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name: roblox-characters description: > Build respawn-safe Roblox character systems around Players, CharacterAdded/CharacterRemoving, Humanoid, HumanoidRootPart, Animator, R6/R15 rigs, movement, animations and markers, death, tools, accessories, ownership, and custom characters. Use when character scripts break after respawn, cache stale Humanoids, control movement or velocity, load AnimationTracks, handle death, equip Tools, modify avatars, or support custom player rigs.

Roblox characters

Treat a Player as the durable identity and each Character as a replaceable session with its own references, connections, animation tracks, and cleanup. Targets Roblox's rolling platform APIs.

When to use

• Use for player-character lifecycle, Humanoid state/movement, rigs, animations, tools, accessories, custom characters, death, or respawn defects.
• Use whenever code stores a Character/Humanoid/root reference longer than one spawn.

When not to use: general physics queries and constraints belong to roblox-physics; remote trust belongs to roblox-networking; camera logic belongs to camera-systems.

Workflow

1. Inspect the character contract. Check avatar settings, StarterCharacter, StarterCharacterScripts, CharacterAutoLoads, R6/R15 support, existing Animate/controller scripts, tools, tags, collision groups, and server/client ownership.
2. Separate scopes. Player-scope state survives respawn; character-scope state does not. Put character connections/tracks/resources in one cleanup scope and destroy it on removal.
3. Bind existing and future characters. Connect CharacterAdded, then bind player.Character if present. Do not assume event subscription alone sees a character that already spawned.
4. Resolve required components defensively. Wait with a timeout where replication warrants it; validate Humanoid, root, Animator, and rig assumptions. Abort if that character is no longer current before applying delayed work.
5. Choose movement ownership. Use Humanoid movement for standard avatars; use AssemblyLinearVelocity, BasePart:ApplyImpulse(), or a LinearVelocity/AlignPosition constraint only for mechanics that need physical control. Keep gameplay authority and network ownership implications explicit.
6. Own animation lifecycle. Load via the rig's Animator; store tracks/connections; use named markers for gameplay timing only with server validation; stop/disconnect on character cleanup.
7. Verify lifecycle stress. Spawn, die, reset, rapid-respawn, swap rig if supported, equip/drop tools, leave during setup, and run with at least two players when character interactions matter.

Pattern: replaceable character scope

local Players = game:GetService("Players")
local player = Players.LocalPlayer
local generation = 0
local connections: {RBXScriptConnection} = {}
local currentCharacter: Model? = nil

local function clearCharacter()
    generation += 1
    for _, connection in connections do connection:Disconnect() end
    table.clear(connections)
    currentCharacter = nil
end

local function bindCharacter(character: Model)
    -- Guard BEFORE teardown. A stale invocation (see the CharacterAdded/defer race below) must not
    -- clear a binding that is already current, or nothing ends up bound at all.
    if player.Character ~= character then return end
    clearCharacter()
    currentCharacter = character
    local thisGeneration = generation
    local humanoid = character:WaitForChild("Humanoid", 10)
    local root = character:WaitForChild("HumanoidRootPart", 10)
    -- Re-check after the yields: a respawn during WaitForChild bumps generation and makes this call stale.
    if not humanoid or not root or generation ~= thisGeneration then return end

    table.insert(connections, humanoid.Died:Connect(function()
        if generation ~= thisGeneration then return end
        setCharacterUiEnabled(false)
    end))
    attachCurrentCharacterSystems(character, humanoid, root)
end

player.CharacterRemoving:Connect(function(character)
    if currentCharacter == character then clearCharacter() end
end)
player.CharacterAdded:Connect(bindCharacter)
if player.Character then task.defer(bindCharacter, player.Character) end

Use the project's cleanup utility when one exists; do not introduce a new framework for three connections. Server systems repeat this binding per Player and clear player-scope tables on PlayerRemoving.

Pattern: animation through Animator and markers

local animation = Instance.new("Animation")
animation.AnimationId = "rbxassetid://1234567890"
local track = animator:LoadAnimation(animation)
local markerConnection = track:GetMarkerReachedSignal("Commit"):Connect(function(parameter)
    playLocalSwingEffect(parameter) -- presentation; server still validates any hit
end)

track:Play(0.1)
-- On character teardown:
markerConnection:Disconnect()
track:Stop(0.1)
animation:Destroy()

For rigs without a Humanoid, use an AnimationController with an Animator. Do not use the deprecated convenience path as a substitute for owning the actual Animator and track lifecycle.

Movement and rig rules

• Do not hardcode R15 limb names if R6 is supported. Prefer attachments, tags, or a rig-type adapter; branch on Humanoid.RigType only where topology materially differs.
• HumanoidRootPart is the usual character assembly root, not a universal guarantee for every custom model. Define the custom rig contract and validate it at spawn.
• Prefer Humanoid:Move()/standard controls for ordinary avatar locomotion. Directly changing AssemblyLinearVelocity is an instantaneous physical action; use forces/constraints or impulses when continuous or instantaneous physics is the real intent.
• To rebind movement/jump or add actions like sprint, prefer the Input Action System (InputContext/InputAction/InputBinding, defined at edit time and cross-device) over hooking UserInputService directly. Default player and character control scripts run on this system when Workspace.PlayerScriptsUseInputActionSystem is enabled, exposing default PlayerScripts contexts; give your own InputContext a higher Priority (and Sink) to take precedence over the default bindings. See the roblox-ui input and navigation reference for the UI-focus side of this.
• Never grant damage or movement authority because a client owns its character physics. Validate cross-player consequences on the server.
• Tools move between Backpack and Character during equip; listen to lifecycle/state rather than assuming one fixed parent. Modify accessories/appearance through current character APIs and preserve an up-to-date applied HumanoidDescription when editing avatar appearance.

Common failures

Symptom	Likely cause	Remedy
works once, breaks after reset	cached character/Humanoid/root	rebuild per CharacterAdded; clear on removal
callbacks fire twice after deaths	old character connections survived	character-scoped cleanup and generation/current checks
delayed load edits wrong rig	async work outlived spawn	compare current Character/generation after every yield
animation visible only locally or not at all	wrong Animator/context/asset ownership	inspect rig Animator, execution side, permissions, and replication
hit marker awards impossible hit	animation marker trusted as authority	use marker for timing/presentation; server validates combat state
R6/custom rig errors	R15 names assumed	define rig contract; attachments/adapter; test each supported rig
tool disappears from system	fixed Backpack/Character parent assumed	handle equip/unequip ancestry and character replacement
custom force fights Humanoid	two controllers own motion	choose one movement authority per state and restore cleanly

Resources

• Read references/lifecycle-and-animation.md for server binding, death vs removal, rig and animation verification, custom characters, and the lifecycle stress matrix.

Related skills

• roblox-physics — forces, constraints, assemblies, collision, and network ownership.
• roblox-networking — server validation of character actions and stale requests.
• input-systems — action mapping and responsive movement intent.
• camera-systems — camera behavior following replaceable characters.

Primary references

• https://create.roblox.com/docs/characters
• https://create.roblox.com/docs/animation/using
• https://create.roblox.com/docs/characters/appearance