When Players leave

[Darklion880]

Hey guys I've been wandering what to do if players can't show up (for a job or school) and sometimes they have to leave midsession. An encounter I had prepared for the four of them isn't possible for only two of them to accomplish. What do I do I'm not going to change the thing for all of them but I don't want my players to feel shoehorned into something besides what they want to do. Any suggestion greatly appreciated! :smallbiggrin:

[slaydemons]

Well, first try to find a day they can all reasonable make. I am not sure you did this so I am just suggesting this. Another suggestion would be to add a fifth player, then there are always DMPC basically you play character as well, you won't play them as an actual character. These are a few of my suggestions if I come up with more I will edit my post.

[OldTrees1]

When more than half but less than all show up:
Reduce the difficulty of the encounter (reduce CR of enemies/reduce number of enemies)

When less than half but more than or equal to the minimum show up:
Have a canon one-shot side adventure (in the near past, or near future if the current situation does not allow such).

When less than the minimum show up:
Sadly cancel that session. Perhaps play something else instead if there are enough for something else.

This works better with larger groups.

[Sylthia]

When more than half but less than all show up:
Reduce the difficulty of the encounter (reduce CR of enemies/reduce number of enemies)

When less than half but more than or equal to the minimum show up:
Have a canon one-shot side adventure (in the near past, or near future if the current situation does not allow such).

When less than the minimum show up:
Sadly cancel that session. Perhaps play something else instead if there are enough for something else.

This works better with larger groups.

I recommend Munchkin if you don't have a quorum.

My current group includes 6 players plus me, the DM. I will scale down the encounter if at least 3 PCs are there, but any less than that and I call the game.

One of our players live out of town and is unable to make it more often than not, and we run his character as an NPC when he's not there. That is something to consider.

[Raezeman]

I have the same problem for the group of 5 people i DM, since 2 of them have very irregular working hours. We try to plan as good as possible, but it's hard to find dates. So, on occasion, we play with one player less and have the others play for his character. This of course only after the player said it was OK to have the others play for his character, while i said i would say something if they would make the character do something he normally wouldn't do.
Next to that, we also recently started a second campaign, with less players (3 in fact, one of which me), AKA without the one that most often can't make it (and one that didn't want too much d&d) so we have opportunities to play often still, and the ones that are not in this second campaign don't mind at all.
So i would say try starting a second, maybe smaller campaign, with a different DM if your regular one doesn't want to, that the one who most ofter are capable of play take part in.

[Enguebert]

Hey guys I've been wandering what to do if players can't show up (for a job or school) and sometimes they have to leave midsession. An encounter I had prepared for the four of them isn't possible for only two of them to accomplish. What do I do I'm not going to change the thing for all of them but I don't want my players to feel shoehorned into something besides what they want to do. Any suggestion greatly appreciated! :smallbiggrin:


Here is what we do.
First, add a NPC to the group. Choose a class that is not already in the group (to avoid doublon) and an easy class to play (sorcerer and not wizard, fighter or barbarian and not crusader or ranger,..)
This NPC is always played by the players and is more passive (he is just there for fights)
That means if one player is not there, you still have 4 characters (difference 5 to 4 is less important than 4 to 3)

Now DM always keep a simple character sheet of all players. Player not there ? No problem, the PC is there and stay at base camp, or stay behind the group. That means he is not there for heavy fight, but if the group need
some skills from the PC, they can go back and get it (identification, divination, long buff, healing, lockpicking,...)

[eastmabl]

Hey guys I've been wandering what to do if players can't show up (for a job or school) and sometimes they have to leave midsession. An encounter I had prepared for the four of them isn't possible for only two of them to accomplish. What do I do I'm not going to change the thing for all of them but I don't want my players to feel shoehorned into something besides what they want to do. Any suggestion greatly appreciated! :smallbiggrin:


As a DM, this is how I handle characters who are absent in my party of five PCs, where we have players with busy schedules where sometimes players must be absent. Thus far, my system has worked well - they are guidelines, not hard and fast rules:

- Quorum of 4: no more than one character can be absent from a session or we do not play.
- NPCing: if you are absent from a session, either the DM or another consenting (and consented to) player will NPC the character.
- Death, Level Drain, Ability Score Loss: the player suffers no negative consequences from another person playing his character. Therefore, any level drain or ability score loss is healed back once the character retakes control of his character, and an absent player's character automatically stabilizes at -9 HP.
(A total party kill will override this rule, as there is a presumption that the death of the entire party would include that absent character's death as well - but this remains an untested rule to date).
- XP and Wealth: to reward players who attend sessions but to prevent absent players from falling too far behind, an absent character earns 3/4 the XP of the players who attend the session. Wealth is split equally amongst all party member, and an absent player will earn his full gold from a session.
- Party Voting: as a neutral arbiter of what a character knowledge, character motivations and other factors, the DM will vote on behalf of the absent character, should a decision come to a party vote.

The system is far from perfect, but allows us to play despite busy adult schedules.

[Telonius]

We have a group of 4, plus me (the DM). If one person is absent, I play the character as an NPC. If two or more are absent, the session is canceled. I have a general policy against singling out the characters of absent players for death attacks, but death by HP damage can happen. The player still gets full combat XP for the session, but can't earn bonus roleplay XP. (If there's a scene that's specifically tailored to the PC during an absence, we lampshade it during the session and then play it out at the start of the next session).

[KillianHawkeye]

I would say this really depends on the group and the specific characters and players who are missing. Sometimes we have another player play the absent person's character, or else the character is run by commitee. Sometimes the DM has their own character in the game, other times not. Sometimes we just stick it out without the missing character, but our group is large enough and fluid enough that we never have to cancel sessions because of missing players.

[Sylthia]

I also let the non present PCs get full XP if they are used as NPCs in combat, have XP if they are not. Only PCs who are present get bonus XP. Only PCs present get first dibs on loot, but if the party decides a particular absent PC would benefit from an item, they can pick up stuff that way.