The sheet is your memory
A character sheet is not a test. It is the list of things only you are expected to remember: your name, what you are carrying, how hurt you are, and which numbers to add when you roll.
The six scores
Every character has six abilities. The big number is the score. The small number beside it, often between −1 and +5 at the start, is the modifier. When you roll, you add the modifier, not the score.
- Strength is forcing something: lifting, breaking, climbing by muscle, hitting with a heavy weapon.
- Dexterity is speed and precision: dodging, sneaking, shooting, picking a lock, going first.
- Constitution is endurance: staying up after a hit, marching, resisting poison and cold.
- Intelligence is learned knowledge: spells studied from books, history, investigation, recalling how a trap works.
- Wisdom is noticing and judging: perception, insight into a lie, caring for animals, reading a person’s mood.
- Charisma is presence: persuading, performing, intimidating, lying so that people believe you.
On the Roll and Lore Screen character sheet, each ability is a card. Click the card to roll a check. The saving-throw and skill lists below it are the same idea with extra training added when your character has studied that skill.
The numbers that come up every scene
- Armor class is how hard you are to hit. An attack roll that equals or beats it lands.
- Hit points are how much harm you can take before you drop. They are not a measure of how heroic you are. Tell the GM when they change.
- Initiative is your dexterity modifier, sometimes plus a bonus. You roll it once when a fight starts so the table knows the order.
- Proficiency is a bonus added only to the things your character has trained. A first-level character usually adds +2.
What you keep track of
The person running the game should not have to remember your inventory. If you pick something up, add it. The sheet can total weight against what your strength allows you to carry, and it can convert coins when a shopkeeper asks for change.
A short rest is a breather of about an hour. Some abilities come back, and you can spend hit dice to heal. A long rest is a night’s sleep: hit points return, and most limited powers reset, unless the sheet says otherwise. Buttons for both sit on the character sheet so you are not calculating the recovery from memory.
Spell slots are uses, not the list of spells you know. Spending a slot is a separate click from rolling the spell’s attack or damage. If a spell says it needs concentration, you are focusing on it. Getting hurt can break that focus; a second concentration spell replaces the first.
At the table
Speak in the first person or the third. Both are normal. “I open the door” and “Mara opens the door” are the same kind of turn. Look at the GM when you are declaring an action, and at your sheet when you are asked for a number.
You are allowed not to know a rule. Say the intention. If you want a paper copy for the table, use Print / PDF on the sheet. The digital sheet remains the one that rolls and tracks rests.
Read what you do on your turn once before a fight, and the first-night guide if the whole evening is new.