When PCs Die When the Player's Not There

[ptolemy18]

Hello everyone,

I guess every campaign has a different rate of player-character death, from "practically never" to "new characters all the time." But the ultimate slap in the face to a player has to be when their character dies when they're not at the gaming session. :/

This just happened last night in the game I'm DMing, and I dread the player's response when he finds out.

In brief: his best friend was playing his character while he was away. It was a big melee, and the absent guy's PC was under attack by a troglodyte wielding a greataxe. The PC took a 5-foot step away and fired an arrow. The troglodyte advanced and hit for 12 points. The PC took another 5-foot step away and fired another arrow. I then picked up a die and announced to the players "Okay, odd the troglodyte attacks the PC, even he goes after the NPC a little farther away." I rolled a die in front of everyone. It came up odd. The troglodyte advanced, rolled a 20, confirmed the crit, and did 27 hit points of damage, bringing the PC to -17, killing them instantly.

All of which would be fair and good (as 'fair' as possible considering I had armed troglodytes with greataxes, of course), except that... THE GUY WASN'T THERE!!!

I don't think he's gonna take it very well, since THE VERY SAME DAY he e-mailed me asking me asking how long it would be before he levelled up, and asking to take care of his PC while he was away, and I e-mailed back saying "I'll do my best!" or something like that. :/ *sob*

What would you have done in this situation?

(1) Would you have done pretty much as I did?
(2) Would you have assured that the troglodytes *always* preferentially attacked *anyone but* that character, instead of leaving it even partly up to chance, like I did?
(3) Would you have rolled the dice secretly and fudged it? (Instead of rolling out in the open in front of everyone for extra drama, like I did?) (This would be my last choice, since I hate fudging the dice.)

The guy's friend feels a little bad for controlling his friend's PC while he died (he could've run screaming on the previous round, or at least taken more than a 5-foot step), but since I'm the DM I am obviously ultimately to blame. Should I feel guilty? I dunno. I wouldn't feel guilty at all if the PC had been there, but now I feel extremely bad. I guess it depends on my campaign and on my knowledge that I am about to have one extremely pissed-off, and possibly soon-to-be-former, player.

Jason

 

[BiggusGeekus]

Don't kill his character off. Award 25% of exp earned for that character. Institute a house rule making this policy for people who miss games. You can't die, but you won't be earning the exp like the rest of the party.

good luck.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

I would have done option 4):

4) PCs whose player is not present "fade into the background," and nothing bad happens to them in anything short of a TPK.

 

[Teflon Billy]

We have a mechanic for this we call "out of Panel"

It comes from our extensive Superhero gaming, and we describe it as the PC being "there", but he is, for tonight5 "out of panel" (meaning not visible to the reader of the comic book). That is: He doesn't intereact with the setting, players or NPC's in any way...but is present.

Next week, should the player be back, the character will again be featued in Panles of the comic

We've taken to using it for all games now, even thought the term only makes sense for Superheroes.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

The guy's friend feels a little bad for controlling his friend's PC while he died (he could've run screaming on the previous round, or at least taken more than a 5-foot step),

Did the tactics make sense in the situation? It doesn't sound like that is the case, but I could be wrong. If the tactics made sense, or matched what the normal player of the character would have done . . . oh, well.

Could the PC have armed himself differently (melee) and fought defensively? Would the player of the PC have done the same thing that his friend did with the PC?

but since I'm the DM I am obviously ultimately to blame. Should I feel guilty? I dunno.

Nah! PCs break. It happens. It happens often. If the encounter level was appropriate for the party and someone dies because of bad decisions or bad luck . . . it happens.

I wouldn't feel guilty at all if the PC had been there, but now I feel extremely bad.

Then you shouldn't feel guilty at all. The PLAYER'S presence or absence would not have changed the die rolls or (likely) the tactics used.

I guess it depends on my campaign and on my knowledge that I am about to have one extremely pissed-off, and possibly soon-to-be-former, player.

That's sad. If a player quits the game over a dead PC . . . well, he needs to grow up. While the added insult of it happening when he was not there sucks, it shouldn't change how the game is played. If a PC can't be killed when the player isn't there then he can't earn XP either.

 

[Mouseferatu]

Gotta disagree with Nall, and agree with most of the others. You have no way of knowing what the PC would have done had the player been there. I think the absolute most unfair thing any DM can do is kill a PC when the player is absent.

I use a technique similar, but not identical, to Billy's "out of panel" idea. Essentially, if we have a player missing, that character is considered there, but rarely initiates action unless he has an ability the other PCs call on him to use. Any time the group gets into combat, I tell them to assume the monster has a few more hit points, or the enemy group has a few more opponents, than it actually does. The "absent" PC is dealing with the "absent" threat off-screen (or out of panel). And no, I never kill a character whose player is absent. Normally I simply don't even roll dice for them, but if I must (for whatever reason), I've no compunction about fudging under these circumstances.

 

[LogicsFate]

Give the players a choice,

fade and gain nothing
Or
Make them an NPC for a session and gain stuff with the rest of the party if they die, Eh, shoulda been there

 

[jasper]

He let someone play with his pc. Sucks to be him. I leave the decision up to player and it sucks if the pc dies. Let the death stand.

 

[SweeneyTodd]

Just fudge him to -9, man. What's more important, playing it "honest" about a couple of points of damage, or allowing your player to keep enjoying a character he created?

It sounded to me like the original player would have been more attentive, and would have backed off his PC for healing after the first hit with that axe.

You've got the possibility of him being upset with you, upset with his friend, and his friend continuing to feel guilty. I can't see any world in which that is a reasonable cost to pay for "fairness" on one die roll.

As for how we handle things like this, the "off-panel" description given above is how we do it. I have seen a PC killed while his player was absent once, but I think it was the third session in a row he missed, he hadn't called, and we all knew he probably wasn't coming back. Even so, my cleric brought enough pieces of him along to ressurect eventually.

 

[The_Universe]

4) PCs whose player is not present "fade into the background," and nothing bad happens to them in anything short of a TPK.

This is my personal policy. If the player starts to fall way behind in level, I'll usually run a side game for them so that we can see what they were doing while their character was "out of panel" (Thanks, TB!) and give them some of the XP they missed while away.