Player dropped out, now what?

[KnotaGuru]

I've been running a 5 person homebrew campaign for a couple months. Players started at level 1 and they hit level 5 at the end of our last session.

I've pre-planned and tuned up the encounters since there is a big power jump going from level 4 to 5.

However, one of the players had to drop out completely due to family. So do I give them some NPC help, let one of the players run the retired player's character, or tune down the encounters?

Party is:
*Tiefling arcane trickster rogue
*Aasimar order cleric
*Halfling celestial tome warlock
*Goliath zealot barbarian

*Retired character: human vengeance paladin.

They've been fighting mostly orcs and demons and some undead.

Our next session is in a couple hours

[Segev]

How lethal have they found fights so far? If "not very," you could try just running it as-is.

Keeping the PC around as an NPC helper for a bit until you can re-tune would be my suggestion, otherwise.

[KnotaGuru]

How lethal have they found fights so far? If "not very," you could try just running it as-is.

Keeping the PC around as an NPC helper for a bit until you can re-tune would be my suggestion, otherwise.

The battles have been pretty dangerous. We've had a few characters make death saves on multiple accounts, but no one has died. Today will be our 8th session.

[BoringInfoGuy]

I've been running a 5 person homebrew campaign for a couple months. Players started at level 1 and they hit level 5 at the end of our last session.

I've pre-planned and tuned up the encounters since there is a big power jump going from level 4 to 5.

However, one of the players had to drop out completely due to family. So do I give them some NPC help, let one of the players run the retired player's character, or tune down the encounters?

Party is:
*Tiefling arcane trickster rogue
*Aasimar order cleric
*Halfling celestial tome warlock
*Goliath zealot barbarian

*Retired character: human vengeance paladin.

They've been fighting mostly orcs and demons and some undead.

Our next session is in a couple hours

We ran into this problem twice in our group. Once, the player had enough warning that the DM was able to give him a reason for the character to leave, and we found a new player who could start next session. The new player’s character did not show up for one later game session, but since I had to miss that session, he proxied my character.

The second time, we had a bit less warning, and the character had reasons to not leave the group.

The new player took partial control of the missing players character, with the understanding that the DM and previous player had some stuff planned out. So the DM might need to assert control in some situations. For a time, the new player had control of the old PC until we could find and rescue his PC. The old PC left soon after.

In both cases, we had a new player quickly, so limited use for you. But maybe helpful to see how to handle future situations.

For you right now, see if a player is willing to play both characters for this session. Avoid being the one to directly control him yourself.

Long term, let your players decide if they want to find an NPC ally to bulk up their ranks, keep the old PC on as their NPC ally*, or go on short one man. Maybe one of your players as a friend that could join. Losing a player is a group problem, best to solve it as a group.

I would avoid making an NPC under your control as the solution. If you are green enough to be asking what to do in this situation, you are too green to deal with the dangers of bringing in a DMPC.

*It would have been good for you to discuss what happens to the missing players character with the departing player, but I assume it is too late now. Even though it’s your campaign, PCs belong to the players.

[Tawmis]

Party is:
*Tiefling arcane trickster rogue
*Aasimar order cleric
*Halfling celestial tome warlock
*Goliath zealot barbarian


Overall, you have a well rounded party of players.
Rogue for traps and backstabs.
Cleric for the heals.
Warlock for the various curses, hexes, etc.
Barbarian for the sheer damage.

I'd say that's a good party.

However, I saw that you mentioned several have already made death saves already.

It all depends on DMing style - there should be a sense of danger, for sure - but if Death Saves are a very frequent thing - the party is either doing something drastically wrong, or the encounters may be a little too difficult. I usually try to wear my party down during encounters if I planned it right - but rarely push it to Death Saves. It's just enough where after, they're out of spells, hurting, and need to rest - and nervous about resting anywhere due to Random Encounters. (I usually make them roll, and talk about seeing or hearing something just to keep them on the edge).

As for the player who left - say the Paladin had a calling from their said god/goddess and need to run off and do their bidding. Leaving the door open for if they're able to return, they can come back with the same character.

[KnotaGuru]

I would avoid making an NPC under your control as the solution. If you are green enough to be asking what to do in this situation, you are too green to deal with the dangers of bringing in a DMPC.

I would let one of the players control the NPC if needed. Too much going on as a DM too worry about playing a party member and I don't want to save all the resources for a big fight that I know it's coming. It's just too much meta-gaming of the wrong kind so no worries there.

[LordCdrMilitant]

If a player has to leave, their character just also leaves. My PC's have joked that a grey spinning circle appears above their head and they start phasing between the ethereal and material plane, before disappearing completely with a message "X has disconnected" in to top left of their vision.


I would just tune down the encounters if you think they're now too dangerous.


I don't think "party members have been knocked unconscious a handful of times over the course of 5 levels" is "pretty dangerous". If they've only been knocked down a few times from level 1 to 5, unless all of them happened recently and there was a difficulty spike from 3 to 4, then you're probably good. Rate-of-unconsciousness isn't really a good representation of how hard the encounters are, though, so it still could be too much.

[KnotaGuru]

However, I saw that you mentioned several have already made death saves already.

It all depends on DMing style - there should be a sense of danger, for sure - but if Death Saves are a very frequent thing - the party is either doing something drastically wrong, or the encounters may be a little too difficult. I usually try to wear my party down during encounters if I planned it right - but rarely push it to Death Saves. It's just enough where after, they're out of spells, hurting, and need to rest - and nervous about resting anywhere due to Random Encounters. (I usually make them roll, and talk about seeing or hearing something just to keep them on the edge).

Death saves have been a combination of things. One time the rogue wandered off and pulled more bad guys into an already difficult fight. In another instance the BBEG charged the party and crit with both attacks, dropping the paladin instantly, but even one player down the party did quite well for the rest of the encounter. Some other bad tactics by the barbarian using reckless attack while surrounded by 3 bad guys who had a much easier time hitting him and dropping him after a couple rounds.

They're all experienced players, except the rogue, and play smart most of the time.

[KnotaGuru]

I should also mention that we're playing on Roll20 and I have macros built for attacks, initiatives and saves. This helps keep the action flowing rather quickly and makes it easy for players to control multiple tokens if needed. Both the rogue and warlock have summon familiar for example and have a very easy time operating them.

I also use the dynamic lighting feature to add suspense. Another reason I wouldn't control an NPC because that would be lost.

[Segev]

Remember that it is the choice of one who drops another in melee whether the one knocked to 0 hp is dying or only out. You could have the enemies be seeking to capture rather than kill, which will give you some breathing room on the death saves, since they don’t have to make them. If it’s not a TPK, the bad guys get driven off and the downed ones get back up a bit later. If it is a TPK, they’re just captured, not dead, and you can run it from there.

[Man_Over_Game]

Honestly, losing 20% of your party isn't really that big of a deal. You could probably just make some minor modifications to the encounters and you'd be fine.

With the new setup, your players can probably still accomplish the same encounters, but might just require more Short Rests in between, so just lay off on time constraints a bit and give them more breaks than you'd normally include.

[LordCdrMilitant]

Death saves have been a combination of things. One time the rogue wandered off and pulled more bad guys into an already difficult fight. In another instance the BBEG charged the party and crit with both attacks, dropping the paladin instantly, but even one player down the party did quite well for the rest of the encounter. Some other bad tactics by the barbarian using reckless attack while surrounded by 3 bad guys who had a much easier time hitting him and dropping him after a couple rounds.

They're all experienced players, except the rogue, and play smart most of the time.

Three downs in 5 levels doesn't really sound like it's indicative of it being super dangerous, especially if two of them are just player did a dunce. If you're really afraid of killing your PC's, just make the encounters easier, or maybe fudge some damage rolls, or whatever.

[Sigreid]

I'd just remind the party they're down a man and recommend more caution. I wouldn't adjust the encounters until I gave them a chance to rise to the occasion.

[KorvinStarmast]

(a) let one of the players run the retired player's character, or (b) tune down the encounters?

Party is:
*Tiefling arcane trickster rogue
*Aasimar order cleric
*Halfling celestial tome warlock
*Goliath zealot barbarian
Our group would prefer (a), hoping that life will change again and the player can come back, but (b) is the better long term solution. If you are sure they just can't play anymore just tune down the encounter to fit the party you have.

[Christew]

Maybe give them control of the paladin for a session while you work up a story exit for him/her, but long term just retune your encounters. The rules are largely balanced around a four player party and your remaining four players have a good mix of roles/abilities, so just start using default CR mechanics.

[stoutstien]

*Half joking*
Turn the pally into a sentient magical weapon the zealot can wield. It could provide all the features that the pally brought to the party.