Product Request: New Character Sheet Design


Product Discussion


I'm an original red box player who made it all the way to DnD 4e before switching to Pathfinder. I've been pretty happy since I switched and don't see any reason to move over to DnD 5e, but there is one thing I think Wizards nailed with 5e in terms of capturing the spirit of our favorite pencil and paper game. The character sheets.

And coincidentally, as I induct my daughter and her friends into the world of fantasy RPGs via Pathfinder, they have consistently had trouble with the character sheets.

Areas to improve (my opinion of course):

1 - Be consistent with which side holds the mod. It's seems random not just on the "advanced" character sheet, but also between the Beginner Box and advanced sheets. The mods should be prominent - larger and/or at the end of a stat block (left or right).

2 - Call out the abilities! 5e puts the mods in these large shield type boxes, with the base stat smaller. It looks cool, feels like a fantasy RPG and is easy to see stats across the table as well as find them quickly (remember, not everyone has placed this game for 20 years).

3 - UX/design! This is the thing that represents our characters in game and out of game. Have some fun with it - add design to represents different sections - stats, skills, saves, combat . . .

4 - Don't fork the beginner and advanced character sheets. Take some direction from the old school and 5e sheets to make the beginner sheet fun and streamlined, and have that sheet also serve as the "base" sheet for advanced play. Advanced play would introduce a second sheet that shows the advanced stat breakdown. It's a tough experience taking beginners from one format to another - but what you're really trying to accomplish is adding more to what they already have.

I was considering designing sheets for my group but also wanted to give some feedback and perhaps see if someone has already created what I'm looking for.

[Great job at PaizonCon - had a blast and looking forward to an extra day next year!]


Really the only thing I don't care for in the Core Rules character sheet is how small the spell slots are. In my games I have to add another page to make it workable. Was this size set based on space requirements (keep it to 1 double-sided page)? It seems to me that spells should be their own sheet entirely.

Sczarni

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i can only echo these sentiments, i've yet to find a truly workable sheet, I would like to see a sheet that promotes feats to the front page, so many feats are so situational that i feel they need to be front and center, particularly for new or inexperienced players. the "official" sheet has 5 weapon "slots" on the front page? how many characters really need, let alone carry 5 different weapons?
The weapon attack bonus box could do with some changes, marking it with a total area would be useful, most new players i see at my FLGC seem to find it hard to remember that the weapon bonus is added to their Stat MOD and their BAB, as these boxes are not linked on the sheet.
Some extra boxes in the stat area would make my life easier, Ability, Mod,(a separator) Base, Racial, Advancement, Enhance, Temp Adjustment, Temp Mod. but maybe i just have a lot of cheats in my local:-).


1 person marked this as a favorite.
jakolol wrote:

i can only echo these sentiments, i've yet to find a truly workable sheet, I would like to see a sheet that promotes feats to the front page, so many feats are so situational that i feel they need to be front and center, particularly for new or inexperienced players. the "official" sheet has 5 weapon "slots" on the front page? how many characters really need, let alone carry 5 different weapons?

The weapon attack bonus box could do with some changes, marking it with a total area would be useful, most new players i see at my FLGC seem to find it hard to remember that the weapon bonus is added to their Stat MOD and their BAB, as these boxes are not linked on the sheet.
Some extra boxes in the stat area would make my life easier, Ability, Mod,(a separator) Base, Racial, Advancement, Enhance, Temp Adjustment, Temp Mod. but maybe i just have a lot of cheats in my local:-).

All good ideas. I think generally speaking the charter for updating the sheet should be:

1) Improve visual style
2) Improve use of real estate (to reflect your points)
3) Combine the beginner and advanced sheets into a single document that get's extended as you advance beyond the beginner box

Silver Crusade

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I really like the sheets from here.


UndeadMitch wrote:
I really like the sheets from here.

Are they allowed to use Paizo art like that?

Sovereign Court

1 person marked this as a favorite.

I fear that there's no single character sheet design that works well for every character. Either you devote too little space to weapons (some fighters) or too much (most wizards). Too little space devoted (wizard) to spells or too much (fighter).

You could go with some large "miscellaneous abilities" boxes into which you can copypaste hard-to-memorize class abilities. However, I think it would also help a LOT to make a generic "serious caster" and a generic "serious warrior" sheet.

Druids probably need an additional Wildshaped Stats sheet.

For the equipment sheet, having separate boxes for each magic item slot can be handy. Also, interactive encumbrance calculation is very nice if you can make it flexible enough to handle all the various tricks - Muleback Cords, Bags of Holding, Ant Haul spells etc. that might crop up.

A space for a character portrait on the front of the sheet is also nice. Big big big bonus points if you can copypaste images into it somehow. The front page of your sheet is what other players see most; having a character portrait there is really nice to have.


I've never liked the "official" character sheets. Too much clutter.


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DungeonmasterCal wrote:
I've never liked the "official" character sheets. Too much clutter.

Standard statblocks. Learn to love 'em. <Grin>

But seriously, I've got all of my players in two groups "trained" to use statblocks. It's consistent and works great for nights someone can't show up so someone else plays their character. Everyone can help everyone else find things, there's not a bunch of derivative stuff for clutter, AND... I'm doing back-door DM training.

Obviously that's not great advice for brand new players, because seeing all the origins for stats is useful while learning, but for anyone with a little experience, it's time to drink the statblock Kool-Aid.


Anguish wrote:
Standard statblocks.

This.

I'm also GMing for a group thus I'm quite familiar with them. Using them for my PCs was a natural move for me and I'm loving it.
Especially when doing some advance planning it's nice to see changes on a glance. Plus: they're short, consistent and well structured; in addition you get to see all important stuff on 1 page (including familiar/AC)!

Ruyan.

Shadow Lodge

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I've been using text files as character sheets for years, and with the absolutely unlimited amount of extra information I can put on it, I can't go back to regular character sheets.


Joana wrote:
UndeadMitch wrote:
I really like the sheets from here.
Are they allowed to use Paizo art like that?

I haven't looked at the specific pieces of art they're using, but they're doing it under the Community Use Policy, so as long as any Paizo art is either taken from the Community Use Package or the blog (and the CUP terms are followed) it's okay.


UndeadMitch wrote:
I really like the sheets from here.

I love the layout, but when I printed them lots of the lines didn't show up.


Joana wrote:
UndeadMitch wrote:
I really like the sheets from here.
Are they allowed to use Paizo art like that?

Wow, those are pretty good. Going to try them out.


Avatar-1 wrote:
I've been using text files as character sheets for years, and with the absolutely unlimited amount of extra information I can put on it, I can't go back to regular character sheets.

Ditto -- except that I also used hand-written sheets before "text files" were invented ;-) As has been stated, a single sheet doesn't work very well for a variety of classes. The Dsylexic sheets solve that issue by creating class-specific sheets, but even then, I find that one class-specific sheet doesn't work well for a variety of characters of that class even. Inevitably, there is too much space/prominence devoted to things my character has no interest in, and too little to the class aspects I want to detail.

I just create character sheets from "blank paper" as it were. I find myself writing all the same stuff (no extra work, really), and wind up with a perfectly custom sheet that is so easy to read, because it contains no extraneous slots, charts, lines, or any other messiness. That is, not only do I get to add unlimited information where applicable, I also get to exclude any information that is mere clutter.

Sovereign Court

Is anyone else using LaTeX to make their own sheets?

The Exchange

my home made character folio is about 28 pages now, all form fillable pdf
:)


Zalman wrote:
I just create character sheets from "blank paper" as it were. I find myself writing all the same stuff (no extra work, really), and wind up with a perfectly custom sheet that is so easy to read, because it contains no extraneous slots, charts, lines, or any other messiness. That is, not only do I get to add unlimited information where applicable, I also get to exclude any information that is mere clutter.

I do the same. I haven't found another entity's sheet that I've truly been comfortable reading. So I just make my own.

Scarab Sages

I use Necero's Pathfinder Character Sheet. It's clean and it just works. The spells section is entirely too small though so I also use a note-card deck of spells to supplement, which I greatly prefer to a 8.5" x 11" sheet spell matrix.

Sczarni

Joana wrote:
UndeadMitch wrote:
I really like the sheets from here.
Are they allowed to use Paizo art like that?

they are using the community use license, so i think they are good


If you are looking for interactive sheets that do a lot of the hard work for you (including encumbrance) i use either Bad-Ass Bandanna Studios that you can fill out on pc and print out.

Or for much more customizable (but not pc-fillable) Dyslexic Studios as already mentioned.


Pathfinder Adventure Path, Lost Omens, Rulebook Subscriber

I'm very comfortable with the standard sheet myself, but I do find it limiting at times for long-term characters.

My favorite for some time is board member Salama's character sheet, which is horizontal, or you can print it double-sided, staple and fold it into a vertical half-sheet booklet that is very handy.

If you use Herolab, but find the standard sheet far too busy, one of the custom sheets published for it also rather nice. I can never remember if it's Armisdale's or AncientOne's, but it has the look of the standard sheet, but has optional sections and sub-sections down to the individual text for feats which you can include or not as you like, and still include a portrait if you want.

RPG Superstar Season 9 Top 4, RPG Superstar 2015 Top 32

While fiddling around with a design of my own, I put a "healing items" box next to hit points, which seemed like a really good idea. I'd like to see that incorporated into more character sheets.

Also, any sheet that doesn't have space for a character portrait or symbol is dead to me.


Anguish wrote:
DungeonmasterCal wrote:
I've never liked the "official" character sheets. Too much clutter.

Standard statblocks. Learn to love 'em. <Grin>

But seriously, I've got all of my players in two groups "trained" to use statblocks. It's consistent and works great for nights someone can't show up so someone else plays their character. Everyone can help everyone else find things, there's not a bunch of derivative stuff for clutter, AND... I'm doing back-door DM training.

Obviously that's not great advice for brand new players, because seeing all the origins for stats is useful while learning, but for anyone with a little experience, it's time to drink the statblock Kool-Aid.

See I couldn't disagree more. I play a lot of PbP's and there is nothing more disconcerting than looking at fellow players' "Character Sheet" represented by a statblock. There is almost zero information for how any of the numbers are arrived at.

Sovereign Court

Charlie Brooks wrote:

While fiddling around with a design of my own, I put a "healing items" box next to hit points, which seemed like a really good idea. I'd like to see that incorporated into more character sheets.

Also, any sheet that doesn't have space for a character portrait or symbol is dead to me.

These are good ideas.


Oceanshieldwolf wrote:
See I couldn't disagree more. I play a lot of PbP's and there is nothing more disconcerting than looking at fellow players' "Character Sheet" represented by a statblock. There is almost zero information for how any of the numbers are arrived at.

This is important why? I mean, yeah, if you're thinking about casting some buff spell that offers a resistance bonus to saving throws, you'll want to know if the PC already has that type of bonus but... look at the Gear line and answer the question.

Almost 100% of the time you don't need any of the construction details. If it was important, you'd find DMs everywhere failing to run monsters from statblocks. NPCs would be transcribed onto character sheets before every session.

Meh. In my humble opinion there's no value in seeing that a PC's Init +7 comes from a Dex 16 score and Improved Initiative. Because... if I really, really care, I can look at the Feats line and the Abilities line.

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