How do I give players control of NPCs?

[hyena]

I'm probably missing something obvious...

Mostly for shapeshifting druids, where I add their animal form to the combat tracker, but I can't seem to let them have control off the dicerolling. Now I'm about to start them out on the "Out of the Abyss" module, where it is recommended to give the players control over the NPCs

I've tried to drag the icon of the NPC over to the player portrait, but that doesn't seem to do anything.

What am I missing?

Any help would be appreciated :-)

[Trenloe]

https://www.fantasygrounds.com/forum...l=1#post316612

Have you done step #2?

[hyena]

Step 2 yes, but not step 4 (telling the player to double click the icon on the map). Will try it out next session

Thanks :-)

[Andraax]

Well, when you share an NPC with a player, it also shows up in the player's NPC list as well.

[hyena]

Thanks, good to know :-)

[Trenloe]

Well, when you share an NPC with a player, it also shows up in the player's NPC list as well.

That's only NPCs shared from the campaign data list.

In this instance, we need to share the NPC from the combat tracker so the player has control of attacks, targeting, etc.. Sharing the NPC from the combat tracker doesn't result in the NPC appearing in the campaign data lists, because the NPC record isn't in that list it's in the combat tracker. Hence the need to double-click on the token on the map to open the combat tracker linked NPC record, or don't close the sheet in the first place when the GM shares it with the player.

[Andraax]

In this instance, we need to share the NPC from the combat tracker so the player has control of attacks, targeting, etc.. Sharing the NPC from the combat tracker doesn't result in the NPC appearing in the campaign data lists, because the NPC record isn't in that list it's in the combat tracker. Hence the need to double-click on the token on the map to open the combat tracker linked NPC record, or don't close the sheet in the first place when the GM shares it with the player.

I create and share the NPC from the NPC list first, then add it to the CT and from there to the map. Player has full control, can do targeting, attacks, double click on the token opens the NPC record, etc. Plus it shows up as an NPC on the Player's NPC list as well.

[Trenloe]

I create and share the NPC from the NPC list first, then add it to the CT and from there to the map. Player has full control, can do targeting, attacks, double click on the token opens the NPC record, etc. Plus it shows up as an NPC on the Player's NPC list as well.

As mentioned above, the issue here is that the NPC in the campaign data list is *not* the same record as the NPC in the combat tracker. When you add a NPC to the combat tracker a whole new record is created by copying over the campaign data NPC - there is no link back to the original record. Opening the NPC in the campaign data list will allow you to roll attacks, etc. but will not use any targeting, effects, changes, etc. made to the "similar" NPC in the combat tracker because this record is not the one in the combat tracker. You need to access the record from the combat tracker to get the data/effects/targeting associated with the NPC in combat.

Therefore, it's not a good idea to share the record from the campaign data list with the players as it could cause confusion, result in effects not working and targeting not operating.

[Trenloe]

Here's a video I've put together highlighting the record differences I've mentioned above, and how to share a NPC with the players.

Note: The first thing I do is share from the NPC campaign data list - this is not the recommended process (reasons given in my posts above), I've done this to illustrate my point. So, ignore the sharing of the NPC from the campaign data list. Follow the instructions from 0:30 onward.

I mention in the video that this is 5E, but the process is the same for all CoreRPG based rulesets (3.5E, 4E, Pathfinder, C&C, Call of Cthulhu, etc.).

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B6...jdSa1pEWHg0RkU

[hyena]

Outstanding, that solved it. Very usefull seeing it done in a video, so I could see what I was doing differently. Turned out that the problem was that I was dragging the "B" (for bear) icon over the character portrait, instead of the shield icon :-)