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

[sleypy]

I don't reward or punish players that are absent; I reward/punish players mostly cause I'm lazy. In regards to treasure, I give the loot to the PCs that are present. I treat treasure distribution as an in-game decision and not a DM decision. I don't give XP at all which makes it, in part, a mute point. At the beginning of the arc, I tell the players what level they will start and I tell them to level up at particular milestones.

I'm wondering if some of the disagree here comes from the fact that some people mostly play with close friends while others play with people who are (gaming) associates?

Most of the time I'm gaming with people that I only associate with because of D&D. (It is closer to a working relationship than a friendship.) I'm far more structured with games like that because the game is our only connection; without it there is no reason to meet.

My opinions would be very different for a game with my friends & family; the logistics are lax because the game is secondary. I want to be with them even after a game gets cancelled or if it has to be a very brief session.

 

[Sunseeker]

Sure, I agree that people should keep their commitments or honestly communicate when they cannot do so anymore. But I don't think a game mechanic is the solution here. I would just tell the player we need someone more reliable in a regular spot, recruit someone else, and tell him he's welcome to jump in, if he can, when someone else can't make it.

This is also why I always have four regular players, plus two alternates who are on standby in case a regular can't make it. As a result, my games are rarely short a player and there's no drama when life happens.

Unfortunately I don't have a very large group of players, our current group is mostly a splinter from a larger group of people we could no longer tolerate. Recruiting is difficult and there's also the issue of we're playing in my home, so you gotta have some degree of trust with people.

 

[iserith]

Unfortunately I don't have a very large group of players, our current group is mostly a splinter from a larger group of people we could no longer tolerate. Recruiting is difficult and there's also the issue of we're playing in my home, so you gotta have some degree of trust with people.

I'm a recruiter by trade so I guess it comes easy to me.

Also, you can run a criminal background check for about the cost of a pizza...

 

[S'mon]

If that is common practice, its a terrible one. You are a team, and so it is in the interest of the whole team to have their deceased party member back. Why wouldn't everyone chip in?

Does that happen often? A player dies during an adventure, and the rest of the party finishes the entire adventure without her first, before resurrecting her?

Suppose she died during a boss battle, but she died before she was able to kill the boss. Does this mean she gets no exp for the boss being killed by the party? She took part in the battle didn't she? But she wasn't around when the boss died, she was dead on the floor. But I would still give her full exp.

Me too - and in an individual-XP game she gets the XP and if not raised, that XP is lost.

IME most groups see costs of raising dead PCs as a party expense, either it comes from a
party treasury or they all chip in. A group which was selfish enough to charge a comrade for raising would likely also be too selfish to raise them - better to loot the body!

 

[Pssthpok]

I nudge them as far in to the background of the narrative as possible and no XP for the missed session, but double XP for their next session. I called it "rested XP". #originalideas

 

[S'mon]

I think most players would agree that they'd like their character to progress at an equal rate as that of their party members.

No, players have all kinds of different opinions, and it may vary by game. I like being the same level as everyone else in 4e and (to a lesser extent) 3e/Pathfinder. I like the Labyrinth Lord sandbox where our XP awards were individual and I could take pride in having survived to 5th level because there was no entitlement. The 5e game I play in uses milestone levelling, I rather wish it did individual
XP as it's pretty episodic. If it were an Adventure Path then group XP or milestone might be best.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*

 

[S'mon]

I find this aspect of the conversation fascinating.

First, it's damn near impossible to die in 5e. I suppose if you take a low-level character, naked, weaponless, with a death-wish and bad luck and loaded dice that only roll ones, it could happen. But seriously- it's like serialized television; no one dies. And if they do "die," they'll be right back.

I've had three PC deaths in 46 sessions of my 4e game - not huge, but more than in my
Classic D&D game (1 PC in around 25 sessions, though I use AD&D style death at -10 which
helps). In 5e you don't die from hp* damage, you die when your friends flee the losing battle and the monsters finish you off.

*Well, the first PC to die was ravaged to death by a wight while he & his friends lay in an
enchanted slumber. Second was killed by a psychic blue lion while wandering away from
the party. Third was killed by Shadows who ambushed the 8th level party when he was at 5 hp
after the previous battle.

 

[ccs]

I find this aspect of the conversation fascinating.

First, it's damn near impossible to die in 5e. I suppose if you take a low-level character, naked, weaponless, with a death-wish and bad luck and loaded dice that only roll ones, it could happen. But seriously- it's like serialized television; no one dies. And if they do "die," they'll be right back.

I kid, but just kinda.

Ive had no trouble killing 5e characters.
The body count at my table (April - present <nov.>) is 7. It's been a light year.
6 of the dead aren't going to recover. #7 might return - he was ONLY petrified solid by a medusa..... The party simply isn't in any position to fix that atm.

 

[lowkey13]

*Deleted by user*