When PCs Die When the Player's Not There

[ThirdWizard]

I have a rule: If you can't make a session another player plays the PC. If you die, you die. For some reason PCs with no player present become very helpful in opening doors that might be trapped, blocking bad guys from the rear lines, and are loose with their money. Seems to work fine for us.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Option 5 - tell the person playing the absent player's character that his tactics were horrible! How much was the average damage per blow? Sorry bub, if I am armed with a bow against a great weapon I am taking a round to get out of Dodge!

I would have gone with the 'knocked into negatives and unconcious' option. But I have the PCs of absent players leave the group until the player returns. Getting back to the party is his problem! If the player was running his own character that way I would have killed the PC without a qualm, chalking it up to death by stupidity.

The Auld Grump

 

[freebfrost]

After you roll the critical hit with 27 damage in front of everybody's eyes, there's no turning back.

There's this cool new DM tool, I think it's called a "screen."

 

[Crothian]

In our current game, there or not the character is being played. Now we all agreed to do this so its not like we are being unfair or not respecting anyones feeling. THe character is played by someone else and if he dies, he dies. It hasn't happened yet but when a player is not there we tend to be a little more conservative with their character to keep him from harm.

We do this becasue we want the characters to stay about the same level XP wise and as long as the character gets played we award full XP for that session. Again, while I seea lot of people against that here we have all agreed toi the policy.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

I generally treat PCs of absent players as scenery -- they stand around, listening and watching more or less without comment, and unless the present players actually have them do something, they pretty much just "hang out." In combat, the absent player's PC and any monsters they may be fighting basically do a lot of swinging but nothing much actually happens (I don't even roll dice for them, just say, "Silent Bob and the orc attack and parry for another round.") The absent player's PC can still be a passive participant, providing flanking bonuses to other PCs and the like, as appropriate.

Think of Monty Python and the Holy Grail -- anytime John Cleese was playing an encounter character (particularly "Tim the Enchanter"), Lancelot stood in the background with his helmet on and didn't say anything. That's basically what I do.

-The Gneech

Heh, that works too.

Having someone else play the character always leads to problems.

The advantage of the character being scenery is that it gives an option in the event of a TPK - either the scenery ran off, survived against the odds, and will be in a position to get aid for the dead PCs, or will die with everyone else.

The Auld Grump

 

[Raelcreve]

Death of an "absent" PC...

Well first, the player should make this decision:

1) Someone plays his character. Or,
2) His PC fades into the background, or has something else to do.

If he wants someone to play his PC for XP and treasure, then the PC is treated as if the player was there, deaths included. If not, he gets awarded no XP and treasure, or partial.

As it was, his character sheet was present to be played by his friend. That points out that he wanted XP and treasure.

The death stands.

However, this is D&D and Raise Dead is only a 5th level spell. You can have a wandering cleric raise him.

The Core Rule Books and the d20 rules in general are guidelines not absolutes. As the DM, you have the final say in what happens. Yes, you should generally follow the rules, but fudging is fine if everyone is having fun. The DMG 2 actually has some great material in it covering this type of stuff.

As a side note, I kill PCs all the time (players absent or not). They can always be raised, or the player can choose to play something else. Generally, they are raised. It's not terribly expensive, and it helps control the treasure output if they are in debt to the church. Plus, if a player is tired of a particular PC, it gives him the option of doing something else.

D&D is about combat, and PCs get more combat than everything they face. They're going to get crit'ed more often, hit more often, and face a wider range of foes. If they kill hundreds or thousands of opponents and never die themselves, how "realistic" is that?

Reincarnation, Raise Dead, Resurrection, True Resurrection

What do you think these spells are for? NPCs? (There's nothing like resurrecting your favorite baddy by the way.)

 

[DonTadow]

I have to admit, I'm surprised by how many people have told me I should have fudged it, or (even stranger, IMHO) retroactively changed my decision. Isn't one of the appeals of D&D that the ULTIMATE IMPARTIAL CRUELTY OF THE DICE should be superior above all else?!???!!

I know when I'm a player, I obviously don't like it when my PCs die, but at the same time, it kind of "weakens" the campaign when the DM breaks the rules to save people. Nothing is lamer than a DM who hits the players with too-tough opponents, and then has to backtrack ("Uh... the orcs don't attack this round because they're too busy laughing and gloating!") in order to save the PCs from dying or being captured. Then, as a PC, you feel like the DM is just gonna shelter you from harm....

Of course, it's still bad because the player wasn't there... sob....

And of course, this could lead to a much bigger discussion....

Jason

If he took it well then all is said and done. But that is still a messed up situation. There's nothing wrong with fudging the dice in the emphasis of fun. If i have a cronie down to 12 hit points and a player rolls a crit but misses the confirm on the ac by one or 2, i'll give it to them, fuding the ac for the terribly cool death to the cronie. WHen a pc dies, if they are there, I'd never fudge, I don't think any of us would. As a DM you got to be fair. Its not fair to let another player play someone elses character and kill him, unless the player knows the consequences, and even then I'd be seriously hesitant. I play with players whom are way too possessive of their characters to take the risk of them dying without the player being there. I think as a DM you got to lay down the rules. IF you let other players play other people's characters its your perogative, but you should explain the consequences before hand and make sure that they are perfectly okay with it.

I had a big battle the last weekend and a player didn't show. HIs first initiative was to let someone else play his character, hoping that he may benefit them in combat. I could have let him do it. Several adventures ago during some more role playing intense adventures I allowed it once. But knowning that they are going into the big bad's lair, I had to be responsible as a DM and explain to him that it would be a bad decision and that him and i should work out a reason why he's not there.

I once missed a game and against my knowledge the DM let a player play my character, a treasure hunting Dwarf (female). I came back she had been kidnapped, shot, knocked up and left for dead. I played the game three more times and left the campaign after my fourth morning sickness roll. If i would have known about the consquenses or if it was happening I"d have never agreed to it.

 

[Roadkill101]

One thing I've learned over the years as a GM to deal with Missing Player Syndrome: Always try to end a game session, in a situation that leaves an easy explanation for an absence. This makes the "out of panel" mechanic more credible to the story line.
Otherwise, as GM I pick up the running of the character as a temporary NPC, trying to keep the character in the background as much as possible. A personal rule of mine is to never allow another player to play someone elses character. It avoids the situation of that player making "dumb choices" for the character, and I've seen people get pretty irate over another person playing their character (no matter how good of a friend the other player is).

 

[Raelcreve]

Talking about being scenery...

"You will bring us a shrubbery."

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

I have a rule: If you can't make a session another player plays the PC. If you die, you die. For some reason PCs with no player present become very helpful in opening doors that might be trapped, blocking bad guys from the rear lines, and are loose with their money. Seems to work fine for us.

Which is exactly why I don't do this.

It's retarded.

Yes, I know Bob the Fighter's usually more than average selfish, won't open a door until after Tommy the Lock (the only person he really trusts) checks it, and doesn't have the personal initiative to build the freakin' fire without being repeatedly asked, but suddenly, today, he's volunteering for all sorts of tasks, spending money like water, and pushing Tommy out of the way at each door.

Yeah, that makes sense - I'd be asking for some Sense Motive checks for mental domination, myself.

I prefer to live in the real world, where real life things - extra required work hours, sick kids, etc. - occasionally intrude. And, frankly, I'd have to be a much bigger bastard than I am to say to someone, "Hey, Bob, I'm sorry Suzanne got sick and you had to spend all last Saturday in the ER. Welcome back, though - oh, and your character gave away all his magic items and then died mysteriously. Feel free to make a new one, though."