Character sheet is your friend

When was the last time you actually looked at your character sheet?
Do you know what is there?
And will someone else see your character by looking at the character sheet?
Character sheet is a very underestimated tool.

What is important

Think for a moment about your character. What do you see in your mind's eye?
Statistics? I doubt it.
I would expect you see that tiny bard, who is braving big bad world on her own, so cute, that people would always help her. Or maybe that old, grim ork, always grumpy but extremly loyal to friends. Or maybe that paladin, so brave, but fleeing at the merest sight of a wasp.

Anything, but numbers.

If your character sheet consists only of numbers, you give up on plenty of options and possibilities.
Did you ever have an argument along the lines of "I really DID have that item with me!" - "No, you did NOT!" ?
If you had this on character sheet, there would be no discussion.

Communication

It might be surprising, but character sheet is all about communication.
It tells you how to play your character.
It tells your game master what you want as a player and how you want to play your character.
Finally - if you want to - it tells other players things about your characters.
Want some part of your character specifics to remain a secret? Make part of your character sheet off limits to other players (but it should always be shared with game master)

Do others see the same?

Ok, look at this:

• Strength: 8
• Endurance: 8
• Agility: 5
• Perception: 5
• Courage: 10

What kind of character do you see?

Now, let's elaborate a bit:

• Class: Paladin
• Level: 55
• Stats:

1. Strength: 8
2. Endurance: 8
3. Agility: 5
4. Perception: 5
5. Courage: 10

Ok, now we're talking about the same!
Or... are we really?

Look:

• Ariel. Paladin of Light, does not tolerate hurting the weak. Deadly afraid of little creatures, especially wasps.
• Level: 55
• Stats:

1. Strength: 8
2. Endurance: 8
3. Agility: 5
4. Perception: 5
5. Courage: 10

See what I mean?
Same character, three different sheets and three different levels of convergence between what I want to play and what you see.

If you were game master, which description would you like?

Mechanics

Character sheet supports mechanics.
It is prescriptive (tells you what needs to be there) and descriptive (describes your character). How it really looks like, depends on your mechanics. And - even if you "only" use storytelling, that is a mechanic too!
Discussion of the link between character sheet and mechanics is actually a material for a post in itself, so I will only say that it's better to have no character sheet than one that does not adhere to mechanics.

What kind of character sheet will be right?

That depends. On many things.
What do you want it to be? Is your team more or less stable? How well do you know other players? Are there some people who will pull everyone's leg just to show off?
If you trust your team, if you know one another very well, and if you're doing storytelling, you may have no need for
formal character sheet at all. However, this is a situation that is not always in place.
You might have rotating team. Not completely matching player personalities.
Or you might simply play once a month and tend to forget. "So... was that a warrior or paladin, really?"
Or - like me - you might happen to play 5 or 6 different characters in parallel.
If you don't keep them decently apart, they will melt into one "myself" character and become all the same.

Is your character sheet good?

Again, that depends, but there are some symptoms that should make you think.

Do you have any scribbled notes on your character sheet? Maybe you are missing something important then. Especially, when other players have similar notes on their sheets.

Do you often stop during the game and discuss if someone should be able to do whatever they want to do?

Can you easily find and name strong and weak areas of your character, simply by looking at the character sheet?

How does your character act and think and can you quickly find it?

What motivates your character?

Just look for the moments, where you feel disappointed by your character sheet. Those moments, when you reach for it and find no help.

Roles of character sheet

There are several.

Most important one is communication, most importantly between player and game master but also between players.

Some of  the others are:
- Prescriptive and descriptive
- Support in playing the character
- Support for game master in session creation
- Support for mechanics
- Support for player during game session
- Unification of how character is seen and refected in the game world