Player Name Character Name Dungeon Master

Class / Level Race, Subrace Background Alignment Experience

Attack Hit Damage Notes

Size Height Weight Gender Age

Speed Jump, high std/run Jump, long std/run

Color: hair/eyes/skin Vision/range

Hit Points

Max Damage
Hit Die

Inspiration Armor Class Proficiency Passive

Bonus Perception Max Size Spent

Abilities Saving Throws

Strength
STR MOD Athletics Unenc. Encumbered Lift Push/Drag
Proficient
(x5) (x10) (x15) (x30)

Dexterity
DEX MOD Acrobatics Stealth Sleight of hand AC adj Init adj Proficient

Constitution
CON MOD HP adj. Resistance Proficient

Intelligence
INT MOD Arcana History Investigation Nature Religion Proficient

Wisdom
WIS MOD Animal Insight Medicine Perception Survival Proficient
Handling

Charisma
CHA MOD Deception Intimidation Performance Persuasion Proficient

SV. Adv.
Languages
Successes
Death
Proficiencies Failures
Designers Notes
How did this come about?
I have been playing D&D on and off for a
couple of decades now. When 5th edition was
launched I felt a resurgence of that old style
classic D&D feel. This caused me to coerce my
group into playing 5th edition. Up until then we
had mainly played AD&D 2nd edition.
One of my players was particularly skeptical.
He had played a lot old original D&D, then
dipped into 1st edition AD&D, quickly switched
to 2nd edition and played it for more than a
decade. Then he dipped into 3rd edition, but
switched back to 2nd edition after only a few
months. The concept of skipping that many
editions ahead was intimidating.
To alleviate some of the pains of switching
edition, I decided to make a 5th edition
character sheet that was styled like a 2nd
edition character sheet, but incorporating
elements of even earlier editions. That way
the character sheet would feel like earlier
editions.
My background
I don’t have a background in graphic design,
nor do I have the tools used for such. I am I
computer engineer by trade. My main tool was
an old version of PowerPoint, coming up on its
tenth anniversary. However I suspect this
would still be a couple of light years ahead of
the tools that was used for the old character
sheets.
The experience
Working on this, I have gained a new respect
and appreciation for the work done by Emi
Tanji who designed the standard character
sheets for 5th edition. This was a lot harder and
way more time consuming than I thought it
would be. I realized that the space is very
limited on the character sheet. There were
more than a few things that I wanted to put in
there but I couldn’t. I also suspect there had
have been a lot of very heated discussion and
tough compromises about what goes on the
character sheet, when Wizard of the Coast
designed the standard character sheet.
This work also took me down a few paths that I
didn’t expect. For instance it made me think of,
what is the purpose of the characters sheet? Is
it a cheat sheet for the player who made the
character, is it the permanent record of the
character, is it a medium that allows you to
hand off a character to another player and
expect her to play it like to original player? Is it
a form that is intended to be filled out by a
computer or is it strictly for pen and paper
roleplaying?
It also made me think of my game in general.
What do I emphasize in my game? What rules
do I rely on? How often do I hand out
inspiration when people play to the flaws and
bonds? With that in mind you start to notice a
few changes when you compare this character
sheet to the standard character sheet. For
instance there is no mentioning of the
traits/bond/flaws/ideals; on the other hand the
rules for how long you can jump are there and
so are the rules for encumbrance.
If you have the time and interests I can
recommend trying this. You might start to think
of things like “Do I want the rules for drowning
on the character sheet, considering that the
upcoming campaign is a pirate campaign?”
Should there be a date on it? Do characters
often get exhausted?
The Goal
This is a generic character sheet. It is not class
or race specific. It is intended for pen and
paper roleplaying, - print it out and fill it with a
pencil. Yes, you do need another sheet of notes
regarding race, class and background specific
details, perhaps in combination with
equipment lists and/or spell lists.
Enjoy the game.
Michael Nielsen