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🧍 NPC Quest Givers

Letting players run /q take <quest> is fine, but it's way more immersive when they walk up to a villager, right-click them, and get handed a quest. That's what quest givers are for.

NotQuests supports three kinds of quest givers out of the box:

BackendPlatformsReference formatID type
CitizensPapercitizens:<id>a number (e.g. 5)
FancyNPCsPaperfancynpcs:<uuid>a UUID (for example 6ab312dd-ddce-42a6-8965-e45605a05321)
Armor standsPaper and NeoForge— (right-click them)built right into vanilla

You don't need a separate NPC plugin for armor stands — they work on both supported platforms. Citizens and FancyNPCs are Paper plugin integrations and are not registered on NeoForge.

Attaching a quest to a Citizens / FancyNPCs NPC​

This section applies to Paper servers with the matching NPC plugin installed.

Grab your NPC's id, then:

/qa edit TheVirus npcs add citizens:5

…or for a FancyNPC:

/qa edit TheVirus npcs add fancynpcs:6ab312dd-ddce-42a6-8965-e45605a05321

That's it — now players can right-click that NPC to preview and take the quest.

Don't know the id? Just click it.

Instead of an id, type rightClickSelect and then right-click the NPC you want:

/qa edit TheVirus npcs add rightClickSelect

No need to look anything up. This also works for armor stands.

Hiding a quest on an NPC​

Sometimes you want a quest attached to an NPC without it showing up in that NPC's "available quests" list — for example a delivery target, or the NPC you talk to in order to finish a quest. Add the --hideInNPC flag:

/qa edit TheVirus npcs add citizens:5 --hideInNPC

Managing a quest's NPCs​

  • /qa edit TheVirus npcs list - shows every NPC this quest is attached to (and whether it's shown or hidden).
  • /qa edit TheVirus npcs clear - detaches the quest from all NPCs.

Armor stand quest givers​

No NPC plugin? No problem. Any armor stand can be a quest giver.

/qa edit TheVirus armorstands add

This hands you a special item (a ghast tear). Right-click the armor stand with it, and the quest gets attached. Use the --hideInArmorStand flag if you want it attached but not listed.

A couple of companion commands, each of which gives you an item to click an armor stand with:

  • /qa edit TheVirus armorstands remove - removes the quest from an armor stand you click.
  • /qa edit TheVirus armorstands check - shows you which quests are on an armor stand you click.
note

By default, armor stands with quests attached are protected from accidental edits, and they get a little floating particle so players can spot them. Both are configurable under visual.armorstands in general.yml.

Using NPCs inside objectives​

The same NPC reference works for objectives that point at an NPC — like TalkToNPC, delivering items to an NPC, or finishing a quest by talking to one. On Paper, use the same citizens:<id> / fancynpcs:<uuid> reference (or rightClickSelect). On NeoForge, use an armor stand.

Giving an NPC a conversation​

Quest givers get a lot more lively when they actually talk. On Paper, you can bind a conversation to a Citizens or FancyNPCs NPC so right-clicking it starts a dialogue:

/qa conversations edit myConversation npcs add citizens:5

rightClickSelect works here too. For the full dialogue system — branching options, conditions, in-line actions — head over to the Conversations guide.

Quick recap​

  • Attach: /qa edit <quest> npcs add <npc>
  • Hide on the NPC: add --hideInNPC
  • Armor stands: /qa edit <quest> armorstands add, then right-click the stand
  • Conversations: /qa conversations edit <conversation> npcs add <npc>

Now go populate your world with quest givers. 🎉