An NPC is a "non-player character", NPCs are often faceless, the people that we reference passing in the halls. They are used to reinforce the setting and support the story of PCs (player characters).

There are 3 types of NPCs:

1. Faceless NPCs - these are people you reference passing in the hall, sitting in the library, sharing your common room that are not played by other players. Their intervention and presence is more environmental, they are as relevant as the walls and the statues in a room and really serve as setting pieces for roleplay. They don't interface with a player beyond perhaps hushing them in the library when they speak loudly, looking/glaring at a character as they pass in the halls to suggest perhaps some sort of wide-spread reputation or to reinforce the feel of the thread. They also do not serve as sources of information that your player does not already have general access to. For example, you cannot claim you had an NPC in the library where other players were discussing a secret and this faceless NPC happened to overhear the whole thing and then went to your character with this information - that is a form of metagaming and goes against the spirit of the game. Using a faceless NPC to share something that you would have been able to passively know anyways because it is considered to be common knowledge (for example knowing that Harry Potter was accused of murder) and choose to have a NPC tell you because you wanted to roleplay this out, this is fine. If you have any questions on what metagaming information is, please ask.

2. Dependent NPCs (dNPC) - These are NPCs that only have to do with your character and your story. They have more relevance than a faceless NPC because they have a "face", a name and a history. They are necessary for your character's development and logical existence, such as having parents, a sibling, a best friend.

These dNPCs would not be going around the community on their own independently, as they are dependent on your character, so they would only be in threads with your character. This means that you would not write a solo roleplay from your father's perspective about a deal he made in the Ministry. The only media that comes wholly from the perspective of your dNPC where your player is not physically present with them would be them sending letters to you or perhaps another user. Ultimately dNPCs are not a primary part of your story and should be nothing more than a footnote used to facilitate your character.

For example: your dNPC mother smiled at Edward and his new best friend James. She was likely surprised that Edward had taken someone home with him, he was quite the homebody but she never said anything to Ed's relief. He was concerned that his mother would embarrass him and chase away his only friend.

In this example the roleplay comes from the perspective of Edward, the player rather than the mother. James, a PC friend was brought to the home so there is player interaction also but James can be another dNPC friend and this entire experience can be written as a solo used to explain or further solidify Edward's personality. Inferences are made regarding the dNPCs from the perspective of the player character, the dNPCs' actions are controlled by the player writer but it comes from the perspective of the writer.

These dNPCs have names, faces and identities. There is more to them than simply a smiling face or a friendly wave in the hall, they effect your story and are more than a means to reinforce the setting. There are some restrictions on these dNPCs as well.

1. • They can only be in threads that you are in unless specifically stated otherwise by the staff (such as in events). There are no clear rules for this, it is discretionary per the moderation staff. The other exception being that a parent can write an owl, this is one of the only times something is written from a dNPC's perspective in a thread without the PC being physically present with them.
2. • They cannot possess any special abilities or talents that you are deriving a benefit from (such as being a Seer and them sharing their visions with you). This does not mean that dNPCs cannot have abilities. If you are a Parselmouth, it is logical and expected that at least one of your parents is also a Parselmouth for instance. However, if you are not a part Veela you cannot claim that your mother was one and try to get past on the technicality that they were only a small fraction and that is why you are not considered one or grab an ability such as "Lovely Creature" and claim that you are part Veela with this. If you game the system in this sort of way we won't trust you to make fun things on your own.
3. • They cannot share any information that you do not already have access to. They might be how you IC learned of something the general public is aware of, such as a wizarding war for instance because it was mentioned at the dinner table while you were home on holiday. You cannot learn information that would be otherwise generally unavailable to you via dNPCs. However, in the case of special events it is possible that the staff will provide you with some special information that your dNPC might be able to share with you.
4. • dNPCs would have reasonable access to the means by which they are created. Meaning: a muggle-born would have access to average muggle amenities. A muggle would not have access to a secret room filled with rare wizarding stuff. A wizard would have access to basic wizarding amenities, much like the Weasley household. There might be self-knitting needles or a false façade to hide from muggles for instance. These items stay home. You cannot claim your parents have a Flying Motorbike that you took on an adventure, this would be using your NPC's abilities and means for your character's advantage. We have a number of magical items in the shop that you can claim your parents have sent you as a gift or you have bought with your hard-earned coin however.
5. • dNPCs would have reasonable access to skillsets. Meaning if a parent is a doctor, they would have the skills of a physician. If a parent is a wizard, or a potion-master, they would have access to the skills that a wizard or a potion-make would have. Again, dNPCs are footnotes in stories, this would only be used to mention that a wizard mother is using magic to wash dishes or a physician father comments on the healing their child has experienced through magic perhaps as a tool to exemplify healing magic. This is not done to give a player an advantage that they otherwise do not have. For instance, a potion-master parent making their son a dozen Love Potions to take with them to school would not be allowed. This would go beyond the boundaries of dNPC use. In addition, saying your parent cast a spell (like wiping your whole memory, reading another player's mind, attempting to murder your friends with an unforgivable) that you derive a direct roleplay benefit from goes against the dNPC terms of use.
   To clarify this even further: your dNPCs are window dressings, they are background drama. The story we are following is you. Having your parent come home and tell you and your friends about a story where they used skills you do not have access to (example casting crucio on a villain) is something we can begrudgingly accept. Using your parent to cast crucio on other players, yourself, or someone's iNPC is you accessing and using a spell that is placed behind an ability and using it for your roleplay benefit. You do not have that spell. You should not be using a spell someone has to spend a whole ability slot to access indirectly through an NPC you made.
6. • dNPCs such as these do not need to be specifically approved by the staff but they are still beholden to site rules. If they break content or setting rules, we will request an edit or a removal of the interaction.
7. • They cannot be cannon characters from the Harry Potter universe or other fictional works, these dNPCs must be your creation (no plagiarism allowed).
8. • You are not to roleplay as them. To clarify, they are in threads -with- you. This is not a license to have a second player character. This serves as that best friend you might have 'always' nearby or your mother that sends you an owl to see how you are doing. This is describing your family when you go home for the holidays or when you are in a solo roleplay. You would still be roleplaying from your character's perspective (not theirs) [Refer to the example provided above]. If you need assistance or examples, we will link you some examples of dNPC use.
9. • dNPCs cannot be used to circumvent word count by having you interface with yourself through an entire post. If you are in a group thread, it is our expectation that the interaction(s) with your dNPCs does not overshadow your interactions with other players. This is considered to be "rude" in our roleplay culture and also makes interacting with you difficult. Please keep your dNPC use to less than half of your post. If you want an example of how to not use a dNPC in this way, we can point out a few threads.
10. • You need to be clear in your post what is being done by you and what is being done by your dNPC (looking at you twins).
11. • dNPCs need to make sense. The Index Team (while they do not actively monitor these because it is not humanly possible to do so) may notice discrepancies and may request additional information and clarification if this contradicts information you have previously provided. An example of this might be mentioning a sister NPC but having several threads where you had previously stated that you are an only child. This is inconsistent and would need to be rectified.

3. Independent NPCs (iNPCs) - These are non-player characters that you create to have an alternative experience on the site. These are non-player characters that are roleplayed on your account that are not your player character but you are roleplaying from their perspective and they can roleplay in threads that your main character is not in. These characters are not from Hogwarts (usually) and they offer you a unique experience. They can roleplay in threads separate from your character and have experiences (as well as information) that your player character does not have or logically have access to. However, there are some restrictions with these characters.

1. • These NPCs must be approved by the staff.
2. • You can only have one iNPC that will be attached to your account. You cannot have several, nor can you "swap out."
3. • These characters cannot be used as a means to metagame information (such as with dNPCs), however on a case-by-case basis the staff might state that certain NPCs have additional information that they can share or use as they will. They also might naturally acquire additional information through independent roleplay, this information is theirs to use and disseminate.
4. • These characters are often only available at Hogwarts during certain event times, but they can be roleplayed year-round in their school area as well as other portions of the forum that make sense for them. It would make little sense for instance that an Ilvermorny student was spending months or years on Hogwarts. During non-event times, your iNPC can still send your player character or other player characters owls and communicate that way if you wish for them to remain relevant in Hogwarts specifically. In addition, there are other forum areas outside of Hogwarts that you might logically see your iNPC such as Diagon Alley, London, Other Places. If you have a question about where it might be logical to roleplay your iNPC, please ask. We want them used but like everything else, they need to make sense.
5. • You are intended to roleplay as them.
6. • iNPCs can be a special race (such as part veela) or have a special ability (such as Seer) if they apply for this ability on initial iNPC creation. They will need to meet the application word count for this.
7. • To create an iNPC, players must have maintained their present main account for a minimum of 6 months and their main account must be registered with Index to be eligible to create an iNPC.

Our professor and prefect staff are all played by PC characters. This means you cannot use NPC professors and prefects - you should reach out to the official team here if you want a thread with them or to mention them: memberlist.php?mode=team

However, there are others at the school that are not played by PCs - this would be characters like ghosts, house elves, and portraits that are present at Hogwarts. We ask that any canon ghosts, house elves and portraits be avoided (eg please don't interact with the Bloody Baron, Peeves or the portrait of Albus Dumbledore). However, you may makeup ghosts, house elves and portraits to interact with during your Hogwarts experience, within reason. Read through the faceless NPC rules and you'll see that these characters can be mentioned in the background. You can write that your character saw a ghost in the halls for the first time, and have a conversation with your friend about it. You can also treat these characters as dNPCs, again within reason. While you can makeup a ghost or a portrait to interact with, you cannot gain information your character should not already have from them. Maybe you want to have a conversation with a portrait that tells you about the history of Hogwarts? This is perfectly acceptable, as it's "common" knowledge your character could learn from History of Magic class. You can give these portraits and ghosts names, but please be careful about overusing them in your roleplays. House elves cannot be used to give your character an advantage - you cannot say your new house elf friend is using their magic to cast things or procure things you can't use your own magic for.

Family members are the most classic form of dNPC - they are ever present in your characters' lives, but they are never the main character. They can show up in threads that your character is in as background and supporting characters. You can write that your pureblood mother told you about her fun adventures while at Hogwarts. Or maybe you're a muggleborn and want to write a thread where your muggle father teaches you how to drive when you're of age. Family members often play a huge part in your PC's story, and you can even have a dNPC spouse as you go into adulthood. Please read through our full dNPC rules for specific details and more examples on family member dNPCs: viewtopic.php?t=16915#dnpc

With there being an expansion into the adult world, we get into the need for other NPCs at the workplace. You can absolutely come up with mentors and colleagues classified under faceless or dNPCs. Depending on your role, you might even need to create criminals in the world e.g. you are an Auror, so you create a criminal dNPC that you and your colleagues mention in roleplays and pursue clues left by the dNPC. This is perfectly acceptable. In a case like this, the dNPC can be shared between you and whoever else is involved in the plot of tracking them down. In a case of a magizoologist, you might have more roam of creature NPCs that your character interacts with. (more details below)

At Hogwarts, interactions with creatures are limited. Some animals can be freely roleplayed with, but most are by request from the Care of Magical Creatures professor. You can see this information post for more: viewtopic.php?t=11675

Outside of Hogwarts, you can roleplay with creatures within reason. If your character's family raises winged horses (something that should be indexed), then you could reasonably have your character be familiar with them and roleplay with them during summer breaks. You can't claim your 11-year-old character has free reign of the dragon sanctuary your family works at, as that is incredibly dangerous and unrealistic. If your character is an adult and works for the Being division of the ministry, you could create a dNPC centaur to interact with. All of these following our existing faceless or dNPC rules.

As mentioned above, some careers involve creating criminal NPCs, which might be used to create combat scenarios. Some characters with students still in Hogwarts might even want to create such NPCs to be involved in their backstory (eg having a criminal aunt or uncle). While this is possible, your criminals are more limited depending on your character. You can't use NPCs to cast spells your character doesn't have for a combat scenario, so if you want a fight, you're severely limiting the NPC if you have such a plot while in school. Reasonably speaking, if you do have a criminal family member, your child character would not be getting into a combat scenario with them anyway. So while you can have criminals in your family history (with index approval), using them for combat is generally unrealistic.

A more acceptable thing to do while still in school is to create a bully dNPC to have a fight with. They are limited to your spell list and that makes for a more realistic scenario. As a reminder, though, the beauty of a site like this is to interact with other PCs. Always try to find a PC to roleplay/combat with before you go the route of dNPCs. It will be more fun and more engaging.

Adults or upperclassmen who create criminal/combat NPCs are a little more free on combat as they have access to a lot more spells, so they can craft more intricate scenarios. It is more common to use dNPCs in the adult case as not a lot of PCs will go the criminal route/provide wizards like Aurors a chance to show off their wandwork.

If you're ever in doubt, please reach out to staff with your ideas.

Regarding stats in these scenarios, if you are feeling inclined to roll for their spells/moves, you can give your combat NPCs stats depending on your year:

Y1-Y2: 5s in every stat
Y3-Y6: 10s in every stat
Y7-Adult: 15s in every stat

These are maximums, so you can do less (if you are a Y7 and want a bully to have 10s in every stat, you can do that). Please don't give combat NPCs any special abilities at this time. Special races/talents are possible. Keep the number of combat NPCs to the same or less than the number of PCs in the thread. Note: This is only meant for situations that you want to roll/moderate for. If you want to just write a solo roleplay of your character getting bullied by a group of 3 student dNPCs, you are free to do so. The stats/limit on how many combat NPCs applies to when you actually want to do moderation rounds and rolls with dNPCs in a roleplay.

Staff have the right to request edits on situations that are unreasonable.