Minimal boxes. My custom sheets' only boxes are for the ability scores and modifiers (because it's in the middle-left-centre of page 1), while everything else has a maximum of 3 borders so there's space to keep adding stuff to the very edge of the page. I have massive areas for HP and temp HP (and coins and inventory on another page), so I can track all the changes to HP and easily undo mistakes, and so I don't have to erase the tiny coins boxes creating a hole in the page. I have enough space for features and traits with expendable uses so I can start with e.g. 4, and cross them off to mark, 3, 2, 1, 0.
Hi @@brauliomartinez1019 you can delete or edit the text by going to the individual cells. The first weapon is in AK 25. You also see the which cells have text in them in the top left next to the fx symbol. There is a print guide coming soon to help you troubleshoot ass well. Let me know if you need further support and thank you for your patronage. 💙
quick suggestion: use dotted circles: ◌ ◌ ◌ ◌ to represent slots that the char haven't gained yet. when the char earns the slot, player can "ink complete" the circle; and "pencil fill in" earned slots as spells are used.
Wouldn't it then be better to pencil in a close square bracket ] to indicate how many you've gained? That way, you can fill in or erase to track how many slots you've spent up to your limit
I do that with all my class skills and abilities as well. That way leveling up is sooooooo simple. Helps my ADHD brain. I'm really good at forgetting to level up.
I agree. The single thing I would like to see is some sort of… dry-erase option for the stats area. Anything non-ability, things like spell slots and HP and inventory, that is constantly changing, may be convenient to be able to dry erase some areas. Just my opinion. 👍🏻
@@ReclaimerMkII slip into a sleeve or otherwise layer plastic window on top. Lift up/pull out for permanent change and write on top for temporary marks and wipe to erase.
@@ReclaimerMkII packing tape works as a makeshift dry erase. If you put one solid piece over the spot, you can write and erase. Try to avoid a seam; they collect marker dust.
As someone who has tested a few variant character sheets I’ve found the default sheet is optimized for new players and not veterans. Putting skills in alphabetical order makes it easier to find the relevant skill with no knowledge of game mechanics. Using columns gives everything a visual hierarchy that helps dyslexic players get a footing and how everything is organized puts all relevant info for a first game on the front page. Or gives more complex information it’s own page such as spell casting.
I like putting the proficiencies with their corresponding stats, but I do have one minor hang up. I know it's controversial, but once in a while I have characters make an ability check using a proficiency and a "mis-matched" ability stat. For example, if the character wants to juggle small, heavy barrels, I might have them do an Acrobatics (Strength) check, even though Acrobatics is typically a Dexterity proficiency. I'll let my players make a case for using a different proficiency or stat, but I don't always feel like the default ability stat fits the specific situation.
@@ShonicBurn These types of checks don't come up very often, which is why it's a minor point. But I have had players do a Wisdom History check. The check involved noticing that something felt off, but they only noticed it felt off because of their background with the culture that built the stronghold. So, it was a Wisdom check based in their knowledge of history and culture.
I have to imagine it takes so much mental power to really rethink a long-standing design like that and hone it down. I haven't appreciated enough those who take subjective points such as "what do players really want on the first page" and "how much room do they need for each one" and turn them into real design decisions. Well done, and a lovely demonstration video! You've converted me : )
This is great! I absolutely love the idea of putting the skills next to the ability associated with them! Having the descriptions of all your abilities is awesome too - I often print out "action" cards with descriptions of what my character can do. Makes it a lot easier to think about combat rounds that way!
@@annasolovyeva1013 if you are a mix of both or is multiclassing there is no reason to not just use both. Use the sheet for your features and spell cards for your prepared spells
@@danilooliveira6580 Yes. And that's a mess as my list of spells and attacks is too big for the 1st page of character sheet and my dm doesn't like people sorting through paper (you can only glance at one paper and you should come up with instant action or here comes tarrask and eats you). :( Because: silvered rapier as we fight demons, we're on the avernus campaign. Whip as a secondary weapon to deal with some rogues without bringing much attention in Baldur's Gate. Darts, just because why not. I'm also long bow proficient as an elf, so chances are high I get it. Cantrips - our DM allows to cast more of them than the PHB. Spells. Lots of useful spells thanks to being a bard of lore and a hellrider, I can have any spell from palladin and wizard spellists as long as it fits my character by roleplay. Bardic inspiration. Etc! And I should also make sure I have enough spellslots to heal, as we have no priest, so I also pre-reserve them and track them.
this sheet is amazing I have trouble reading character sheets, especially when things are unorganized but this is so clean and nice, I can get see what I need without spending an uncomfortable amount of time looking for specific detail thank you for sharing this
I do absoutely love the sheet design, it is very intuitive and well thought out. Props for that. But I will state a minor critique I have that I feel can be easily resolved with some artistic talent. The reason I loved the 5E sheet over one say such as Pathfinder, is because it didn't feel like looking at a series of boxes with text inside. It felt... well... more artistic to put it simply. Something abou tit allowed me to keep myself more immersed. I know this is weird but hopefully it makes sense. Long story short I love the design, I just wish the boxes and text were stylized a bit more.
I totally feel you Jacob. It was a decision i thought about quite a bit and tried to incorporate some design elements but in the end I made the choice for something that is more customizable.
On the other hand, a more artistic flare can create visual distractions/noise which can make it hard to find what you are looking for. I think this allows for the best of both worlds as a more artistic person can doodle in their own personal flare around the boxes.
@@mavoc3094 I think small changes like how the 5e sheet has a shield where you put the AC makes it easier to find rather than having to remember which of the 30 squares it is in. I agree that if we make every box into its own shape that represents what it does, it will make the whole thing look cluttered. But changing the design of a few of the most important ones would help you to find the one you need the most. I especially thought this with the AC in his new sheet. It is so small and hidden away in the middle of everything.
Honestly my ideal DND sheet just has a massive section for everything. Literally massive text boxes. I write big and LOVE DETAIL. plus it means I have space to give my characters interesting inventories instead of using the whole box for weaponry
I’ve never understood putting the skills next to the relevant ability. When the dm calls for a perception check for example, I don’t think to go “ok so that’s wisdom skill” I just look at perception. I’m way more familiar with the alphabet than what skills are keyed to which abilities. Some of them are common sense of course but I still think it would actually make it harder for me
What makes the difference to me is less that connection to the attribute but that the individual list of skills is shorter. Instead of looking at an alphabetical list of 18 options I have a presorted list of 5 options max. That does make it faster and easier to give an answer for me. but that's the beauty of custom character sheets - everyone can choose what works for them.
Bear in mind that there is no Perception check. A check is tied to an ability score. You would be asked to make a Wisdom check using your proficiency in Perception -- usually written as Wisdom (Perception) check. You can also be asked to make a Constitution (Stealth) check, for example. In that case, having the skills next to their typical ability score would be confusing.
@@julesponge - Well I just learned something new with that last bit. Thats interesting, and useful for the DM to implement. Usually it’s not thought about much because mosy online tool ties the skills directly to their “usual” ability scores.
I'm glad you opened with "In my opinion" since I disagree. I rather like the official character sheets. But if this works for you and for others, I see no problem with it.
Back in the 70s I also had a chance to re-create my own character sheet. There is no reason to not re-create it. Other than consistency that everyone understands where the information is. You did a very good video on the way you organized
Lettering is too small for myself, but character sheets are always going to be a matter of personal preference and there are enough D&D character sheets out there that you should be able to find one that suits you, or make one of your own. Your GM won't care as long as he/she can understand what you've got on the sheet, although most good GM's keep track of their players on sheets the GM can use soooo. . . . . A good character sheet for me is going to have all the basic info available on the front page and stuff on the back page and all in large easy to read lettering. It's going to be different for everybody, but thanks for your idea as well.
With this one I'm definitely going for compactness as I wanted to have as much info on the sheet as possible. but you're right everyone's preferences are different. that is one of the reasons I included a singe sheet of it in the download. So you can print it big on one sheet.
This reminds me of the half-page 3 ring binder I use to dm. I'm definitely gonna use this and hole punch it for my binder since it's already the right size. Then I'll have a complete D&D binder instead of a DM binder and a bunch of loose character sheets
In 3.X I did a lot of my RP online, so I built a whole template in Notepad, that I could use, and had that. All the critical stuff was at the top (personals, class levels, HP (and my hit die rolls), ability scores, etc) and I used the nice fact about the 'infinite page' in textfiles to include all the special abilities, each spelled out straight out of the book as necessary, along with the source of the ability (extraordinary, supernatural, spell-like). Things like Darkvision, that are super-common, I didn't spell out, but more interesting ones I did. I had all the skills in a table, with room for ranks, ability modifiers, and room to add assorted modifiers (like skill synergies and tool bonuses). Spells I didn't write out, but I'd include known spells (if applicable), with page and book references, as well as spells prepared. With portable computer technology so ubiquitous, I now generally have my character sheet on my laptop or tablet (which allows me to have a copy of any books handy as well that I happen to own--it's not piracy if you already own a dead-tree copy).
Character pamphlet. I was about to critique how you wrote a whole damn booklet but then I kept watching and I'm kinda in love with this. The tapped, half fold pages are neat and tidy, space efficient and infinitely scalable. Best character sheet I've seen in over 20 years of ttrpg gaming.
I've been using that second sheet you showed (with the stat organized skills) for years, i added a backpack sheet I found online and I've been pretty happy. This looks really interesting though, nice sheet
I've been wanting a different character sheet than the normal one for a while! I love to play with the sheets since I use digital ones most of the time and make em look all fancy so this simple sheet will be much easier to spruce up with decals and extra decor!
I swear it blew my mind when you flipped over and wasn't expecting this. I thought ''oh that's it'' BUT NO THERE WAS ANOTHER PAGE! AND WAIT EVEN LONGER YOU CAN FLIP IT TO THE OTHER SIDE!'' If I could I would marry. That thing is hilarous awesome.
The accordion folding design is so interesting, even though it wouldn't work for me, but the sheet itself is such an amazingly usable design!! Totally gonna take inspiration from this when working on my own custom sheet
My ideal Character sheet has to be virtual because I write too much and need to be able to expand/modify it easily, but here are my preferences for said virtual character sheet. 1. Ability Scores should be stacked vertically. Each Ability score box should have the score in the top left corner and the modifier in the large space. The top right of the box should have a diamond to mark proficiency in saves. Each score would have a larger box with the relevant skill checks adjacent, with two checkbox equivalents representing proficiency and expertise. 2. All feature and inventory entries should come with parts. A name, a optional short description, and a detail description. You should be able to cycle between showing only the names, only the name and short description, or the name and the detail description. Ability scores, health, and speed should have a context menu that lets you set their normal value, and any temporarily modified value, such as through Aid, longstrider, potion of giant strength etc. Speed should have a scroll functionality for which type of speed displays if the player has multiple (walk, fly, swim, burrow, climb) 3. Ability to add Inventory or Feature boxes. Basically let you split your inventory or features into smaller boxes or add new ones entirely with the properties of an existing box. This way you could have separate boxes for racial and class features, or separate inventories for what is on your person and what is in your bag of holding. You could use a feature one to track status conditions and temporary spell effects as well with relative ease. 4. Attunement slots. 3 boxes (with the option to add more in the case of artificer or homebrew) which hold the name of the items attuned to and can be expanded to quickly find that items description without having to go back and find it in the inventory. 5. Any of the extra detail views should be accessible by holding a specific keybind and hovering over the box, but should also be accessible through a button attached to the box to be mouse clicked.
The one my DM and I use has the Proficiency Scores next to the Stats; so much easier then alphabetically. I tend to use the inventory space as an ability reminder thing.
This is a FANTASTIC idea and I love the execution!! I want to present this to my group to see if we have any ideas on making our own, maybe brainstorm some for other TTRPG systems! Great idea!!
I love it. It’s organized, clean and rather intuitive. The only issue I really have is the separation between casters and martials. Because, in some cases, say an Eldritch Knight fighter or paladins, they have both martial abilities and spells. It would be neat if somehow we were able to both combine bonus actions and the spell list.
Since it's in a google sheet you can customize it any way you want - I just multi classed my fighter to a cleric and added it. If you change it any way share it with me on Instagram @CardboardCleric - I'd love to see it.
Everything looks great! Love the booklet and am very interested in the DM version. Hope to see it soon. I'd also enjoy a video on how you made the little black folder for the booklet! Cheers and looking forward to more creative content like this!
This is really awesome. As someone who has also found the need for more space but never quite sure how to configure it, i thank you for your contribution to the community.
Dude, this is amazing. I'm working on building encounters/short questlines to run DND for some friends that have never played before. The normal character sheet slows the game down so badly everytime a new player needs to make a check (personal experience, and others in my previous group) so this is fantastic. Having the modifiers, saves and skills associated with a stat makes so much sense. Definitely gonna use these, thanks.
I like the sheet idea! I believe I just received some bardic inspiration! I really like how the majority of what a player would need is on page 1 including for the combat and skill checks. I would like to see some spellcasting stuff in there though for ease of access (even though most players use spellcards these days). Not a huge fan of having 3 passives though. I usually limit passives to Investigation and Perception, expecially since Insight will almost always be contested by a Deception check unless it is for a DC that is interchangeable with other skills or the target is being truthful. More passives means less interactions from players, and passive skill averages should generally be a guideline for DMs and not necessarily visible to players. I like the idea of players having questline notes and NPC / PC notes. Also, having a kill count isn't a bad idea either; the DM in me wants to use that kill tracker sometime to have a NPC come after a specific PC for killing someone. There is a lot here that helps DMs keep track of what the PC knows and how they think which is super helpful.
Spellcasters are a fickle bunch 😂 I got an update almost ready but every casting class has unique needs making the design either very generic or overly complicated ... I'll post an update once it's ready.
i think the only thing with this guide would be how to tape it all together after having printed it all out. I may just be having a dumb moment, but i'm currently trying to figure out how to tape this all together and i keep messing up. Other then that though, this character builder sheet was a wonderful idea! groundbreaking even! thank you!
i like to have physical sheets more than digital ones, but was severely struggling fitting all the info i needed on a single sheet, so seeing a section dedicated to race and class abilities made me so happy!! cant wait to try this out!
If I had to go with paper sheets this would be my first choice. It's so simple with so much room for customization (changing colors/fonts/borders, adding little graphics, etc.)
Really cool you let people edit their own sheet to meet there needs! Will probably give this sheet a try next time I'm a player or suggest it to my new players at the table!
Yes of course. D&D is all about collaboration and no two players are alike. Let me know how you like it at your table and thank you for the comments Zach 👍
@@CardboardCleric Starting a new campaign in the next few months and going to explore some variants in the DMG so hopefully see if I can edit the google sheet to include ways to track that info!
Im playing my first dnd campaing and I have a sheet but I'm using a notebook for inventory, story details, charaters, ect which my dm seems to be grateful for There was one time when our dwarf paladin said " I wish we had this information archived "" as we were trying to create a plan And my DM stared at me quickly and we both laughed because that's what I'd been doing the entire time (we've had 5 sessions this was during session 3 or 4 I think) I plan to encourage my friends to also take notes
Thank you for making this. I am working on a design myself for various levels of people coming to 5th edition from beginner to expert and I will for sure use this as a baseline and aid.
I made something similar, but never thought of using excel. For my "binding," I bought a hole punch for Tūl disc bound note books. This way I can easily add/remove pages as needed.
I feel a lot of this is inspired by the journaling community, like bullet point journaling. Good itersection! Might use something like this in the future
This is really cool. When I last played in person, I used the second sheet you showed and found it to be mostly an improvement over the standard design. One thing I personally use and both the second sheet and your sheet cut out is the section on personality traits etc so I'd probably need to add those back in should I ever make my own. One thing I really like is the sections for different containers, the current digital sheet I use for most games doesn't really offer that easily as a function but I think it would be really nice especially when in games where encumbrance is used.
You’ve got some good stuff here, I personally don’t like horizontal sheets but the concept is good. The bit at the bottom for all the random carrying capacity jump distance dark vision was inspired, it’s stuff you should write down since it always catches people by surprise when it comes up. I also liked your speed box, but it should cover more; walking then flying as the most common, then swim speed as a rare but often granted ability, then hover and burrow as the rarest forms (I only know 1 subclass that grants a hover speed but that covers all the bases). I think the passive skills, stealth (rare), investigation (uncommon), perception (common) should be up with the rest of the skills instead of banished to the bottom, something which always bothered me about the base sheet since it throws new players for a loop when I ask for passive perception and they just never bothered to write it because it was out of the way.
Thank you for the detailed perspective. Even if you don't like horizontal sheets the beauty of it is that it's completely customizable and you could implement all those changes. Happy adventuring
I absolutely love this! The design makes so much more sense and is so much more user-friendly. I am excited to get to use it in future games. Thank you for putting this together!
I believe character sheets should be split in quarters. -Skills -Roleplay -Feats -Inventory That way you can use the army map technique to keep the sheet folded small and still easily access all the information.
At 3:51 when you opened it up, I thought the title on top of the right page was "Bone Cancer" and I figured you were playing a very different kind of D&D than me.
I also like to make character sheets, and this is a nice improvement. I find class specific sheets tend to work out better, and sometimes player specific sheets are the best way to go. Also stop flipping off the camera/audience.
just made my first character sheet of your design. I love it! Especially how customizable and compact it is. thank you so much for sharing it with all of us!
Absolutely LOVE this! This is exactly what I needed for so long. I did combined some pages and edited some text and worked perfectly for me. thank you so much for this!
A major problem I find with these sheets is that skills are not *always* tied to those skills. I have had many creative skill checks that have made sense that the party has enjoyed. Blending into a crowd? Charisma (Stealth). Asking around a town for someone who has gone missing? Charisma (Perception). Trying to get hints to a riddle? Intelligence (Insight). On top of that, I find that many sheets exclude the personality traits as, "Wasted Space," when in reality, I find as a DM, they're very important and put there to help people roleplay their characters better. Just my two cents on everything of course. Sure the equipment (Inventory) box is small, but the main sheet definitely has everything *I* need for my players as a DM. Not that this sheet is bad, of course! It works for you and your players, and that's what makes the game great.
Fun thing is, i've always made my own character sheets using old unused drawing notebooks that i collected from childhood. I took on the habit of redesigning things, but with no concern for room saving, as a notebook has many pages and i have several of them. Redesign focused on reorganizing information and drawing cool stuff to decorate. So i walked in this video with a pinch of salt ready, but i must admit... this design rocks. Some part of it is similar to some of what i aimed for, but better! I might steal this... XD
I always made my own paper character sheets to play with since I didn't prefer the original design, and my group has always (jokingly) teased me for it, but it has been very handy
Very cool! I always use a digital sheet, but this did get me thinking about analog. If you put some tape on the parts where you have to write and erase a lot (gold, hitpoints, cooldowns that reset daily, etc) you can use dry erase pen and then you don't have to replace it as often.
I'm so happy I only started playing DnD around 2 years ago and that DnD Beyond is a thing nowadays. God bless all you DnD players out there that prefer playing on a paper sheet.
You're right it's amazing we have so many options now. For me D&D is a great opportunity form me to get away from screens - that's why I still prefer paper on the table
My thoughts on this are going to portability. You would just need this and your dice, and you could just set up anywhere. The DM cover would come with a screen seen in that could pop up, and has a pokey to store note cards with important info on creatures
I have been making my own character sheets since i started playing in third edition, I don't use official 5e, always type up my own stuff. So I super approve of what you've done here, Looks like it's working for you. I do a lot of running for my group, and I house rule away enough things that parts of your sheet would be unnecessary, and other parts like currently how much exhaustion you have are non-existent. I also didn't see saving throws anywhere.
Really appreciate that. The saving throws are just about the main modifiers and the best part of doing in a spreadsheet is that is very easily customizable to each characters needs.
Cool idea, I would mark each page with a red or blue marking on the top depending on which side of the notes are open, so I dont get confused by the binding
I ended up making myself a separate battle sheet, which lists my spells by level and has bubbles for my spell slots that I can fill in as I expend them, as well as concentration markers (I play a bard) it also has a quick list of my different ability modifiers, spell save dc, And speed. It's not pretty but I gets the job done well
Yes yes yes. Make a video on how to make the booklet please. That looks so awesome. Thanks for doing this. In the process of leveling up my Dwarf Cleric to level 3 and I'd like to transfer him over to this character sheet. Looks really awesome.
i like this kinda of character sheet of course there are things about it i would change but i am sure that is something everybody would end up doing to make it fit what they think is more important or just to put something in a place they like better but i think the basics for it are great
I really like this idea. I'd want to change up the formatting for myself to make them proper booklets with staples at the binding while maintaining the page order, but otherwise this is great.
