Character sheet
Encyclopedia
A character sheet is a record of a player character
in a role-playing game
, including whatever details, notes, game statistics, and background information a player would need during a play session. Character sheets can be found in use in both traditional and action role-playing game
s. Almost all roleplaying games make use of character sheets in some fashion; even "rules-light" systems and freeform role-playing game
s record character details in some manner.
The role-playing video game
equivalent is known as a status screen. Some non-role-playing games, such as some board game
s and party game
s, also use records that could be compared to character sheets.
Character sheets for a game are usually found within the game's main rulebook, and permission is almost always given for players to photocopy this sheet. Some publishers sell preprinted sheets separately. Many offer PDF
files with character sheets for the players to print out themselves. It is not uncommon for players to create custom character sheets, to their own design, rather than use the publisher's “official” offerings.
A player may have an additional character sheet if he also controls a second character, a cohort or a hireling, but this is less common. The game master, who runs the game, may optionally keep proper character sheets for non-player character
s (NPCs) if he wishes to keep full information on the character. Some rulebooks offer special “NPC sheets” for this purpose that are considerably smaller than the usual (main) character sheets.
, abilities, health/vitality (e.g. hit points) and an inventory of items possessed. It is common for a character sheet to essentially be a record of a character's history as changes are made and important things noted. It is referenced during gameplay. Despite the name, a single character "sheet" may actually be two or more pages in length.
The content and design of such a sheet will vary greatly depending on what game it is used for and will reflect its play style and rules system. For instance, the Dungeons & Dragons
game deals with combat, skill use and gaining abilities. The sheet devotes a section to a character's name and description, a section to combat statistics, then areas for detailing statistics of what weapons and offenses the character has, while another section details the character's skills. On the other hand, Tri-Stat dX
is a simpler system placing a greater emphasis on special abilities, so its standard character sheet devotes a large area to recording the character's special abilities.
The layout of a character sheet, when creating a character sheet or choosing which one to use, is very important. First, the sheet must be sure to allow the player to record everything relevant to their character. Secondly, it must also allow them to easily find and read off any information at a glance whenever they need it. In addition, if the character sheet is more than one page long, careful consideration must be given to put the most often used data areas at the front page. In all cases, care must be given to ensuring that the layout is generally well organized, grouping similar areas together logically while being easily readable and not overcrowded. Finally, decoration of some kind may be added, but again, care must be taken that it is not distracting from the main character sheet.
included a character generator CD with their Player's Handbook, 3rd Edition. Today, a freeware Excel
-based character sheet for Dungeons and Dragons is maintained by Technomancer Press and can be found on their website. Another powerful, yet free Electronic Character Sheet is TOS FREE, available in the download section of The Only Sheet website.
One important advantage of spreadsheet character sheets is that they allow the Players to use the full capabilities of the spread sheet application to build their character. This means that complex formulas can be more easily coded using the functions directly available in the spreadsheet application.
is an example of a Dynamic Character Sheet.
Player character
A player character or playable character is a character in a video game or role playing game who is controlled or controllable by a player, and is typically a protagonist of the story told in the course of the game. A player character is a persona of the player who controls it. Player characters...
in a role-playing game
Role-playing game
A role-playing game is a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting. Players take responsibility for acting out these roles within a narrative, either through literal acting, or through a process of structured decision-making or character development...
, including whatever details, notes, game statistics, and background information a player would need during a play session. Character sheets can be found in use in both traditional and action role-playing game
Action role-playing game
Action role-playing games form a loosely defined sub-genre of role-playing video games that incorporate elements of action or action-adventure games, emphasizing real-time action where the player has direct control over characters, instead of turn-based or menu-based combat...
s. Almost all roleplaying games make use of character sheets in some fashion; even "rules-light" systems and freeform role-playing game
Freeform role-playing game
Freeform role-playing games, also called freeforms, are a type of role-playing game which employ minimal or no rules. Instead, actions are adjudicated on the spot by the referee. There are also several variations, some of which lack a referee....
s record character details in some manner.
The role-playing video game
Role-playing video game
Role-playing video games are a video game genre with origins in pen-and-paper role-playing games such as Dungeons & Dragons, using much of the same terminology, settings and game mechanics. The player in RPGs controls one character, or several adventuring party members, fulfilling one or many quests...
equivalent is known as a status screen. Some non-role-playing games, such as some board game
Board game
A board game is a game which involves counters or pieces being moved on a pre-marked surface or "board", according to a set of rules. Games may be based on pure strategy, chance or a mixture of the two, and usually have a goal which a player aims to achieve...
s and party game
Party game
Party games are games that some people play as forms of entertainment at social gatherings. Party games usually involve more than one player. There are a large number and styles of party games available and the one selected will depend on the atmosphere that is sought to be generated...
s, also use records that could be compared to character sheets.
Overview
What is considered relevant can vary by game and personal preference—one player may consider his character's eye colour or personal background relevant while another might not, but both may be required by the game rules to note down on their sheet if their character suffers an injury.Character sheets for a game are usually found within the game's main rulebook, and permission is almost always given for players to photocopy this sheet. Some publishers sell preprinted sheets separately. Many offer PDF
Portable Document Format
Portable Document Format is an open standard for document exchange. This file format, created by Adobe Systems in 1993, is used for representing documents in a manner independent of application software, hardware, and operating systems....
files with character sheets for the players to print out themselves. It is not uncommon for players to create custom character sheets, to their own design, rather than use the publisher's “official” offerings.
A player may have an additional character sheet if he also controls a second character, a cohort or a hireling, but this is less common. The game master, who runs the game, may optionally keep proper character sheets for non-player character
Non-player character
A non-player character , sometimes known as a non-person character or non-playable character, in a game is any fictional character not controlled by a player. In electronic games, this usually means a character controlled by the computer through artificial intelligence...
s (NPCs) if he wishes to keep full information on the character. Some rulebooks offer special “NPC sheets” for this purpose that are considerably smaller than the usual (main) character sheets.
General characteristics
A character sheet is likely to include fairly stable attributes, such as the character's name and physical characteristics. It may also include values that change often such as experienceExperience point
An experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game...
, abilities, health/vitality (e.g. hit points) and an inventory of items possessed. It is common for a character sheet to essentially be a record of a character's history as changes are made and important things noted. It is referenced during gameplay. Despite the name, a single character "sheet" may actually be two or more pages in length.
The content and design of such a sheet will vary greatly depending on what game it is used for and will reflect its play style and rules system. For instance, the Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons
Dungeons & Dragons is a fantasy role-playing game originally designed by Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson, and first published in 1974 by Tactical Studies Rules, Inc. . The game has been published by Wizards of the Coast since 1997...
game deals with combat, skill use and gaining abilities. The sheet devotes a section to a character's name and description, a section to combat statistics, then areas for detailing statistics of what weapons and offenses the character has, while another section details the character's skills. On the other hand, Tri-Stat dX
Tri-Stat dX
Tri-Stat dX is a generic role-playing game system developed and published by Guardians of Order in 2003. Like other generic role-playing game systems, Tri-stat dX has adaptable rules that can be applied to many genres and settings....
is a simpler system placing a greater emphasis on special abilities, so its standard character sheet devotes a large area to recording the character's special abilities.
The layout of a character sheet, when creating a character sheet or choosing which one to use, is very important. First, the sheet must be sure to allow the player to record everything relevant to their character. Secondly, it must also allow them to easily find and read off any information at a glance whenever they need it. In addition, if the character sheet is more than one page long, careful consideration must be given to put the most often used data areas at the front page. In all cases, care must be given to ensuring that the layout is generally well organized, grouping similar areas together logically while being easily readable and not overcrowded. Finally, decoration of some kind may be added, but again, care must be taken that it is not distracting from the main character sheet.
Paper character sheets
Many game rules come with a standard character sheet, a kind of a fill-in form which may be photocopied and has sections laid out for all of the game statistics a character can have. Some players design their own character sheets or simply record their character information on a simple sheet of paper, although inexperienced players are recommended to use properly printed sheets so that they don't leave out something important.Electronic character sheets
With the advent of personal computing, players with the requisite knowledge began designing character sheets with computers. The earliest computer-generated character sheets were simply designed in a word processing program, so that players could fill in their information and have a nice, typewritten sheet to use. Next, players began to experiment with spreadsheet solutions, so that some of the calculations required were automated. Wizards of the CoastWizards of the Coast
Wizards of the Coast is an American publisher of games, primarily based on fantasy and science fiction themes, and formerly an operator of retail stores for games...
included a character generator CD with their Player's Handbook, 3rd Edition. Today, a freeware Excel
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Excel is a proprietary commercial spreadsheet application written and distributed by Microsoft for Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. It features calculation, graphing tools, pivot tables, and a macro programming language called Visual Basic for Applications...
-based character sheet for Dungeons and Dragons is maintained by Technomancer Press and can be found on their website. Another powerful, yet free Electronic Character Sheet is TOS FREE, available in the download section of The Only Sheet website.
One important advantage of spreadsheet character sheets is that they allow the Players to use the full capabilities of the spread sheet application to build their character. This means that complex formulas can be more easily coded using the functions directly available in the spreadsheet application.
Dynamic character sheets
A Dynamic Character Sheet is an electronic sheet that is used in conjunction with a laptop computer during gaming sessions. Such a character sheet is used not only to track the character, but to also add / apply effects to the character on the fly. For example, if the character receives the effects of a spell which increases its strength score, then a dynamic character sheet will be able to automatically update all the effects of a higher strength character. Another example is if a character activates one of his abilities, the dynamic character sheet will be able to apply the effects of that ability in real time. Also, such character sheets enables the player to track the duration of the applied effect, thus turning off effects that have expired. The Only Sheet plusThe Only Sheet
The Only Sheet Plus is a character creation and maintenance role-playing game tool for players of the Dungeons & Dragons v3.5 system, and Pathfinder RPG system. The implementation is done using the System Reference Document...
is an example of a Dynamic Character Sheet.
External links
- RPGSheets.com
- Mad Irishman Productions, featuring character sheets
- D20Sheets.com Resource for character sheets for the d20 SystemD20 SystemThe d20 System is a role-playing game system published in 2000 by Wizards of the Coast originally developed for the third edition of Dungeons & Dragons...
and many other different game systems - CharacterSheet.net, Managing and creating character sheets online