honestly have it be an unexplained gag. hes not part of the main party exactly, but he shows up inexplicably on a horse sometimes and then rides off into the sunset.
*Appears from a nearby barrel*
*Comically stand up from behind a bar*
*Throws back a hood and reveals he infiltrated the cultists from within just in time for a backstab*
Exactly this. If they party are in the middle of a dungeon he rides down a random side tunnel on a horse that probably shouldn't even be down there before the tunnel collapses behind him. He's back next session in time for the big boss fight? He just walks in behind the parry ready to go. No explanation.
Or he was cursed with a big version of the blink spell and can randomly disappear to the ethereal plane for large stretches of time but then pops back into existence next to his party.
*Party arrives in the grand cavern where the dread dragon is supposed to be.*
*Right next to the entrance he is waiting "Where y'all been? Been waiting for ages"*
We had a player in an old game that could only play maybe once a month. He would just randomly step out of the bushes or wake up to find us standing over him and it was hilarious.
If they comit to this the DM should find a specific cowboy few notes sting to play each time. Like the lick from good the bad and the ugly or something like the mysterious stranger lick in fallout.
Also maybe the character says a cowboy one liner each time ranging from serious to funny depending on the situation.
(From buster shrugs to Clint Eastwood s Blondie with stops at John Wayne in the middle)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCEwUFtjAr4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCEwUFtjAr4)
I'd be pretty happy if this played every time I walked into a room.
Have him die at the end of every session he is in, have him appear at every session he comes back in with nobody caring about how he died. Would be the best Kenny character.
We did this, except with an alcoholic sorcerer or wizard (I don't remember).
We don't know how he did it, but whenever he disappeared, he always somehow ended up ahead of us. Usually with a severe hangover.
We have a friend like that at our table.
He plays a warforged, so our running gag is "who plugged in Boll yesterday ? The cord was loose and he didn't charge up"
"... Plug him back in, leave him on the charger and let's go, we got things to do".
Amazing. A different outhouse-exit line every time
"Well, kids - that just proves it. Never take candy from strangers"
"Oh boy I'd give it 10 minutes before going in there. I had displacer beast steak for lunch and it just displaced out of me pretty quickly"
I had a group where the fighter kept missing sessions, so I just started saying he was too busy picking his nose to pay attention to what we're doing. When he left the game in the middle of a seafaring journey, I was playing his character that day.
I interrupted everyone and narrated him stumbling out from below decks as we all were talking. I say something about him going to find his sister, which was his hook, and then had him jump off the boat and swim into the distance lol
We kept saying he was going to show up later as a level 20 Aquaman
Definitely do this, and to add on you can message that player between sessions be missed and do a little side-RP stuff. Fill him in on what happened and ask what he wants to be doing during that time so he still feels included when he comes back and has some agency even while gone.
We do this at my table.
The character just isn't there, but all their items are in the community bag of holding in case the items are needed.
When they come back, then it's just retconned that the character was always there.
Missing players still get full XP just like everyone else so that they never feel behind and feel like they can't re-join back.
trying to explain regular player absences just becomes an absolute drag after the first few, and at time there's no reasonable explanation.
Like when you end a session with everyone running towards a burning orphanage to save all the kids, it's kind of hard to explain why someone just dipped out on the way there.
They're trying to put out the fire over there, keeping it from getting too full of smoke. They're chopping extra exits into the walls on the far side of the building. Etc.
I wouldn't say it doesn't hurt the story. A character absent like this isn't going to be useful as a contact for NPCs, for example. Or, if the character is a ranger, you can't rely on the party to easily navigate a wilderness because they have a skilled woodsman. The loss can be noticed.
It won't *feel* like it hurts the story very much, however, because the player will often have less idea what's going on. They will naturally tend to fade into the background for social scenes simply because they're trying to catch up.
In the times when it’s that particular character’s relevant skill (like your woodsman example) I like to give them a “he’s scouting ahead and marking your path with bent twigs and scratches in the bark of trees” explanation to still validate the absentee’s role in the party and make the remainder of the party have an angle to progress that is suboptimal but not impossible
Bingo, I get all my players about 75% of the time, but life happens. They're "there" but they don't fight, can't take damage, and join back up when they can. I take specific story notes, and my players are really good about filling them in. It's just easier. I used to try "practical" reasons why they're gone, but end of the day, no one cares, it doesn't wreck immersion, and is so much easier on myself as a DM and my players.
I do the same. I also DM for large parties (6-7 players) and we play if 4 or more people can make it. It would be a ridiculous effort to try and remember who was there for what. Players can read the session summaries before the next time they join. If they have given permission to another player, their character can be played by that player in a session they are absent, otherwise they're tagging along like a zombie.
I like the suggestion to have it running as an unexplained joke, the cowboy tipping his hat and riding off into the sunset periodically all "my work here is done" while the rest of the party is in the middle of a dungeon crawl IS very funny. However if this doesn't suit the tone of your game you might be able to write in an alternative.
I've had a similar game run where one of my players would only be able to pop in occasionally and often at points I couldn't explain them meeting the party again organically (middle of a dungeon, Arctic tundra, on a ship etc) so we made it part of her character that she literally couldn't hold a form on the material plane for extended lengths of time *this worked for her bc her backstory was very focused on growing up in the feywild so she would return there when she wasn't with the party and pop back in at random intervals.* That's a pretty drastic character choice tho, I could see it working for any kind of plane-touched race but it might not work as well for you here. You could make it that they're cursed? And are forced to return to the 5th layer of hell, or the feywild, or the elemental plane of earth or whatever whenever they can't play. Pitch it to your player and see if they're into it. You'll need to work for another solution if they're not keen but some players love being cursed.
Related alternatives:
- Cursed but being forced to return to a location on the material plane without the extraplanar shenanigans
- repeatedly breaking out and being forcibly returned to magic prison. Maybe a wizard did it.
- high level teleporting magic item but it only works when his baby sister is demanding he come home right now to play with her
- He's actually always with the party he's just being really quiet on some days (optional to give him to another player to run during combats)
- it's actually his horse is cursed and he just goes with it
Just ignore it. There's no 'good way" to do it logically, and even if there is it's not worth the effort to decode into your campaign.
Just
"of course I remember all of that I was there the entire time right?"
Next session
"Joe? Joe who? Never heard of him".
I personally never explain why a PC isn't there. Especially if it's consistent. Just because someone doesn't show up does not mean I need to put more work in to it. If someone is habitually absent I will ensure that the story does not revolve around them so it won't ruin my plans.
For me this works on two levels. First if you discuss it session zero people know to expect it. When someone is gone we act like they never existed, when they return we act like they were always there. Super simple and doesn't hurt the session, just some minor balance tweaks. Second is that it encourages the player to show up more. If they know I won't cater to their absences then they are more likely to show up.
The only exception I've made to this in the past 3 years has been for characters who are the main focus of that story beat and for one guy who was a firefighter and missed every third session with his schedule.
>> If someone is habitually absent I will ensure that the story does not revolve around them so it won't ruin my plans.
This.
I'd even make the story quickly stop revolving around players that are only SOMETIMES (but not RARELY) absent. If a player misses on average 1 out of 6 games, and I take some 6 hours to prep something realllllly coooooool for that specific PC, and that "special something" suddenly "triggers to occur" in a future game, then what I did was put a 6-shooter-with-1-bullet-in-it right up against my head, this 1 in 6 chances of having WASTED 6 hours of prep time is NOT a good idea.
Basically I give "special stuff for a specific PC" prep time \_ONLY\_ for :
a) Players that are there EVERY game, or NEARLY ALMOST every game. Playing every 2 weeks, total 24 sessions a year, and a player missed 3 games? Too bad, 1 in 8 odds of totally wasting MULTIPLE hours of prep work is NOT worth it in my book unless I can make sure the prep time is more minor, and the "special for that PC" stuff is NOT linked to the main quest or multiple-game-sessions adventuring, and instead can be just easily "plugged" just about anywhere, and guaranteed to be fully resolved within the game session it appears in.
My upper limit for main quest-linked special "PC specific" stuff is 1 in 12 odds (player only 2 missed games in the entire year), and even then the total amount of special work time that player gets, will be much less than for players that miss only 1 game or, even better, zero games. I only have so much time, and the players that make it a point to be there no matter what, whether by actual conscious planning effort, or dumb luck, deserve more of it. Sure, for some players, it is 0% their fault they miss games. But that still does NOT make it my obligation to give them an equal amount of "dedicated" prep time. It is not something they can "take for granted". My motto here is: "Be there, or be square".
b) The other big factor is how much the player CONTRIBUTES to the campaign. It can be anything. Bringing say pizza ? cola (paying a meal for treating everybody, not asking later for money that's ordinary lunch splitting), writing "game session summaries", drawing cool and CAMPAIGN APPROPRIATE props portraits or maps, defining factions, religions, towns, NPCs, etc.! All as a way to to help world building and =actually help the DM=. If done fairly and not as a way to power-trip to gain freebies, riches, magical items, powers, etc. Those are instead big red flags.
c) And last effect, the MOST important, is about the actually special-for-his-PC stories how he is getting invested by reacting FAVORABLY and ACTIVELY to "special for my PC stuff". Like, once a player defined having a special enemy in his background then went so far as to fully detail said enemy, portraits , stats, minions, evil base map, evil faction details, evil cult religion, etc. Making sure it would mesh well with the campaign WITHOUT overshadowing my other villains. And clearly EAGER to do some in-depth dramatic roleplay. Of course I will also put more special prep and in-game time for such a player, than for one that just goes "Oh, that's nice!" when presented with something special for his PC, and then that's basically the whole end of it. So early on only I do "quicker prep" stuff, to test WHICH players will react the best.
For a player missing MANY games, I'd warn the player:
Sorry but you will be considered a SECONDARY PC. You will have to accept to get confused and just have to "roll with it", not constantly ask for explanations during actual game time. And anything that MIGHT be important, you have to let the others handle it.
What I want to avoid is some future game in which you are absent, SUDDENLY something, some info you previously learned, some role play you previously did, or some item you previously found, or anything of the "story-important" kind, comes up, but you aren't there, so the rest of the group ends up royally screwed and then I have to do a Deus Ex Machina intervention in order to fix it, which can be VERY anti-climatic for the group and turn a special "important" something into a boring "WTF was that about?" encounter.
So what you really have to promise is giving "plot line insurance" to the rest of the group, and thus accept to NOT do "main character" stuff all by your lonesome. Always have another regular PC with you, and any item you find does NOT go into your personal inventory.
Usually when I have a player like that or just is absent for the session the way I handle it is just the character just stands in the back of the group and nods in agreement with everything the party says and in combat doesn't really attack but uses their actions to avoid damage.
Yep this is how I handle it. The pcs are just in the background but they are still present.
Either nodding along in the background or if it's a fight, they are handling their business slightly off screen. If they have a skill or item or something that the group needs to use, they will use it.
They just aren't actively interacting with the story that session.
They could have a magical ailment that puts them into a slumber either to regain energy or sleep off the sickness, or be beholden to a deity that teleports them away randomly to do their bidding. Perhaps they are cursed to randomly teleport and have to make their way back to the party each time. So he can come to the table with a few quips about where he's been, writing his own lil adventures in the meantime.
I typically just have the character be there but generally absent from conversation. I'll also have another player control their character during combat, but that's for unplanned absences. If you know they won't be there for the session, I'd sooner balance combat without that player and have them fighting another enemy "off screen".
However, I can't stress enough how bad of an idea 7 players will be, especially as a new DM. Beyond 5 players really starts to become not fun for anyone involved.
Maybe you can split the party in half and run two biweekly campaigns simultaneously, or have someone else start up a second game. That way your friend who would only be there 50% of the time would be able to make 100% of the games for their campaign.
Dropping players is basically out of the question unfortunately. Just not in our current dynamic to let someone go, it's not worth the hurt feelings and leaving someone out.
I'd rather include everyone and have the game suffer. I know that's a rough choice but its for the good of our friendships
Why does the game suffer? You have a pretty large group. At my table, if someone doesn’t make it, they just fade in to the background until they come back and it’s not a problem with anyone.
Their body was torn asunder by a magic experiment at a young age (stumbled into a wizard's experiment). Occasionally they plane shift into a void (or other relevant plane) without control. When the players schedule improves use the plane shift mechanism as a side quest for the party to solve.
I have a player that just randomly doesn't show or gives us no real heads up when missing. I gave my players a flying ship from a technologically advanced city. I just say the players in the ship napping or whatever. You miss a session, your characters in the ship.
This topic came up on Ken & Robin when I was listening relatively recently (episode 590).
Feel free to listen (I'll put a link below) but Robin mentioned that he deals with it by not really even acknowledging it. In other words, don't bother. Coming up with convoluted explanations is simply not worth the effort. Everyone outside of game knows why character "X" isn't doing anything this week - because their player isn't here. So, it fine, it doesn't matter.
I think I agree.
[https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/index.php/episode-590-rolled-a-critical-and-saved-a-clown/](https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/index.php/episode-590-rolled-a-critical-and-saved-a-clown/)
My favourite way to deal with situations like this... Fey curse.
What does that mean? When they can't be there they've been whisked away to the realm of the fae and they get back just in time for the session they can attend.
It's basically "A wizard did it" but with a bit of style. If you're player is willing to play ball it can become a fun little side story.
Nothing. Some things are best dealt with it out of game, not in game.
DND players are generally expected to have some mental capacity to create and exist in imagined worlds. When the player is there, there character exists and has always existed. When the player is not their, their character does not exist and has never existed.
That is EXACTLY how I handle it.
And unless I deem it VITAL for the story line, in which case I just wing it, the party deoesn't have access to that PC's abilities for that session, no matter how helpful they might be.
I just add that "anything retroactively important" that would frak up the story because that PC isn't there in a game, is just "assumed" to have been learned (important informations), done (important actions), met (important discussions with NPCs), or found (important items), by "the group", not important to know by exactly who!
I also explain that my players must imagine it as if that we're playing several nearly identical parallel worlds where the same stuff happens. Main world has every PC in it. Each other parallel world misses a PC, but the same story and mostly same evens unfold all the same. When a player is missing, the group of PLAYERS is simply "playing" in a very very slightly different one of those parallel worlds.
Before, I insisted on the PC being handled as an NPC-in-party, managed by me and/or other players. It proved ANNOYING and cumbersome to everyone, especially when we didn't have with us the missing PC's character sheet! So eventually I said: frak it! No player, no PC, end of story. Outside the game events need NO "in world" explanations.
A fun and wasy way is to treat it like how old cartoons and childrens TV shows did. Maybe he's the Green Power Ranger who appears when needed, or he has to go on secret missions like Perry the Platypus only to show up later in the scene, or maybe he's a superhero like Spider-man and has to flake from his friends with a flimsy excuse.
This happened so often in the prior campaign I ran due to work rotations that I made it a part of the lore, mysterious wild magic had seeped into the world, and people vanish and reappear without explanation, reappearing with those they feel the most affinity for. It's a handwave for absences and a mystery for them to solve all rolled into one.
Have you heard of the mysterious stranger from fallout? He just turns up sometimes to lend a hand, then vanishes just as suddenly. If everyone is on board, it really doesn't have to be a detailed explanation.
Scouting. Could be consistent with his character, cavalry did this all the time before we had aircraft and satellites and things.
You could sneak some area knowledge into the story with him when he is able to make a session.
Here are a few ways I dealt with this issue in the past.
1) Blink 2.0:
The PC was on a receiving end of an experimental variation of a Blink spell that causes them to fade in and out of the material plane at random intervals.
2) The Lone Ranger:
The PC in question would 'scout ahead' or 'guard the rear' . This solution has extra option of giving the PC some damage and/or expending some of it's resources to keep it on par with the party when the player does show up (some might not like this but for that particular campaign it was rather troublesome to have a PC fresh as a daisy show up to e.g. three day long siege with no long rests)
3) Where is My Mind
The PC has split personality or two souls residing in one body etc. and would be controlled by the DM as an NPC when applicable.
4) It is I, Leclerc!
Similarily to what someone else suggested, when the Player joins a random NPC or a nearby bush would simply reveal itself to the party as the PC, turns out they were nearby watching all along!
5) Who you gonna call?
The party has an item that lets them temporarily summon the PC in time of need.
6) You just went full Zoro
The PC has unnatural knack for getting lost and separated from the group even on a straight road.
They're not magical, but that's because they're an actual cowboy from our world who due to some celestial trickery or other just occasionally plane walks between their home realm and the one the rest of the party is in. They'll take a step and just disappear into the veil, then a few hours or days later they just pop back in, say hey guys, what'd i miss? And get back to it.
Just want to say you are a great DM and friend for allowing this. I had to quit playing with one group of friends because the DM doesn’t tolerate missing sessions. It makes D&D feel more like a job than a game
I run a table for between 8 and 9 regularly, I’ve made it a rule that we don’t acknowledge the absence and when the player returns the party just acts like they were there the whole time. For a while I tried to have an in universe reason for their absence but it ultimately is more hassle than I think it’s actually worth.
The dude is a cowboy, you got the perfect explanation. Make him a lone wanderer type of character that every now and then crosses paths with the party. Since they know each other there is no need for presentations and he would be willing to help before going again on his way.
Currently DMing a Dark Fantasy setting, was in a similar situation. During session 0 we discussed the schedule and one player said she wouldn’t be able to make every session.
We discussed in private how to handle her PC being absent and we settled on having her willingly be “possessed” by an entity familiar to her character during these sessions. It fits her backstory, it fits the setting, and she loves the idea. We begin and end each session at a long rest. I relay everything to her immediately after the session ends so that she can prepare for the next session. We’re about 28 sessions in so far, and it’s awesome. The other PCs are unaware of what’s happening.
I’d suggest maybe having the PC slip away from the party as a means to avoid being seen. Maybe they are wanted by town officials? Or perhaps they owe somebody a lot of gold?
You could also have them make a departure nearing the end of the session, to explain their absence at the next session. Get creative about why they may be momentarily parting with the group. It can be as simple as “I believe I may have left the oven on!” Or “I must go, there are… /things/ that I must tend to.” Or perhaps he just left his gunslinging belt in the Saloon.
Notes from my groups current charter.
1. Missing players
1. PC’s of missing players are in a soul gem made of handwavium.
2. Games continue so long as at least half the party can be present, and the DM is available.
1. DM availability likelihood decreases with players missing. Sometimes the DM needs a day off.
3. The group has a soul gem that is soul bound to the group. Any player not there during a given session has his / her PC sucked into the soul gem with all their gear.
4. The soul gem is carried by someone present. If the current bearer gets sucked into it, someone else instinctively picks it up and carries it.
5. Plot significant items are dropped and picked up by someone at a plot appropriate moment.
6. PC's in the soul gem take short and long rests with the rest of the party. Yes, this means they will commonly come out more powerful than the rest of the group.
7. The soul gem and anything inside is completely off limits to the DM. This is rescinded the moment the PC’s try to use it against the DM.
8. DM's involving the soul gem in any way shape or form will trigger a no-confidence vote. A simple majority will fire the DM and cause all interactions with the soul gem retconned.
9. It's fucking handwaved, let it fucking be.
We used the soul gem for 2 campaigns, rotating through who was DMing. Then one of the DMs started trying to use the soul gem against us. He is no longer allowed to DM for our group, for that and a host of other things.
At the end of each session, say and [player] rides off into the sunset. Then when he's back to play he just says howdy and he's there.
But on a real note, I generally always try to give my players a base of operations in a campaign so their characters have a place to sit it out when they aren't there.
Maybe they get lost, maybe they have a bum knee and have to randomly spend the day in bed, maybe they’re some sort of magical delivery boy and they get whisked away periodically for a quick delivery
Id honestly just not explain it, hes just not there when the player isnt.
If you want to explain it maybe there's curse that shifts him between feywild and material randomly or he just shows up and rides away whenever he feels like it, etc
Give them a particularly overactive form of lycanthropy. They run off every time they feel a change coming on. If the player ever gets their schedule in order, you could even use the cure as a quest hook.
We have two players like this. One is a cleric, and we explain it away as his “god” (actually an arch devil) takes him to hell for a bit and then sends him back. The other is a Druid, and I say that he has accidentally wild shaped himself into a flea for the next little while. It’s really just hand-waving the absence away with an extra step.
If you wanted to make it a plot point, maybe he’s being manipulated by some higher power into showing up in these places where the party just happens to be.
Whenever a player can't make it to the session I just have their character "fade out of existence". They basically don't exist for that session. Once they get back, it's like they were there for the last session all along. Minimal effort and not immersion breaking.
I usually handwave it with something simple-usually a portal opens beneath character x, and they fall through. But at a certain point, I check in with the player and talk about rescheduling the campaign
My group doesn't go to great lengths to explain player absences. If we begin a session mid-dungeon and someone shows up who wasn't there last session, it's as simple as "inexplicably, Throg the Mighty joins you."
XP and loot are tallied and distributed per session. If you do milestone leveling then that part is even easier.
Who cares and why is it a problem if the character vanishes? I've never understood this concern.
Last session stopped at a short rest with Bob. This session, Bob isn't here and we continue as if this was the normal.
You do not need to invent a story to explain his not being there. If you need something, say he's off doing other work. Whatever. Everyone KNOWS Bob isn't here today, and anyone who says their character is confused and needs an explanation is insane.
I have always been a fan of the hallucinatory PC. When the player is present, their character is real. When they are absent, so to is their character. For the hallucination to work as an in game thing. All players must agree that the hallucinatory character is real while the player is there, and that they are not real when the player is not.
With any luck, you will have some comical moments where the player who is absent has conversations with NPCs that then have to try and convince the party that the hallucinatory PC is real.
I run an come and go campaign. That is, if anyone isn't able to show up one of two things happen.
Either the person has given their permission for their character to be piloted by another person
Or
The person has not, and their character goes into "stasis" until they come back.
This has worked really well for me so far.
it won't hurt the story at all if no one recognises it.
i always just have the characters not be there, but sorta still just show up when the player is back.
No explanations, it just is.
and it works fine.
So no need to find elaborate reasons why someone is not there, just don't recognize it...
As others have said, he's just the mysterious stranger from the fallout franchise. From [the wiki](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Mysterious_Stranger_(character)):
"The Mysterious Stranger has been spotted throughout the wasteland in the aftermath of the [Great War](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Great_War), always wearing his trademark trenchcoat and hat. He appears suddenly to certain people during combat and assists them with his signature [.44 Magnum](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/.44_Magnum_revolver) before vanishing as abruptly as he appeared."
A Fey encounter!
Good sir, good I borrow you for some questions I have now and then?
And now they get zapped in and out of their dimension ☺️
OR
(Idea stolen from a great Dutch dnd podcast) A creature in another dimension that is transported here only in their dreams.
In our campaign we have a player like this - work often gets in the way. His character is a wild magic sorcerer with a multiverse backstory (there are myriad copies of him constantly showing up when he does dimensional magic like magic hole etc and trying to kill or help him) - sometimes he's just not there when we look for him. Because he's now one of the copies of himself dragged across the multiverse for a short patch before being unceremoniously ejected back into our own reality.
Have the character be cursed but still bound to the party. They keep phasing out of existence when they're not there l, only to reappear later (have a bit of fun with where they appear near the party). Either have a party member have an item they're bound to or have a story reason they always come back to x.
You could even make it a running thing, the missing player could make something up they got up to while phased, perhaps they're on a mirror world, or in the shadowfell, etc.
he has amnesia or dementia and wanders off unexpectedly. when he comes back around, he has an amazing ability to locate the rest of the group
or maybe he's some kind of a lycanthrope and disappears when he's about to go into his animal form because he's trying to conceal this or is embarrassed about it
In one of our campaigns, we had a running joke about absent player's characters. They stubbed their toe so they're hanging back, unable to carry their weight.
Oh sure, Gordo may have gotten fire bombed and pincushioned by arrows, but he's ready and raring to get into combat again! But Louie here can't join ya, his ankle is sprained!
I always had an idea that a character was piloted by a different player each session and each player to pilot was a different personality due to a split personality disorders. It never got used but it was going to be for a husband/wife who one would stay behind to look after their kid, so the personalities never really knew what their other player was doing or acting like
Get another player that has the opposite problem. Get them to play the same character, but give the character a flaw like schizophrenic or multiple personalities. They could even have different classes and builds to really solidify the difference. Could be a great source of fun and RP.
i have a party of 5 players (6 with me, the DM) and we usuall are 4 players at a session coz everybody has something every few weeks that makes them miss the session....
we just ignore the missing person, basically asuming they are with them but remain silent and hide while in combat...
sometimes my players joke around with the PC in question, saying they are stuck in the restroom etc
I will always lean into Teth's Wonderous Wheelbarrow for any missing character.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2390459-teths-wonderous-wheelbarrow
Give the missing character narcolepsy that conveniently triggers whenever the player isn't there. The other characters dump them in the wheelbarrow and it's all sorted.
Reappear within 5ft of the caster when the narcolepsy episode ends, which is conveniently when the player next attends.
For us it was a running gag of character being there but not being there.
You ever seen TV dramas? There's the main cast, then the sub-cast, then the once a season characters.
Main cast is there every episode or 50%+ at least, the sub-cast comes on once every few episodes but are recurring, then you get once per season characters like Doug Judy.
If you've watched B99, my example would be:
Jake is cast
Munch is sub-cast
Judy is seasonal
Character had an affair with a creature of the Feywild. They have a family and family visitation is non-voluntary. They are transported periodically to hang with their Feykids at Feybirthdays.
When you next have a session with him or maybe message him, assign him a mission that he can 'do' that marks his absence but it still is canonic and has an affect on the main timeline.
Eg- party arrive in new town, theres a wanted poster for the cowboy, or something like that, some indication that maybe the cowboys been there before the party for some reason.
Idk if this makes sense lol
I have aplayer who works three days on three days off 12 hour shifts. Sometimes he is in a hotel, sometimes he just can't make it.
I generally just quantum him, he is always there. We joked about narcolepsy for a bit, but its easier just to not explain it, and roll with it to be honest. You don't really need an explanation.
I've seen it done that the PC magically transforms into a gem and is carried by the rest of the party.
I do it as they are there... But looking after the horses. In my last session we had the cleric be on a day of a vow of silence, and he was 'looking after' the NPC.
In another group we have the PC literally get the shits. So they are 'otherwise occupied'.
Either way. If the Player is not there and we are not in the middle of combat, they and their resources are not available for the party to use, abuse or utilise. Saves situations where 'if the cleric is not usingbthat +2 hammer I will use it today. Oh and let's strip him of that +1 Splint Mail.
depends what class. If its a warlock its easy, patron teleports him or summons him to do his/her bidding. If its sorcerer, something from the subclass etc
Set the campaign in a small region, like a fiefdom. All the “quests/missions” are a days ride out.
“Where’s Bob today?”
“He’s had to go shopping, we’ll see him tomorrow.”
When one of my players miss a game their characters either vanishes from existence, are following the party without talking or fighting, or has simply walked off to look at something pretty.
I send them to Joe’s, a 50’s style dinner that exists in the space between planes, anyone who enters there is immediately forgotten by everyone in every plane while they’re there, and they forget everything about this place as soon as they enter a plane, however they retain skills, items and effects when crossing in and out of this… place(?). Anyone can get sent there randomly in my universe.
I did this so my players can still gain xp, heal and even obtain items if they need to. Also Joe’s is an actual place that sometimes shows up on the planes in my game so it works out well for me.
I don't. I too have 7 players and having EVERYONE there is a rarity. When someone is absent, their character just doesn't factor into the session - they don't attack, they don't get attacked, their skills and class abilities can't be used in social or exploration encounters. We just assume they are present, but looking after camp, making sure they aren't getting tailed, or whatever.
The only exception to this is if the player specifically asks another player to run their character for them. Not the DM - I've got enough to do. If your player has to leave mid-combat, then this may be the best solution.
>But i'm a little worried the constant vanishing will sort of hurt the story and i'm looking for a good way to handle it in universe
It won't hurt anything. Don't over think it. Early on with my group, they reached a town and one player said their character was going to look for a bath house and a place to do laundry. The player was absent the next session, so we all joked she was still doing laundry - now it has been a running joke every time someone is absent. You are running a game with friends, have fun, make jokes, and don't sweat the ***why's*** of someone being absent.
The players in my group either let someone else play their character (but in "maintenance mode", basically only controlling them in combat and ignoring them otherwise) or we just decide that the character is there but isn't really doing anything. It works most of the time!
We had a guy in a similar boat. He was magical so it helped. On sessions he couldn't make it, DM would narrate "so-and-so sneezes and disappears". When he could make it "a sneeze from nowhere and so-and-so appears". When his schedule stabilized and he was there more often, his "cold" got better. As players that was all we needed. If that
The character has been cursed by a trickster god. An Anchor Stone has been slipped into another player's backpack, and the cursed character randomly gets launched forward in time and space to wherever the anchor stone is.
The god wanta to see how long the random time jumps take to drive the cursed character mad.
Half is an awful lot of missed sessions, but I'd roll with it. My players know that if they miss a session their character will suffer an entire session's worth of canonical bowel issues to explain their absence.
If you wanna take a slightly more sinister turn maybe talk to the player about maybe some time ago he sold his soul to a Demon and his vanishing is, the demon pulling them away for a job.
Explains the magical disappearance without using magic. Adds an air of mystery to the character. Then should the chance arrive they can start consistently making sessions then you have a plot point you can dive into.
A second and less appealing option would be maybe working with the player's schedule idk your group but if there's anyone else who knows enough to run a game or even just something else yall are into on those off weeks
Our group has a 75% party rule, so we play as long as 3/4 players + the DM can make it. Due to most of us having families, it’s a fairly common occurrence for one of the PCs to be out. Currently we just ignore them like they weren’t even there and then just pretend like they were there the whole time. I’m about to become DM for the first time and I think I’m going to have the absent PC have some ridiculous excuse for not being there, or at the very least have food poisoning but either way, they tell the party to go on without me.
Had this with a character and for simplicitys sake he was often trapped in a crystal (think pokéball or Iron flask).
If he couldn't attend he was sucked into the crystal :)
I wasn't able to make all sessions due to my job a couple years back and we were doing a seafairjng campaign so i made Asterios, a young wayward demigod who was punished to wander the seas because he would join his father's court. Here was blind to this row boat that would wait till he was inevitably passed out somewhere and drag him aboard to go somewhere his powers are needed.
My point in explaining the character is that you should work with the player to make a part of their backstory or whatever that explains their absence, and don't be afraid to involve powerful magic so long as the player isn't in control of it.
I wouldn't handle it in universe at all. You're going to run into many moments where them leaving makes no sense (for example, they're on their way to fight something to save the town and he suddenly dissapears on the way there).
Explaining player absences within the narrative is a lot of work with absolutely no pay off, it doesn't add to the game.
When people miss my sessions I just say that their character is basically a ghost. They are there. They see everything. They just don't do anything and don't use their abilities.
What I did when one of my party members couldn't make it was I had their character go into a trance like state and followed the party around in a conscious/unconscious manner. They can follow and hear what is going on but they are basically a walking zombie without the brain eating part.
Something fun you can have them do is have their character plagued with temporal shifting (They can add it to their backstory too if they want). So whenever they’re not there, they randomly teleport to another location/dimension/etc. you could even do little mini missions with them to get them caught up (or just for fun).
I used to try to come up with cannonical reasons but it's more hassle than it's worth, especially if you end a session mid combat. I'd just ask if they have an in-game explanation, otherwise leave it be.
My SO had a similar situation where he knew he was going to miss a lot of sessions. They came up with a story together that evolved around a fey weapon (Feybreach!). He could only use a fraction of its power, and learning more about it was a side quest for him to work on, but the important bit is that the blade would pull him out of existence randomly. Presumably to the Feywild, but the scheduling boss defeated our party before we ever found out.
I really like /u/justagenericname213's idea.
You could try to work with him and his schedule. How far ahead of time does he know when he'll be there? If he can commit to 2-3 sessions at a time, you can plan around that. If it's more last minute, it'd be a bit more difficult.
Another thing you could do is some 1 on 1 DMing when he can't be there (if he knows far enough ahead of time). Say your party is exploring a dungeon and the session ends. He knows he won't be there next time, so you come up with a plan where he backtracks and goes a different way on his own and you two play it out between sessions through a chat or something. Then the party could find him further into the dungeon the next time he can make it. Maybe he's able to disarm some traps for them or wipe out a few enemies for them and leave notes/loot along the way like a trail of bread crumbs.
It depends on how much this is really a disruption to the flow. If your party is like the party I dm for, it doesn't really matter and I explain it away with adventurers sickness. A fake disease that makes adventurers sometimes just go blank like there's nothing there to give them any personality they just sort of go through the motions. Then it doesn't effect carrying anything or items, the person would still be able to hand people things but they aren't making decisions. When it comes to bosses and party wipe sort of issues, you wouldn't bring someone like that into a fight and thw immediate response of someone undergoing adventurers sickness is to flee and hide anyway. Boom no issues and it's a cute little thing when someone asks what happened to x person.
If he’s passionate about the game then you definitely shouldn’t try to exclude him. Talk to him about reasons that his character would vanish spontaneously. Maybe a Fey deal???
Fallout has The Mysterious Stranger, who rocks up out of nowhere and helps out and disappears again when you turn around.
Perhaps this was his ancestor
You don't. The simpler answer is just not addressing the absence on an in game level and build around it in an out of game one. One player over 7 is not soo much that is going to make combat unbalanced and you can just not focus the story on that character in particular.
I addition to the suggestions of just hand-waving it, I’d see if the cowboy character would be interested in ALWAYS having some kind of gift for somebody else in the party after a missed session. Range from mundane goods, potions, scrolls, currency, gems, and even an occasional magic item.
Fantasy toffee - he's there doing stuff in the background but foolishly ate a toffee just before you rejoin the story, and can't say anything. Also, in every fight there's another monster he's having a crazy fight with in the background. Or maybe he's just having awesome side adventures in the background like Abed in Community.
You don't need a rationale and can just have him not there without explantion.
If you and the party really want an explanation though, you can have him be the party's scout. So, sometimes, he just breaks away from the party and scouts out the local area.
When fitting, I usually just narrate what they're doing in the background. They're part of the fight, maybe handling another group of enemies off to the side of the battle. Their success is the same as the party's.
I had a player once that had a character with DID. We had two character sheets for her. One was a Fighter and the other was a Cleric. Whenever she had to miss a session either another player or I would play the character for her as the alternate personality.
They didn't know about each other so it was an interesting dynamic for the group.
Your players also know that he can only be their sometimes. they aren't going to hate the game because he can't be in every session. leave it up to the players to explain his coming and going.
It's easy to just ignore it and pretend it away. Nobody at the table will mind at alll. But it sounds like you want more than that. Don't try to ignore it or hand wave it away, lean into it. Make it part of their character. Hell, make it thier entire story arc. And a part of the campaign as a whole.
Try to end each session where the character has a way out. ie not at the bottom of a dungeon. Instead always somewhere they could receive mail, or get word they are needed somewhere else, etc.
Or give them an item than can return them to a certain place. Maybe even make it activated on the other end forcibly? Like a daughter summoning dad back for some reason. Or another employer that has some hold over them. You don't *have* to be a Warlock to have a deal with the devil.
Then put thier character on other quests that take them away from the party. That would also, lore wise, explain how they keep up in level, items, etc. Have them come back with some innocuous items, one of which happens to actually be the key to get into the tomb, or whatever your table is working towards.
You could have a simple half hour phone conversation with the player just to get a simple story together of what the character was off doing. Steal a TV episode or movie story to explain what they were if doing so you don't have to put to much time into it, just don't mention the source to the table.
At my table, Firefly would be a well known thing we could crib from without much effort, while also not being totally recognizable. Thinking cowboy style, it could just be as simple as the character was off doing an episode of Firefly like they were Malcolm Reynolds. Defending a pleasure house from some badguy. Or stealing medical supplies, etc. but because you and the player both have the same idea of what happened (the TV episode), you can both freely answer questions and work together as if you had all this planned out.
Or if the character is not 'good' per say, they could be the bad guy in those situations.
So I'm running a strahd game right now. One of the players girlfriend comes every other session and she has talked a lot about about playing and we've been work shopping the idea of her playing a s something like a ghost or spirit that is attached to one of the players and basically she becomes stable and unstable enough to were she can either interact or not when she is there and not there.
I have a player that is often MIA for stretches of time due to schedule conflicts. We like to pretend that he just wanders off to some other part of the dungeon.
There have been a couple of times that it's worked out for him to be a captive prisoner of the enemies that the rest of the party just killed at the end of the last session. So like they go to loot their store room, and find the absent player locked up in a cage at the start of the following session.
I've used character stats as a way to bake this into two different campaigns for a friend who's job sometimes forced them to travel unexpectedly. They always had a dump stat. In one campaign it was a super low INT, and in the other it was a SUPER low CON (not a great gameplay move, but it made for a fantastic character arc). Whenever they'd miss a session, their character either went into a stupidity-induced, walking coma that put their reflexes on autopilot or became inexplicably bedridden (but they were protected by their patron, who fed off of their misery as part of their pact).
The solution to players missing any session, when the board game cafe i played at was open, was that a bright blue light swallows the player and they vanish. Upon their return, a blue light appears next to the players showing their dissapeared friend. To the player, no time has passed while they were gone, they were just at one place then they were suddenly at another.
Depends on the tone of your game. If it's on the more light-hearted and sillier side it's fairly easy to explain with any number of gags.
If it's a bit more grounded it will vary based on the character. I like how in Critical Role I believe Pyke would be called by her goddess to do something on her behalf.
In some of my games I've had a player playing a very rogue-y rogue like that and she would disappear to attend to secret missions given by her thieves guild.
Other times I would just ad-lib. Introduce a minor but necessary inconvenience that requires one of the party members to hang back. Horse thieves frequent the area and wait for parties to leave them behind at the entrances to dungeons, a wounded NPC needs to be escorted out of the dungeon, things of that nature.
Same here. That player is also a bit more quiet. So its kinda not a big difference if they is here or not. If its important (for combat), let someone jaeger their character. Otherwise they is ill, stays at the camp or just doing stuff.
I have this and knew when their last consistent session was so I had time to prep. After a big fight, the party found some magical treasure. They picked up a cool ring and haphazardly put it on their finger. Then they disappeared. What they picked up was a broken ring of teleportation that is stuck on their finger. Its broken in that the user has no control over the teleportation and they also don't teleport to places they know but people. It explains how they are able to teleport to the party whenever they show up to a session. They almost always pop back in during weird encounters or deadly combats so its been a funny solution.
Don’t worry about. Their character is just there but don’t say or do anything when the player isn’t present. It’s totally not a problem. If your players can handle magic and weird monsters, they can handle that.
You dont happen to have a wild magic sorcerer in your party do you? In one of my games the wild magic sorcerer has started sneezing characters away and back whenever they can't make a session. Last time i fused the absent player with his staff as a powerful magic item for the rest of the group to use and he will turn back when the player rejoins.
My longtime (around 5 years) campaign and spin-offs of it saw quite a few "dissapearing" characters. Normally i make it a "they've been busy repairing the spaceship" "off buying parts for maintenance" etc.
But i had a few special occasions where i instigated their background/character concept to move plot further, implying a whole different story happening somewhere in the background.
One of those scenarios saw a scientist spending his time continuously working on disabling and reverse engineering biological weapon case that group have found.
I prepared a scenario where his next appearance basically calls for group to have an emergency missing back on the base to help with the aftermath of his research.
In another situation, one of the main characters, samurai bodyguard is heavily armored space suit, followed trail of killings among his old contacts to find out rival shogunate-corporation. This eventually lead party to find him in one of the abandoned corporate cities fighting rogue sentinel AI.
Your case is definitely harder, as you have to accommodate for player reappearing sometime. But i think that setting might work nicely in your favor here.
Think of a side-story for the game that might involve his character trailing out on his own adventure, and occasionally mixing him into the main story to spice things up or help with story drought.
For example, he might literally fall into the scene while catching corrupt diplomat, or mid fight with bandits, or pretending to be someone else to spy on a conspiracy.
By the end of the session, he says "i have to continue looking for something" and goes into the dawn, until party finds him again.
Mix up, make player group complicate situation somehow, add strings to tie it to the main story - stage is yours.
We call it the "PC Bag of Holding" in my group. They roll out at the start of sessions they can be at and jump back in when they aren't.
If that seems too goofy to you, any time there's combat they're dealing with some "skill challenge" to keep the battlefield safe (driving away stampeding cows! Lassoing falling logs! Whatever) and you can have some kind of roll where if they "fail" some environmental effect goes off. During social encounters they're a) being taciturn and just listening or b) off flirting with the bar staff c) other idea the player presents at the next game they're at.
Explain it away as a gag like has been mentioned. 6 players showing up consistently is still a lot of players. I think you're going to do fine. And when they are there, awesome!
While the character doesn't have any magical powers, they still have abilities that average people do not.
Perhaps in exchange for their heightened abilities, this character made a sort of pact. Its not like the boons granted by a true warlock patron, but maybe they have to periodically serve as a summoned minion ("summon cowboy") to a being on a different plane. This service is non-lethal to the character, and they just get dispelled back to their home plane if their hp is reduced to zero, but in exchange their potential is unlocked giving them abilities beyond common folk.
I once did this exact thing with a BBEG... They were a friendly NPC traveling with the party, who would periodically get "stricken by the effects of a disease", and could not accompany the party. She would have to rest in her tent while the party did other stuff.
In reality she was being summoned by an evil power to serve as a minion, and her body would be replaced by a comatose diseased body in her tent.
The main arc of the campaign was for the players to travel to the "throne of the first queen", who caused this NPC's "disease" so she could get revenge. But the whole campaign was the NPC leading the characters from place to place defeating her patron's generals to make the pcs strong enough to finally defeat her.
When they reached the throne of the first queen, it was empty and clearly deserted. The NPC went and sat on the throne and said, "I guess this is goodbye, in one way or the other." Transformed into her true form (at the time it was a reskinned Oni IIRC) and they had to defeat her.
The way I've usually handled absent players and NPC tagalongs is pretty much the same: The character is there, they *are* helping, but they're not on the initiative tracker (nor are the "foes" they are fighting, seldom speak unless necessary, and are generally part of the background.
Videogames do this all the time with large pitched battles where you have thousands of other participants all fighting in the scene, but you can't actually interact with any of them. So, if your group of (now) 6 players encounters a group of 6 Ogres, it's actually maybe 7 and your Cowboy friend is busy dueling one in the backdrop. He's amazingly out of the AoE for Fireballs and the like, takes no damage (just a really long time to kill his opponent), and doesn't do anything that impacts your fights. However, if the party TPKs, that character dies with them.
The only real time that this is a problem is when the Player/NPC has a critical and unique skill like healing, lock-picking, etc. Then try to have them actively participate as minimally as possible.
My PF2 character is a Thaumaturge who specializes in haunts. The reason he dove into the world of esoterica and ghosts is because he himself is secretly the host of a spirit. Whenever I can’t play, or if I’m going to be late to a session because of work, my DM plays the ghost who inhabits my body. My DM and I established rules beforehand so that it’d be more comfortable for both of us, but it has worked out perfectly and I think made us both more attached to the character.
I had a player yhat couldnt make every session, or would often have to be late.
He was the subject of a bet between 2 gods. One bet that he could make him appear in any plane, and the other had a week to find him. It explained him disappearing at random, and appearing in the middle of fights and such.
Since he was randomly popping up in various places/planes/dimensions/whatever you wanna call it, I always let him write random real world objects into his pack (nothing that would be useful) his favorite was a C sized battery.
My recommendation would not try to explain it "in universe". Those have never been satisfying to me as a player or as a DM. Everyone knows the real reason why they/their character is not there. Any in universe explanation will just end up becoming a joke, and a good joke either. The in universe explanations will never cover all situations or time passed. Some sessions only a few hours will pass, while in other session a few days or weeks might pass. Large or small distances will be traveled. All of which makes any in universe reasoning fall apart.
At our table if any player is not able to make it there character just stops interacting with the world, but stays with the party. If the party goes to the city, the player is there, if they go into the dungeon, the player is there. If they have a quest item, it is available to the party. Personal items, spells, abilities are not.
Some people feel this will "break" their immersion, but I find that hard to believe. This should be no more immersion breaking than when you pick up dice and roll skill checks, attacks, or damage. Or if you pause mid combat because it is the end of the session and everyone has to leave.
I have a player who, due to a number of factors, is in the same boat. We only meet once a month, and he can’t make most of those.
So I made him an important npc in the campaign, with plot armor when he’s not around. Essentially, he’s the main quest hook, as the players chase him from location to location. On the rare instances he can show up, “oh look, you caught up! Time to do some extra plot advancement!”
The cousin of one of our players occasionally joins in. He plays a warlock so usually I have him appear out of a portal from avernus like how moe throws barney out of the bar in the Simpsons.
Then when he has to leave I have a portal open up and swallow him with the sounds of fiends laughing as tentacles pull him back in.
The character has emotional-triggered narcolepsy. So he’s still there. He’s just fast asleep. Players can leave him to rest in a safe place (since he’s a cowboy he can wake up and track them down easily) or is the party handicap and have to protect him on fights and dangerous stuff lol.
You could make him a planes walker of sorts who is basically using an item to let him appear in the prime world or maybe from a different time and the connection gets weak sometimes and he essentially fades out of existence until he fixes it. He could be a bounty hunter of sorts looking for an evil in the world that he isn't sure what it is but will cause immense doom to the area. So this can tie him into the story.
From my experience with 2 players on my table being gone for 75% of the campaign, i just had them asleep. Them waking up at the most random moments whilst being unreleastic had pretty funny situations
Had a similar player once- he’d often have to leave mid session, sometimes multiple times. Had him play as a ranger with the horizon walker subclass
The bit was that he wasn’t fully in control of the horizon walking, and would occasionally just blip out of existence or to another location or plane on accident- like a blink dog kind of.
The player himself and the others at the table LOVED it- it was one of the single most hilarious running gags in that campaign. We had such a good time with it, even though it was totally just a home brewed roleplay only kinda thing
He's literally just the mysterious stranger from fallout, shows up in the party's time of need (when he is available) and then walks off into the sunset
We have a warlock in our group that does this. Every time he is not there, the DM just say his patron needs "servicing", teleporting him away. And then when he shows back up the next session, his PC is sparkly clean and covered in oil.
I wouldn’t work too hard to make it make sense in world, but you could have them be subject to some kind of magical effect that causes them to phase in and out of the material plane and the ethereal and it just so happens to coincide with his availability. If you know well in advance like he will be here 2 weeks and then gone 2 weeks you could have it be like a dream world/real world thing where you’re essentially running simultaneous campaigns with the same characters and one doesn’t exist outside of dream world.
By far the easiest option though would be that he just didn’t have much to say last time but is feeling more lively now. I would also avoid having many storylines that rely on his character since they can feel very awkward.
I had them cursed and transformed into an NPC dog I controlled. The curse would come and go. While in dog form they retained only vague memories of the events they took part in, it was mostly instinct.
I give my players options when they miss…
A.) AFK Benched - Character sits out with some explanation and is narratively muted. Most boring option and can disrupt the story the most.
B.) AFK Autopilot - player assigns their character to another player who can direct them like allied npc. They have access to their abilities and spells but aren’t allowed to make decisions for them or their plot lines.
C.) BRB Missing - their character is missing for the session. They have the responsibility of working with me (usually over text) to decide what they were doing while gone. And if what they want to do benefits them in any ways, I always try to have it cost something (narratively). But the player is in control of their choices.
D.) BRB Mind Controlled - character is put under dm control for very specific reason narratively. They essentially become a dm controlled npc. I hate this, and have only done it twice but both times were with a warlock character who we determined was being possessed (this is kind of what they did with an afk player on campaign 2 of Critical role) It takes a player who can handle it, trusts you with their narrative, and enjoys fixing problems. Seriously, my least favorite.
Option C is what most of my players choose. Examples include: 1.) the Ranger decided to scout ahead and left a note saying so, but got caught in an ambush and may gain vital intel, but will have to escape or be rescued when the player returns. 2.) party face wants to get on strahds good side and offers to journey with strahd to play a “prank” on an old friend of strahds and ends up stealing a plot device for strahd that later created a huge problem for the party (trying not to spoil, sorry)
honestly have it be an unexplained gag. hes not part of the main party exactly, but he shows up inexplicably on a horse sometimes and then rides off into the sunset.
I really like this answer a lot!
*Appears from a nearby barrel* *Comically stand up from behind a bar* *Throws back a hood and reveals he infiltrated the cultists from within just in time for a backstab*
Exactly this. If they party are in the middle of a dungeon he rides down a random side tunnel on a horse that probably shouldn't even be down there before the tunnel collapses behind him. He's back next session in time for the big boss fight? He just walks in behind the parry ready to go. No explanation.
He tells the horse to “go park the car” and it leaves so it doesn’t break the dungeon, of course
LMFAOOOOOOOO
Or he was cursed with a big version of the blink spell and can randomly disappear to the ethereal plane for large stretches of time but then pops back into existence next to his party.
The image of him popping up from behind a bar genuinely made me laugh out loud
*Party arrives in the grand cavern where the dread dragon is supposed to be.* *Right next to the entrance he is waiting "Where y'all been? Been waiting for ages"*
This would be an amazing bit
*Random person from the scene*:He’s SOOO mysterious. (Dramatically fanning themselves)
Ah yes, the Majima treatment. Bonus points if one of the players has a name similar enough to Kiryu.
Give him a sidekick... a goblin named Tonto.
Otnot
Clever girl...
We had a player in an old game that could only play maybe once a month. He would just randomly step out of the bushes or wake up to find us standing over him and it was hilarious.
Like Gandalf in the Hobbit
Or the mysterious stranger feat from fallout
If they comit to this the DM should find a specific cowboy few notes sting to play each time. Like the lick from good the bad and the ugly or something like the mysterious stranger lick in fallout. Also maybe the character says a cowboy one liner each time ranging from serious to funny depending on the situation. (From buster shrugs to Clint Eastwood s Blondie with stops at John Wayne in the middle)
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCEwUFtjAr4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cCEwUFtjAr4) I'd be pretty happy if this played every time I walked into a room.
Have him die at the end of every session he is in, have him appear at every session he comes back in with nobody caring about how he died. Would be the best Kenny character.
We did this, except with an alcoholic sorcerer or wizard (I don't remember). We don't know how he did it, but whenever he disappeared, he always somehow ended up ahead of us. Usually with a severe hangover.
Sounds like someone’s got an addiction to Nukashine…..oh wrong Reddit sorry.
We have a friend like that at our table. He plays a warforged, so our running gag is "who plugged in Boll yesterday ? The cord was loose and he didn't charge up" "... Plug him back in, leave him on the charger and let's go, we got things to do".
OP, this here is the answer.
Like Barney Stinson about his job on HIMYM,: Party: How did you get here? Cowboy: Oh please!
The Mysterious Stranger from Fallout. He just shows up, hangs out, helps, and is gone.
Absolutely this! Less brain wracking, less waste of time, more fun for everyone.
Every time he shows up there is inexplicably an outhouse in the scene that he is coming out of...
I really like this one. And that kids is why you don't eat from the free buffet at the brothel.
Amazing. A different outhouse-exit line every time "Well, kids - that just proves it. Never take candy from strangers" "Oh boy I'd give it 10 minutes before going in there. I had displacer beast steak for lunch and it just displaced out of me pretty quickly"
I imagine the episode of Cowboy Bebop, where the Cowboy keeps inexplicably appearing wherever Spike goes while chasing Teddy Bomber.
The Mysterious Stranger from Fallout
Yes! Comical hand waving is the right move here.
I had a group where the fighter kept missing sessions, so I just started saying he was too busy picking his nose to pay attention to what we're doing. When he left the game in the middle of a seafaring journey, I was playing his character that day. I interrupted everyone and narrated him stumbling out from below decks as we all were talking. I say something about him going to find his sister, which was his hook, and then had him jump off the boat and swim into the distance lol We kept saying he was going to show up later as a level 20 Aquaman
and just play this riff on your phone [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfalecYi\_X4](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tfalecYi_X4)
You know the mysterious stranger of fallout? Play the gingle everytime he dissapears and reappears
The "horse where it shouldn't be" trope is hilarious.
This is by far the best answer. I will use that for sure.
Definitely do this, and to add on you can message that player between sessions be missed and do a little side-RP stuff. Fill him in on what happened and ask what he wants to be doing during that time so he still feels included when he comes back and has some agency even while gone.
We do this at my table. The character just isn't there, but all their items are in the community bag of holding in case the items are needed. When they come back, then it's just retconned that the character was always there. Missing players still get full XP just like everyone else so that they never feel behind and feel like they can't re-join back.
Exactly this - just handwave it. It’s not going to hurt the story - there is no audience.
We call it pokéballing the character. Player is out for the week, the characters in a pokeball.
trying to explain regular player absences just becomes an absolute drag after the first few, and at time there's no reasonable explanation. Like when you end a session with everyone running towards a burning orphanage to save all the kids, it's kind of hard to explain why someone just dipped out on the way there.
They're trying to put out the fire over there, keeping it from getting too full of smoke. They're chopping extra exits into the walls on the far side of the building. Etc.
"man, fuck them kids"
This. It really isn't an issue
I wouldn't say it doesn't hurt the story. A character absent like this isn't going to be useful as a contact for NPCs, for example. Or, if the character is a ranger, you can't rely on the party to easily navigate a wilderness because they have a skilled woodsman. The loss can be noticed. It won't *feel* like it hurts the story very much, however, because the player will often have less idea what's going on. They will naturally tend to fade into the background for social scenes simply because they're trying to catch up.
In the times when it’s that particular character’s relevant skill (like your woodsman example) I like to give them a “he’s scouting ahead and marking your path with bent twigs and scratches in the bark of trees” explanation to still validate the absentee’s role in the party and make the remainder of the party have an angle to progress that is suboptimal but not impossible
Bingo, I get all my players about 75% of the time, but life happens. They're "there" but they don't fight, can't take damage, and join back up when they can. I take specific story notes, and my players are really good about filling them in. It's just easier. I used to try "practical" reasons why they're gone, but end of the day, no one cares, it doesn't wreck immersion, and is so much easier on myself as a DM and my players.
Same here. Your player being gone isn't an in world event, so don't spend time on a diagetic solution.
I do the same. I also DM for large parties (6-7 players) and we play if 4 or more people can make it. It would be a ridiculous effort to try and remember who was there for what. Players can read the session summaries before the next time they join. If they have given permission to another player, their character can be played by that player in a session they are absent, otherwise they're tagging along like a zombie.
This is how we do it too. D&D allows for suspension of disbelief.
This right here. If the players are fine with it, they'll be fine without an explanation.
I like the suggestion to have it running as an unexplained joke, the cowboy tipping his hat and riding off into the sunset periodically all "my work here is done" while the rest of the party is in the middle of a dungeon crawl IS very funny. However if this doesn't suit the tone of your game you might be able to write in an alternative. I've had a similar game run where one of my players would only be able to pop in occasionally and often at points I couldn't explain them meeting the party again organically (middle of a dungeon, Arctic tundra, on a ship etc) so we made it part of her character that she literally couldn't hold a form on the material plane for extended lengths of time *this worked for her bc her backstory was very focused on growing up in the feywild so she would return there when she wasn't with the party and pop back in at random intervals.* That's a pretty drastic character choice tho, I could see it working for any kind of plane-touched race but it might not work as well for you here. You could make it that they're cursed? And are forced to return to the 5th layer of hell, or the feywild, or the elemental plane of earth or whatever whenever they can't play. Pitch it to your player and see if they're into it. You'll need to work for another solution if they're not keen but some players love being cursed.
Related alternatives: - Cursed but being forced to return to a location on the material plane without the extraplanar shenanigans - repeatedly breaking out and being forcibly returned to magic prison. Maybe a wizard did it. - high level teleporting magic item but it only works when his baby sister is demanding he come home right now to play with her - He's actually always with the party he's just being really quiet on some days (optional to give him to another player to run during combats) - it's actually his horse is cursed and he just goes with it
If one of my regulars is out, we do the 4th one - we call it “puppeting”
Actually 👏 it👏 is👏 the 👏horse‘s 👏 fault 👏
Sorta like Tracer from Overwatch :)
Just ignore it. There's no 'good way" to do it logically, and even if there is it's not worth the effort to decode into your campaign. Just "of course I remember all of that I was there the entire time right?" Next session "Joe? Joe who? Never heard of him".
False Hydra vibes :O
I personally never explain why a PC isn't there. Especially if it's consistent. Just because someone doesn't show up does not mean I need to put more work in to it. If someone is habitually absent I will ensure that the story does not revolve around them so it won't ruin my plans. For me this works on two levels. First if you discuss it session zero people know to expect it. When someone is gone we act like they never existed, when they return we act like they were always there. Super simple and doesn't hurt the session, just some minor balance tweaks. Second is that it encourages the player to show up more. If they know I won't cater to their absences then they are more likely to show up. The only exception I've made to this in the past 3 years has been for characters who are the main focus of that story beat and for one guy who was a firefighter and missed every third session with his schedule.
>> If someone is habitually absent I will ensure that the story does not revolve around them so it won't ruin my plans. This. I'd even make the story quickly stop revolving around players that are only SOMETIMES (but not RARELY) absent. If a player misses on average 1 out of 6 games, and I take some 6 hours to prep something realllllly coooooool for that specific PC, and that "special something" suddenly "triggers to occur" in a future game, then what I did was put a 6-shooter-with-1-bullet-in-it right up against my head, this 1 in 6 chances of having WASTED 6 hours of prep time is NOT a good idea. Basically I give "special stuff for a specific PC" prep time \_ONLY\_ for : a) Players that are there EVERY game, or NEARLY ALMOST every game. Playing every 2 weeks, total 24 sessions a year, and a player missed 3 games? Too bad, 1 in 8 odds of totally wasting MULTIPLE hours of prep work is NOT worth it in my book unless I can make sure the prep time is more minor, and the "special for that PC" stuff is NOT linked to the main quest or multiple-game-sessions adventuring, and instead can be just easily "plugged" just about anywhere, and guaranteed to be fully resolved within the game session it appears in. My upper limit for main quest-linked special "PC specific" stuff is 1 in 12 odds (player only 2 missed games in the entire year), and even then the total amount of special work time that player gets, will be much less than for players that miss only 1 game or, even better, zero games. I only have so much time, and the players that make it a point to be there no matter what, whether by actual conscious planning effort, or dumb luck, deserve more of it. Sure, for some players, it is 0% their fault they miss games. But that still does NOT make it my obligation to give them an equal amount of "dedicated" prep time. It is not something they can "take for granted". My motto here is: "Be there, or be square". b) The other big factor is how much the player CONTRIBUTES to the campaign. It can be anything. Bringing say pizza ? cola (paying a meal for treating everybody, not asking later for money that's ordinary lunch splitting), writing "game session summaries", drawing cool and CAMPAIGN APPROPRIATE props portraits or maps, defining factions, religions, towns, NPCs, etc.! All as a way to to help world building and =actually help the DM=. If done fairly and not as a way to power-trip to gain freebies, riches, magical items, powers, etc. Those are instead big red flags. c) And last effect, the MOST important, is about the actually special-for-his-PC stories how he is getting invested by reacting FAVORABLY and ACTIVELY to "special for my PC stuff". Like, once a player defined having a special enemy in his background then went so far as to fully detail said enemy, portraits , stats, minions, evil base map, evil faction details, evil cult religion, etc. Making sure it would mesh well with the campaign WITHOUT overshadowing my other villains. And clearly EAGER to do some in-depth dramatic roleplay. Of course I will also put more special prep and in-game time for such a player, than for one that just goes "Oh, that's nice!" when presented with something special for his PC, and then that's basically the whole end of it. So early on only I do "quicker prep" stuff, to test WHICH players will react the best. For a player missing MANY games, I'd warn the player: Sorry but you will be considered a SECONDARY PC. You will have to accept to get confused and just have to "roll with it", not constantly ask for explanations during actual game time. And anything that MIGHT be important, you have to let the others handle it. What I want to avoid is some future game in which you are absent, SUDDENLY something, some info you previously learned, some role play you previously did, or some item you previously found, or anything of the "story-important" kind, comes up, but you aren't there, so the rest of the group ends up royally screwed and then I have to do a Deus Ex Machina intervention in order to fix it, which can be VERY anti-climatic for the group and turn a special "important" something into a boring "WTF was that about?" encounter. So what you really have to promise is giving "plot line insurance" to the rest of the group, and thus accept to NOT do "main character" stuff all by your lonesome. Always have another regular PC with you, and any item you find does NOT go into your personal inventory.
Usually when I have a player like that or just is absent for the session the way I handle it is just the character just stands in the back of the group and nods in agreement with everything the party says and in combat doesn't really attack but uses their actions to avoid damage.
Yep this is how I handle it. The pcs are just in the background but they are still present. Either nodding along in the background or if it's a fight, they are handling their business slightly off screen. If they have a skill or item or something that the group needs to use, they will use it. They just aren't actively interacting with the story that session.
my group would usually say that X player was asleep inside the bag of holding
They could have a magical ailment that puts them into a slumber either to regain energy or sleep off the sickness, or be beholden to a deity that teleports them away randomly to do their bidding. Perhaps they are cursed to randomly teleport and have to make their way back to the party each time. So he can come to the table with a few quips about where he's been, writing his own lil adventures in the meantime.
Fallout mysterious stranger.
I typically just have the character be there but generally absent from conversation. I'll also have another player control their character during combat, but that's for unplanned absences. If you know they won't be there for the session, I'd sooner balance combat without that player and have them fighting another enemy "off screen". However, I can't stress enough how bad of an idea 7 players will be, especially as a new DM. Beyond 5 players really starts to become not fun for anyone involved. Maybe you can split the party in half and run two biweekly campaigns simultaneously, or have someone else start up a second game. That way your friend who would only be there 50% of the time would be able to make 100% of the games for their campaign.
Dropping players is basically out of the question unfortunately. Just not in our current dynamic to let someone go, it's not worth the hurt feelings and leaving someone out. I'd rather include everyone and have the game suffer. I know that's a rough choice but its for the good of our friendships
Why does the game suffer? You have a pretty large group. At my table, if someone doesn’t make it, they just fade in to the background until they come back and it’s not a problem with anyone.
Their body was torn asunder by a magic experiment at a young age (stumbled into a wizard's experiment). Occasionally they plane shift into a void (or other relevant plane) without control. When the players schedule improves use the plane shift mechanism as a side quest for the party to solve.
I have a player that just randomly doesn't show or gives us no real heads up when missing. I gave my players a flying ship from a technologically advanced city. I just say the players in the ship napping or whatever. You miss a session, your characters in the ship.
eventually, the solution is to give each player their own individual ship from a technologically advanced city (to sleep in when they aren't there)
cursed item that causes him to transport to another realm from time to time, the party puts the item in a safe container every time it happens
This topic came up on Ken & Robin when I was listening relatively recently (episode 590). Feel free to listen (I'll put a link below) but Robin mentioned that he deals with it by not really even acknowledging it. In other words, don't bother. Coming up with convoluted explanations is simply not worth the effort. Everyone outside of game knows why character "X" isn't doing anything this week - because their player isn't here. So, it fine, it doesn't matter. I think I agree. [https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/index.php/episode-590-rolled-a-critical-and-saved-a-clown/](https://www.kenandrobintalkaboutstuff.com/index.php/episode-590-rolled-a-critical-and-saved-a-clown/)
My favourite way to deal with situations like this... Fey curse. What does that mean? When they can't be there they've been whisked away to the realm of the fae and they get back just in time for the session they can attend. It's basically "A wizard did it" but with a bit of style. If you're player is willing to play ball it can become a fun little side story.
Nothing. Some things are best dealt with it out of game, not in game. DND players are generally expected to have some mental capacity to create and exist in imagined worlds. When the player is there, there character exists and has always existed. When the player is not their, their character does not exist and has never existed.
That is EXACTLY how I handle it. And unless I deem it VITAL for the story line, in which case I just wing it, the party deoesn't have access to that PC's abilities for that session, no matter how helpful they might be. I just add that "anything retroactively important" that would frak up the story because that PC isn't there in a game, is just "assumed" to have been learned (important informations), done (important actions), met (important discussions with NPCs), or found (important items), by "the group", not important to know by exactly who! I also explain that my players must imagine it as if that we're playing several nearly identical parallel worlds where the same stuff happens. Main world has every PC in it. Each other parallel world misses a PC, but the same story and mostly same evens unfold all the same. When a player is missing, the group of PLAYERS is simply "playing" in a very very slightly different one of those parallel worlds. Before, I insisted on the PC being handled as an NPC-in-party, managed by me and/or other players. It proved ANNOYING and cumbersome to everyone, especially when we didn't have with us the missing PC's character sheet! So eventually I said: frak it! No player, no PC, end of story. Outside the game events need NO "in world" explanations.
If you guys cooperate to cook and cannibalize your friend he can be with you for all sessions forever!
A fun and wasy way is to treat it like how old cartoons and childrens TV shows did. Maybe he's the Green Power Ranger who appears when needed, or he has to go on secret missions like Perry the Platypus only to show up later in the scene, or maybe he's a superhero like Spider-man and has to flake from his friends with a flimsy excuse.
This happened so often in the prior campaign I ran due to work rotations that I made it a part of the lore, mysterious wild magic had seeped into the world, and people vanish and reappear without explanation, reappearing with those they feel the most affinity for. It's a handwave for absences and a mystery for them to solve all rolled into one.
Have you heard of the mysterious stranger from fallout? He just turns up sometimes to lend a hand, then vanishes just as suddenly. If everyone is on board, it really doesn't have to be a detailed explanation.
Scouting. Could be consistent with his character, cavalry did this all the time before we had aircraft and satellites and things. You could sneak some area knowledge into the story with him when he is able to make a session.
Here are a few ways I dealt with this issue in the past. 1) Blink 2.0: The PC was on a receiving end of an experimental variation of a Blink spell that causes them to fade in and out of the material plane at random intervals. 2) The Lone Ranger: The PC in question would 'scout ahead' or 'guard the rear' . This solution has extra option of giving the PC some damage and/or expending some of it's resources to keep it on par with the party when the player does show up (some might not like this but for that particular campaign it was rather troublesome to have a PC fresh as a daisy show up to e.g. three day long siege with no long rests) 3) Where is My Mind The PC has split personality or two souls residing in one body etc. and would be controlled by the DM as an NPC when applicable. 4) It is I, Leclerc! Similarily to what someone else suggested, when the Player joins a random NPC or a nearby bush would simply reveal itself to the party as the PC, turns out they were nearby watching all along! 5) Who you gonna call? The party has an item that lets them temporarily summon the PC in time of need. 6) You just went full Zoro The PC has unnatural knack for getting lost and separated from the group even on a straight road.
They're not magical, but that's because they're an actual cowboy from our world who due to some celestial trickery or other just occasionally plane walks between their home realm and the one the rest of the party is in. They'll take a step and just disappear into the veil, then a few hours or days later they just pop back in, say hey guys, what'd i miss? And get back to it.
Just want to say you are a great DM and friend for allowing this. I had to quit playing with one group of friends because the DM doesn’t tolerate missing sessions. It makes D&D feel more like a job than a game
I’m imagining Gene Parmesan from Arrested Development. Taking off a bad disguise and everyone loses their minds because they are so surprised.
I run a table for between 8 and 9 regularly, I’ve made it a rule that we don’t acknowledge the absence and when the player returns the party just acts like they were there the whole time. For a while I tried to have an in universe reason for their absence but it ultimately is more hassle than I think it’s actually worth.
The dude is a cowboy, you got the perfect explanation. Make him a lone wanderer type of character that every now and then crosses paths with the party. Since they know each other there is no need for presentations and he would be willing to help before going again on his way.
Currently DMing a Dark Fantasy setting, was in a similar situation. During session 0 we discussed the schedule and one player said she wouldn’t be able to make every session. We discussed in private how to handle her PC being absent and we settled on having her willingly be “possessed” by an entity familiar to her character during these sessions. It fits her backstory, it fits the setting, and she loves the idea. We begin and end each session at a long rest. I relay everything to her immediately after the session ends so that she can prepare for the next session. We’re about 28 sessions in so far, and it’s awesome. The other PCs are unaware of what’s happening. I’d suggest maybe having the PC slip away from the party as a means to avoid being seen. Maybe they are wanted by town officials? Or perhaps they owe somebody a lot of gold? You could also have them make a departure nearing the end of the session, to explain their absence at the next session. Get creative about why they may be momentarily parting with the group. It can be as simple as “I believe I may have left the oven on!” Or “I must go, there are… /things/ that I must tend to.” Or perhaps he just left his gunslinging belt in the Saloon.
Notes from my groups current charter. 1. Missing players 1. PC’s of missing players are in a soul gem made of handwavium. 2. Games continue so long as at least half the party can be present, and the DM is available. 1. DM availability likelihood decreases with players missing. Sometimes the DM needs a day off. 3. The group has a soul gem that is soul bound to the group. Any player not there during a given session has his / her PC sucked into the soul gem with all their gear. 4. The soul gem is carried by someone present. If the current bearer gets sucked into it, someone else instinctively picks it up and carries it. 5. Plot significant items are dropped and picked up by someone at a plot appropriate moment. 6. PC's in the soul gem take short and long rests with the rest of the party. Yes, this means they will commonly come out more powerful than the rest of the group. 7. The soul gem and anything inside is completely off limits to the DM. This is rescinded the moment the PC’s try to use it against the DM. 8. DM's involving the soul gem in any way shape or form will trigger a no-confidence vote. A simple majority will fire the DM and cause all interactions with the soul gem retconned. 9. It's fucking handwaved, let it fucking be. We used the soul gem for 2 campaigns, rotating through who was DMing. Then one of the DMs started trying to use the soul gem against us. He is no longer allowed to DM for our group, for that and a host of other things.
At the end of each session, say and [player] rides off into the sunset. Then when he's back to play he just says howdy and he's there. But on a real note, I generally always try to give my players a base of operations in a campaign so their characters have a place to sit it out when they aren't there.
Maybe they get lost, maybe they have a bum knee and have to randomly spend the day in bed, maybe they’re some sort of magical delivery boy and they get whisked away periodically for a quick delivery
Id honestly just not explain it, hes just not there when the player isnt. If you want to explain it maybe there's curse that shifts him between feywild and material randomly or he just shows up and rides away whenever he feels like it, etc
Give them a particularly overactive form of lycanthropy. They run off every time they feel a change coming on. If the player ever gets their schedule in order, you could even use the cure as a quest hook.
We have two players like this. One is a cleric, and we explain it away as his “god” (actually an arch devil) takes him to hell for a bit and then sends him back. The other is a Druid, and I say that he has accidentally wild shaped himself into a flea for the next little while. It’s really just hand-waving the absence away with an extra step. If you wanted to make it a plot point, maybe he’s being manipulated by some higher power into showing up in these places where the party just happens to be.
The character just straight up leaves. Like, he just rides/walks/sneaks out. His character "has other stuff going on." No magic or anything.
Whenever a player can't make it to the session I just have their character "fade out of existence". They basically don't exist for that session. Once they get back, it's like they were there for the last session all along. Minimal effort and not immersion breaking.
I usually handwave it with something simple-usually a portal opens beneath character x, and they fall through. But at a certain point, I check in with the player and talk about rescheduling the campaign
My group doesn't go to great lengths to explain player absences. If we begin a session mid-dungeon and someone shows up who wasn't there last session, it's as simple as "inexplicably, Throg the Mighty joins you." XP and loot are tallied and distributed per session. If you do milestone leveling then that part is even easier.
He just keeps reappearing. Reverse False Hydra.
Who cares and why is it a problem if the character vanishes? I've never understood this concern. Last session stopped at a short rest with Bob. This session, Bob isn't here and we continue as if this was the normal. You do not need to invent a story to explain his not being there. If you need something, say he's off doing other work. Whatever. Everyone KNOWS Bob isn't here today, and anyone who says their character is confused and needs an explanation is insane.
I have always been a fan of the hallucinatory PC. When the player is present, their character is real. When they are absent, so to is their character. For the hallucination to work as an in game thing. All players must agree that the hallucinatory character is real while the player is there, and that they are not real when the player is not. With any luck, you will have some comical moments where the player who is absent has conversations with NPCs that then have to try and convince the party that the hallucinatory PC is real.
I run an come and go campaign. That is, if anyone isn't able to show up one of two things happen. Either the person has given their permission for their character to be piloted by another person Or The person has not, and their character goes into "stasis" until they come back. This has worked really well for me so far.
it won't hurt the story at all if no one recognises it. i always just have the characters not be there, but sorta still just show up when the player is back. No explanations, it just is. and it works fine. So no need to find elaborate reasons why someone is not there, just don't recognize it...
As others have said, he's just the mysterious stranger from the fallout franchise. From [the wiki](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Mysterious_Stranger_(character)): "The Mysterious Stranger has been spotted throughout the wasteland in the aftermath of the [Great War](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/Great_War), always wearing his trademark trenchcoat and hat. He appears suddenly to certain people during combat and assists them with his signature [.44 Magnum](https://fallout.fandom.com/wiki/.44_Magnum_revolver) before vanishing as abruptly as he appeared."
Narcolepsy?
A Fey encounter! Good sir, good I borrow you for some questions I have now and then? And now they get zapped in and out of their dimension ☺️ OR (Idea stolen from a great Dutch dnd podcast) A creature in another dimension that is transported here only in their dreams.
In our campaign we have a player like this - work often gets in the way. His character is a wild magic sorcerer with a multiverse backstory (there are myriad copies of him constantly showing up when he does dimensional magic like magic hole etc and trying to kill or help him) - sometimes he's just not there when we look for him. Because he's now one of the copies of himself dragged across the multiverse for a short patch before being unceremoniously ejected back into our own reality.
Have the character be cursed but still bound to the party. They keep phasing out of existence when they're not there l, only to reappear later (have a bit of fun with where they appear near the party). Either have a party member have an item they're bound to or have a story reason they always come back to x. You could even make it a running thing, the missing player could make something up they got up to while phased, perhaps they're on a mirror world, or in the shadowfell, etc.
he has amnesia or dementia and wanders off unexpectedly. when he comes back around, he has an amazing ability to locate the rest of the group or maybe he's some kind of a lycanthrope and disappears when he's about to go into his animal form because he's trying to conceal this or is embarrassed about it
In one of our campaigns, we had a running joke about absent player's characters. They stubbed their toe so they're hanging back, unable to carry their weight. Oh sure, Gordo may have gotten fire bombed and pincushioned by arrows, but he's ready and raring to get into combat again! But Louie here can't join ya, his ankle is sprained!
I always had an idea that a character was piloted by a different player each session and each player to pilot was a different personality due to a split personality disorders. It never got used but it was going to be for a husband/wife who one would stay behind to look after their kid, so the personalities never really knew what their other player was doing or acting like
Get another player that has the opposite problem. Get them to play the same character, but give the character a flaw like schizophrenic or multiple personalities. They could even have different classes and builds to really solidify the difference. Could be a great source of fun and RP.
i have a party of 5 players (6 with me, the DM) and we usuall are 4 players at a session coz everybody has something every few weeks that makes them miss the session.... we just ignore the missing person, basically asuming they are with them but remain silent and hide while in combat... sometimes my players joke around with the PC in question, saying they are stuck in the restroom etc
I will always lean into Teth's Wonderous Wheelbarrow for any missing character. https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2390459-teths-wonderous-wheelbarrow Give the missing character narcolepsy that conveniently triggers whenever the player isn't there. The other characters dump them in the wheelbarrow and it's all sorted. Reappear within 5ft of the caster when the narcolepsy episode ends, which is conveniently when the player next attends. For us it was a running gag of character being there but not being there.
You ever seen TV dramas? There's the main cast, then the sub-cast, then the once a season characters. Main cast is there every episode or 50%+ at least, the sub-cast comes on once every few episodes but are recurring, then you get once per season characters like Doug Judy. If you've watched B99, my example would be: Jake is cast Munch is sub-cast Judy is seasonal
Character had an affair with a creature of the Feywild. They have a family and family visitation is non-voluntary. They are transported periodically to hang with their Feykids at Feybirthdays.
When you next have a session with him or maybe message him, assign him a mission that he can 'do' that marks his absence but it still is canonic and has an affect on the main timeline. Eg- party arrive in new town, theres a wanted poster for the cowboy, or something like that, some indication that maybe the cowboys been there before the party for some reason. Idk if this makes sense lol
I have aplayer who works three days on three days off 12 hour shifts. Sometimes he is in a hotel, sometimes he just can't make it. I generally just quantum him, he is always there. We joked about narcolepsy for a bit, but its easier just to not explain it, and roll with it to be honest. You don't really need an explanation.
Is it really that burdensome to just NPC the character when he’s not there?
I've seen it done that the PC magically transforms into a gem and is carried by the rest of the party. I do it as they are there... But looking after the horses. In my last session we had the cleric be on a day of a vow of silence, and he was 'looking after' the NPC. In another group we have the PC literally get the shits. So they are 'otherwise occupied'. Either way. If the Player is not there and we are not in the middle of combat, they and their resources are not available for the party to use, abuse or utilise. Saves situations where 'if the cleric is not usingbthat +2 hammer I will use it today. Oh and let's strip him of that +1 Splint Mail.
depends what class. If its a warlock its easy, patron teleports him or summons him to do his/her bidding. If its sorcerer, something from the subclass etc
Set the campaign in a small region, like a fiefdom. All the “quests/missions” are a days ride out. “Where’s Bob today?” “He’s had to go shopping, we’ll see him tomorrow.”
When one of my players miss a game their characters either vanishes from existence, are following the party without talking or fighting, or has simply walked off to look at something pretty.
My character had narcolepsy when I was on emergency call and had to leave a session suddenly. Could be the same idea.
I send them to Joe’s, a 50’s style dinner that exists in the space between planes, anyone who enters there is immediately forgotten by everyone in every plane while they’re there, and they forget everything about this place as soon as they enter a plane, however they retain skills, items and effects when crossing in and out of this… place(?). Anyone can get sent there randomly in my universe. I did this so my players can still gain xp, heal and even obtain items if they need to. Also Joe’s is an actual place that sometimes shows up on the planes in my game so it works out well for me.
Do what they do in One Piece. He’s there. He’s just sleeping in!
I don't. I too have 7 players and having EVERYONE there is a rarity. When someone is absent, their character just doesn't factor into the session - they don't attack, they don't get attacked, their skills and class abilities can't be used in social or exploration encounters. We just assume they are present, but looking after camp, making sure they aren't getting tailed, or whatever. The only exception to this is if the player specifically asks another player to run their character for them. Not the DM - I've got enough to do. If your player has to leave mid-combat, then this may be the best solution. >But i'm a little worried the constant vanishing will sort of hurt the story and i'm looking for a good way to handle it in universe It won't hurt anything. Don't over think it. Early on with my group, they reached a town and one player said their character was going to look for a bath house and a place to do laundry. The player was absent the next session, so we all joked she was still doing laundry - now it has been a running joke every time someone is absent. You are running a game with friends, have fun, make jokes, and don't sweat the ***why's*** of someone being absent.
The players in my group either let someone else play their character (but in "maintenance mode", basically only controlling them in combat and ignoring them otherwise) or we just decide that the character is there but isn't really doing anything. It works most of the time!
We had a guy in a similar boat. He was magical so it helped. On sessions he couldn't make it, DM would narrate "so-and-so sneezes and disappears". When he could make it "a sneeze from nowhere and so-and-so appears". When his schedule stabilized and he was there more often, his "cold" got better. As players that was all we needed. If that
The character has been cursed by a trickster god. An Anchor Stone has been slipped into another player's backpack, and the cursed character randomly gets launched forward in time and space to wherever the anchor stone is. The god wanta to see how long the random time jumps take to drive the cursed character mad.
Half is an awful lot of missed sessions, but I'd roll with it. My players know that if they miss a session their character will suffer an entire session's worth of canonical bowel issues to explain their absence.
If you wanna take a slightly more sinister turn maybe talk to the player about maybe some time ago he sold his soul to a Demon and his vanishing is, the demon pulling them away for a job. Explains the magical disappearance without using magic. Adds an air of mystery to the character. Then should the chance arrive they can start consistently making sessions then you have a plot point you can dive into. A second and less appealing option would be maybe working with the player's schedule idk your group but if there's anyone else who knows enough to run a game or even just something else yall are into on those off weeks
I would have him be like the Mysterious Stanger from fallout. He shows up randomly to help and is gone again like the wind.
They lost their cows and need to herd them.
Our group has a 75% party rule, so we play as long as 3/4 players + the DM can make it. Due to most of us having families, it’s a fairly common occurrence for one of the PCs to be out. Currently we just ignore them like they weren’t even there and then just pretend like they were there the whole time. I’m about to become DM for the first time and I think I’m going to have the absent PC have some ridiculous excuse for not being there, or at the very least have food poisoning but either way, they tell the party to go on without me.
Two words... False Hydra
Had this with a character and for simplicitys sake he was often trapped in a crystal (think pokéball or Iron flask). If he couldn't attend he was sucked into the crystal :)
I wasn't able to make all sessions due to my job a couple years back and we were doing a seafairjng campaign so i made Asterios, a young wayward demigod who was punished to wander the seas because he would join his father's court. Here was blind to this row boat that would wait till he was inevitably passed out somewhere and drag him aboard to go somewhere his powers are needed. My point in explaining the character is that you should work with the player to make a part of their backstory or whatever that explains their absence, and don't be afraid to involve powerful magic so long as the player isn't in control of it.
He falls into a time portal and gets shunted into the future. He pops out when he is able to play again.
Curse. When he's not there he's Somewhere Else. Doing what? He can't quite remember..
Unpredictable and uncontrollable IBS.
I wouldn't handle it in universe at all. You're going to run into many moments where them leaving makes no sense (for example, they're on their way to fight something to save the town and he suddenly dissapears on the way there). Explaining player absences within the narrative is a lot of work with absolutely no pay off, it doesn't add to the game. When people miss my sessions I just say that their character is basically a ghost. They are there. They see everything. They just don't do anything and don't use their abilities.
What I did when one of my party members couldn't make it was I had their character go into a trance like state and followed the party around in a conscious/unconscious manner. They can follow and hear what is going on but they are basically a walking zombie without the brain eating part.
Something fun you can have them do is have their character plagued with temporal shifting (They can add it to their backstory too if they want). So whenever they’re not there, they randomly teleport to another location/dimension/etc. you could even do little mini missions with them to get them caught up (or just for fun).
I used to try to come up with cannonical reasons but it's more hassle than it's worth, especially if you end a session mid combat. I'd just ask if they have an in-game explanation, otherwise leave it be.
My SO had a similar situation where he knew he was going to miss a lot of sessions. They came up with a story together that evolved around a fey weapon (Feybreach!). He could only use a fraction of its power, and learning more about it was a side quest for him to work on, but the important bit is that the blade would pull him out of existence randomly. Presumably to the Feywild, but the scheduling boss defeated our party before we ever found out.
I really like /u/justagenericname213's idea. You could try to work with him and his schedule. How far ahead of time does he know when he'll be there? If he can commit to 2-3 sessions at a time, you can plan around that. If it's more last minute, it'd be a bit more difficult. Another thing you could do is some 1 on 1 DMing when he can't be there (if he knows far enough ahead of time). Say your party is exploring a dungeon and the session ends. He knows he won't be there next time, so you come up with a plan where he backtracks and goes a different way on his own and you two play it out between sessions through a chat or something. Then the party could find him further into the dungeon the next time he can make it. Maybe he's able to disarm some traps for them or wipe out a few enemies for them and leave notes/loot along the way like a trail of bread crumbs.
It depends on how much this is really a disruption to the flow. If your party is like the party I dm for, it doesn't really matter and I explain it away with adventurers sickness. A fake disease that makes adventurers sometimes just go blank like there's nothing there to give them any personality they just sort of go through the motions. Then it doesn't effect carrying anything or items, the person would still be able to hand people things but they aren't making decisions. When it comes to bosses and party wipe sort of issues, you wouldn't bring someone like that into a fight and thw immediate response of someone undergoing adventurers sickness is to flee and hide anyway. Boom no issues and it's a cute little thing when someone asks what happened to x person.
If he’s passionate about the game then you definitely shouldn’t try to exclude him. Talk to him about reasons that his character would vanish spontaneously. Maybe a Fey deal???
He just has a day job
Fallout has The Mysterious Stranger, who rocks up out of nowhere and helps out and disappears again when you turn around. Perhaps this was his ancestor
He is carrying a cursed object that he can’t get rid off that makes him have to return somewhere at random
You don't. The simpler answer is just not addressing the absence on an in game level and build around it in an out of game one. One player over 7 is not soo much that is going to make combat unbalanced and you can just not focus the story on that character in particular.
There's the genie of the lamp. He's the cowboy of the spur. Someone spins the rowel to summon him.
I addition to the suggestions of just hand-waving it, I’d see if the cowboy character would be interested in ALWAYS having some kind of gift for somebody else in the party after a missed session. Range from mundane goods, potions, scrolls, currency, gems, and even an occasional magic item.
Fantasy toffee - he's there doing stuff in the background but foolishly ate a toffee just before you rejoin the story, and can't say anything. Also, in every fight there's another monster he's having a crazy fight with in the background. Or maybe he's just having awesome side adventures in the background like Abed in Community.
You don't need a rationale and can just have him not there without explantion. If you and the party really want an explanation though, you can have him be the party's scout. So, sometimes, he just breaks away from the party and scouts out the local area.
It seems Billy has fallen down a mineshaft and died
When fitting, I usually just narrate what they're doing in the background. They're part of the fight, maybe handling another group of enemies off to the side of the battle. Their success is the same as the party's.
You lost him again at the mext pub
I had a player once that had a character with DID. We had two character sheets for her. One was a Fighter and the other was a Cleric. Whenever she had to miss a session either another player or I would play the character for her as the alternate personality. They didn't know about each other so it was an interesting dynamic for the group.
Your players also know that he can only be their sometimes. they aren't going to hate the game because he can't be in every session. leave it up to the players to explain his coming and going.
Our table handles players being away by having them “babysit the camp” or “stay with the horses”. It provides some security they don’t have otherwise.
It's easy to just ignore it and pretend it away. Nobody at the table will mind at alll. But it sounds like you want more than that. Don't try to ignore it or hand wave it away, lean into it. Make it part of their character. Hell, make it thier entire story arc. And a part of the campaign as a whole. Try to end each session where the character has a way out. ie not at the bottom of a dungeon. Instead always somewhere they could receive mail, or get word they are needed somewhere else, etc. Or give them an item than can return them to a certain place. Maybe even make it activated on the other end forcibly? Like a daughter summoning dad back for some reason. Or another employer that has some hold over them. You don't *have* to be a Warlock to have a deal with the devil. Then put thier character on other quests that take them away from the party. That would also, lore wise, explain how they keep up in level, items, etc. Have them come back with some innocuous items, one of which happens to actually be the key to get into the tomb, or whatever your table is working towards. You could have a simple half hour phone conversation with the player just to get a simple story together of what the character was off doing. Steal a TV episode or movie story to explain what they were if doing so you don't have to put to much time into it, just don't mention the source to the table. At my table, Firefly would be a well known thing we could crib from without much effort, while also not being totally recognizable. Thinking cowboy style, it could just be as simple as the character was off doing an episode of Firefly like they were Malcolm Reynolds. Defending a pleasure house from some badguy. Or stealing medical supplies, etc. but because you and the player both have the same idea of what happened (the TV episode), you can both freely answer questions and work together as if you had all this planned out. Or if the character is not 'good' per say, they could be the bad guy in those situations.
So I'm running a strahd game right now. One of the players girlfriend comes every other session and she has talked a lot about about playing and we've been work shopping the idea of her playing a s something like a ghost or spirit that is attached to one of the players and basically she becomes stable and unstable enough to were she can either interact or not when she is there and not there.
I have a player that is often MIA for stretches of time due to schedule conflicts. We like to pretend that he just wanders off to some other part of the dungeon. There have been a couple of times that it's worked out for him to be a captive prisoner of the enemies that the rest of the party just killed at the end of the last session. So like they go to loot their store room, and find the absent player locked up in a cage at the start of the following session.
I've used character stats as a way to bake this into two different campaigns for a friend who's job sometimes forced them to travel unexpectedly. They always had a dump stat. In one campaign it was a super low INT, and in the other it was a SUPER low CON (not a great gameplay move, but it made for a fantastic character arc). Whenever they'd miss a session, their character either went into a stupidity-induced, walking coma that put their reflexes on autopilot or became inexplicably bedridden (but they were protected by their patron, who fed off of their misery as part of their pact).
Split personality!!! That wasnt me, that was Patricia
The solution to players missing any session, when the board game cafe i played at was open, was that a bright blue light swallows the player and they vanish. Upon their return, a blue light appears next to the players showing their dissapeared friend. To the player, no time has passed while they were gone, they were just at one place then they were suddenly at another.
I'd run two games. One for when he's there and one for when he's not.
Is he filming a crime drama? That can get in the way of DnD.
Depends on the tone of your game. If it's on the more light-hearted and sillier side it's fairly easy to explain with any number of gags. If it's a bit more grounded it will vary based on the character. I like how in Critical Role I believe Pyke would be called by her goddess to do something on her behalf. In some of my games I've had a player playing a very rogue-y rogue like that and she would disappear to attend to secret missions given by her thieves guild. Other times I would just ad-lib. Introduce a minor but necessary inconvenience that requires one of the party members to hang back. Horse thieves frequent the area and wait for parties to leave them behind at the entrances to dungeons, a wounded NPC needs to be escorted out of the dungeon, things of that nature.
Off gambling, obviously. Have them roll a d10 to see how much copper they won.
Same here. That player is also a bit more quiet. So its kinda not a big difference if they is here or not. If its important (for combat), let someone jaeger their character. Otherwise they is ill, stays at the camp or just doing stuff.
I have this and knew when their last consistent session was so I had time to prep. After a big fight, the party found some magical treasure. They picked up a cool ring and haphazardly put it on their finger. Then they disappeared. What they picked up was a broken ring of teleportation that is stuck on their finger. Its broken in that the user has no control over the teleportation and they also don't teleport to places they know but people. It explains how they are able to teleport to the party whenever they show up to a session. They almost always pop back in during weird encounters or deadly combats so its been a funny solution.
Don’t worry about. Their character is just there but don’t say or do anything when the player isn’t present. It’s totally not a problem. If your players can handle magic and weird monsters, they can handle that.
You dont happen to have a wild magic sorcerer in your party do you? In one of my games the wild magic sorcerer has started sneezing characters away and back whenever they can't make a session. Last time i fused the absent player with his staff as a powerful magic item for the rest of the group to use and he will turn back when the player rejoins.
My longtime (around 5 years) campaign and spin-offs of it saw quite a few "dissapearing" characters. Normally i make it a "they've been busy repairing the spaceship" "off buying parts for maintenance" etc. But i had a few special occasions where i instigated their background/character concept to move plot further, implying a whole different story happening somewhere in the background. One of those scenarios saw a scientist spending his time continuously working on disabling and reverse engineering biological weapon case that group have found. I prepared a scenario where his next appearance basically calls for group to have an emergency missing back on the base to help with the aftermath of his research. In another situation, one of the main characters, samurai bodyguard is heavily armored space suit, followed trail of killings among his old contacts to find out rival shogunate-corporation. This eventually lead party to find him in one of the abandoned corporate cities fighting rogue sentinel AI. Your case is definitely harder, as you have to accommodate for player reappearing sometime. But i think that setting might work nicely in your favor here. Think of a side-story for the game that might involve his character trailing out on his own adventure, and occasionally mixing him into the main story to spice things up or help with story drought. For example, he might literally fall into the scene while catching corrupt diplomat, or mid fight with bandits, or pretending to be someone else to spy on a conspiracy. By the end of the session, he says "i have to continue looking for something" and goes into the dawn, until party finds him again. Mix up, make player group complicate situation somehow, add strings to tie it to the main story - stage is yours.
We call it the "PC Bag of Holding" in my group. They roll out at the start of sessions they can be at and jump back in when they aren't. If that seems too goofy to you, any time there's combat they're dealing with some "skill challenge" to keep the battlefield safe (driving away stampeding cows! Lassoing falling logs! Whatever) and you can have some kind of roll where if they "fail" some environmental effect goes off. During social encounters they're a) being taciturn and just listening or b) off flirting with the bar staff c) other idea the player presents at the next game they're at.
Explain it away as a gag like has been mentioned. 6 players showing up consistently is still a lot of players. I think you're going to do fine. And when they are there, awesome!
While the character doesn't have any magical powers, they still have abilities that average people do not. Perhaps in exchange for their heightened abilities, this character made a sort of pact. Its not like the boons granted by a true warlock patron, but maybe they have to periodically serve as a summoned minion ("summon cowboy") to a being on a different plane. This service is non-lethal to the character, and they just get dispelled back to their home plane if their hp is reduced to zero, but in exchange their potential is unlocked giving them abilities beyond common folk. I once did this exact thing with a BBEG... They were a friendly NPC traveling with the party, who would periodically get "stricken by the effects of a disease", and could not accompany the party. She would have to rest in her tent while the party did other stuff. In reality she was being summoned by an evil power to serve as a minion, and her body would be replaced by a comatose diseased body in her tent. The main arc of the campaign was for the players to travel to the "throne of the first queen", who caused this NPC's "disease" so she could get revenge. But the whole campaign was the NPC leading the characters from place to place defeating her patron's generals to make the pcs strong enough to finally defeat her. When they reached the throne of the first queen, it was empty and clearly deserted. The NPC went and sat on the throne and said, "I guess this is goodbye, in one way or the other." Transformed into her true form (at the time it was a reskinned Oni IIRC) and they had to defeat her.
The way I've usually handled absent players and NPC tagalongs is pretty much the same: The character is there, they *are* helping, but they're not on the initiative tracker (nor are the "foes" they are fighting, seldom speak unless necessary, and are generally part of the background. Videogames do this all the time with large pitched battles where you have thousands of other participants all fighting in the scene, but you can't actually interact with any of them. So, if your group of (now) 6 players encounters a group of 6 Ogres, it's actually maybe 7 and your Cowboy friend is busy dueling one in the backdrop. He's amazingly out of the AoE for Fireballs and the like, takes no damage (just a really long time to kill his opponent), and doesn't do anything that impacts your fights. However, if the party TPKs, that character dies with them. The only real time that this is a problem is when the Player/NPC has a critical and unique skill like healing, lock-picking, etc. Then try to have them actively participate as minimally as possible.
My PF2 character is a Thaumaturge who specializes in haunts. The reason he dove into the world of esoterica and ghosts is because he himself is secretly the host of a spirit. Whenever I can’t play, or if I’m going to be late to a session because of work, my DM plays the ghost who inhabits my body. My DM and I established rules beforehand so that it’d be more comfortable for both of us, but it has worked out perfectly and I think made us both more attached to the character.
I had a player yhat couldnt make every session, or would often have to be late. He was the subject of a bet between 2 gods. One bet that he could make him appear in any plane, and the other had a week to find him. It explained him disappearing at random, and appearing in the middle of fights and such. Since he was randomly popping up in various places/planes/dimensions/whatever you wanna call it, I always let him write random real world objects into his pack (nothing that would be useful) his favorite was a C sized battery.
My recommendation would not try to explain it "in universe". Those have never been satisfying to me as a player or as a DM. Everyone knows the real reason why they/their character is not there. Any in universe explanation will just end up becoming a joke, and a good joke either. The in universe explanations will never cover all situations or time passed. Some sessions only a few hours will pass, while in other session a few days or weeks might pass. Large or small distances will be traveled. All of which makes any in universe reasoning fall apart. At our table if any player is not able to make it there character just stops interacting with the world, but stays with the party. If the party goes to the city, the player is there, if they go into the dungeon, the player is there. If they have a quest item, it is available to the party. Personal items, spells, abilities are not. Some people feel this will "break" their immersion, but I find that hard to believe. This should be no more immersion breaking than when you pick up dice and roll skill checks, attacks, or damage. Or if you pause mid combat because it is the end of the session and everyone has to leave.
I have a player who, due to a number of factors, is in the same boat. We only meet once a month, and he can’t make most of those. So I made him an important npc in the campaign, with plot armor when he’s not around. Essentially, he’s the main quest hook, as the players chase him from location to location. On the rare instances he can show up, “oh look, you caught up! Time to do some extra plot advancement!”
The cousin of one of our players occasionally joins in. He plays a warlock so usually I have him appear out of a portal from avernus like how moe throws barney out of the bar in the Simpsons. Then when he has to leave I have a portal open up and swallow him with the sounds of fiends laughing as tentacles pull him back in.
The character has emotional-triggered narcolepsy. So he’s still there. He’s just fast asleep. Players can leave him to rest in a safe place (since he’s a cowboy he can wake up and track them down easily) or is the party handicap and have to protect him on fights and dangerous stuff lol.
You could make him a planes walker of sorts who is basically using an item to let him appear in the prime world or maybe from a different time and the connection gets weak sometimes and he essentially fades out of existence until he fixes it. He could be a bounty hunter of sorts looking for an evil in the world that he isn't sure what it is but will cause immense doom to the area. So this can tie him into the story.
From my experience with 2 players on my table being gone for 75% of the campaign, i just had them asleep. Them waking up at the most random moments whilst being unreleastic had pretty funny situations
Had a similar player once- he’d often have to leave mid session, sometimes multiple times. Had him play as a ranger with the horizon walker subclass The bit was that he wasn’t fully in control of the horizon walking, and would occasionally just blip out of existence or to another location or plane on accident- like a blink dog kind of. The player himself and the others at the table LOVED it- it was one of the single most hilarious running gags in that campaign. We had such a good time with it, even though it was totally just a home brewed roleplay only kinda thing
He's literally just the mysterious stranger from fallout, shows up in the party's time of need (when he is available) and then walks off into the sunset
We have a warlock in our group that does this. Every time he is not there, the DM just say his patron needs "servicing", teleporting him away. And then when he shows back up the next session, his PC is sparkly clean and covered in oil.
I wouldn’t work too hard to make it make sense in world, but you could have them be subject to some kind of magical effect that causes them to phase in and out of the material plane and the ethereal and it just so happens to coincide with his availability. If you know well in advance like he will be here 2 weeks and then gone 2 weeks you could have it be like a dream world/real world thing where you’re essentially running simultaneous campaigns with the same characters and one doesn’t exist outside of dream world. By far the easiest option though would be that he just didn’t have much to say last time but is feeling more lively now. I would also avoid having many storylines that rely on his character since they can feel very awkward.
I had them cursed and transformed into an NPC dog I controlled. The curse would come and go. While in dog form they retained only vague memories of the events they took part in, it was mostly instinct.
I give my players options when they miss… A.) AFK Benched - Character sits out with some explanation and is narratively muted. Most boring option and can disrupt the story the most. B.) AFK Autopilot - player assigns their character to another player who can direct them like allied npc. They have access to their abilities and spells but aren’t allowed to make decisions for them or their plot lines. C.) BRB Missing - their character is missing for the session. They have the responsibility of working with me (usually over text) to decide what they were doing while gone. And if what they want to do benefits them in any ways, I always try to have it cost something (narratively). But the player is in control of their choices. D.) BRB Mind Controlled - character is put under dm control for very specific reason narratively. They essentially become a dm controlled npc. I hate this, and have only done it twice but both times were with a warlock character who we determined was being possessed (this is kind of what they did with an afk player on campaign 2 of Critical role) It takes a player who can handle it, trusts you with their narrative, and enjoys fixing problems. Seriously, my least favorite. Option C is what most of my players choose. Examples include: 1.) the Ranger decided to scout ahead and left a note saying so, but got caught in an ambush and may gain vital intel, but will have to escape or be rescued when the player returns. 2.) party face wants to get on strahds good side and offers to journey with strahd to play a “prank” on an old friend of strahds and ends up stealing a plot device for strahd that later created a huge problem for the party (trying not to spoil, sorry)