The drafting process

Like every project, I decided to make custom character sheets to learn a new skill. In this case, I wanted to practise illustration. I started by tracing individual sections of the official sheets and just playing around with their sizes and positions. The official sheets work on a three column page, but I worked out pretty quickly how to save space using a four column page.

When I got serious, I focused on what I could cut from the official sheets. I dropped most things from the official sheets' second page, all the roleplaying information — backstory, descriptions, faction information — stuff that could all be covered in a separate write-up about your character. This freed up a whole lot of real estate.

Next, I needed to make sure every section had enough space to be useful. The function I chased was to keep everything you need in combat or need to refer to frequently on the front page, relegating everything else to the second page. By moving equipment, feats & traits, bonds and the rest to the second page, I was able to give each huge page allocations so you can actually fit a high-level character's information.

My priorities changed a few times though. For a while, I thought the bonds section was just roleplaying fluff, but a guy on Reddit pointed out the bonds section is something unique to D&D 5e that sets it apart from other games. I decided to keep the bonds section to preserve the game. I also flip-flopped on whether to include character portraits or not — in the end it just takes up too much space, although I do love having a character portrait.

One thing I only added because of user request was the spell sheets — pages three and four. I didn't want to make a spell section because the official sheets already do a fine job there. I still think my spell section is a less-stylish knockoff compared to the official sheets, but its inclusion rounds off the character sheets into a more complete, functional document.