what does your DM do with your character when your gone?

[tanis]

Post interesting if not crazy DM controlled character stories

my personal one is the time my friend suddenly went missing one day and the DM had to take over his half crow barbarian. The DM seemed to have the sense of humor to decide to have the character try to score on the parties mind control specialist who was currently perched a top a 200ft tower , who happened to be another half crow. Our mind mage, at the sight of a half crow barbarian trying to ask her out, decided to take control of his mind and tell him to jump of the tower. The barbarian promptly jump to the ground 200ft below suffering from a severe concussion and fractures of the skull and other body parts . If you think that is the end of it your wrong. The party golem and several town guards then decided poke him with pionty sticks, when the golem had an idea, he ran the barbarian to the local tavern and, taking all his money(over 3000GP), and spent it all on dwarf and eleven alcholic beverages and then shoving them down his throat and then left him there with 4 joints in his mouth as he woke up over the next few hours, when he did wakeup, he was not only drunk, but he had a conncussion, he was high, and he had a serious hangover from the night before. There was a lot of pretty colors floating around in his head that day!

 

[RobotRobotI]

Man. If something like that happened to my character because I missed a session, I'd probably just quit.

Our DM just uh... NPCs characters if the player is gone. He doesn't do retarded things with them, though. (Death because your half-orc got a crumby roll in a fight while you're gone is different than death because your half-orc was acting like a retard while you're gone.)

 

[Piratecat]

I had a character killed off at a session that I couldn't attend. It was through a trap, which was especially frustrating. Then again, I've had PCs killed in my game when their players weren't there, too.

I generally tell folks that I'll try to keep them safe, but can't guarantee anything. They fade into the background, use their resources when they can do something that no one else can, and try to stay out of trouble. If it's a game when I can try to come up with a good reason why the PC has to temporarily leave, I do that as well.

 

[Agent Oracle]

Hmmm i've had different DMs treat it differently.

Evil Killed my character when i wasn't there (It was a one-round kill on a 15th level paladin, because the GM disliked everyone, but had a copy of my character sheet)

Incompetent split up my stuff (again, had my sheet)

My good DM's took it well:

Role-player narrated my character offo n a meditational spree

Tactician put me in the "floating cube of not there".

 

[Henry]

In our last session I decided to have a little fun at the missing player's expense. Because of some rival adventurers that he had single-handedly killed off, The surviving members of the rival group had found and managed to activate an Eldritch Machine that snatched bodies and souls and put them into golems. The rest of the party scrambled to find out what had happened, and had to go rescue him. One harrowing adventure into a tomb of a Giant Artificer, and they discovered their missing Party member had been ensouled into an Iron Golem. They managed to kill off the remaining rivals, and free the PC, at the end of the session.

So, at the end, he was returned to the group, no worse for wear, I had kept continuity, and the group had fun trying to fight an Iron Golem without killing their friend.

Most of the time, if I can get away with it, I'll just leave the missing PC in town; however, if the party is in the middle of a dungeon, or at a precarious spot, I have to get creative.

 

[Jedi_Solo]

In my group; if the player can't be there for the start of a new adventure they are simply busy in town or something similar. If they can't be there when we are in the middle of a dungeon they will "guard the rear exit" or "watch over [new found NPC in bad shape]" or something similar.

 

[el-remmen]

It depends on what is going on in the game at the time.

If the party is in town or traveling (and not a paladin) then they may contract "Bog Flu" - what is bog flu? Click here - The reason I say "except paladins" is because they are immune to disease - in the case of paladin I might have them decide to take a day or two of deep prayer and meditation.

If it is during an adventure and there is no reasonable way to have the character go their own way temporarily, then I (as DM) will run RP the character when necessary, but each player appoints another player who is responsible for running their character in combat if they are not there. Again I (as DM) have final say on what one of these NPCed player characters do, just to make sure the player doesn't get screwed by the silliness or short-sightedness of another player.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

"Potted plant".

They're gone. They can't use their skills or anything, and can't die, either.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

My brother's halfling was used as a shield when he was the only one in the group that didn't want to game that day. I allowed solely to get his goat, but that's what brothers are for, right?

The Gamers has a great depiction of what happens to a character when the player isn't around.

 

[Grymar]

I try to figure out a way in-game to remove that player from the party. S/he doesn't gain XP, but also has no risk of dying.