Blueprint standalone variable or pointer?

Question about blueprints. I am still learning about how the variables in blueprints actually work.

So lets say i have a character bp… it has a variable named “Running”. I also have an animbp for this character with a variable named “isRunning”. If i do a “get” in the animbp event graph and get “Running” and set “IsRunning” to that… is that now considered a pointer to “Running”. If so… im assuming making changes to “isRunning” would in fact make changes to “Running”…

So if thats the case how would i create a standalone variable that is not a pointer… this all assuming thats the case…

They are not pointers, everything is set by value (except objects).

im really confused then. And my confusion comes for replication. Like if im using replication on the original “Running” variable… how does the animbp know to have the correct value for “IsRunning” in the animbp variable?

It surely does not replicate the Character’s Running to the AnimBP. Generally, you can only replicate variables on the same actor. Meaning, the Running variable of the character is replicated from the server to the client (for the character), and on the client it either triggers an event which sets the variable in the AnimBP, or, which is quite frequently used, the AnimBP just sets in each Tick its own variable by copying the one from the Character. Not sure how is it set up in your project, but probably something one of these two possibilities.