joshuaandClaude Opus 5.5
4a6a09bae8
Characters - Builder: pick-then-Next on every step with live preview, Back button, plain-language help throughout, and "Suggest for me" for ability scores - Motivation is picked from a list; new steps for special abilities, background and appearance, all composed from fixed lists and DM-only to edit afterwards - Copy a character to another campaign - Characters can give gold, weapons, items and spells to each other - Money tracker: gold only changes through a logged ledger - Fixes: level/XP/location are DM-only, HP stays within 0..max, physical dice ability rolls, every die is rolled once Gear - DM-managed item pool; weapons, items and spells are handed out by the DM - Starting-option flag per pool entry - Gear levels 1-9 per held copy with a damage ladder, growth rate and starting level; spells gated by spell level with a fixed damage value - Spell library carries default damage; damage is picked from a list Encounters - Battle and NPC quest modes, turn tracking, scene description, DM notes - NPCs, richer combatant cards, conditions from a list - Rewards (gold, weapons, items) lined up and awarded, with gold splitting - Character HP is shared between the sheet and the encounter - Monster stat blocks and NPC secrets are never sent to players Other - Dice roller on every page - Docs for characters, weapons, spells, items, encounters, monsters and NPCs, with full lists generated from the data (npm run docs:lists) Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 5.5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
4.5 KiB
4.5 KiB
NPCs
How non-player characters work in this app: what the DM records about them, how they are brought into a scene, and what players can and cannot see.
This describes the code as it stands. Related: ENCOUNTERS.md, MONSTERS.md.
Contents
- The basics
- What an NPC holds
- Managing NPCs
- NPCs in encounters
- What players see
- NPC or monster?
- Permissions
- What is not modelled
1. The basics
- An NPC is a person the DM plays: an innkeeper, a quest-giver, a rival, a villain.
- Every campaign has its own NPC list. Only the DM can see or change it.
- An NPC does nothing by sitting in the list. Players meet one when the DM adds it to an encounter.
- NPCs are mainly for talking to. Combat stats are optional.
2. What an NPC holds
| Field | What it is | Who sees it |
|---|---|---|
| Name | Up to 80 characters | Everyone, once in an encounter |
| Role | A few words: "Innkeeper", "Captain of the Watch" | Everyone |
| Attitude | Friendly, Neutral or Hostile toward the party | Everyone |
| Description | What the party can see and knows | Everyone |
| DM notes | Secrets, motives, what they are hiding | DM only |
| AC | Optional | DM only |
| HP | Optional. Without it the NPC has no health bar | See section 5 |
| Attack bonus | Optional | DM only |
| Damage | Optional dice, e.g. 1d6 |
DM only |
A new NPC is Neutral unless you choose otherwise.
3. Managing NPCs
The NPC list is the "NPCs" card on the campaign page (DM only).
- Adding: "+ Add NPC" opens a form with every field above. Only the name is required.
- Changing: there is no edit form. To change an NPC, remove it and add it again (the API accepts changes, but no screen offers them).
- Removing: the ✕ button, after a confirmation. This also removes the NPC from every encounter it was in.
4. NPCs in encounters
On an encounter page, the DM chooses "NPC" in the "Add to the scene" panel and picks one. Each NPC can be in an encounter once.
- In an NPC quest encounter, NPCs are listed first under "People you meet", ahead of the party and any creatures.
- In a battle, an NPC takes its place in the initiative order like anyone else, using the initiative the DM types in.
- An NPC with HP gets a health bar, and the DM can damage and heal it. This HP belongs to the encounter: the same NPC starts at full HP in the next one.
- An NPC with no HP has no health bar and cannot be marked Down.
- Conditions (Prone, Charmed…) can be put on an NPC like any combatant.
An NPC's card shows its attitude as a coloured badge, its role under its name, and its description in full. The DM's card also shows AC, attack, damage and the DM notes.
5. What players see
Players only ever see an NPC through an encounter it is in:
| Players see | Players never see |
|---|---|
| Name, role, attitude, description | DM notes |
| Health bar and conditions, if the NPC has HP | AC, attack bonus, damage |
This is enforced by the server, not just hidden on screen: the hidden fields are never sent to a player's browser.
Changing an NPC's attitude changes what players see straight away, so flipping a "Friendly" NPC to "Hostile" is itself a reveal.
6. NPC or monster?
| NPC | Monster | |
|---|---|---|
| Meant for | People with names and motives | Things to fight |
| Has a description players can read | Yes | No |
| Has an attitude | Yes | No |
| Has DM-only notes | Yes | Yes |
| Combat stats | Optional, basic | Full stat block |
| Can be in an encounter more than once | No | Yes (a pack of goblins) |
| Built-in library | No | Yes |
A named villain the party will both talk to and fight works well as an NPC with HP, AC, attack and damage filled in.
7. Permissions
| Action | DM | Players |
|---|---|---|
| See the NPC list | Yes | No |
| Add or remove NPCs | Yes | No |
| Add an NPC to an encounter | Yes | No |
| Change an NPC's HP or conditions in an encounter | Yes | No |
| See an NPC in an encounter | Everything | Name, role, attitude, description, health bar |
8. What is not modelled
- Ability scores, saves, skills and spells for NPCs
- NPC inventory, gold and shops
- Where an NPC is (they are not tied to locations)
- Relationships, reputation and attitude toward individual characters
- A record of which NPCs the party has met, outside of encounters
- Portraits