Homebrew character sheets

[LotharBot]

I've been unable to find a character sheet I like anywhere else, so I decided to homebrew my own. Here it is, in MS Word format:

v 3.0: http://tomandcatherine.com/forumpics/charsheet.doc
v 3.1: http://tomandcatherine.com/forumpics/charsheet31.doc

Specific things I like about this sheet:
- It's one page. I hate shuffling 4 pages trying to find where I wrote my skills, or trying to find all the bonuses that make up my AC. Especially if I'm running multiple characters.
- No more asking "where'd this number come from?" for attack modifiers, HP, AC, skills, saves, etc. There's space to write it all down, sometimes specifically marked as such.
- Easy to track what you're actually wearing. No more "oops, looks like my character was wearing 3 amulets" or "do bracers and gloves stack?"
- Works for characters of most classes up to at least 15th level.

Limitations and caveats:
- Yeah, it's MS Word. It happened to be the most convenient tool for me to use. It's also fitted to my printer margins, and might get cut off on your printer.
- It's a little tight on space. I've done what I can to expand certain sections (esp. the inventory space and low-level spell slots) but you do still have to write really small sometimes.
- This really doesn't work for a class with multiple spell lists. It doesn't even pretend.
- There's no "spellbook" section for wizards. I figure you can fold over the left third of the page and track your spellbook on the back. There's also no space for a backstory; write that on the back if you're so inclined.
- There may not be enough weapon slots for certain characters.
- The propeller beanie might not be the right style for everyone.

What I want from this thread / what you're allowed to do:
- You have my permission to modify this sheet for your own use. You may share modified versions with others, but please give me credit and let me know about it.
- I want feedback. Tell me what you like, don't like, etc. Also tell me if you know of character sheets that fit the same concept (single-sheet, track items in body slots, etc.)

[Fax Celestis]

Good sheet. Won't use it though: I have my own.

[I_Got_This_Name]

Excellent sheet. I have my own, but I might consider switching to that design.

[Vespe Ratavo]

Pretty good! I like the little propeller hat. :smallbiggrin:

[flawed.Perfection]

It's nice, but I'm a fan of space to write down stuff, and this is all really clogged up. You mentioned it yourself. I find even the official things too tight on space, with too limited spell room (I'd prefer a seperate spells/psionics sheet) and too small and thin a list for feats and special abilities (would be fixed with a seperate spells sheet...).

The figurine is quite big, and the spots to fill in the items is a bit small.

I don't see languages fitting in the same area as feats and special abilities. Why not just put them under skills?

I recommend a different font. Serif fonts are a bit chaotic and do take up space. Thought of Tahoma? It's pretty thin, but even with small font size very well readable, unlike Times New Roman.

Some font sizes are a bit big, with no apparent reason. Damage Reduction for example.

Some more advice: With text boxes it's better to have the word designating what it's for to be above, next to or below the box, instead of inside. For example, the item boxes next to the figurine. Decrease font size and place the word outside the box (thinking outside the box... heh.).

Consistent box size is pleasing to the eye, but with that many on one sheet nearly impossible to pull off. Try to keep box heigth nearly equal though, and just vary it's width.

Nice going for the rest; Keep it up!

[Krellen]

Not a bad sheet at all.

I probably wouldn't use it, as I long ago made up an Excel spreadsheet character sheet (double sided); as a bonus, being in Excel, it does a lot of calculations and additons for you. Of course, it requires a lot of updating to keep current, so that's one thing a standard sheet has over it. Though you can always just print out the sheet I made without numbers; it's formatted such that any calculated "0"s show up as blanks.

[Vaynor]

I like it, but since I bring my laptop to most games I use my own homebrewed Excel sheet. It's 4 pages, but is very inclusive, and it does lots of calculations for you.

[Icewalker]

I like it, but it is a little bit crowded, especially when it comes to writing down extra stuff in blank spaces and filling in items and such. I dunno if I'd use it, but it definitely looks good. It might work a little better if you used a front and back, all the same stuff, just make some blanks a little bigger and leave a bit of spare space.

[LotharBot]

For those who mention having your own char sheets, mind posting those, if possible?


The figurine is quite big, and the spots to fill in the items is a bit small.

Modified in v 3.1, which I'll post in the first post shortly.


I don't see languages fitting in the same area as feats and special abilities. Why not just put them under skills?I find that, generally, people with a lot of languages also have a lot of skills, but not a lot of feats. But, of course, the document is entirely editable, so you can delete the word "languages" and write them in your skill slots if you prefer.


I recommend a different font.v 3.1 uses Tahoma and Arial Narrow. Thanks.


Some font sizes are a bit bigReduced the fonts in the upper right to a smaller size. A lot of that was held over from v 2.0, since that was the first section I created. Never bothered to shrink the font size up there. (v 1.0 and 1.1 were hand-drawn; I'm still playing those characters.)


With text boxes it's better to have the word designating what it's for to be above, next to or below the box, instead of inside.Normally, I'd agree. But it really doesn't work to put the words outside the box in segments like the weapon list in the middle, unless I make the boxes a lot smaller. Same with the boxes next to propeller-hat-guy. I've modified this by making all text inside boxes into Arial Narrow.


Try to keep box heigth nearly equal though, and just vary it's width.

Best I can do is keeping consistant height within a section as much as possible. I'd like to do something about the box at the top of the skill section, but I can't see any way to fix it short of moving the whole section around.

This, of course, doesn't overcome the fact that I've crammed an awful lot of information on a single sheet... but I think all of that resulted in improvement. Thanks for the feedback.

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It might work a little better if you used a front and back

One of my design goals was to make it all fit on a single sheet, single sided, so I didn't have to do any sort of sheet flipping or fumbling around with multiple pages. I have considered making a modified version for extra-long paper (8.5 x 14 or 17 or whatever.)

[Vaynor]

[FONT=Tahoma]For those who mention having your own char sheets, mind posting those, if possible?

I would but I dunno how to put it up online. :smalltongue:

[Druid]

It looks like a good sheat, but feals a little cluttered. I wouldn't use it, moslty because I've gotten used to the one I already use.

[canonade]

I'll have to agree with Druid, all the way around. It looks like you went to a lot of effort, more than I would have.