# Obsidian - Character Sheets ![[images/Obsidian-Character-Sheets.webp]] [Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNqRIY6P7Oc) · 42:21 · Josh Plunkett · 2024-02-28 ## Outline ### 00:00 Intro - New members of the Obsidian TTRPG Community Discord ask almost daily how to make character sheets; Josh's blunt answer is that it's the wrong rabbit hole. - He splits sheets into two kinds: those managed by the player and those managed by the DM. - DMs who try to mirror every player's stats, level-ups and items after each session are creating unwarranted work that takes time away from the game. After 15 years of DMing, his view is that the sheet belongs to the player, who should track HP, levels, spells and items. - If you can't trust a player to do that, his advice is simply to play with people you trust. ### 03:57 Excalidraw Sheets - If you're a player taking notes in Obsidian, this advice isn't aimed at you. Josh would personally use D&D Beyond or Demiplane, but for a free option he recommends Excalidraw. - His demo sheet took about 20 minutes. Most of it is just text nodes, styled and sized, with no calculations, used like a pen-and-paper sheet that you update by hand. ![[images/Obsidian-Character-Sheets-t0530.webp]] - Decorative images (beer, maps, coins) are dragged in for looks. Elements such as a potion of healing can be links (wrap the text in `[[ ]]`) to notes in the vault. - Spellbook and inventory sections are separate notes embedded with right-click, then Insert any file. The spells link to notes created with the TTRPG Convert CLI tool, so adding Fireball to the Spellbook note updates the sheet. - The parchment background is just an image from a web search, locked in place with right-click, then Lock. - The "checkboxes" are emoji inserted with the Windows emoji picker (Win + .), which suits abilities that rarely change. - Canvas could do something similar, but he finds Excalidraw faster and freer for dragging images around. ### 12:55 MetaBind Character Sheet - He shows "Flint", a sheet built by community member Dave. He calls it very cool, but says it's for the roughly 3 to 4% of users who code; if variables, queries or even zip files sound confusing, skip it. - It uses ITS Theme infoboxes, a status selector, and a very large number of properties. Tables link to notes for racial traits and passive skills. - Ability score checkboxes update values, AC has up and down buttons, and there are HP, initiative, spell modifier, dropdowns, combat actions (which use Dice Roller when enabled) and per-day spell slot trackers. ![[images/Obsidian-Character-Sheets-t1530.webp]] - Wide multi-column layouts make the screen jump around; Josh notes Obsidian works better top to bottom than left to right. - The inventory lookup was hard-coded to Dave's note format (value and weight fields), so it didn't work with Josh's notes. - In Source mode it's dense Meta Bind syntax with joins and queries. Dave works with the Meta Bind developer (Lemons) to add features. Dave's sheets are shared in the Discord as-is and need adapting. - What a DM actually needs at the table is usually AC or passive perception. For rules and spells, Josh types the name into a scratch note and follows the link. ### 23:42 Digital Character Sheets - His recommendation for DMs is to let players use an online sheet and embed it in Obsidian with the Custom Frames plugin. - D&D Beyond (5e): add a frame with the sheet's share URL, then put a small code block in the note naming the frame and a height (e.g. 1000 px). It shows the live, synced sheet. ![[images/Obsidian-Character-Sheets-t2500.webp]] - D&D Beyond is paid content with an optional subscription that allows more characters and content sharing. He feels buying a book for $20 to $30 is worth the time it saves. - His party folder has one note per player with level, modifier, AC and HP properties that feed the Initiative Tracker plugin. Before each session he checks those four numbers against each player's online sheet. - For Pathfinder 2e he recommends Demiplane. Pathbuilder is a great free community tool but isn't always online: it saves JSON copies to Google Drive and the link can change, so you don't get the current sheet. - Demiplane is in its first year and a bit slow, but it supports a growing list of games (he mentions an Alien RPG preview and shows Vampire: The Masquerade). ![[images/Obsidian-Character-Sheets-t3030.webp]] - Hero Lab Online also works and loads faster, but he doesn't recommend it because of past support issues with the company. ### 32:51 Google Sheet Character Sheets - For systems those services don't cover, or if you don't want to pay, he still says not to build it in Obsidian. Spreadsheets are better at calculations. - Demo: he searches for a Worlds Without Number character sheet as a Google Sheet, makes a copy, creates a new Custom Frame with its link, and pastes the frame syntax into a note. ![[images/Obsidian-Character-Sheets-t3440.webp]] - Google Sheets supports collaborative editing, so players fill it in and the DM sees the live copy. ### 35:51 Player Access - Obsidian is local-first, so sharing elaborate sheets with players is another problem. - He tests publishing Dave's Meta Bind sheet with Obsidian Publish. It renders as raw text, because the plugin has to be running to turn the code into a sheet. - Publishing Excalidraw sheets is possible, and he promises a separate video on it. - A technical player could use a sheet like Dave's for themselves; class features are managed through properties. ### 39:23 Outro - Use the right tool for the job. He cites a Demiplane stream where Baldy (as captioned, "bad eye") said character sheets are actually very complex, and notes Dave keeps running into new challenges. - Excalidraw sheets feel like pen and paper, where doing the maths yourself is part of the charm. - His message to newcomers who've seen impressive screenshots is to step back before going down the rabbit hole. He thanks Patreon supporters (the Foundation Vault); he can't include his sheet there because it uses purchased art. ## Things mentioned **Obsidian plugins, themes and tools** - [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md/), free note-taking app - Excalidraw plugin, free; a drawing canvas used for freeform player sheets with embedded notes - Obsidian Canvas, built in; an alternative to Excalidraw - Meta Bind plugin, free; inputs, buttons and properties behind Dave's sheet - ITS Theme, free; its infoboxes are used in the Flint sheet - Dice Roller plugin, free; powers the roll buttons - Custom Frames plugin, free; embeds websites like D&D Beyond and Google Sheets in notes - Initiative Tracker plugin, free; reads player level, modifier, AC and HP from notes - TTRPG Convert CLI, free; used to generate the spell notes - Obsidian Publish, paid; shown failing to render plugin-driven sheets **Character sheet services** - D&D Beyond, D&D 5e, paid content with an optional subscription - [Demiplane](https://www.demiplane.com/), many systems including Pathfinder 2e, Vampire: The Masquerade and Alien RPG; his pick for PF2e - Hero Lab Online, paid; works, but not recommended by Josh - Pathbuilder 2e, free community PF2e builder, not suitable because it isn't always online - Google Sheets, free; collaborative sheets for unsupported systems **TTRPG systems** - Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (his current game) - Pathfinder 2nd Edition (his group is moving to it) - Vampire: The Masquerade - Alien RPG - Worlds Without Number **Websites and community** - [Obsidian TTRPG Tutorials](https://obsidianttrpgtutorials.com/) - Obsidian TTRPG Community Discord - [Josh Plunkett on Patreon](https://www.patreon.com/JPlunkett), with the Foundation Vault ## Bios - **Josh Plunkett**: Australian YouTuber and DM of about 15 years who runs Obsidian TTRPG Tutorials and community tools for running tabletop games in Obsidian. - **Dave**: Obsidian TTRPG community member who built the advanced Meta Bind "Flint" character sheet and shared it on the Discord. - **Lemons**: Developer of the Meta Bind plugin, mentioned working with Dave on new features. - **Baldy** (as captioned): Demiplane presenter Josh quotes from a stream on how complex character sheets are; the name is uncertain from the captions. - **Adam**: Someone at Demiplane Josh addresses about the Alien RPG facehugger logo animation.