex combat with cover, multiple spell casters, lots of damage types, etc.

Tanarii

2017-01-08, 12:04 AM

I
For 5th edition, I make my own character sheet, as I did for 3rd edition. No clutter. Lots of white space. Clearly delineated sections. And these days it's a PDF doc on a tablet, so no pencil scratchings. I do resource tracking in a notepad app. Every spell slot or superiority die used, every damage penalty received, every short or long rest, every hit die expenditure, every xp award, every npc name, every whatever gets it's own line in the notepad document. gamelog.txt. I end up with a complete diary of the entire campaign. I don't have to remember anything.

On the first page of the "character sheet", I'll list the character build's features, under a section entitled Features, but if it's a new 5E race or class for me, and I find that I don't automatically know what one or more of the feature names means, then the entire text of that feature and every other feature goes on another page. Why not?

At level one, the Features section lists the level one features. When I level up, if I get a new feature, I add it to the sheet. It's not a big time investment.

The character sheet has another section entitled Proficiencies. All together, the front page of the sheet is broken up into about 6 sections, each boldly labeled and surrounded by white space. As opposed to a sheet of paper crammed with lines and text. Tiny text.
Yeah, I hand write my character sheets too, and it sounds like in a similar way.

The way I lay it out is:
First 6th of the page (left side): Ability Scores/Mods, important stuff (prof, init, AC, HP, HD, Spd, saves)
Second 6th of the page (right side): attacks (physical, cantrips, most common spells used etc), spell slots
Bottom 2/3 of the page, three columns: Skills (ie proficiencies chosen, includes tools), Features (race/class), and Spells. (All just names).

Sometimes I add other sections (Ki, Bardic inspiration, Invocations are the most common). But the key is lots of white space, with very limited info in each place so as not to overwhelm or make it hard to instantly locate info.

On the second page I write personality on the left half (big print), equipment on the right.

Third+ page is reference, that's printed. Shorthand versions of features/spells extended text. Especially spells.

Alatar

2017-01-09, 11:14 PM

yo, do you have a link to a blank of your custom ChaSheet?

I just saw this. I don't have a blank, but it would be easy to clear it out. It's just a wordprocessing document. I use LibreOffice. But I'll save a couple off as Word doc files and link them.

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B9yn_TCc57pfYkpFUmlKZVhEVk0?usp=sharing

That's a link to a Google docs folder containing a wizard character sheet, a fighter character sheet and a sorcerer character sheet, each saved as DOCX, ODF and PDF. The PDF will faithfully display the intended look of the document. The other files will reflect differences in what fonts we do or don't have in common. I run Linux, so there may be some automatic font remapping when you open one of my ODF or DOCX files. And if you open them in situ, via Google docs, you'll get something less than full fidelity.

Every sheet is a bit different. I start a new sheet from the last one, or from the last one for a similar class.

Sometimes I add other sections (Ki, Bardic inspiration, Invocations are the most common). But the key is lots of white space, with very limited info in each place so as not to overwhelm or make it hard to instantly locate info.

That does sound very similar to what I do.

Third+ page is reference, that's printed. Shorthand versions of features/spells extended text. Especially spells.

For spellcasters, I make a separate spell descriptions document. In the 3rd edition days, and when I was doing my own sheets in 4e, I kept it all in one doc, but I'd sometimes end up with over 20 pages of stuff, which became its own problem.