D&D General How do you explain PC absences when a player has to miss a session?

[Coroc]

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Waaaaay back when (AD&D 1st), characters got "zombie rot". No initiative but also unkillable. Would just follow the party. We eventually got to the point we'd put them in bags of holding when they relapsed into the condition.
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Hahaha

 

[EscherEnigma]

My current group of five includes two couples, so most of the time one person not being able to make it means two people not being able to make it...

So most often we just cancel the session.

Previously we've done the "handwave" and just ignore it. And the next week the PC jumps back in like they were fully participating the entire time.

 

[Tallifer]

Jokey narrative improvisation: he went for a crap; he got seduced by a dryad; he took a wrong turn ...

 

[Guest 6801328]

"A friend came in from out of town."

"My suit didn't come back from the cleaners."

"My car broke down on the way to the church!"

"IT WASN'T MY FAULT!"

 

[Levistus's_Leviathan]

Split into downtime (there's a great Matthew Colville video on this. I suggest you walk it).
Magic! (possibly because of a wizard)
Pulled a Gandalf (fell down a pit, somehow survived, returns later to help the party).
Time-travel nonsense.
Sent to another plane of existence (walks through a shadow/fey crossing, inside a bag of holding that was put in another extradimensional space) and fought/bargained their way back.
A wizard cast Simulacrum on the character, and the whole time they were just a fake!

 

[Azzy]

My group usually just runs the character as an NPC by the DM or another player. The NPCed PC will generally have little direct input beyond contributing to combat and such, and is generally immune to any bad consequences from the decisions and choices of whoever is controlling the character during that session (we won't kill the character, give away their stuff, etc.). It generally referred to as "blue clouding" the character.

 

[Weiley31]

Sadly my group does the whole "in the background" type deal.

Two sessions ago we got warped to another Realm, I had lost my Character Sheet that week and couldn't find it. Found it the week after and I would've had my character just chilling in the major village we had to go to and be like "Oh fancy seeing you guys here."

Instead my guy was "there" with the party all along. I get why groups would use that as the easiest answer, but it's just hard to suspend my disbelief. and I have a REALLY big compacity for Suspension of Disbelief.

 

[Lanefan]

Sadly my group does the whole "in the background" type deal.

Two sessions ago we got warped to another Realm, I had lost my Character Sheet that week and couldn't find it. Found it the week after and I would've had my character just chilling in the major village we had to go to and be like "Oh fancy seeing you guys here."

Instead my guy was "there" with the party all along. I get why groups would use that as the easiest answer, but it's just hard to suspend my disbelief. and I have a REALLY big compacity for Suspension of Disbelief.

Sorry, I don't get this.

How does it break your belief if your character just does what it 99%-likely would have done anyway and sticks with the party?

Second question: without a character sheet couldn't you have played anyway, going by memory for your character's numbers if-when needed but still being able to determine its actions?

Third question: why wasn't your character sheet left with the DM between sessions such that this issue could never arise?

 

[TheSword]

They are recruited by the galactic franchise of the Running Man tournament. Teleported to a dimensional arena against their will and then mind wiped afterwards. Trace memories remain through explaining why they still gain XP.

Seriously though... they fade to grey. Not everyone actor in a series has screen time every episode. It doesn’t mean their story isn’t progressing.

 

[Weiley31]

Second question: without a character sheet couldn't you have played anyway, going by memory for your character's numbers if-when needed but still being able to determine its actions?

Third question: why wasn't your character sheet left with the DM between sessions such that this issue could never arise?

For Point 2: I actually could only remember two of the ability scores.

Point 3:I had taken said sheet with me after my first time DMing with the groups/DM's permission because I wanted to base one of the main NPCs around my PCs stats and use that as a bases for trying to get practice on creating stats for NPCs.

Our regular DM took a week break to work on the next phase of our current Campaign and let me DM for the said week after I said I wanted to learn how to DM. So it was the start of a separate Campaign when we did that. The idea is that when he needs some prep work for the current Campaign, I Sub-DM with my Campaign.