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

[GameOgre]

I flipped a mental coin and the Grognard side of me one today.


I don't understand the question. What do you do? If the guy doesn't show up?

If he doesn't show up he doesn't play, if he doesn't play then he totally misses out on the fun he would have had at the table and his character totally misses out on whatever he missed out on.

What other option is there? Hold his hand like a baby and play the game for him? What kind of mamby pamby attitude is that?

If you are going to play the game for them, why are you even playing at all? Here ya go! You are now 30th level Demi-god made of fruit and you won the dang game. That's it,we are done, pop a beer and rejoice.

Why is it that now days folk are punished if they are not given stuff they didn't earn? Life happens and sometimes games are missed. Walk it off man, this to will pass one day.

Another shocker, not everyone has to be the same level in 5E. The game works just fine with a level 3 fighter a level 5 cleric a level 7 wizard and a level 4 rogue.

Can you run it with your handy dandy 5E Ruler of balanced encounter building and have it be totally balanced and fair? Dude, do the best thing for everyone and pull that ruler out of its nasty ol storage place and throw it away. Your game will be better for it anyway.

As far as how do you handle the aspect in game of a character suddenly not being there?

We handle it the same way we handle dungeons of monsters, castles filled with badguys, dragons lairs, giant forts and all the rest not having one single bathroom or not being smeared in feces.

We ignore it.

We ignore it the same way we ignore midgets with giant strength or fireballs so badarse they burn to a crisp nine bugbears but the ever so lucky rogue in the middle of them was totally unaffected( even down to his fancy greasy mullet unsinged).

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I'm with you on this. If a player isn’t there, their character isn’t there. To quote Willy Wonka “So you get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!” No XP, no share of the treasure. And I certainly wouldn't want to have another NPC to run.

Sure, it may make little sense next adventure when “Pop!” the PC shows back up, but so be it. It’s faster and easier to just have them be there than spend the time to work them back into the adventure.

I can't believe so many people handle it this way (player character is still there and gets XP).
It seems so obvious that the character would more or less be "AFK". Not present, not in danger, getting no XP.
Having that PC controlled by another player or DM and getting killed seems very unfair.
Additionally, if they are not there to participate why should they get XP?

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

I can't believe so many people handle it this way (player character is still there and gets XP).
It seems so obvious that the character would more or less be "AFK". Not present, not in danger, getting no XP.
Having that PC controlled by another player or DM and getting killed seems very unfair.
Additionally, if they are not there to participate why should they get XP?

First, I'll reiterate that at my table an absent player's character is safe from all forms of harm unless the entire party of present players' characters are harmed in that way (example: absent player's character cannot be killed... unless everyone that showed up got every one of their characters killed in such a way that they were all dead at the same time)

Then, my answer to why they should get XP when not there to participate: the character being behind on XP is a condition that does not just affect that one character, it affects the entire party, and that is not cool in my book, especially because the present players likely already had more difficulty with challenges they faced because a member of their party was not able to participate, so saddling them with a less effective team-mate when the player does show up is kind of kicking them when they are already down (though not quite as extreme as that turn of phrase might imply, it is still significant to me).

 

[brdarnell]

I understand your reason, but I respectfully disagree.
1) Part of your job as DM is to make adjustments for this. There are a million ways to do this: maybe they get attacked less, maybe the monsters are the tiniest bit weaker, maybe there are less creatures in the encounters, maybe the characters get to rest more.
The party is only subject to what you, as the DM subject them to.

2) I just would never allow "advancement without effort". Maybe I am too hard line on this... but it seems self-evident that if you don't participate, you don't benefit.

First, I'll reiterate that at my table an absent player's character is safe from all forms of harm unless the entire party of present players' characters are harmed in that way (example: absent player's character cannot be killed... unless everyone that showed up got every one of their characters killed in such a way that they were all dead at the same time)

Then, my answer to why they should get XP when not there to participate: the character being behind on XP is a condition that does not just affect that one character, it affects the entire party, and that is not cool in my book, especially because the present players likely already had more difficulty with challenges they faced because a member of their party was not able to participate, so saddling them with a less effective team-mate when the player does show up is kind of kicking them when they are already down (though not quite as extreme as that turn of phrase might imply, it is still significant to me).

 

[Sunseeker]

Depends, if the player is okay with their character participating and someone else runs the character, then everything goes fine. If the character is not present, then yes they miss out, in most circumstances, there are exceptions.

EX: I don't run XP, so "missing out" means a character wasn't involved with a specific resolution of a conflict. If this means they didn't fight the bandits, it also means they don't get the loot. If this means they missed the meeting with King, that means they don't get the reputation and applause. But if their absence means they missed the BIG FINAL BATTLE and therefore didn't gain a level from resolving this portion of the adventure, they'll still gain that level. They just won't have gained any of the loot or special recognition. When the party goes to next meet the King or someone important, that important person may be wary of this person that they don't recall and may be less likely to share their information with them.

 

[Gnashtooth]

It's really never been a problem. Most of the time, we know ahead of time.

There are a few times in the past we've had to eject players for not having their real-life stuff together enough to keep them around.

See: bad behavior
or
Player's significant other repeatedly pulling the player out from under us at the last minute on a whim. This one is a huge pain, and I try to ferret these out early. I have abandoned all the friends with this specific issue to this point, because it usually effects all gatherings, not just gaming - and I always end up confronting the SO.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

1) Part of your job as DM is to make adjustments for this. There are a million ways to do this: maybe they get attacked less, maybe the monsters are the tiniest bit weaker, maybe there are less creatures in the encounters, maybe the characters get to rest more.
The party is only subject to what you, as the DM subject them to.

That's a difference in philosophy. I don't see how what I do is actually different than what you are describing - in my way I give the character the tools to handle "normal" encounters at "normal" difficulty; in your ways you mention I'm achieving the same result by leaving the character with the tools to handle "sub-normal" encounters at "normal" difficulty, which are just different flavors of the same result.

For a concrete example, I'm basically making sure the character is roll 1d20+8 and trying to get 15+ total (70% chance) and you are basically saying leave the character at 1d20+7 and let them try to get 14+ total instead (70% chance).

2) I just would never allow "advancement without effort". Maybe I am too hard line on this... but it seems self-evident that if you don't participate, you don't benefit.

Philosophy difference. You see the benefit as being gains of XP, treasure, or whatever... I see the benefit as being having fun playing D&D, which obviously the player doesn't get when they don't show up.

And, again, I've seen one of these methods result in players quitting a campaign entirely, and since my goal is to keep the players coming back for more, I don't do things that I have observed as being an impediment in reaching that goal.

 

[Orlax]

I flipped a mental coin and the Grognard side of me one today.


I don't understand the question. What do you do? If the guy doesn't show up?

If he doesn't show up he doesn't play, if he doesn't play then he totally misses out on the fun he would have had at the table and his character totally misses out on whatever he missed out on.

What other option is there? Hold his hand like a baby and play the game for him? What kind of mamby pamby attitude is that?

If you are going to play the game for them, why are you even playing at all? Here ya go! You are now 30th level Demi-god made of fruit and you won the dang game. That's it,we are done, pop a beer and rejoice.

Why is it that now days folk are punished if they are not given stuff they didn't earn? Life happens and sometimes games are missed. Walk it off man, this to will pass one day.

Another shocker, not everyone has to be the same level in 5E. The game works just fine with a level 3 fighter a level 5 cleric a level 7 wizard and a level 4 rogue.

Can you run it with your handy dandy 5E Ruler of balanced encounter building and have it be totally balanced and fair? Dude, do the best thing for everyone and pull that ruler out of its nasty ol storage place and throw it away. Your game will be better for it anyway.

As far as how do you handle the aspect in game of a character suddenly not being there?

We handle it the same way we handle dungeons of monsters, castles filled with badguys, dragons lairs, giant forts and all the rest not having one single bathroom or not being smeared in feces.

We ignore it.

We ignore it the same way we ignore midgets with giant strength or fireballs so badarse they burn to a crisp nine bugbears but the ever so lucky rogue in the middle of them was totally unaffected( even down to his fancy greasy mullet unsinged).

My dungeons do have bathrooms, we don't go into great detail about them but yeah, there is generally somewhere for people to relieve themselves, though that can be anything from out buildings to flowing water ways, to a really gross room in the dungeon.

Why do I keep the player characters around?

1 I'm an adult and can very well understand that people have lives outside of my imagination game, and I'm not going to penalize them for having children and responsibilities that keep them from hanging out. This game is pretty much a stand-in for a weekly poker game for my friends and I. I'm not going to penalize anyone for not being able to make out because that's just an added middle finger to anyone that has a busy and stressful life, and the point of my game is to relieve stress not give people flak due not being able to make it every now and again.

2 my game started as a solo adventure, all of these people are essentially playing NPCs in that adventure, and they know this from the beginning. If the main guy can't make it we generally don't have game (we also use his house for hosting the game so that's also a factor there).

I'm not hand holding those characters, I'm keeping a consistent story together. The whole party just got back to the village where their caravan has stopped for the night, and everyone is missing... The ranger decides to leave too even though there is clearly a problem here that involves his boss (and future pay day) being gone. That character leaving wouldn't make sense in any way, at best after the initial investigation I may have him "scout ahead" and only be available for combat assistance. However it is quite likely that player will be around for the following game, so no harm no foul and the party isn't punished by having his skills removed from the groups capabilities.

I don't need to worry about exp because I have never used exp, I level the players based upon milestones. The character's level when a certain adventure is completed or certain objectives are completed. It wouldn't matter if their character was there or not.

Why am I playing at all, because my other two party members are here and I want to play D&D. They aren't doing anything to earn anything they are playing an imagination game with me that requires so little effort I can do it while entirely shatter faced. Let's not get all high and mighty about them accomplishing or earning anything here. We are quite literally wasting time together, that's all this is, it's burning time doing something nominally more fun than staring at a ceiling and contemplating the futility of life. There is nothing of real productive quality accomplished in any session ever outside of surrendering time with people were enjoy the company of. It's a game, it's fun, and we all work hard enough and have enough stressful crap in our lives that I'm not going to make my game another source of pressure for anyone.

Like I said if it makes sense, that character will disappear for a while if a player can't make it, and they may still be a recurring NPC in that time (one of my players who can rarely if ever make it is the source of potions in the game). However in that time they will have had off screen adventures that me and that player will discuss at some point when we are chilling out and relaxing either at the beginning of the next session they can make, or at some time between those sessions (for instance that character that is the source of potions in the game is who I often spend time kayaking with, and we will talk D&D while we are floating down the river on a rest).

Well you weren't here you miss out on any in hand progress of any kind and your story just stalls out entirely as you are held in the stasis of not being here... Sorry, but no I'm not going to punish people for not being able to make it to something they would most definitely want to be doing were they too not have children and responsibilities to attend to. My imagination game just isn't that important.

 

[billd91]

It depends on the group, the game, and the campaign being run. With AD&D and 5e, getting out of step level-wise isn't so problematic so I feel a lot less compelled to worry about keeping all PCs at the same level. Same with a drop-in, drop-out game like the kind we used to play in college. You get XP for the sessions you make, none for the ones you don't come to. With PF's AP, we usually don't bother with experience points and just level up the PCs depending on where they are in the story and how things are pacing out.

For games with point-buy advancement like Champions, GURPS, or Mutants and Masterminds, I don't sweat keeping PCs on the same points. The drift isn't very wide. Same with games with partial advancement like Call of Cthulhu - in which advancements may vary widely even with all players showing up for every game. I just don't worry about it - the game system largely sorts itself out.

 

[Imaculata]

Not being able to attend a session is punishment enough. I think if your players are enjoying your campaign, then being forced to miss a session due to real life commitments already is a big bummer. So why have them miss exp on top of that? They are a party, a team. And so the team earns exp. If they happen to miss a session, they'll get the exp that their group earned the next time they attend.

Usually I'll explain that the character was doing something else while afk. Maybe he/she was helping the party in the background, but it just wasn't played out. If the party completed a dungeon, then I would often explain that the character of the absent player was there for the ride, and aided in all the fights. And I'll bring the player up to speed on all the stuff that happened.

Sometimes the rest of the players will come up with a cool excuse for why the character isn't there, and I'll roll with it. In a way, we make up the story together that way.