D&D 5E How to add new PCs mid quest?

[randrak]

I got a bit of an issue... one of my players lost his character in the middle of a quest (they are traveling to a dungeon where a supposed artifact is being held. The character died in the middle of the trip when they were ambushed). He wants to use a new characters, but I am out of ideas on how to make this new character join up with the party when they are currently on a secret mission...

 

[Horwath]

I got a bit of an issue... one of my players lost his character in the middle of a quest (they are traveling to a dungeon where a supposed artifact is being held. The character died in the middle of the trip when they were ambushed). He wants to use a new characters, but I am out of ideas on how to make this new character join up with the party when they are currently on a secret mission...

He is prisoner of the next group of mobs,

He is also on that mission sent by another patron,

He is sent by your patron as a backup,

Deus ex machina: he suffered teleportation mishap and teleported to your camp,

 

[iserith]

Hard to say without knowing more details. Fictionally, it could be anything you can imagine. Someone lost in the forest may be fine. A prisoner of monsters the PCs can free. A prophet who has received visions of the PCs and finds them to join their quest. Someone who is already at the dungeon for their own reasons. Etc.

This is partly why I have the PCs establish backup characters at the start of every campaign. If someone dies, we tap the new character in with no issues because we've planned for it by establishing the necessary connections and backstory in advance. In my current campaign, for example, the PCs have a caravan. Their active characters go out and adventure while the caravan, guarded by their backup characters, provides a safe place to long rest. When a PC dies, they can just call up the appropriate backup character to take his or her place seamlessly.

 

[BoldItalic]

Invite the player to explain his new character's sudden presence in the party and ask each of the other players if they accept the fiction he is offering. Let them suggest embellishments to add plausibility. Then, as long as the players collectively agree to the narrative, you don't have a problem.

 

[pdzoch]

You could also tie the new PC to one of your adventure hooks. The PC could either be related to something in the adventure hook or be seeking the same thing and the group just happened to converge and join forces to share a goal.

I've used the "rescued" PC approach several times. Once as a captive of the band of monsters in the next encounter. Once as a PC running away from a pack of Axebeaks riled up during a botched field study (it was a druid).

I would also take a look at the new PC background to see how that can be used for an introduction. With the right background, the new PC could be introduced as an authority on something the party is looking for or has to interact with.

 

[ccs]

Serious: This is something you should have considered while writing the adventure. How to introduce new characters & why in the 9 hells should the party insta-trust them?

Not so serious: Sadly, now, because of your lack of prep/imagination, your player just has to sit out until this quest wraps up. Well, I guess they could help you play monsters.
BTW, now you have to go & re-adjust all your encounters.

 

[manduck]

It could also depend on what the new character is. If they are a ranger or barbarian, the could just live in the wilds and find the party. Perhaps they had a problem with whatever ambushed the party and were tracking the ambushers to take them out. If it's cleric or paladin, maybe their deity sent them to recover the artifact. Or a wizard or rogue heard about the artifact and want it to study or sell. Or perhaps the person was also hired to get the artifact by someone else. There are dozens of reasons for the new character to be out there. It could be completely by chance and the new character is doing something unrelated. You could even have the party come upon the new player in a situation where perhaps they were ambushed too and the party has to help them.

It's hard to say more without specifics. Like what ambushed them. We'll need a little more than "something ambushed the party and one of them died" to give you more specific ideas. Did the ambushers take prisoners? Maybe they find the new member as a captive in the ambusher's camp, not far away. There are a lot of ways to handle it though. Plus you can just invite the player to come up with a reason their new character would be there. It's their character after all and they know that character best. Let the player be creative and have some fun while having them do some of the heavy lifting. They probably already have ideas.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I’m a big fan of this. I might have the character introduced in some improbable situation (falling from a random portal, imprisoned in the next room, appearing from a scroll they just found), and just ask them to explain how the heck they got there.

Plus you can just invite the player to come up with a reason their new character would be there. It's their character after all and they know that character best. Let the player be creative and have some fun while having them do some of the heavy lifting. They probably already have ideas.

 

[schnee]

You find a tavern RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DUNGEON.

There's one person there, sitting next to the bartender.

'Hey, I'm looking for work. You hiring?'

 

[Tony Vargas]

He wants to use a new characters, but I am out of ideas on how to make this new character join up with the party when they are currently on a secret mission...

When the party defeats the next batch of bad-guys, they find the new PC tied up in a closet, stripped of all his gear - unless the party heals him, he wakes up at 1hp in 1d4 hours.
Welcome aboard.

...

what?


OK, fine, for more of a hook, maybe he just happens to have overheard information vital to the secret mission and/or have an interest in it and/or been one of the earlier agents sent to deal with the badguys?