Mercule
Adventurer
It depends. In a true old school crawl, they don't go into the dungeon that day (or they get distracted by a bauble and break away from the group). No XP, but no chance of off-camera death, either.
Currently, it's not a common situation (though I have a player missing, tonight, interestingly enough). When it does happen, though, I don't sweat it. The character is still there and still participates in a somewhat limited fashion. I'm loathe to kill a PC without the player present, so PCs of absent players tend to exist in a sort of cloud of uncertainty. That means they tend to hang back and generally receive the benefit of the doubt for where they're standing, etc. They don't get targeted as much -- except meat shields, who just get script immunity when they drop, even to things like ghouls that might otherwise take a snack break. The absentee PC can be part of a TPK, but that's pretty much the only way they can die.
But... I don't allow them to be just a risk-free bag of nukes. They character is free to be a resource in terms of skills, spells, items, whatever. But, they're denied benefit of doubt in resource management. If I'm not given a checklist of what spells are prepared prior to their absence, I assume that only the ones they use all the time are prepared - cure wounds for the cleric, flaming sphere for the wizard, etc. The cleric almost certainly did not happen to have remove curse prepared, even if he actually did. That may result in fewer prepared spells than their max. Bummer. If I think there's a chance they cast a spell or two since the last long rest, I don't spend any time wondering; I just assume they did. I also don't spend much time going through ability lists to see if someone can solve a problem. If it would impact suspension of disbelief, the other players already know it and can suggest it. Fighters tend to stand in the front and swing. Casters tend to fall back and use cantrips until another player says, "Can we get a fireball over here?"
We're all big boys and girls who would love to game more than we do, but can't. We respect each other's time enough to not commit to an ongoing game if we can't actually commit. I choose not to even attempt to penalize my friends for getting sick, called into work, visiting family, or attending kids' concerts. People really don't miss for other reasons.
What people do tend to miss out on, when they can't attend, is any reasonable way to lay claim to that super-awesome magic item that isn't class specific. Magic items aren't super common and that's enough to gnaw at them.
Currently, it's not a common situation (though I have a player missing, tonight, interestingly enough). When it does happen, though, I don't sweat it. The character is still there and still participates in a somewhat limited fashion. I'm loathe to kill a PC without the player present, so PCs of absent players tend to exist in a sort of cloud of uncertainty. That means they tend to hang back and generally receive the benefit of the doubt for where they're standing, etc. They don't get targeted as much -- except meat shields, who just get script immunity when they drop, even to things like ghouls that might otherwise take a snack break. The absentee PC can be part of a TPK, but that's pretty much the only way they can die.
But... I don't allow them to be just a risk-free bag of nukes. They character is free to be a resource in terms of skills, spells, items, whatever. But, they're denied benefit of doubt in resource management. If I'm not given a checklist of what spells are prepared prior to their absence, I assume that only the ones they use all the time are prepared - cure wounds for the cleric, flaming sphere for the wizard, etc. The cleric almost certainly did not happen to have remove curse prepared, even if he actually did. That may result in fewer prepared spells than their max. Bummer. If I think there's a chance they cast a spell or two since the last long rest, I don't spend any time wondering; I just assume they did. I also don't spend much time going through ability lists to see if someone can solve a problem. If it would impact suspension of disbelief, the other players already know it and can suggest it. Fighters tend to stand in the front and swing. Casters tend to fall back and use cantrips until another player says, "Can we get a fireball over here?"
We're all big boys and girls who would love to game more than we do, but can't. We respect each other's time enough to not commit to an ongoing game if we can't actually commit. I choose not to even attempt to penalize my friends for getting sick, called into work, visiting family, or attending kids' concerts. People really don't miss for other reasons.
What people do tend to miss out on, when they can't attend, is any reasonable way to lay claim to that super-awesome magic item that isn't class specific. Magic items aren't super common and that's enough to gnaw at them.
