Custom character sheets

[Asmor]

I'm just curious what most people do when character sheets and house rules collide. If you've got house rules that alter a significant portion of what a character needs to keep track of, what do you do? Try to shoe-horn it onto a normal character sheet, or design something new, or just do it free-form (i.e. write/type it out on paper).

I'm particularly interested in how people design their own sheets, if they go that direction.

 

[Nyaricus]

I always use my custom character sheet; back when my old group got into D&D, my DM presented us with a character sheet he downloaded from RPGsheets.com; from there 'Axiems Character Sheet' (so-named for the original inventor of the sheet we used) has gone through no less then four major revisions, not to mention the countless minor ones.

I'll upload my sheet so that you can take a peek at it if you wish

cheers,
--N

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I must confess that I rarely use computer generated character sheets- usually, I just use a pad of paper or some kind of notebook.

I also use commercial ones...with sheets of lined paper for fleshing things out.

The only computer generated sheets for D&D I own date from 2Ed, and the only other ones I have are for HERO in the form of a spreadsheet.

 

[frankthedm]

A .gif in MS paint works well enough for me.

I've been doing a lot of custom sheets in word in Old stat block format for recent PCs of mine.

 

[Greylock]

After years and years of using HeroForge, for my latest character I typed everything up in a single page using Word. Spellcaster even. Druid, with two animal companions.

I feel like I am suddenly free.

 

[Kurashu]

I tend to use the computer generated ones on Wizards' site. The ones tailored to specific classes are nice. But I've never encountered a house rule that couldn't be accomodated by a pregen character sheet.

 

[Asmor]

After years and years of using HeroForge, for my latest character I typed everything up in a single page using Word. Spellcaster even. Druid, with two animal companions.

I feel like I am suddenly free.

That's usually what I do just in general, but I don't want to put that sort of burden on my players. I prefer it just because it allows me to list everything I want to, how I want to, and be as verbose as I like... I can list every armor modifier with type, instead of trying to shoehorn a monk's wis bonus into "misc," quick descriptions of every feat with a page reference, etc.

I'll never use a character sheet again if it can be avoided... Of course, sometimes it can't (i.e. you need a new character -right now- and don't have computer/printer access).

 

[Birmy]

I've been using Hero Lab pretty extensively (it's hard to to go back to a notebook and pen once you get used to the convenience of a good chargen program) which can accommodate most house rules (I've yet to give it anything it can't handle). It lets you know when you've gone outside the rules but still lets you break them for just such an eventuality, so it's nothing I've had to worry about since the days I DL'd sheets.

 

[Aus_Snow]

Adobe InDesign is what I've ended up using, after trying lots of other things, including other people's custom sheets. It then gets ported to PDF, and voila, house-rules-friendly sheets on tap.

 

[Asmor]

Adobe InDesign is what I've ended up using, after trying lots of other things, including other people's custom sheets. It then gets ported to PDF, and voila, house-rules-friendly sheets on tap.

I'll have to check that out, thanks for the tip. How user-friendly is it?