Writing a character out of a campaign

[Dark Jezter]

Recently, one of my players left the campaign because she has RL matters to take care of. This means that her PC will have to leave the party because I don't fill like juggling an extra NPC. Unfortunately, it's still in the middle of the adventure, and I'm a little stumped about how to smoothly remove her character from the group.

Just a little background on the current adventure: It's a Forgotten Realms campaign. The PCs are staying with the Tree Ghost tribe of Uthgardt barbarians while they are investigating numerous undead sightings and other unholy corruptions in the High Forest. The PC who will be leaving is a female moon elf ranger from Cormanthor. At the current point in the adventure, the PCs have located the source of the evil (haunted catacombs) and are getting ready to go there in the next session.

So, anybody got any ideas of how I could remove this elf ranger girl from the party right before the PCs go to storm the dungeon of the villain behind all this? And please don't include suggestions that involve killing the character off, since it's possible that the player will return and want to resume playing as her character someday.

 

[Aristotle]

Heh, I have a very unstable game group so I am writing people out and then back in again all of the time. I understand the need to keep the continuity of the story, but so long as your explanation sounds somewhat reasonable the remaining players should cut you some slack on any cheese factor. Possible ploys...

The character is kidnapped the night before the raid. The other characters should probably figure whoever is behind the "bad stuff" probably took her. But after the raid is successful they won't find her. Who took her? ...and why? Depending on how interested your players are, and what direction you want to go with the campaign, you could tie in further adventures where they get clues that explain her disapearance. If/when the player returns they can finally uncover the whole truth and be reunited.

The old standby... The character gets a message from home (by messenger, dream, or whatever) and must depart immediately. She apologizes for having to go, but insists that she must do so now and alone. You can always pin down the exact reason later.

 

[Li Shenron]

And please don't include suggestions that involve killing the character off, since it's possible that the player will return and want to resume playing as her character someday.

Kill the character off. And don't forget to make the body disappear. Have her victim of a magic trap, falling into a chasm, drag away by a monster during a big fight, swiped far away from the strong current of a river, or hit and vanished by a spell from the BBEG.

She doesn't need to be really dead, but it's ok if the PCs believe so. If the players return later, you can have the PC reapper and explain what really happened: perhaps the trap/spell just teleported her far away or shifted her to another plane, the current/monster/fall led her someplace where she was held captured or lost her memory or she was simply disabled and was saved and cured by someone else. This kind of things are not very original, they happen all the times in movies and novels (see Gandalf in LotR).

The re-entrance of the PC can become in a more complicated fashion, for example her "saviour" may meet the group without revealing about her first but instead "test" if the PCs miss her, how they felt about her death...

Perhaps you could even have the chance to let the player join another group with the same PC, or to run a single-character short adventure for her one evening to actually PLAY how did she survive the event and managed to find the group again.

 

[fba827]

A temporary afflication (some wierd poison or disease) that causes her to need to "sit this one out" for a day or so. After which, she can then find a more appropriate time to "need to leave for a little while"

If she belogs to some sort of elf or ranger organization, perhaps a messanger from that (or from her family) sends word that she is needed right away ... (just some sort of obligation that is unique to her and not any of the other PCs).

 

[Silver Moon]

Sounds simple enough. Just have the character stay behind at the entrance to the Dungeon to guard the party's back. Just throw out enough clues to indicate that someone or something may be following the party to make this necessary. Have it that the character will plan to catch back up to the party, which the ranger could do due to the tracking, and that just doesn't happen.

 

[Talon5]

Recently, one of my players left the campaign because she has RL matters to take care of. This means that her PC will have to leave the party because I don't fill like juggling an extra NPC. Unfortunately, it's still in the middle of the adventure, and I'm a little stumped about how to smoothly remove her character from the group.

Just a little background on the current adventure: It's a Forgotten Realms campaign. The PCs are staying with the Tree Ghost tribe of Uthgardt barbarians while they are investigating numerous undead sightings and other unholy corruptions in the High Forest. The PC who will be leaving is a female moon elf ranger from Cormanthor. At the current point in the adventure, the PCs have located the source of the evil (haunted catacombs) and are getting ready to go there in the next session.

So, anybody got any ideas of how I could remove this elf ranger girl from the party right before the PCs go to storm the dungeon of the villain behind all this? And please don't include suggestions that involve killing the character off, since it's possible that the player will return and want to resume playing as her character someday.

A question- is she the only Ranger? If she is is it critical to have one at this stage of the campaign? If it is it sounds like you might need to keep her around and get rid of a different NPC.

What about the thought that she gets a little drunk and ends up in the sack with one of the barbarians, who claims that are married the next morning and that because she is with child she can't adventure. She agrees, says sorry to the group.

Later she escapes from the tribe, and finds the group, telling them she was charmed (as per Charm Person), and the fellow who claimed to be her husband wanted her only for purposes of having his child, or perhaps for some quest if you don't wish to do that to the character (after all I would consider that rape, and that isn't something that most want to deal with, esp female players).

There are quite a few methods to ridding your self of characters, most of which can lead to future campaign seeds- kidnapped by a wizard, soul theft of some kind, replaced by a Doppelganger, call from home, etc.

Good luck, and remember to see this as a opportunity for future campaigns.

 

[Aaron L]

Have her existence be erased by the Chronal Wars being fought by epic level arch mages from the future!

 

[Kyramus]

It sounds like you could have her stay with the tribe under the reports of undead troop movements that might attack the tribe while the rest of the group go against the big baddy.

When the group returns, the elf is gone. The tribe is saved by then. No note. no messages. The barbarians will say that she took to staring at the moon and muttering something about being called. When the scouts first came back with reports that the group was on the way back and victorious, she left.

 

[Dark Jezter]

Some very good suggestions so far. I'll definately consider some of these, as well as checking for further contributions.

 

[Silver Moon]

Have her existence be erased by the Chronal Wars being fought by epic level arch mages from the future!

Nah, way too common. Happens all the time. I'd site examples but I can't seem to remember any of those people.