Last Updated on January 22, 2023
Your character sheet is an important part of the DnD experience.
While you can decide to simply open a Word document and list all your abilities, why would you when so many excellent character sheets exist?
Here is a list of some of the best character sheets, most of which are free (or at least very cheap).
Plus, no character sheet would be complete without a character portrait.
After you’ve selected your character sheet keep reading for some suggestions on how to make the perfect portrait for your character.
The character sheets are also categorized so that you can find a sheet for your needs easily.
Click the link below to jump to that section:
- Standard and Stylized Character Sheets
- Editable and Fillable Character Sheets
- Hand-drawn and Cute Character Sheets
- Class-Specific Character Sheets
- Visually Impaired and Dyslexia-Friendly Character Sheets
- Beginner and Kid Friendly Character Sheets
Standard and Stylized Character Sheets
Sometimes all you want is a good character sheet where you can write down and store every little detail about your character.
These 6 character sheets meet that goal in their own unique ways, whether it’s new coloring, improved design, or additional pages for specialized characters.
Classic DnD 5e Character Sheet
This sheet is the original 5e character sheet, in case you prefer the standard. The version linked here is a fully editable PDF, so you can make sure you’ve got everything right before you print it off!
MPMB’s Character Sheet
This character sheet is a combination of an editable PDF and an online 5e character builder. You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to use it, but that program is free.
The sheet uses a javascript program to help put your character sheet together and includes a greatly expanded section of pages for spellcasters, characters with companions, Druid’s wild shapes, and more!
You do need to subscribe for $1 to MPMB’s Patreon, but this character sheet is very high quality.
5e Companion App
While this app does more than hold character sheets it is a great way to keep a list of your characters on hand. The character sheet isn’t quite standard, more a list of attributes and abilities on the app, but it is excellently organized.
DnD Beyond
If you make a free account with DnD Beyond you get access to the ability to create and store characters on their website. These character sheets are well-formatted and distinct from the standard; plus you can export them as a PDF for printing.
Legendary Pants
This futuristic style character sheet, found on Legendary Pants.net, is an interesting addition to this character sheet collection. It definitely stands out. Check it out if you decide to join or run any cyberpunk games!
William Lu’s Character Sheets
These are some of my personal favorite stylized character sheets. This zip file contains several editable PDFs with a unique blocky art style.
It includes general-use character sheets as well as additional pages for creatures, spell casters, and alternate versions so you can choose what works for you.
View Here (download the files)
The Best Editable and Fillable Character Sheets for DnD 5e
From official materials to a decidedly DIY approach, welcome to our guide to fillable character sheets in Dungeons & Dragons 5e.
- Official WotC Sheet PDF is HERE
- Great class specific sheets example from DM’s Guild
- Hosted on MS Excel
- Colorful Versions
- Concise, but thorough Compact Sheets
- Our Guide to a fantastic DIY Fillable sheet is below!
While there’s something inherently satisfying about holding a physical character sheet in your hands (not to mention all the awesome custom designs you can find online, or in shops like Etsy), constantly updating, tweaking, and tracking information on a physical character sheet can feel a lot more like accounting than any game about casting fireballs at goblins has any right to.
Whether you want to go all-digital, and keep your characters past and present (not to mention future – who doesn’t love a good afternoon spent theory crafting?) safe in the cloud, or just have a useful place to track changes to your hit points, spell slots, sorcery points and what have you, a digital character sheet is a fantastic tool.
There are some great resources (D&D Beyond, specifically – although there are some other great alternatives) out there for all-digital character sheets that roll up your character, track hp, and all manner of other stuff that lets you focus on actually playing the game.
However, a virtual character builder can quickly get complicated and, more importantly, expensive. Trying to play any sort of niche class-race combo using D&D Beyond quickly starts to rack up the micropayments – which can be especially irritating if you already own the physical books.
If you love the look and feel of having your whole character laid out on two sheets of A4, and don’t fancy dropping a bunch of money on virtual tools, you’re not alone.
If you want to use a virtual character sheet to track your progress, having an editable or fillable pdf is going to be your best bet.
Official Wizards of the Coast Character Sheet
If it’s utility you’re after, Wizards of the Coast has a form-fillable pdf of the basic D&D 5e character sheet available for free here. It’s robust, simple, and will get you up and running in no time.
If you want something a little more niche or less spartan, however, we’re going to need to look elsewhere.
Third-Party Fillable Character Sheets
If you’re looking for a form-fillable pdf character sheet for your D&D 5e character, you’re not the first person to look at the official materials and wonder if there might not be something better out there.
Thankfully, the D&D community is huge, amazing, and seems to have too much time on its hands. As such, you can find some great fillable character sheets out there, with designs suited to specific classes like this one on the DM’s Guild, which also comes with a ton of extra sheets for keeping track of your abilities, treasure, spells, and even has special tools to help you multiclass without turning your character sheet into an impenetrable mess that looks like the ravings of a lunatic.
There are options for character sheets that you host in Microsoft Excel, colorful versions for easy reading, compact versions, and just about every permutation you could ask for.
However, if you have something a little more specific or artsy in mind, we’re going to have to do some legwork ourselves.
The DIY Approach: Making Your Own Fillable Character Sheets
There are some amazing artists out there making amazing custom character sheets with gorgeous hand-drawn designs, innovative little flourishes, and generally a much more visually pleasing approach than the usual “excel spreadsheet with delusions of grandeur” vibe given off by the official resources.
You can buy a bunch of different options online. This custom necromancer character sheet is gorgeous – it has me even more excited to play a necromancer than when I wrote the guide – and this custom sheet with “gothic vibes” is just a joy to behold. You can even get these really helpful, visually bold custom character sheets for anyone who struggles with dyslexia.
There are even artists out there who will draw your own custom character sheets on commission. I know not everyone is privileged enough to shell out a chunk of change to local artists, but if you do have the gp to spare, come on, there’s a plague outside. What else are you gonna buy?
However, while receiving a pdf and physical copy of your very own deluxe character sheet is wonderful, you may need to do some extra legwork to get it into a place where you can use it as a digital resource.
Now, I spent a few hours this afternoon trialing different tools for making pdfs form-fillable and boy howdy is it a wasteland out there.
Basically, if you already pay for Adobe Acrobat, close this article and go hire a local artist, you filthy rich patrician. If you have access to an Adobe account for work, it looks like you’ve found what you’re doing on your lunch break.
If you’re like the rest of us, however, Sejda is a really useful tool that’s the easiest to import, add fillable boxes, and export again with that I could find. It’s only good for a couple of uses before the paywall comes slamming down for the rest of the day, but if you’re just setting up one or two pages of character sheet, it should be perfectly suitable.
Hand Drawn Character Sheets
These three character sheets are designed to look homey and match a handwritten aesthetic that might be just what you’re looking for in a character sheet.
While this aesthetic can make a character sheet look simple, rest assured that they include all the necessary details; most are modeled directly off the official 5e character sheet.
Briar Lantern Cute Character Sheets
These character sheets are in a cute hand-drawn style. They come in a few colors and are completely comprehensive while still looking good.
Plus Lantern has more themes (like a nature theme) coming out so be sure to check out the site for other sheets in the same vein.
Snowbird Art Character Sheet
This character sheet is pretty similar to the standard DnD 5e character sheet, but it distinguishes itself with its art style and presentation.
What’s particularly nice is the way the sheet centralizes the area for your character portrait; it always seemed odd to have that relegated to one side of the standard sheet.
However, it unfortunately only includes the main sheet, and not additional pages for spells, character abilities, or companions.
Louis-Philippe Breton’s Character Sheets
This character sheet is similar to the last, but does include additional pages for spells.
It also has alternate versions so you can print the sheet as either a standard portrait page or in landscape format so that you can include your spells on the same side of the paper.
Great for people who hate shuffling through multiple pages or repeatedly flipping the character sheet over!
Class Specific Character Sheets
While the standard character sheet lets you write almost everything down, it can be hard to fit all your characters abilities concisely on the page. T
hese character sheets are custom made for each specific class’ abilities and features.
Spellcasters have designated sections for their spells and spell slots, Druids have areas to include the details of their wildshape, and martial characters have expanded weapon sections.
Class Character Sheets Bundle
These sheets, available on the DM’s guild website for 5 dollars, include character sheets for each specific class including famous homebrew classes like the Blood Hunter (created by Matt Mercer).
It also includes ability, spell, and wild shape sheets! Each of these sheets is editable online, and every field is fully customizable, so you can pick a layout you like and mess with it to your heart’s content.
You can also choose to buy any of the class specific character sheets individually.
/u/erbentunk_fizzlewink’s Class Character Sheets
This Reddit user’s compiled character sheets include options for not only each and every class, but almost all the classes’ subclasses as well.
So there is a character sheet for the Wizard, but also for Transmutation Wizards, Necromancy Wizards, Enchantment Wizards, etc.
These are really nicely done character sheets and free! The only downside is that the PDFs are not editable, so it’s best to just print these off to use them.
/u/hornbook1776’s Class Specific Character Sheets
These sheets, from another Reddit user are another style of class specific character sheets you can use.
These ones come with color coded sections and while they are fan-made have been playtested over several adventures so you know that they will work well.
In case the link above ever breaks, here are the two direct links to the master PDF and the PHB Ranger sheet (which isn’t included in the master document).
Accessible Character Sheets
DnD can be a surprisingly text heavy game, so for those with difficulty reading or various forms of visual impairments these character sheets are an excellent choice to make the DnD experience both fun and accessible.
Dyslexic Friendly Character Sheets
For those DnD players who have Dyslexia, check out these character sheets from a Reddit thread.
These sheets are designed to be especially clear and easy to read. If the main link is broken, here are the PDFs directly:
Visually Impaired Friendly Character Sheet
This sheet on the DM’s Guild store is designed for those with trouble seeing clearly. It uses a larger and clearer font and is color coded.
Best of all, you can pay what you feel is appropriate to support the creator!
Beginner & Kid Friendly Character Sheets
Complex or stylized character sheets can be really fun to use if you’re already familiar with the game, but not everyone is.
These three character sheets, designed for kids and those new to DnD, are clear, easy to read, and contain only the essentials for gameplay.
That way, your players who are less familiar with the game can still enjoy their DnD experience and won’t be set adrift in the seas of confusing boxes and detailed mechanics.
5e New Player Friendly Basic Character Sheet
This character sheet is available on the DM’s Guild for a price of pay-what-you-want. It’s designed to be friendly to new players, cutting out some of the “bells and whistles” of other character sheets and focusing on a clear and simplified design.
D&D 5E New Player Character Sheet
This character sheet is also on the DM’s Guild but is designed a little differently than the previous sheet.
This sheet organizes itself around combat turns, placing initiative near the top of the sheet and creating a flowchart-like structure that new players can easily follow.
If you’re new to DnD you can simply follow the design of the sheet to understand what options you have during your turn and what you should do next!
The sheet costs just $1 and includes a nice colored background. If you want a less beautifully designed but free version check out this link.
Oke Meyer’s Kid Friendly DnD 5e Character Sheet
While the previous two sheets are designed for anyone new to DnD, this sheet was made just for kids. It features a simplified design and wide, easy to read slots for key attributes and stats.
It doesn’t have everything you might need on a character sheet, but for kids it’s more important to be clear and avoid confusion. This sheet accomplishes that well.
Where to Find Great Character Portraits for Your DnD Sheet
Now that you have a character sheet it’s time to pick out a character portrait for your DnD character.
There are a lot of ways to do this, including drawing your own, but here are a few of our best suggestions for finding the perfect representation of your character.
Google Searches
It might seem obvious, but Google image searches are still a great way to find your DnD character portrait.
Not only is it a useful way to search, but you can use the Google image search tools to look for public domain images, images of certain sizes, or even sort by the general color palette of your image.
I recommend some common search terms like “DnD character portrait [your race] [your class]”, “RPG character”, “fantasy character [class/profession] [general race]”, and generic terms like “lizard folk full color” or “tolkien character art”. It’s best to use a variety of search terms for best results.
I also recommend using a few different search engines like DuckDuckGo and even Bing.
These might not be as good as Google’s image search, but they can broaden the kinds of results you get and increase your chances of finding an image you like.
DM Heroes Generator
If using search engines isn’t for you, this site is great for randomly generating character portraits.
Unfortunately, to get the image you want you’ll have to keep rerolling the RNG, but this is quick to do and you can limit the results by race and gender if you’d like.
Plus, this generator also suggests character traits and has suggestions for how the character’s voice sounds, which can be really nice if you’re interested.
Here’s a hero I created using this site:
Alex Schroeder’s Image Gallery
This is another generator site in a different style than the last. It has less race options, but the simple art style is appealing and makes for a great character headshot.
Portrait Wizard
While this tool is unfortunately not free, it does allow you to make fully customizable character portraits for your DnD character.
With this tool, you can replicate exactly the character you’re imagining!
Commissioning Artists
Perhaps the best way to get a good customized character portrait is simply to commission an artist.
While there are thousands of artists who would probably be willing to make such a piece, you should look around for someone whose art style matches your aesthetic preferences.
Commissioning an artist can take more time than some of the other methods found here, and isn’t free. But you can work with the artist to replicate small custom details like a special amulet or a coat handed down by your character’s father.
These can be difficult to replicate with any of the other methods given here, and make commissioning artists worth the price.
An example of an artist who draws DnD character portraits can be found here.
Conclusion
When you come up with a really cool character concept it’s natural to want a character sheet and portrait to match.
While it would be impossible to cover all the character sheets out there these sheets are some of the best out there that we could find.
Plus if you need a cool character sheet for than just looking cool the accessible and beginner friendly character sheets are excellent go to options.
Character sheets are, with the exception of minifigures, the most tangible way you can represent your character in the real world. There’s nothing wrong with picking the standard DnD 5e character sheet for quick one shots or NPCs.
But for your characters consider some of these options so you can represent your character the way they deserve to be represented!
Rich is an avid D&D player and DM. He has been playing since the Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st and 2nd editions. He has run campaigns of various editions with family and friends for over 20 years. Playing DnD 5th Edition in person at local game stores and online with VTT’s over the past 10 years has provided a consistent connection to how the game has grown. He strongly believes in understanding the source material, but catering the games to your individual players. Feel free to ask anything in the comments or drop him an email: [email protected].
