Putting a PC on 'pause'

[mythago]

Short version: how do you handle a character who is present, but who is not going to be able to work with for a long period of time--say because they are turned to stone, paralyzed, trapped in a pocket dimension, or something similar? Do you tell them to miss the next session, bring a book, or take notes for a player journal?

Long version: in my last CoC game, one of the players was turned into a hummingbird. He is likely to stay this way for a minimum of the entire next session, and possibly longer if the party is not spectacularly clever. He's intelligent, and he can understand the party, but he has the physical shape of a hummingbird (i.e. no writing messages, can't talk, etc.).

How do you handle situations like this in your campaign?

(As a side note, I'm somewhat tempted to tell the player to miss the next session just because he's being pissy about this, but that's another issue

 

[Moe Ronalds]

I think the best way to do it would be to give the character a temporary PC to play until his first character is back. Then kill off the replacement.

 

[welby]

First off, I hope it was the player's fault he's now a hummingbird. It would be spectacularly mean to take a player out for an entire session unless he really screwed up.

If a player finds himself in such a state, perhaps allow him to speak telepathically so at least he can be involved in the decision making and some fun hummingbird roleplaying. During combat, if he wishes to risk it, allow him to aid other players by flying around near the enemies. Depending on the level of the party, they could have several options to remedy the condition faster. IE. the cleric prays for a miracle (not the spell, more of a roleplaying miracle ), or the wizard sends a message to a kingdom they saved calling in a favor to have them send a remove curse scroll their way.

If I were the DM and a player came up with a creative way to be involved, I'd most likely let him do it. However, if he just sat there and pouted, I'd let him do that too.

 

[mythago]

First off, I hope it was the player's fault he's now a hummingbird. It would be spectacularly mean to take a player out for an entire session unless he really screwed up.

Remember, this IS Call of Cthulhu. Hideous death, insanity, and all round bad juju is the order of the day.

This PC had a mysterious blackout that the player wrote about in his character background, and he died once during the campaign. The rest of the PCs remembered that a sinister magician NPC (Stephen Alzis, for those who know a bit about Delta Green) had offered them one (1) free resurrection in return for a favor they did...so they called in their chit. The problem with magicians, of course, is that you get what you ask for but not necessarily what you want. He eventually ended up resurrected in someone else's body, but was constantly having the previous occupant's nightmares, nibbling away at his sanity.

So they returned to this NPC to try to get the nightmares cleared up. Why, certainly, he said, you just need to get me this little item I've been seeking for a while....here's where you need to go...

And the Reader's Digest version is, the PC is no longer plagued by nightmares of any sort. And they got the item. In the process of getting the item, they crossed the threshhold of Mictlan, and Mictlantecuhtli reincarnated him as a hummingbird.

So it's not as though he didn't anything really stupid ("I drink this Potion of the Hummingbird!"). On the other hand, it didn't just land on him from out of the sky, either. He made some choices, and it put him on a road that is getting harder and harder to step off.

 

[Lord Pendragon]

I'd have the player show up, and allow the player to play an NPC that joins up with the party. If I can't manage to have an NPC present for the player to use, I'd allow the player to take control of some of the baddies that the party will face. If I can't manage to have any baddies that the player could control, I'd hang up my DM hat for good.

Keep the player involved, the player should still be able to have fun, even if his PC was turned into a hummingbird. If my DM told me to miss the next session while the others played because I'd been turned into something, killed, planeshifted, whatever--I wouldn't come back.

 

[Dash Dannigan]

Are you joking?! Do you realize what I would give to play a hummingbird with my character's full faculties in a CoC game!? I'm telling you your player lacks some imagination. He can dip his beak in ink and write a message to the other characters for one. Afterall he has the same intelligence. Have the PC make an intelligence check, if he fails let him suffer a bit, otherwise give him the idea yourself.

Plus how threatening is a hummingbird? He could scout and go places that the others couldn't, though keeping from going insane by barging in on stuff maybe a problem. It'd be loads of fun really. Don't see why the player is in such a huff about it.

 

[wighair]

I would just give him a new PC. However, If there was a short term chance of him coming back perhaps you could get someone to carry round a PDA/laptop and he could tap out his messages!

 

[Skade]

Several good points above. To reiterate, he is not totally useless. he just needs to improvise... A lot. If you do have some way of getting him a more traditional character I would do so, even if the character is a normal human with no skills (which might be a lower CR than a hummingbird, who knows ). You could even let him run a creature or villain in combat. I have done this several times. It has worked beautifully. Nothing improves a players mood more than smashing his former companions to bits and being able to get away with it. Most important thing is not to tell him to sit it out. That will almost certainly drive him away.

BTW, very nice twist on the poor PC. Be careful what you ask for in a normal game, much less CoC.

 

[Scarbonac]

Are you joking?! Do you realize what I would give to play a hummingbird with my character's full faculties in a CoC game!? I'm telling you your player lacks some imagination. He can dip his beak in ink and write a message to the other characters for one. Afterall he has the same intelligence. Have the PC make an intelligence check, if he fails let him suffer a bit, otherwise give him the idea yourself.

Plus how threatening is a hummingbird? He could scout and go places that the others couldn't, though keeping from going insane by barging in on stuff maybe a problem. It'd be loads of fun really. Don't see why the player is in such a huff about it.

I'm with you, man; easiest thing in the world to play is a PC in an alternate form (willingly or otherwise). It'd be cool.

 

[mythago]

Keep the player involved, the player should still be able to have fun, even if his PC was turned into a hummingbird. If my DM told me to miss the next session while the others played because I'd been turned into something, killed, planeshifted, whatever--I wouldn't come back.

To clarify, it was the player who grumbled (repeatedly) about his situation and asked "Should I bother showing up next week?"

Sialla, of course, wanted to know what SPECIES of hummingbird he was.