We all know about the basic character sheet that every roleplay contains —Name, age, gender, etc— however I do wonder if sometimes these titles aren't filled out correctly? Here's an example, lets see if you can spot the dilemma: [quote][color=00a651][b]Appearance:[/b][/color] [indent]Billy has blue eyes and orange hair, his skin is pale with freckles covering his face. He wears a blue tee-shirt and long brown pants. He has white shoes and a baseball cap. [/indent][/quote] Do you see it? Does Billy's wardrobe only consist of blue tee-shirts, long brown pants and white shoes? Does he always wear a baseball cap? It is actually mentioned in one of our guides [url=http://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/7841-so-you-wanna-make-a-character-sheet/ooc]here[/url]. [color=777777][i]"[b]Where a description is specified:[/b] outline the basics. Hair colour, general style, eye colour, notable facial features, build, height (if notable) are almost all of the basic details that people will need to profile your character in their head. Other details are great, but you don't need to go overboard. There is a careful balance that needs to be struck between a boring factfile and going into purple prose. Striking that balance is one of the most fundamental tenants of good writing ability. [b]Things nobody cares about:[/b] your character's clothes are not important. Both in the IC and in your character sheet, you should avoid a 'wardrobe montage' – wherein you detail every aspects of your character's outfit. The problem with this montage within the context of the character sheet isn't obvious. It's supplying relevant* detail, isn't it? Maybe. However, extensive, intense detail into your character's outfit indicates that you heavily value their appearance. These montages can make the player come across as somebody using RPing as an excuse to fulfil superficial material wishes in a fictional land. Some GMs (but not all) might assume that you regard their world as a novelty in which to look fabulous and/or worry that your priority is your own character's appearance rather than anything slightly deeper."[/i][/color] So I then started wondering about the rest of the Character Sheet and how many roleplays I have been in that follow this same route. Appearance, weapons, items of use, skills, traits, etc. There are many parts of a character sheet that people write up to form a specific character and often I do see people create a stereotype. [indent]- The Melee character with that ancient sword. Can they only use Swords? Do they not know how to use a dagger? - That Hacker that is skilled in computer science. Are they only experienced in PC science? - The grenade that is used and will explode into nothingness but has that shiny chrome casing with red trimming. Is describing it useless fluff? - Does the character walk around EVERYWHERE carrying that AK47?[/indent] It presents a curious thought as to how limited or vast a character can be created and to what extent details should be discussed. I'm just curious as to how others approach this and what people's thoughts on are with the way character sheets are designed.