Missed session catch-up XP

[Rya.Reisender]

My rule is:

- If player notifies me that he will be away, his character will get full XP

- If player misses without saying a word, he doesn't get XP

- The only "catching up" rules I apply are the AL rules (that is if you reach level 4 and all other party members are level 5 or higher, you immediately level up to level 5, same with 10->11 and 16->17)

My players also lose all XP when they die and create a new character, so even if you are currently the lowest level, it doesn't mean it stays that way as I can be a pretty deadly DM.

 

[Li Shenron]

I've been generally playing with the rule that if a player misses a session, they get no XP. But I now find myself in a situation where one player was away for the summer and missed a number of sessions and I need to level them up a bit. Do any of you award partial XP for missed sessions? I was thinking of something like 1/2 or 1/4 XP of what the rest of the players earned... Ideally I'd create a little side session for them, but time does not permit.

I don't see a problem if you do, but i don't give XP to missing players. It is actually the only way a PC can have less XP than others in my games.

And it's wrong to think the absent player us penalised. It's instead the present players who are rewarded.

 

[iserith]

And it's wrong to think the absent player us penalised. It's instead the present players who are rewarded.

I agree. I don't see why anyone who misses a session should feel entitled to gaining the same rewards someone who attends the session receives. The opportunity to earn XP is there - show up and do the things that net you XP. If you can't make it, no big deal, your character neither gains nor loses anything, see you next time.

 

[Seramus]

You can’t force people to feel good about it. Lots of people are going to feel absolutely miserable, if they did nothing wrong. Best you can do is make the rules clear before hand so nobody is surprised by them. But the emotions are still valid and reasonable, even that doesn’t change the outcome.

 

[jasper]

…I don't really get this modern "it's not fun if we aren't all the same level" type of attitude…..
Darn I am back in high school again. And I have missed the bus. I did not know I was living in the future in August 1980….. Snark aside. The OP has 2 choices. 1. Give out free xp to level up the people who have missed sessions. 2. Or deal with the gap, and all the problems which happen when a wide difference in levels are present. My old rule was just level up the people behind to the average party level, or equal to the lowest level at the table.

 

[Raunalyn]

In my Tomb of Annihilation game, I have enough players that one missing a session isn't really a big deal. What the group has done is set up a base camp in the city of Omu. Now, if players cannot attend, I just play it so that that player's character is at the base camp helping to defend/resupply, etc. That way, I can justify giving them experience and allow them to keep up with the rest of the group.

I don't know how I'm going to modify this once they get into the tomb, however...I'll have to think through it.

 

[DEFCON 1]

When I was handing out and tracking XP, absent characters received 1/4th of what present characters received.

Presently I'm much more story-milestone and "number of sessions attended" focused... so usually whether a character levels up when a milestone has occurred will depend on how present the player ended up being throughout the story during that milestone. If a player was present for say 4 of the 5 sessions of that milestone they probably will level up with everyone else (since odds are good most of the players were probably like 4 of 5 as well). But if they missed 4 of the 5 sessions, then they'd most likely have to wait until the next milestone to gain a level.

 

[ad_hoc]

My rule is:

- If player notifies me that he will be away, his character will get full XP

- If player misses without saying a word, he doesn't get XP

So you use XP as a punitive measure for an out of game situation?

That approach to the game and group dynamics will end poorly. The players are not your employees. If there is a problem with a player the group should talk about it and decide what to do.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

I do XP so I do XP by PC participation. If his PC sat out then no XP, but unless its a huge variance I don't think it makes a lot of difference. If the PC was there then he gets his usual share.

 

[Winterthorn]

Have you considered just not including the PCs?

That sounds like a big waste of time. The players who showed up should have that spotlight time divided evenly instead of having 1 player have 2 characters.

Yes to the question. If a player was absent for a stretch of several sessions we often had them "disappear into the PC fog", so no XPs until they return - where upon some negotiation occurs so no one feels burned. I'm not a hard-a** referee, my players are mature and easy-going, since none of them were intense roleplayers needing a stage spotlight was never an issue, and absences were rare.