D&D 5E Help needed to create 5e character sheet

[Li Shenron]

I've tried to scour our character sheet section in search for a character sheet that suits my purpose and taste, but I have not found it yet.

I really feel like maybe there isn't, and I will have to learn making my own printable character sheet...

While I keep searching, can some of those who have made and upload 5e character sheet to ENWorld help me learn how to create one myself?

I am not looking for help on layout design (I think I can do the design on paper!) but rather in the technical basics to actually create a PDF file of it:

- what program did you use to design the sheet? MS Word, OpenOffice or something else?
- with such kind of programs, how did you place/move different sections of text on the page, and draw boxes or frames around those sections?
- how did you save the file in a form-fillable PDF format?

I know these are noob questions... I really have minimal experience with word processors, when it comes to arranging stuff in a layout that is more complicated than just separate columns and embedded pictures

 

[Baumi]

The most obvious Tool would be a DTP Programs (Desktop Publishing) like Adobe Indesign (Industry Norm but expensive), Page Plus (easy to use, 50-100$) or the free Scribus. With them you can freely place Text, Tables, Graphics and even create Forms.

Many simply use Winword or Excel, which is a bit awkward but still doable and most know how to use these. I'm not sure if you could create Forms with them, but you don't need it since you can just fill it out in Word/Excel and print it out (physically or as pdf).

P.S.: Many Artists use Photoshop for this and just "paint" the Character Sheet, but this works only if you can paint. I don't think you can create Forms with that, so you would have to print a PDF and convert it to a Form with a good PDF Program (Acrobat is usually not that Expensive if you buy a License from Amazon).

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

When I made my playtest sheets, I used InDesign to create them, and Acrobat Pro to make them fillable.

That's an expensive option, and requires some time to master the tools, but it will get you the best results.


In the past, I got really good at using LibreOffice Calc. The sheets made there aren't as pretty, but there are ways to do a decent job. I would start by making the cells rather small, then merging multiple cells together where I needed a field. I can imagine you could do pretty good work with Draw as well. All LibreOffice apps can export to PDF, but you'll need something else to make them a form.

One free, but tedious way to make a fillable forms is with the online tool PDF Escape. It's tedious and imprecise, but it will get the job done.

 

[Baumi]

Why did you use Acrobat Pro? Can't you create Forms in Indesign?

I myself use PagePlus to create such sheets (and Forms) and I would really be surprised if the far more professional (and expensive) Indesign would not be able to do this.

 

[Ravenheart87]

I used Inkscape, only because I don't have the time to learn Scribus and I know it well.

 

[Gretkatillor]

Why did you use Acrobat Pro? Can't you create Forms in Indesign?

I myself use PagePlus to create such sheets (and Forms) and I would really be surprised if the far more professional (and expensive) Indesign would not be able to do this.

You can create the forms in InDesign, but it allows you to set only the most basic parameters. If you want to change things like text alignment in forms or add any interactivity, you'll need Acrobat Pro.

I'm quite surprised too how limited InDesign's options in this respect are, considering the application's general maturity.

By the way, I think there still is a free trial of the Adobe suite.

 

[CM]

Seconding Inkscape. It's free, but there's a bit of a learning curve if you're not familiar with it.

 

[Li Shenron]

Thanks to all!

I am definintely looking for free software here, since I am very probably only going to use it to create a one-time character sheet design...

Inkscape looks very complex and more oriented to pictures than text, so perhaps Scribus might be the way to go!

 

[Baumi]

By the way, there is also the free "Character Sheet Designer" from nbos. The Results will not win a beatuy contest, but it's very simple to use and you can even automate the Character Generation with it (but only BEFORE you gernerate the PDF).

I would advice you to take a look .. it's free, easy and quick:

http://www.nbos.com/products/character-sheet

 

[Jeff Carlsen]

Why did you use Acrobat Pro? Can't you create Forms in Indesign?

I myself use PagePlus to create such sheets (and Forms) and I would really be surprised if the far more professional (and expensive) Indesign would not be able to do this.

It's the Adobe philosophy. Why have one application where you could have two? These days, the only way to get InDesign is through a Creative Cloud subscription, anyway. The way the prices work out, as soon as you want two applications (say InDesign and Photoshop), you may as well get all of them.