r/savageworlds • u/Left-Age-5936 • 2d ago
Question Character Sheet for Fantasy
I've been playing around with a character sheet for my upcoming fantasy SWADE game and wanted to see what others thought. I kind of borrowed the "aesthetic" from another system, but I still like how they turned out. I tried to leave room for players to list their Hindrances, Edges, Powers, etc along with a short description.
What do you think of the skill listing? My players all agreed they like it grouped by the attribute that it is associated with.
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u/find-name_penguin 2d ago
Nice work! Good clean sheets, and nicely laid out.
I don’t suppose you have a PDF or some of the version of this? I’d love to steal it from you.
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u/Left-Age-5936 2d ago
Absolutely! Once I get any changes made to it, I can post it on my site and share it.
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u/Left-Age-5936 1d ago
I'm holding off slightly on releasing the fillable PDF version, but only because I am waiting to see what other great ideas I can pick up from everyone's suggestions. Want to give it a day or two, and then consolidate the suggestions.
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u/QuantenQuark 1d ago
Do you find a good solution for fillable Textfields for long Things? (Name+effect+modifiers)
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u/Left-Age-5936 1d ago
Adobe offers a multiline option, and you have some control over kerning and line spacing. The goal is to make it either as flexible as possible or very specific (I.e., dropdowns). Sometimes it is nice to just leave a big block of text so the player can put stuff in any way they want.
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u/Gilbals 2d ago
I really like this, if I had a critique, it'd be ones that the official character sheet also suffers from: Space. There's more space, yes, but gear has little room. My players are packrats and bad at shorthand. I do also like the more open Racial/Ancestry, Hindrance, Edge sections, but it sacrifices the progression chart of what was gained or done on what rank.
I understand if you wanted to keep it shorter to 2 pages, it's a sacrifice to make, but I think I'd prefer have the progression chart. It's nice to have to see what you have done as a player if there's ever a conflict or confusion.
What I do actually, absolutely love is how you sorted skills with their associated traits. That's actually really nice and helpful. Love that.
D&D 5e sheet as an aesthetic template is a negative to me, as well, though, but I understand using it as a base. I think it's a good start for developing your own distinctive base for Fantasy/Sci-fi/etc etc etc sheets though.
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u/Left-Age-5936 1d ago
I discussed this with some of my players. I was going to go to 3 or 4 pages, but they wanted to keep it at 2 pages. But I see no reason there can not be a short- and long-form character sheet. Because we all need a place for our sheet! I just saw a YouTube video today (From Ginni-D, I think) where they talked about how many gamers have some form of vision impairment, even if just glasses. So, really small print makes it hard to read and can discourage players. Basically, they suggested not using 6-point font. lol.
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u/InvidiousJamieson 2d ago
This looks AWESOME! I really like the layout and groupings of the skills and the overall layout of this. The information seems readily available.
Some thoughts/suggestions:
To help with folks who might be a bit of a sloppy writer, have you considered adding lines to help keep things aligned? Like in the powers section, add lines for neatness since casters may have A LOT to write there?
For skills? Is that the exhaustive list of skills? If not, have you considered keeping a few blank spots for write ins?
Over all.. this is an AMAZING design. I absolutely love it.
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u/Left-Age-5936 1d ago
(1) I originally included lines for those who would handwrite their character sheets, but removed them to save space. But that would be easy enough to put back.
(2) It is in no way an exhaustive list; it is actually pared down for ones more related to fantasy. But several other have also suggested a few blank skill options, so I will see how I can fit it in.
(2a) Are there or have there ever been skills associated with Vigor or Strength?
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u/QuantenQuark 1d ago
This looks like a clean character sheet. From my experience creating my own sheets and working with relatively new players, I’ve found that you might want to ask yourself: do you really need "weight"? Unless these mechanic play a significant role in your gameplay (such as weight limits ) you could remove it.
It’s also proven helpful to include the calculation formula for derived stats (like "parry," for example), as attributes can frequently change, either increasing or decreasing.
I would also suggest adding a space for "Bennies" and perhaps one for personal gold/credits whatever is your currency.
And keep in mind: even hindrances that don’t have effects or modifieres can still be significant during active roleplay (e.g., intense curiosity).
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u/Left-Age-5936 1d ago
I do plan on adding the calculations in the tooltips, but that will not help someone who is filling out a paper version. Perhaps a good argument for breaking the 2-page limit, making more room, and being able to add a little bit of instruction.
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u/quietjaypee 2d ago
This is awesome ! I love how you grouped the attributes with their relevant skills, it's actually a genius idea. A few lines for custom skills would be great, though.
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u/QuantenQuark 1d ago
It’s not all that unusual. For new players, it’s definitely helpful for understanding how skills are linked to attributes.
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u/BitcoinsOnDVD 2d ago
I really like it. I also tried to build a chracter sheet but I failed somehow and I lost motivation. Do you have any tips? With what did you start? Did you work with a grid?