Let a player run a creature

Give a player control of an enemy or NPC, such as a familiar, a summoned beast or a charmed guard, so they can move it, roll for it and see through its eyes while you keep control too.

For: Game Masters and players · Plan: Free · 12 minutes

Some creatures belong to the party for a while: a wizard's owl, a druid's wolf, a bandit who has switched sides. Left to you, the Game Master (GM), a player whose familiar needs a Perception check has to ask you to roll it. Hand the creature to that player instead, as its controller, and they run it the way they run their own character. You can also let other players look through its eyes without controlling it, such as the whole party watching through the owl as it scouts ahead.

Two terms used on this page:

Controller: the one player who runs a creature. They move it, use its actions and checks, read its stat card and see through its eyes.
See through its eyes: a switch that swaps a player's view of the board for the creature's. The fog of war (the darkness over what their character can't see) clears around the creature instead of around their own character, until they switch back.

Give a player control of a creature

Right-click the enemy or NPC and choose Edit Enemy (or Edit NPC).
Open the Access tab. The Player control card is at the top.
In Controlled by, choose the player.
To let other players look through its eyes too, tick them under Can see through its eyes.
Click Save Changes.

The player can move it and run it straight away, with no reload. Nothing changes for anyone else at the table.

You keep full control as well. You can still move it, open its actions, edit it, hide it and roll for it, exactly as before.

Let a player look through its eyes without controlling it

On the same card, tick the player under Can see through its eyes and click Save Changes, with Controlled by left on None or set to someone else. That player can switch their view to the creature's whenever they like, but can't move it, use its actions or read its stat card. Use it for a crystal ball, a scrying sensor, or a familiar the whole party should be able to peek through.

Take control back

Right-click the creature and choose Edit Enemy (or Edit NPC).
On the Access tab, set Controlled by to None, or untick the players under Can see through its eyes.
Click Save Changes.

A player you take control or the view away from goes back to their own view at once. If they were in the middle of answering a saving throw or a reaction for the creature, they can no longer answer it: it comes to you.

A copy made with Clone belongs to nobody: give it a controller of its own if it needs one. Control isn't kept when you export the game or turn it into a template or a content pack.

What changes for the controller and for you

	You, the GM	Its controller	A player who can see through its eyes	Every other player
Move it on the board	Yes	Yes, under the same rules as their own character	No	No
Turn it (Ctrl and scroll)	Yes	No	No	No
Open its actions with Show actions	Yes	Yes	No	No
Roll its saves, ability checks and skills	Yes, in the open while a player controls it	Yes, in the open	No	No
Read its Stat card	Yes	Yes	No	No
See what it has left (uses, recharges, pools)	Yes	Yes, on its bar	No	No
See through its eyes	Yes, from its bar	Yes	Yes	No
Roll its initiative, tick its action pips, finish its turn	Yes	Yes	No	No
Answer its saving throws and reactions	When the controller doesn't answer in time	Yes	No	No
Edit it, change its stat block, hide or show it, clone or delete it	Yes	No	No	No

Players never see what a creature has left, such as a breath weapon waiting to recharge or a dragon's remaining legendary actions, unless they control it.

For players: run your creature

When your GM gives you a creature, it appears in your Characters panel and you can work it from the board.

Find your creature

Click Characters on the tool rail (on a phone, open the menu, three lines at the top left, and find it under Your tools). Under your characters, a Creatures list shows every creature you run or can look through, each with its picture and name:

You control it: you run this one. It has See through its eyes, and Show actions when the creature has a stat block and your GM has Creature actions on (see below).
You can see through its eyes: you can look through this one, nothing more. It has See through its eyes only.

The list includes creatures you can't see on the board, such as one your GM has hidden or one in the dark, so you can always reach them. It updates as soon as your GM gives or takes control. With no creatures, there's no list. It shows even when you have no character of your own.

You can also right-click the creature on the board. Its menu holds Show actions (on one you control, under the same conditions) and See through its eyes. A creature you have no part in has no menu for you.

Move it

Drag it, or select it and use the arrow keys, as you move your own character. You can select it together with your character and drag both. Whatever stops your character moving stops it too: the GM locking movement, pausing the game, or a battle where it isn't the creature's turn. See Moving your token.

Turning it to face another way stays with your GM.

Use its actions and checks

Right-click it and choose Show actions, or click Show actions beside it in the Creatures list. Its action bar opens at the bottom of the screen: the same bar your GM uses, with its attacks, its spells and what it has left, its Checks (its saving throws, ability checks and skills), its Stat card, and See through its eyes. See Run creature actions for how the bar works.

What's different when you run it:

Your rolls are open. Everyone at the table sees its attack rolls and checks, as they see your character's. A creature your GM runs keeps its numbers hidden from players unless your GM sets Monster rolls to Everyone at the table in Game settings.
Checks roll with your own dice and post to chat under the creature's name, such as Owl: Perception. The bar's Normal, Adv or Dis applies to the next check, then goes back to Normal.
The Stat card shows its stat block, read-only: its hit points and armour class (the current hit points too, even when the token hides them), its ability scores and saving throws, its senses, what it resists or is immune to, the conditions it can't be given, its notes and its printed traits and actions. You only ever see the card of a creature you control.
Targets only offer creatures the players can see. One your GM has hidden isn't listed.
The bar needs two things from your GM: a stat block on the creature (the rules and numbers it comes with) and Creature actions turned on in Game Settings > Automation. Without them there's no Show actions, but you can still move the creature and see through its eyes.

See through its eyes

Click See through its eyes in the Creatures list, on its bar, or on its right-click menu. Your view of the board switches to the creature's: the fog clears around it, as far as it can see, and your own character reveals nothing until you switch back. Click the button again, or Stop seeing through its eyes on the menu, to go back to your own view. Hover over the button for Switch your view to what this creature sees or Back to your own view; while it's on, the button is lit.

All three buttons are the same switch, so turning it on in one shows as on in the others. It stays on until you turn it off, even if you reload the page. See Seeing through its eyes, in detail, below.

In a battle

A creature you control is yours in the turn order, as your character is (see Start a battle):

Initiative: it starts the battle waiting for you. Roll Initiative rolls for your character and your creature together. Your GM can still roll for it.
Its turn: its turn is yours to play. Move it, use its actions, tick its A, B and R pips, and click Finish Turn when it's done.
Saving throws: when something makes it save and it has a stat block, you're asked to roll it, with the stat block's bonus, as you're asked for your character's. If you don't answer in time, it passes to your GM. Without a stat block, your GM rules on it.
Reactions: when your GM has Reaction prompts on and an attack hits it, you're asked whether it uses a reaction it has, such as a knight's Parry.
Its turn start: with Creature turns on, the chat line that says what it got back at the start of its turn (a recharge, regeneration, legendary actions) goes to you and your GM.

Where your GM keeps the notices about a hit or a condition between the GM and that character's player, you get them for your creature too.

Seeing through its eyes, in detail

Its sight, not yours. The fog clears from the creature's position, with its own vision: its vision bands, its senses such as an owl's darkvision, and its vision cone if it has one (see Token vision).
A creature that sees nothing. Enemies and NPCs see nothing of their own until the GM gives them vision. A player looking through one borrows a character's ordinary sight instead: 12 squares in bright light, 6 in dim light and 3 in darkness (60, 30 and 15 ft on the usual 5 ft squares), plus any senses it has. Vision the GM has set on it, on its Vision tab, counts instead.
Only the creature. Your own character clears no fog while you look through a creature. Look through two creatures at once and the fog clears around both.
It follows the creature. The view moves as the creature moves, while it's being dragged too.
Fog has to be on. It works with Dynamic and Persistent fog. With fog off you see the whole map anyway, and with Static fog the GM reveals the map by hand.
Losing it. If the GM takes control or the view away, you're back to your own view.
The GM's other view. If your GM has also added the creature to your view with Player Perspective View, switching back leaves that view in place: you see from your character and the creature together, as before.

As the GM, pick the player's character in GM View Perspective to see what they see: while they look through a creature, it shows the creature's view alone, as theirs does, and follows the creature while you drag it. See GM view and player view.

See through its eyes or Player Perspective View?

Both let a player see from another token. They work differently.

	Can see through its eyes (and control)	Player Perspective View
Who turns the view on	The player, with See through its eyes, once you've allowed it	You, and it's on straight away
What the player sees	The creature's view alone, until they switch back	Their own character's view plus this token's
On which tokens	Enemies and NPCs	Any token: a character, an enemy or an NPC
A token with no vision of its own	Sees as a character does by default	Shows almost nothing
Saved	With Save Changes	The moment you click a row

Both are on the Access tab of Edit Enemy and Edit NPC. A player's own See through its eyes doesn't show as Viewing under Player Perspective View, and unticking them there doesn't turn it off. See Token vision.

The Player control card, control by control

The Player control card is at the top of the Access tab in Edit Enemy and Edit NPC. Only you have it: players can't open these windows. Its line reads Let a player run this creature: move it on the board, use its actions and see through its eyes. You keep control too.

Control	What it does	Default and limits
Controlled by	The one player who runs the creature. None means only you.	None. One player at a time.
Can see through its eyes	A tick box for each player: ticked players may switch their view to the creature's. Under the heading: These players can switch their view to this creature's. They cannot move it or use its actions.	All unticked. Any number of players.
Controls it	A tag on the controller's row, which is ticked and can't be unticked: control includes seeing through its eyes.

Who is listed: every player in the game, never you. A player with a character on the board is listed by that character's name; one without is listed by the name on their account. With nobody to list, the card says No players in this game yet.
A controller who has left the game still shows in Controlled by as A player no longer in this game, so saving another change doesn't take control away by accident. Choose None to clear it.
Saving: the card saves with the rest of the window when you click Save Changes. Cancel throws your changes away.

Enemies and the creature library · NPCs · Token vision · GM view and player view · Run creature actions