D&D 5E DM's: what do you do with players who miss time?

[TheFindus]

To this last bit ^: you were involved in x % of the encounter before being killed. That is the % you will be rewarded for.
You are building UP to 100%, not starting at 100% & falling.

It's a % system.
It involves some note taking, post session math, & DM judgment (I know, that's a heretical concept if you want a purely mechanical system/answer...)
It's based upon what % of the xp generating encounter you're character was involved in.
Charmed? Still involved, just playing for the other team.
Victim of some immobilizing spell/condition- subject to DM discretion.
Unconcious - just like being dead. But easier to cure....
Dead? We've established the dead don't gain xp (or lose it btw) So if for example you made it 40% through a fight (that the party succeeded at), you'd gain 40% of the expected xp. Unsuccessful encounters don't yield xp.
Player not at game? No xp. Because nobody but you runs your character. Since the character isn't being played, they don't do anything.

Next we have two different types of present but not active in the encounter:
Ex #1: Tonight Alex spent 9/16 rounds serving as the parties rear guard as we engaged in a (surprisingly tough & lengthy) encounter to clear the mouth of our escape rout. We knew we were being pusued. (Still are) So Alex waited in ambush until we sent the signal late into the 9th round to get his rear up the tunnel. The time he spent on guard duty turned out to be 9 rounds of down time for him.
But Alex gets full XP because he was doing his job in the encounter, making choices/checks, etc. He could have been actively stabbing things on the front line. Or he could be making sure we weren't set upon from behind. He couldn't do both at once.

Ex#2: in our 5e game the party decides to take a short rest. The Rogue though declares that he's going to scout/explore ahead instead.
The rest of the party refuses to go with him.
The rogue received all the xp for the several encounters he succefully dealt with. The party? No XP for those encounters - but they're rested!

Wow!
None of my fellow Germans could have invented a more detailed system requiring more administrative work.
Just: Wow!

 

[Draegn]

When a player misses a session, the player and I either set up some activity he or she would be doing while the rest of the group is out and about. Or I come up with a short related side adventure for that player or players to do.

Examples:

One of the wizards cannot make the game, he or she might stay in their lab making potions or researching a new spell.
In one session the group split up in order to win over various allies to help defend their home town. One of the thieves who missed the session was given a solo adventure to recover armor and weapons from a corrupt city guard along with appropriate evidence.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

If a player can't make it their PC becomes a NPC of sorts but controlled by the rest of the players, usually with the tag "the violently reckless" added to their name. It is possible they may die but that has only happened a couple times.

 

[Azurewraith]

I tend to tie them to a surface and have stripped naked and covered in manjuice when they next show ofc. ohhhh you mean in game... they get 1/2 xp and fade into the background and somehow roll nat 20s on all saves in combat they suddenly have PTSD and sit it out

 

[billd91]

So you have a world where XP are real, hit points are real, the rules determine the physics
of the universe even off-stage? No one in the universe gets broken bones or lingering injuries in combat if the combat rules don't give those effects?

That strikes me as an intentional misinterpretation of Lanefan's position. My interpretation would be more along the lines that NPCs and PCs follow the same basic rules of life behind the scenes. They aren't just narrative foils for the PCs, they have as much existence in the campaign world as the PCs have.

 

[Egregious Kelly]

The PC in question is sent to guard the pack mules for that session. As a result he gets no xp, but gets a free rank in Handle Animal.

 

[JeffB]

Chloroform/Rufies in their drink.

Thrown in back of trunk and dropped off in middle of seedy part of inner city.

Works every time.


(edit- they get XP based on how many gang members/alcoholics/prostitutes they avoid trying to get back home)

 

[psychophipps]

To be frank, I call "BS" on the whole, "Well, I have a life outside of D&D..." excuse because I have a life, too. Every time I play D&D I'm there because I told someone else, or several someone's, that I'm busy with my D&D game that date.
It's not about "having a life", it's a simple lack of the proper motivational attitude barring a true emergency.

 

[ProgBard]

Long-time listener, first-time caller here.

I run for a large group (eight players) who are all pretty dedicated, but it can be challenging to schedule. Sometime we can find a date that works for all but one or two people, and we go ahead with it anyway.

When that happens, I try to find some reasonable in-game explanation for the PC's absence. If I can, I like to give that player a minor side-quest they completed, and maybe some information they discovered that way that contributes to the ongoing campaign.

So far we've had everyone level up together. I use milestones (tracking XP is opposite-of-fun bookkeeping for me) and this makes it easier, and no one is left out while the rest of the party gets cool new powers. While not doing so wouldn't exactly be a "punishment," it certainly could *feel* punitive to players who had to miss out, and I don't want to create that kind of atmosphere at my table.

Like I said, these are great players. They don't want to miss sessions, but sometimes other obligations take precedence. They've got families and work and other friends; some of them have medical conditions that make it necessary to cancel unexpectedly. They're not just flaking out on the game, and having to tell them they need to lag behind during a level-up feels too much like saying "Them's the breaks, pal! Guess you shouldn't've gone to that wedding/ been so dedicated to your kids/ been born with that particular disorder." They get once or twice a month to sit around a table and pretend to be heroes and save the world, and that feels like the wrong place to be nitpicky about what they did or didn't "earn" in the process.

Anyway, that's how I work it in my current group, with these particular players. In another situation, running for different people, I might handle things differently.

 

[Lanefan]

That strikes me as an intentional misinterpretation of Lanefan's position. My interpretation would be more along the lines that NPCs and PCs follow the same basic rules of life behind the scenes. They aren't just narrative foils for the PCs, they have as much existence in the campaign world as the PCs have.

Thanks, [MENTION=3400]billd91[/MENTION] - not only did you save me the typing but you put it better than I probably would have.

Lanefan