I need some advice ...

Tatsukun · Jan 15, 2004

Hi all, I am wondering how some of the more experienced DM’s out there deal with sudden changes in the party due to player absence.

I bet it has happened to you all, you make an adventure for the five PC’s in your group. You plan everything, down to the last EL and the last DC for skill checks with a mind to what the party can do. You end up with a hard but do-able adventure.

Then, the game starts, and only three players turn up. Suddenly the group has no cleric, or no rogue, or whatever.

This has happened to me a lot, and it recently lead to an encounter being more dangerous than I thought it would be. My players are now pissed at me for the 'almost TPK'.

My method of choice so far has been to quickly nix a few monsters to lower EL’s or drop some hit points, BAB, and abilities to lower CR’s. But this is an unreliable method.

The only other thing I can think of is to make several sets of stats. For example “the BBEG is has 80 HP if there are 4 players, 50 if less”. But, that’s twice or more the work.

So, I guess I’m asking, what do you do?

Thanks for the input!

-Tatsu
P.S> I am not 100% sure this is the right forum, sorry if it’s not.

Nightfall · Jan 15, 2004

My way of handling depends on the party itself...but mostly when it occurs, I try to have a logical reason for the addition as well as the subtraction.

Subtrations are easier to deal with since they usually revolve around me being vindicitive and killing the stupid SOB that keeps MISSING games.

Well his/her character at any case.

Most of the time I just have some in charge say "Here! You lost someone, here's a replacement!" Or if its the case of "died in combat." The old "find a new friend!" type deal.

Trickstergod · Jan 15, 2004

In general, my players are responsible enough to let me know ahead of time that they won't be around for the upcoming session; usually by at least three days. This gives me enough time to crank out a one shot, which is my usual answer to player absences.

Even when I might not know a player won't be showing up for game, I'll usually go for a hastily thought up one shot when I finally find out that, oh, I'm a player short.

I also tend to run games fairly on the fly, with a minimum of preparation. So that might not be for you.

Inconsequenti-AL · Jan 15, 2004

If it's in the middle of something then I tend to hand the PCs character over to the other players for combat/crunchy traps/healing, etc. I take care of any social interaction for the character and make sure none of the players do something out of character to the PC... although they basicallly take a back seat during conversations.

They get storyline XP, but obviously none for roleplaying.

arwink · Jan 15, 2004

I roll high on my bluff checks and pretend everything was planned that way all along.

Players missing a game with no notice is rarely a huge issue in the group, but I've had to do some hasty reworking to an adventure when people have dropped out on short notice. Fortunatley, my adventures are fairly amorphous to begin with - a few sets of stats and some rough notes, along with a list of challenges for each PC - so it's realtively easy to work around people when they're away. The only time its been a problem is when my notes have originally made one of the cool PC challenges an important moment in the adventure.

maddman75 · Jan 15, 2004

Here's what I always tell them.

"I'll adjust the adventure to compensate for the missing players. It'll just be harder."

Voadam · Jan 15, 2004

My rule was always the world is out there. Some things are tougher than you can handle. Some are easy to fight. Running away or avoiding a confrontation is usually a viable option. If you face things that are tougher than you are you can die. I do not pull rolls.

My players are usually on the edge of their seats kicking ass but fearing death as they face horrors. They have triumphed against real odds but also been sent packing and faced disaster due to foolishness.

Play it fair and upfront from the beginning and there should be no basis for a complaint.

If you just slaughter a party without their getting to do anything that is not much fun. However, if they are in over their heads and keep going then that is their problem.

Quickbeam · Jan 15, 2004

Like several of those that have responded before me, I'm fortunate in that my players generally provide prior notice on upcoming absences so I can plan accordingly. Generally player absence in my group is dealt with in one of three ways:

1) I have copies of each PC saved on Excel character sheets created by one of our group members, and I bring a disk with these files to each session. If there's a no show, we print out a copy of the missing PC and another player or I run the character.
2) Old NPC's and PC's that have wandered off into the sunset are sought out, or make a convenient and timely return to fill the party gaps.
3) The last resort for me, is to tweak encounters and events to better suit the party's decreased capabilities and missing components.

I know that many groups don't like having the DM or other players running an absentee's PC -- and I completely respect the reasoning behind such sentiments -- but that seems to work best for our group.

Henry · Jan 15, 2004

Alternately, have an "A" game and a "B" game.

The "A" game is for when everyone is in attendence (or 90%). Plan these meticulously.

The "B" game should be "hack & bash" D&D, the D&D MIni's game, a more free-form RPG game, or anything where prep-time is a minimum and fun is the order of the day. If you ALWAYS have a core group of "shows" and "no shows", then plan the "B" game as meticulously as you want, assuming the "always shows" will be there.

That way, the people who wanted to role-play that night, instead of board-game or catch a movie, aren't slighted, and the meticulous plot of the "A" game is saved for when everyone is around.

If you have people who are consistently out without warning, I would suggest a talk with them asking if you could work something out for the sake of consideration to the other players. Don't be mean, but explain you want to be considerate to all concerned, and a couple days' forewarning with their schedule is appreciated. If you remind them that they're slighting the whole group, not just you, then they are more likely to sober up and give common courtesy.

You COULD run will all characters present assuming backup character sheets, but that can be a sore point with some players. Not everyone is agreeable to having something bad happen to their character if they aren't there to run it.

Emergencies are unavoidable, but everyone over the age of 17 usually knows their schedule a day or two out. Those of us in the workforce and possessing families can usually tell you what they're doing weeks in advance.(unfortunately

)

Arnwyn · Jan 15, 2004

In our group, another player plays the missing player's character.

The missing player's PC gets no XP, but still faces the danger. If the missing guy doesn't like it, too bad - show up next time. (And if the reason the person missed the session was really important - well, then clearly it was more important than just a few fake numbers in some game, no?)

It's not a problem with our group, as we've had this policy in place for more than a decade and we're all happy with it. It may not work for other groups, of course.