Character Views
Penpoint offers three ways to view your character list: Standard, Compact, and Cards. Switch between views using the small gear icon near the top of your Characters page, or right-click anywhere in the character list to change the view mode from there. Switching views only changes how your characters are displayed — it never changes or removes any of your character information.
Standard View
The default view with comfortable spacing. Character name and importance level (such as Primary, Secondary, or Background) are displayed on separate lines for easy reading.
Best for: General browsing, smaller casts, or when you prefer larger cards with clear visual separation.
Compact View
Name and importance appear on the same line with reduced spacing, allowing more characters to fit on screen at once.
Best for: Large casts where you need to see many characters without scrolling, or when quickly scanning through your character list.
Cards View
Cards View displays data from your character layout blocks (the individual sections on a character's page, like Age, Traits, or Description) directly on character cards. This lets you see important details at a glance without opening each character.
When you switch to Cards View, a list of sections to choose from appears, letting you pick which one to display. You can pick which sections to show: things like text blocks, number blocks, traits, tags, items, locations, chapters, and calculate blocks.
Why use Cards View? See character details instantly without clicking into each character. For example, display a number block showing character ages, a trait showing their role, or tags showing their story arc. This is especially useful when you need to reference specific information across your entire cast.
Tip: Cards View is powerful when combined with sorting (the Sort button next to the gear icon at the top of the Characters page). Display character ages and sort alphabetically to quickly find characters by name while still seeing their age at a glance.
Blank Profile Pictures
When some of your characters have a profile picture and others don't, the ones without one show a framed placeholder in its place, so your list stays neatly lined up instead of leaving gaps. Your real portraits always show as normal.
This is on by default. To hide the placeholders, open the gear menu at the top of the Characters page and uncheck "Show blank profile pictures." The same setting controls the placeholders on your Items list too, so turning it off in one place turns it off in both.
To customize which blocks appear in your character layout, visit Settings > Character Sheet Setup. Learn more about available block types in Block Types.