Non-Player Characters, Minions, Followers

[Fox]

Non-Player Characters

A Non-Player Character (NPC) is any character that is not directly played as an original player character, but usually supports and acts alongside another character or crew. NPCs are a variable solution to filling out a crew or organization, covering roles that player characters within that group do not, or generally expanding the numbers of a crew without the addition of more players. Some NPCs might function as servants, travel companions, employees or pets to a player character, while others might be tied to a specific crew.

To determine the upper limits of an NPC’s current skill and ability, the associated character or crew must pay for an Aspect that represents that particular NPC. This Aspect is the current upper limit of the NPC’s abilities—the highest tier of Aspect that is available to them. As part of this Aspect, the NPC in question also gains a number of Aspect Vouchers and Technique Vouchers as part of the purchase!

• ^{A tier one (1) NPC costs 100 X-Poinz total and gains 3 Aspect Vouchers and 3 Technique Vouchers.}
• ^{A tier two (2) NPC costs 300 X-Poinz total and gains 5 Aspect Vouchers and 5 Technique Vouchers.}
• ^{A tier three (3) NPC costs 600 X-Poinz total and gains 7 Aspect Vouchers and 7 Technique Vouchers.}
• ^{A tier four (4) NPC costs 1,000 X-Poinz total and gains 10 Aspect Vouchers and 10 Technique Vouchers.}

A tier zero (0) NPC does not have an associated cost and cannot gain any Aspects of their own. They represent the average individual, most basic combatant, general workforce, or mundane pet. However, you can always choose to upgrade an NPC just as you would any normal Aspect, increasing their current tier by paying the difference in cost to the next tier (or whatever tier you’re upgrading them to) and gaining the associated benefits. For example, you could upgrade your tier one (1) NPC to tier two (2) by paying the difference of 200 X-Poinz, which would also give them two Aspect Vouchers and two Technique Vouchers as part of the upgrade, as well as letting them upgrade their own Aspects to tier two (2) from that point on.

An NPC isn’t just limited to the Aspects and techniques they can purchase with their associated vouchers, either! You can always opt to spend X-Poinz from the owning character or crew to give them additional Aspects and techniques, as you normally would for a player character. You can even spend Aspect Vouchers generated by the owner on additional Aspects for NPCs. All that the NPC’s main Aspect does is denote the maximum tier that the NPC can reach.

NPCs are also capable of gaining abilities such as Haki and Awakening their Devil Fruit, but in order for them to be able to do this, the owning character or crew (determined by its leader) must have reached the appropriate X-Poinz threshold. The NPC must still fulfill any additional requirements as normal.

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Before you begin, you’ll first need to create a personal thread for your NPC in our Agency (NPCs) Board. Make sure that the title given to the thread indicates who the NPC is and to which character or group they are going to work for (e.g. “Big Mom Pirates NPC – Charlotte Mont-d’Or”).

An NPC has a particular ‘mini’ profile which must be completed. It’s a lot simpler than even the OC template, so you needn’t worry about going overboard on any details unless you feel you really want to. The important parts are included in the template below, as follows:

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[div align="center"][font size="3"][b]NPC Name[/b][/font][/div]

[hr]
[b]Epithet:[/b]
[b]Height:[/b]
[b]Build:[/b]
[b]Age:[/b]
[b]Gender:[/b]
[b]Race:[/b]
[b]Occupation:[/b]
[b]Bounty/Rank:[/b]

[b]Allied With:[/b]
[b]Crew X-Poinz Record:[/b]
[ul type="square"]
[li][b]-?[/b] (Name of Aspect, Technique, etc)[/li]
[/ul]

[b]Voucher Record:[/b]
[ul type="square"]
[li][b]+? (A)[/b] (Starting Aspect Vouchers)
[b]+? (T)[/b] (Starting Technique Vouchers)
[b]-?[/b] (Name of Aspect, Technique, etc)[/li]
[/ul]
[hr]
[b]Personality:[/b]

[b]Appearance:[/b]

[hr]
[font size="2"][b]Fighting Style[/b][/font]
––

[div align="center"][font size="2"][b]Aspects[/b][/font][/div]
–

[b]Aspect Name (Tier)[/b]
Description

[div align="center"][font size="2"][b]Techniques[/b][/font][/div]
–

[b]Technique Name[/b]
Description (including Aspects used)

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Here’s a breakdown of what an NPC’s profile needs.

NPC Name
Simple enough, replace this with the name of the NPC.

Epithet, Etc.
All of these are pretty much exactly the same as they are for an OC. A moniker, basic physical details, race and such. The only differences are that NPCs a record of the crew X-Poinz they've spent (for easy tracking), and an ‘Allied With’ field where you should provide the name of the character or organization they belong to, as well as a link for convenience.

Personality & Appearance
The same as with any character, but these are mostly just for you and your crew's benefit. As such, you can afford to keep them short and sweet – a general overview.

Fighting Style & Aspects
Like player characters, NPCs also have Fighting styles and Aspects that describe how they take part in battle and their respective capabilities.

[Fox]

Replacing an NPC

On occasion, you may want to part ways with an NPC, for reasons either in or out of character. Doing so is entirely possible, but comes with a simple catch; the X-Poinz you spent on them will remain so. Removing an NPC does not prompt a strict refund, but it does allow you to reallocate any X-Poinz you spent on that NPC on a new NPC.

You do not have to use all the X-Poinz transferred to the new NPC immediately — we recognise that this isn’t always plausible. Any X-Poinz not used on upgrades and such for the new NPC are instead stored in a special “pool” of XPz that can be later dipped into when upgrading that NPC. For example, if you had spent a total of 1,500 XPz on an NPC and then chose to replace them, the new NPC would have a pool of 1,500 XPz to be used. You would not need to spend additional XPz until you depleted that pool.

If you do replace an NPC, you will need to complete the following template and include it in the application for the new NPC.

[b]NPC To Be Replaced:[/b] ((Link))
[b]Available X-Poinz Pool:[/b]
Once confirmed, the staff will archive the old NPC.