The regular 4E D&D sheet is too limited for use without other accessories.
Some time ago, I wrote about the choosing of the best D&D 4E character sheet. That was when I was creating my very first 4E character: now that I’ve actually played the game, and have had some experience, I decided to revisit the subject.
As I’ve gained experience with the game, I’ve learnt an important lesson: even if you can remember your powers (I can), you are going to get items which have lots of details, and a single line entry on the character sheet just doesn’t cut it. Ideally, you need plenty of room. Then means that, unless you’re using other cards and the like, the standard D&D 4E character sheet simply doesn’t work. It also has very small (and poor) sections for writing mundane equipment.
I have been using this sheet and, frankly, I’m disappointed. I suppose during playtesting they were drunk or something, because there’s no way you can fit all the required information onto the sheet. I mean, honestly, the AC doesn’t separate armour and ability bonus: annoying for anyone using light armour, such as my Wizard.
Update: Previously, I had recommended Ema’s Charsheets as neat new-player-friendly dynamic sheets. However, Wizards of the Coast recently asked for the site to be taken down, possibly because the dynamic sheets put in a bit more rules information than they liked, so these sheets are unfortunately no longer available.
Shado's sheets are beautiful, and fit everything quite nicely.
Alternatively, there’s Shado’s Character Sheets, shown left. They’re gorgeous landscape sheets, and sport plenty of room for absolutely everything, including an acceptable amount of space for equipment. The power sheet is very well designed, and means you don’t have to worry about power cards if that’s not your thing. The sheer prettiness of them is fantastic.
Shado’s Character sheets definately get the award for the prettiest ones: they’re what the official 4E sheets should have looked like. They use the same style and colours that the rulebooks use, which helps in quickly identifying various elements.
Download Shado’s Character Sheets.
However, whichever you choose, the amounts of text associated with the powers and items, you may have to resort to using cards. Specially made Power Cards are quite popular. After a bit of searching, I must agree with Google: the best power cards I can find are Ander00′s, found here. You should check that link for the current version, or may download the complete set as a pdf here, although it may not be up to date. There are also cards that can be used for items, and other such things.
Of course, if you don’t want to fuss around proper Power Cards, there’s the ultimate D&D player’s tool: The index card. Buy a pack of them at the newsagent, and they’ll serve you well.
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Great post. Thank you.
Unfortunately Ema has closed his site. Apparently because Wizards asked him to :-/
Eek. Hmm. Thanks for the heads up. I guess because the sheets put in all the rules and stuff.
No problem. Still a shame though. I do agree with you about Shadow’s sheet. Wizards should have made it like that.