Apologies if this question has been asked and answered already. I did search the forums, as well as google and youtube but found nothing.
I'm very new to RPG Maker (day 4/30 of the free trial of VX Ace), and I would like to know if there is a way (preferably, but not necessarily without advanced scripting) to have an actor as a follower on the map that is not an actual member of your party.
To better clarify what I'm going for: My main character has a sort of side-kick that is always with him throughout most of the story, but does not take part in combat. I would need the follower to always be present along with the main character actor and other party member actors on the map screen, but to either not appear at all when battles start, or to appear but be completely unable to act or to be targeted/affected by others' actions (including a game-over condition).
I know I could create an event on every single map of the game that automatically approaches the player, but I was hoping there would be a simpler (or at least a more autonomous) way to achieve this effect.