I made these B/X character sheets a while back. I only used them briefly, I found having separate sheets by class too irksome for rolling up characters quickly on the fly. I imagine they’d be nice though if you had any reason to believe your character wasn’t going to die very soon.
Anyway, they are nice as pure B/X character sheets. Clearly they were based on the original character sheet found in the Moldvay text. They’re fillable PDFs, with specialized areas based on class: spell lists for magic-users and clerics, thief skills for thieves, turning chart for clerics, and extra inventory space for fighter types. Also, they conveniently have the encumbrance chart next to the equipment list, which I find extremely useful at the table.
Take note that it appears as two pages, though each page is 5.5″ x 8.5″, meaning they print best side-by-side on a single piece of paper. Just tell your PDF viewer to print two pages per page and it should work.
EDIT: Just noticed there is one minor deviation from pure B/X: the inclusion of a “Base Attack Bonus” box instead of a standard combat matrix. This is because I like to use Delta’s Target 20 system for attack rolls. I suggest you check it out.
2nd EDIT: As requested, here are the scribus files.
3rd EDIT: Another popular request, here are versions with THAC0 instead of Base Attack Bonus. But seriously, why aren’t you using Target 20?
Thanks! Very nice.
These rock!
How did you create these?
Thanks. These are great.
These sheets were created with Scribus:
http://www.scribus.net/
Fonts were found via this site:
http://www.hahnlibrary.net/rpgs/tsrfonts.html
The borders are scans right from the original source. Everything else was created raw in Scribus (though I may have drawn stuff like the shield in the Gimp.)
I just noticed that the one deviation from pure B/X here is the use of a “Base Attack Bonus” instead of an attack matrix. This is because of my general preference for Delta’s Target 20 system.
@Paul:
You wouldn’t by change be willing to post the scribus files, would you? I would love to add race, etc. for my Labyrinth Lord/AEC/HomeRules stuff….
Thanks,
Rich
@RIch:
Scribus file link added to the original post.
Hey Paul,
I know this thread is ancient so I hope you get this message. Anyways I love these character sheets. I’m using the normal THACO matrix. Is there anyway you would be willing to change the BAB to THACO? If not, no biggie. Just figured I would ask. These character sheets are wonderful.
Charles
Hey Paul,
I posted a message, or at least I thought I did, but my message never appeared so I’m wondering if I messed up some how. So please disregard this message I’m going to leave if in fact my original message appears. 🙂
Alright to the point…I love this character sheet. I’m currently getting ready to play b/x games and want to use this sheet. Is there any way I can convince you to make a version without the BAB box? I use the normal THACO matrix. I’m not at all familiar with Scribus much less how to use it. So that’s not an option as much as I wish it was. If you would be willing the do this I would greatly appreciate it. If not that’s okay too. 🙂 Just figured I would ask because these are the best b/x sheets that I have seen. Great work!
Charles
Hey Charles, took a moment for your posts to get through as they got held up in the spam-detector. So, just to be clear – are you saying you just want the words “Base Attack Bonus” changed to THAC0? Or are you looking for the full chart across the bottom ala the old original sheets in the back of the book? I’m not sure the latter would fit well in the existing layout.
Also, I’ll make one last ditch effort to convince you to check out Delta’s Target 20 system. It’s just THAC0 with the math inverted: BAB = 20 – THAC0. I find it really makes the math move faster at the table. The player calls out their roll plus all their bonuses, I (the DM) add the AC of the monster in my head, and if it’s 20 or more I say “you hit!” It’s pretty nice.
Hey Paul,
I’m glad to you got my message. Great to hear back. If it wouldn’t be too much trouble I would definitely appreciate simply changing the text to THACO. I definitely realize trying to add a matrix would probably not work as well. But I simply LOVE these character sheets. Just fantastic. I can’t say that enough. But I will look into Delta’s Target 20 system and give it a try. I think it’s just my old school nature. But I’m willing to change. 🙂 Thanks Paul.
Charles
I’ll take a look this weekend – it shouldn’t be too hard to just replace some text, right? Note, I haven’t looked at these things in years, I may have no idea what I’m setting myself up for.
And thanks for the kind words – I’m rather fond of these sheets myself. Recently I’ve been using an even more OED variant which you can see if you play with the OED character generator in the Tools link above.
OK Charles, versions with THAC0 instead of Base Attack Bonus are now linked in the original post above. Or just click here.
Thanks again Paul, I really appreciate you taking the time to do it. Though I may switch to the Delta system. I’m still playing with both to see which ‘feels’ more intuitive. 🙂
Hey Paul,
I was just messing around on some paper here Delta’s system. Let me give you an example to make sure I’m getting it because I’m terrible at math; even simple match…lol.
Level 1 Fighter with 1 BAB or 19 THACO attacks a monster with a AC of 4. He swings…
ROLLS a 13. Add in his BAB of 1 along with his +2 from strength (16) he arrives at 16. Add AC of 4 to that and he lands on 20 which is a hit. Is my math correct here?
Yeah, that’s exactly right. You’ll notice in these sheets I have that area on the bottom left for most commonly used weapons. I encourage my players to pre-calculate all the bonuses into the Attack Bonus column. So in your example our fighter would put “+3” in the column for his sword (+1 for BAB and +2 for Str). If it was a +1 magic sword, he’d write “+4” in that column.
When he attacks, he rolls a 13, adds in that one number (+3), and says to me “I got a 16!” I add in the 4 AC of the enemy in my head, hit 20, and say “you hit!” The math is delightfully quick as we race through the rounds.
Hey Paul,
Gotta question for ya…well…it’s more of a request actually. Is there anyway I can talk you into turning a current character sheet I have into a fillable one? It’s my favorite one so far along with yours except that it isn’t fillable. So I would like to compare it to yours to see which one I ultimately like. Let me know if that’s even something you would consider. Thanks.
Charles
Hey Charles – honestly, that sounds like a bit more work than I’m willing to sign up for. Sorry. My recommendation is that you check out Scribus. It’s really not that difficult, it’s free, and it’s great for layout tasks like this. Here’s a tutorial on how to use it to create form fillable PDFs, why not check it out?
Much appreciated. These will get some use this weekend. Cheers