Running NPCs

[DNH]

I am running a 2nd edition AD&D ruleset in FG2 and have come up against a problem with running NPCs (good guys AND bad guys). Thing is, in d20, monsters and creatures are fully-fledged entities with all the stats you will ever need and a whole load more you won't (overkill imo; here's hoping 4e will bring it to heel, but I will probably stick with 2e anyway). In 2e, they are separate. That is, a 2e monster entry has all kinds of fields which a character sheet will not (and the reverse is true also).

Now to FG2, the standard d20 ruleset needs tweaking in order to get it working the way I want it to for 2e. That's fine, it's a solved problem; I now have monster entries with all the old "Number appearing", "Special attacks" and "Activity cycle" entries. BUT if I create a new NPC, FG2 presents me with the same forms ... but I want more. I want a character sheet really.

I suppose my question is this: is there a way to create "invisible" characters? These would be characters which would be created by the DM, owned by the DM and, crucially, not visible to the players at startup or indeed at any other time.

A related question is how to run NPCs. My group has a number of players but the party is almost always fleshed out with an NPC ally (it is currently Strachan Cooper, a Minrothadder ranger in the employ of the King!). I would like to be able to run this NPC as a fully-fledged character, but how? I had toyed with running a player client in tandem with my DM client. I have tried it and it works but I am unsure as to the load on my PC (that said, I have upgraded both RAM and video card since then). The other option is simply to have the NPC as a form of monster or creature, filling in those fields which are necessary and/or using others as holding fields for other info. This is not too satisfactory to be honest and would be a pain if and when any NPC was a spellcaster.

Any suggestions gratefully received.
Thanks.

[Callum]

You can have "semi-invisible" characters. Your players will be able to see their existence and name when they log in, but nothing else. The easiest way to make one is by running a client in tandem, and simply creating a new character. So long as your players don't know the fictitious player ID you logged in as, they won't be able to take ownership of that character. As DM, you'll now have access to a full PC-style character sheet, which you can edit, drag-and-drop from, etc.

The drawback with this system is that you can't use the full functionality of the combat tracker - linking it to the character sheet - unless the owning player is logged in. Maybe you don't need that, but I find it very handy. If you do want to use it, you'll either have to run a simultaneous client and connect to yourself, or get one of your players to take ownership of the character. They don't have to actually run it, just choose it so that it becomes a fully-fledged PC with a character portrait above the chat window. Of course, you'll either have to trust them not to look at the character sheet, or not put any secret information on it.

As a final option, when I create an NPC spellcaster using the "personality" sheet, I list their prepared spells on the "Main" tab, using the paragraph type to create a link for each spell. This works well, but might not be satisfactory for a long-term NPC.

[Dachannien]

If the additional characters are owned by someone, then players who are not the owner will not see them in the character list.

[DNH]

but they will of course see them as connected to the current session. i guess i am just going to have to go with extensive notes on the monster sheets. ah well.

[Griogre]

If the additional characters are owned by someone, then players who are not the owner will not see them in the character list.
This is probably the best option for you if you *really* do want a character sheet for your NPC, say for the spell mini sheet. What you do is start a second instance of FG with you as a player, then create the character and then exit as the player. You can now open the character sheet as the DM and because the player is you - it won't be shown to the players. As mentioned, the problem with this approach is you can't link to the Combat Tracker but you can open any of the sheet's mini lists. It may be worth while for you just to do this for the spells of a major NPC.

What I do for major spell casters myself, especially if I want to do a Round by Round type approach, is put the info in the Main tab of the personality. I then make links to the spells he is going to cast there so I can just pop the spell info if I need it. This gives you a linked spell list and allows you to drag and drop the personality onto the combat tracker.

You can put anything you want in the main tab of the personalities - aside from notes I often put drag and drop text for descriptions also.

[Tokuriku]

This gives you a linked spell list and allows you to drag and drop the personality onto the combat tracker.

Interesting...
How do you drag and drop the character in the combat tracker exactly?

[Valarian]

Kenshin, there's this: https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=7241&highlight=character+sheet+portrait

[Griogre]

Interesting...
How do you drag and drop the character in the combat tracker exactly?
I was talking about a personality not a character sheet. However, just in chase I misunderstood you, you drag and drop a personality by grabbing the square next to the name of the personality and dropping it on the combat tracker.

[Tokuriku]

Thanks Griore and Valarian :)

Valarian, that is exactly why I asked this.
With the help of many I found the way to do it by dragging the portrait from the character sheet (the link you provided was my thread :P) But I wanted to be sure if there was another way to do it or not...

Also, even if it is possible with the way mentionned in your linked thread, the token does not appear to the other players if put on the map comming from either the combat tracker or the character sheet. The game master can see it though, I never figured out why...