Question about Players

[kigmatzomat]

Have him play a druid or ranger

I would get with the person and between the two of you create a character. Try to come up with something rather basic without too many deep character motivations. It needs to be something that will be likely to wander off with little warning and that isn't prone to being the center of the party. Bards seem ideal, given their footloose and fancy free mentality, but good players will put them into diplomatic situations and at some point you'll end up mid-negotiation and he'll be called away. That's why I'd recommend a druid or ranger as both are prone to getting twitchy in towns or may feel it important to deal with a rabid wolf pack that's tearing up the countryside.

Both cases give you an in-and-out character that's presence is useful, but not vital. You can run the character as needed or hand it off to one of the better players to handle during combats. Let them bow out of social encounters and let the other players take the lead. He gives you someone guarding the mounts & supplies, some healing, and some cavalry to call if the party does something dumb or you accidentally overkill.

 

[alsih2o]

bring him on with a temporary character. if he plays that temporary character so well you are willing to put up with the abscences give him a permanent character. if he doesn't, well, you will never be left wondering why you said no

 

[Old One]

The Military Has Gone Soft!

What's this? They won't deploy you with a broken neck? Back in my day, they would have put 10 extra lbs in my ruck AND made me carry the M-60 !

J/K, BTW...thanks for your service and sorry to hear about your accident .

More on point, I recommend:

1) Discuss the situation with your regular players

2) Look to create a NPC or part-time PC whose absense could be easily explained

What kind of campaign do you run? Urban? Wilderness? Dungeon Crawl?

In an urban campaign, a lieutenant of the city guard would be a good choice...someone how must be on duty most of the time, but who can break away to join the PCs from time to time. A wilderness or dungeon-based campaign makes it a bit harder.

A bit of "outside the box" thinking, how about a familiar or summoned creature (minor celestial) that can be called from an item. If the PCs try to call the creature when the player is out-of-town, the creature is too busy to respond. When the player is in town...the creature is available. This solves the problem of how the PC/NPC gets there when they are in the middle of no where or deep underground.

My 2 coppers...

~ Old One

 

[cptg1481]

Thanks

I think I'll let him play because, primarilly, I'd not want to be excluded because I was off dooing some bit of military work. I'll just have to work it out with the players is all.

I like the follower Idea most since then he will at least be here (on paper) for all sessions. Perhaps if he's cool with it. The group is 13th level so he can be a cohort and still be a viable contributer.