How to add NPCs to the party

[Brewin]

I'm sure this has been asked (I've searched for an answer with no success) so apologies for duplication...

I've struggled to figure this out ever since I've been running 5e on FG. I can add an allied NPC to the combat tracker sure, but unless I recreate that NPC with a PC sheet (which takes time) I cannot add them to the party sheet, and thus I cannot split money and xp evenly between PCs and allied NPCs.

Is there no way to do this aside from re-creating the NPC as a PC? (or am I just stupid?) And if not, would this be something you think could be added to the forthcoming unity revamp of FG? (I can add it to the wish list of features but wondered first if this is something that's gunna be worth asking for since I understand that NPC and PC sheets are quite different and may need to remain so - which would be problematic for such a feature). That said, this is the second-most important feature for me aside from dynamic line-of-sight stuff since I can find easy-enough workarounds for everything else I've tried to do...

[JohnD]

For NPCs that are going to adventure as quasi-PCs, I make them up as PCs in the manner you mention.

I agree it would be nice to be able to add an NPC into the Party Sheet, but I have no idea how hard a programming change that would be.

[LordEntrails]

You can always check to see if the idea has already been suggested here https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/ and if nit add it yourself.

[Brewin]

You can always check to see if the idea has already been suggested here https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/ and if nit add it yourself.

I did go through the list (at least as far as those with just the one vote) and couldn't see it there, so will add it now... Even just a clunky solution of being able to specify the number of additional npcs to split gp and xp among in the party sheet (without them being linked to anything) would save a lot of time...

EDIT: Now added - https://fg2app.idea.informer.com/proj/?ia=105443

[Andraax]

Hint - you don't need a full character sheet for the NPC. Just a character sheet with the NPC's name, maybe a portrait (if they're going to stand watches), and any equipment they're carrying is all that is needed for the Party sheet. Log in once between sessions with a name that no one else is using and take ownership of the character, so no one else can pick it up. Shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes to set this up, and you're done.

[Brewin]

Hint - you don't need a full character sheet for the NPC. Just a character sheet with the NPC's name, maybe a portrait (if they're going to stand watches), and any equipment they're carrying is all that is needed for the Party sheet. Log in once between sessions with a name that no one else is using and take ownership of the character, so no one else can pick it up. Shouldn't take you more than 5 minutes to set this up, and you're done.

Hmmm that still sounds like a lot more work than it should be (5 minutes to add in their equipment I suspect is optimistic)... The solution for now is basically to recreate the NPC as a PC (thanks for confirming everyone) but still, I'd *really* like to be able to simply add an NPC to the party sheet in future with a single drag-and-drop or at least by using a "number of allied npcs" setting in the party sheet, so that the user doesn't have to do additional work...

What's more the current solution assumes that the GM had forewarning (and time of course) to set this up in advance. What if it's unexpected that an NPC decided to join the party for a time? You know, like you're improvising the story as you go along, and after a couple of good rolls, the party convinced a given NPC to join them? The current solution can't address this (without pausing the session while the GM sets the NPC up as a PC).

[damned]

Brewin you can set up a full 5e character with equipment and spells in 5mins if you lknow what they want... however - if a NPC joins the party and you feel the need to award them XP (or more accurately reduce the XP being awarded to the players) just change the XP of the Encounter. It takes 4 secs if your math is good and 14 if you need to open Calculator.
It is not a trivial change to allow NPCs to be added to the Party Sheet. They are not PCs, they dont have PCs data structures and the Party Sheet is setup to handle the PCs data structures. For example you might notice the NPCs do not even have an EXP field.... Why not? Because the MM and other Wizards material doesnt list any EXP values for NPCs or Monsters.

[Brewin]

All valid points Damned... basically what I have been doing is changing gp / xp allocations on the fly (like you suggest), and simply having the npc stay in the combat tracker as a friendly npc... Take your point about it being hard to come up with a better solution given the differing structure of the pc vs npc sheets (I just wish it wasn't so haha, cos it is a pain to have to manage this, but then so is doing it manually in tabletop too I suppose)

[damned]

We all game differently so it is hard to have the tools accommodate everyones play styles. I dont think you are the first to mention this one but I also dont think its likely to be high on a *fix* list because of the points above. I dont even award XP when I GM - I just level up at milestones so the party is at an appropriate level. There is also another recent thread where someone wanted to be able to use the Party Sheet to award XP to an individual player - Trenloe wrote an extension to do that but that was easier as it is still using the existing Party Sheet and PC framework and database structures.
It doesnt hurt to throw ideas around - you get feedback, ideas, work-arounds, rtfms - and sometimes you do even get what you want on a silver embossed dragon scale serving platter

[Brewin]

sometimes you do even get what you want on a silver embossed dragon scale serving platter

Whoa... you mean there's an extension for that!? That sounds awesome!

But seriously thanks for entertaining my pipe dreams... I should know what it's like trying to develop things for users (best you can hope for is to please most people most of the time haha)