Solved
I figured it out! The NPC race, gender and model type have to match.
For instance, I wanted to change a decaying skeleton in Greater Faydark to look like a unicorn instead of a a decaying skeleton. To do this, you have to log into EOC, use the NPC editor, find the zone you want to edit, search for the NPC you want to update, click Edit NPC, then change it's model, gender and body type to match what an actual unicorn from another zone (such as Lesser Faydark) would have.
To make sure my settings were correct, I did a search for the zone Lesser Faydark, found the Pained Unicorn and looked at it's model, gender and body type. I matched those with the unicorn I tried to create in Greater Faydark and it worked. I now have a fanciful unicorn in Greater Faydark instead of a decaying skeleton.
This was all just a test to see if I could swap out existing character models with other character models from different zones. It was not obvious to me that I needed to update the model AND gender AND body type before it would actually load properly. I did not have to add or update any client side _char files for this to work.
If you do not update the gender/body type in EOC, it will just display as a human.
I will continue to post new things I find as I develop my server and hopefully it helps others avoid some pitfalls.
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