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

[Maxperson]

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.

Why? The PC is with the party and it would be nonsensical for that PC to not do what it usually does in the usual ways. If you haven't watched Gamers, you should. It illustrates just how absurd playing that way is.

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?

The player gets no experience. He had no fun for the night. He didn't solve anything. The PC on the other hand experienced quite a bit.

 

[Sunseeker]

I once made up an entire campaign story just to resolve this problem when I had a larger group with several members who could not make it all the time. (I had 7 players, but 2 had irregular schedules, so we usually had a 4-5 member party, which is fine IMO)

Basically there was a sort of magical instability in the world and every living thing (even plants and animals) would randomly pop out of existence for a little while. Basically they'd transition over to a demi-plane of non-corporeality. Noone could really remember what happened to them because they weren't used to existence without a physical body. Basically the demi-plane was a plane of non-corporeal beings attempting to invade. Their dimension had been destroyed ages and ages ago and the remnants of their universe were deteriorating so they were trying to escape and in doing so they were destabilizing our reality.

It was a game that never got played sadly, but I thought it was a creative excuse. Maybe I'll retool the game for 5e.

 

[Mistwell]

I have another player run that PC as well, and they keep up with XP. Because life happens, and that's OK.

 

[iserith]

Let's say a player misses a session. Does his character miss out on the XP of said session?

How do you explain it in-game?

In my games, all XP goes into a party pool. When the party pool reaches the required amount, all characters advance in level. Players earn XP awards for combat (e.g. kill monsters), exploration (e.g. find secret doors, discover clues, etc.), social interaction (e.g. forging alliances, overcoming challenges without violence, etc.), and for demonstrating established character ties in play.

For the purposes of fictional continuity, characters belonging to absent players are described as doing something else separate from the party or fade to the background - present and helping as normal, but having no mechanical impact on things.

 

[SnakeEyes097]

We're all adults in my group and sometimes someone has to work. That's how it goes. Missing the game is punishment enough, since nobody just skips for the sake of skipping. No reason to penalize the character or the group imo. As to how it's handled in game, we ignore that the character isn't there, but depending on the situation I will reduce what the party is fighting to adjust down to account for the missing party. For example, in Lost Mines of Phandelver the red wizard near Old Owl Well has 12 zombies with him. When the group encountered him, I adjusted down to 9.

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

The character gets full XP otherwise it becomes an incentive for players to drop out of the game when their character gets behind.

The character is present, but doesn't take part on the combats - we assume they are fighting other foes off-camera.

Because the character is present, they saw everything the other characters saw. This means that the present players are free to tell the absent player everything about the session.

 

[crashtestdummy]

As a player who is irregular due to work commitments (it's hard to make a session when you're not in the same country, let alone the same state), we've played it both ways. A lot depends on the campaign. If the campaign requires the party to be roughly the same level, I'll level up with the others level up. If the campaign doesn't require that, my character does other things off-camera when I'm not there and I don't get experience (though I might receive the occasional boost if I'm getting too far behind).

Because I knew I wasn't going to make it every week, I've design a character that's there to support everyone else. He's pretty weak as a solo character, but he's got skills and abilities to help the others when he's around. As a bard, though, he does tend to wander off when something other that other hill sounds exciting...

So, the character is not present when I'm not there (apart, maybe, as a temporary NPC to handle the transition between playing and not playing), and whether I get experience or not depends on whether the DM thinks the campaign needs it.

 

[Maxperson]

The character gets full XP otherwise it becomes an incentive for players to drop out of the game when their character gets behind.

Sure, it's an incentive if you are 12 or act like a 12 year old. Most people wouldn't do that, though.

 

[Sunseeker]

Sure, it's an incentive if you are 12 or act like a 12 year old. Most people wouldn't do that, though.

The point is you're punishing people for things outside their control.

 

[MG.0]

In my games, the player has a choice:

1) The character fades into the background. He sits out the session safely at an inn if possible. If that can't happen e.g. due to the party being trapped in a large dungeon complex, then they tag along, not contributing, but at no real risk unless the entire party is killed, in which case they die too. No loot or XP is awarded.

2) The character is played by a willing player or the DM for the session. Risk of dying, loot and XP are all treated normally.


It is not punishment to withhold loot and XP from absent players. Those are the rewards for showing up.

If a player misses a lot of sessions, or is uncommunicative, the character will become an NPC. Then they may leave the group or get killed, as any NPC might.