character-sheet-app

A web app that acts as a character sheet for tabletop RPGs, mostly D&D 5e, born out of the author's dislike of fillable PDFs and the arrival of a new iPad.

The app is a responsive, online and offline web character sheet for tabletop roleplaying games. Right now it supports a limited number of games, mostly D&D 5e, but the code is structured so more can be added. The motivation section reads like a personal note. The author hates fillable PDFs, could not find a sharp pencil for a printed sheet, wanted to use a new iPad, and wanted to try a bunch of modern browser features without worrying about backwards compatibility.

Remote saving requires your own Firebase configuration, which you add to a source config file before rebuilding the app. For a plain local server, the README suggests the http server package pointed at the dist directory. Development uses an esbuild dev server started through npm, which by default serves the app at localhost:8080.

Offline mode is the feature that makes the app interesting, but it comes with a catch. It needs an HTTPS connection, and the README says Let's Encrypt is fairly easy to set up for a free certificate. The server directory should point at the dist folder, and files should be set not to cache so the service worker handles it. There is also a date to keep in mind: as of January 1 2027 the hosted version goes away and the repository will be archived.

The offline capability is what separates this from a typical fillable form, and the README is honest that it takes real setup to get there. The 2027 archiving notice is a useful touch too, letting anyone who depends on the hosted version plan around its end.

• Source 1 · Project repository
• Source 2 · README