Hello!
I'm pretty new to all of this so I apologize in advance if this is the wrong place to ask this or if this information is already around here. I did some searching but I wasn't able to find much.
From my limited experience playing so far, I've come to realize that it can be a bit cumbersome editing character sheets. Switching out weapons or armour, managing spells and leveling up all seem to require big changes to the sheets and I was wondering if any of you have found or developed an easier way to manage all of this information.
Do you completley redo the character sheet when leveling up to account for new spells and stats? Keep and modify entierly digital copies of these sheets?
Thanks for your time, happy adventuring! 
Personally, I like digital sheets, but I've also had success with laminating blank sheets and using wet erase markers to fill them out.
Are you using form-fillable character sheets, filling them out on your computer and printing them each time you level up? If that's the case, you can just do a printer friendly, blank character sheet and write your stuff in with pencil, erase to update as needed. I also keep mine in a plastic sheet protector, and track spent spell slots, hit points, etc. with a wet-erase marker between leveling up.
I make print outs from a form-fillable sheet that I've customized. I leave all the number changing items blank when printing. I then use scotch tape and cover those blank areas. I print out a new sheet every other level.
I never liked using dry-erase, being left handed things get smeared a lot. Pencil is defintely the way for me and the paper last longer with the tape on.
One pencil and an eraser, that is all.
Imaculata wrote:
Thanks guys! This is very helpful, I never would have thought to use wet erase markers or tape!
Seems like it's pretty common then to print out new sheets when leveling up (if one decides to go with the paper route)
Thanks again, I appreciate all of the help!
I use one sheet as a record, and a piece of scrap paper to track things that change frequently like HP. Basically, I only modify the character sheet itself at most once per in-game day (if preparing new spells or noting new significant equipment; normally the scrap sheet holds the stuff I pick up or consume). When I level up, I print off a new one and file the old one, which also has the side effect of creating a career "journal".
When I was younger, it was just a character sheet filled in with pencil and erased and modified continuously. Those sheets ended up looking pretty worn out, but there was kind of a charm in that, too.
Now I just print use the digital form-fillable sheets and print them out, minus numbers and other things that change during the normal course of an adventure day. Then when it's time to level up, I add the new stuff to the original digital copy and print a new one.
I use an Excel Spreadsheet. When I level, I only need to add maybe a relevant class feature and change my level/prof bonus/ maybe stats if there was an ability score increase.
All the rest gets updated automatically, I use a second page for spells.
Actually everybody in our party uses about the same type of spreadsheet, each with their own little tweaks
CFK wrote:
When I started we used notebook paper. The first advancement came when we started using college ruled notbook paper. 