thumb|300px|right|Przykładowa struktura karty postaci
'''Karta postaci''' - w grach fabularnych standardowa kartka, zwykle formatu A4, na której, zależnie od systemu, gracze wpisują wartości współczynników postaci odgrywanej w danym systemie. Zazwyczaj współczynniki wpisywane są ołówkiem w specjalnie przygotowane pola i zmieniane podczas sesji, gdy dane cechy postaci ulegają zmianie (na przykład, gdy na skutek upadku z dużej wysokości żywotność postaci spadnie, gracz odnotowywuje to na swojej karcie). Oprócz współczynników znajdują się na karcie także dodatkowe pola dzięki którym gracz może szerzej opisać charakterystykę postaci. 

Zazwyczaj karta postaci zapisywana jest z obu stron. Na pierwszej stronie, w nagłówku, znajdują się informacje ogólne takie jaki imię postaci, jej wiek, płeć, wzrost, waga i w zależności od systemu rasa, klan, typ czy inne. Poniżej znajdują się pola związane ze współczynnikami takimi jak: cechy postaci, umiejętności, lista czarów (w systemach fantasy), charakterystyki pancerza (zbroi) i broni używanych przez postać, a także pole, w którym zaznacza się odnoszone przez postać obrażenia. 

thumb|200px|right|A custom character sheet for the [[Stormbringer (role-playing game)|Stormbringer role-playing game (in German)]]
A '''character sheet''' is a record of a player character in a role-playing game, including whatever details, notes, game statistics, and background information a player would need during a play session.  Character sheets can be found in use in both traditional and  action role-playing games. Almost all roleplaying games make use of character sheets in some fashion; even "rules-light" systems and freeform role-playing games record character details in some manner.

The electronic role-playing game equivalent is known as a status screen. Some non-role-playing games, such as some board games and party games, also use records that could be compared to character sheets.

==Overview==
What is considered relevant can vary by game and personal preference--one player may consider his character's eye colour or personal background relevant while another might not, but both may be required by the game rules to note down on their sheet if their character suffers an injury.

Character sheets for a game are usually found within the game's main rulebook, and permission is almost always given for players to PDF files with character sheets for the players to print out themselves. It is not uncommon for players to create custom character sheets, to their own design, rather than use the publisher's “official” offerings.

A player may have an additional character sheet if he also controls a second character, a cohort or a hireling, but this is less common. The game master, who runs the game, may optionally keep proper character sheets for non-player characters (NPCs) if he wishes to keep full information on the character. Some rulebooks offer special “NPC sheets” for this purpose that are considerably smaller than the usual (main) character sheets.

==Design==
===General characteristics===
A character sheet is likely to include fairly stable attributes, such as the character's name and physical characteristics. It may also include values that change often such as experience, abilities, health/vitality (e.g. hit points) and an inventory of items possessed. It is common for a character sheet to essentially be a record of a character's history as changes are made and important things noted. It is referenced during gameplay. Despite the name, a single character "sheet" may actually be two or more pages in length.

The content and design of such a sheet will vary greatly depending on what game it is used for and will reflect its play style and rules system. For instance, the Dungeons & Dragons rules system is mainly concerned with combat, skill use and gaining abilities. The sheet devotes a small section at the beginning to character name and description, a larger section to combat statistics, then large areas for detailing statistics of what weapons and offensive attacks the character has, while another table details the character's proficiency in skills. On the other hand, Tri-Stat dX is a simpler system placing a greater emphasis on special abilities, so its standard character sheet devotes a large area to recording the character's special abilities.

The layout of a character sheet, when creating a character sheet or choosing which one to use, is very important. First, the sheet must be sure to allow the player to record everything relevant to their character. Secondly, it must also allow them to easily find and read off any information at a glance whenever they need it. In addition, if the character sheet is more than one page long, careful consideration must be given to put the most often used data areas at the front page. In all cases, care must be given to ensuring that the layout is generally well organized, grouping similar areas together logically while being easily readable and not overcrowded. Finally, decoration of some kind may be added, but again, care must be taken that it is not distracting from the main character sheet.