What do you do with a character when a player bails forever?

[jdrakeh]

I played in a campaign where one of our players got tired of his character, so working with the DM, they arranged to have that character betray the party and disappear into the night (literally; they sabotaged the party's air ship in the middle of the night and escaped undetected). Later, that character returned as a villainous NPC, having mutated into a gross human/dragon hybrid. He blamed the party for his woes, so sought to exterminate them. It was a GREAT campaign arc and we all had a lot of fun with it.

 

[Clint_L]

If it happens mid-adventure then I take over the character. Once the party is out of immediate danger, the character sans player decides to pursue a different path and parts amicably. Who knows - if that player comes back, we might see them again. If not, well, they're in a nice farm upstate or something.

 

[delericho]

If a player leaves in a definitive manner, we'll write the character out in some boring "they're not with us any more" kind of way - they decide to stay at the next settlement for whatever nonsense reason occurs at the time. They're no longer a main character, so no need for a big send-off. (Ideally, we leave them "out there somewhere", just in case the player changes their mind. You never know...)

If a player simply disappears, things are a bit more complex. Our policy for no-shows is to handwave the character mostly disappearing into the deep background (unless for some reason that absolutely doesn't work) - they're there, but they're basically scenery. So if a player disappears, the character will be in that limbo state for some time, until such time as they're either forgotten or we eventually decide they're not coming back (in which case, see above).

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

We have a place for those characters….

The Pit.


More seriously, if they aren’t integral to any ongoing plots, at the first sign of civilization, the character goes their separate way.

 

[Koloth]

If the character is important, it stays with the party. Ran by either the GM, an existing player temporarily, or a new player. When possible, the character gets eased off the stage. Unless the new player really likes the existing character.

Might as well be mostly honest with why the player isn't there anymore. Players often know each other in real life. Or know someone that knows someone that knows the player. Word will get back anyway. You don't have to supply all the gory details but do mention the basics. Maybe one of the other players can reach out and smooth things over.

 

[bloodtide]

In most cases, I will make the character an NPC and then they will either die or leave the group in-universe for some reason. I generally like to wrap up such loose ends and not just have a character "vanish".

Even if the character is seen as "needed" or the "chosen one" or whatever, I much more like the more unique RPG plot of "what happens if that character dies.".

Sometimes, if the players want too, I will let them play the 'bailed' character along. Either one player taking them over or doing a shared player sort of thing.