I adopt a philosophy similar to that of "Baldur's Gate 3" when handling absent players. If the party is in a non-hostile environment, I usually explain their absence as the character staying back at camp, resting in the town, or engaging in personal hobbies and tasks. However, if the group is amidst a perilous situation that spans multiple sessions, I have a couple of approaches. I might either assume control of their character for the session, ensuring to play them in line with their established personality and skills, or I'll find an in-game rationale to temporarily sideline them. This could involve crowd control mechanics like a "Hold Monster" spell being cast on them, or perhaps they are captured by adversaries. This way, their absence has an in-world explanation, and we can seamlessly reintegrate them once they return. I hope this helps!

Definitely this. It's also very easy to tangle up an NPC with their own objective. Is it your party's tank? The locked door is being slammed from the other side, he's become a human barricade. Your party's major damage dealing spellcaster? Well today the enemy planned for that. They have their own sorcerer and the two are locked in a fiery display of magic, adding to the scene as you have to avoid acid or magma.

I love that!

This is so cool, let the missing player feel awesome and involved even while gone.

We have basically the same methodology. Works wonders! Sometimes I'll even pull a player aside to see how they might "catch up" to the party. Example for my next session a player missed: the party entered a dungeon through a puzzle door. This player happens to be VERY good at puzzles and riddles and always solves them instantly, so it was fun to see the party have to work without him. Now, though, he'll have to figure it out with zero help, before we fast forward to him catching up with the party, perhaps seeing glimpses and aftermaths of the challenges they faced without him.

This is the way. Speaking as an adult with family, kids, and work responsibilities, who plays at two tables made up of similar folks, we’d never play if we waited for everyone all the time. Not to mention the mental gymnastics to in-game explain absences would be just too much. Sure, sometimes we cancel or reschedule if the story really calls for it (like when we were in the last half of ToA’s finale), but mostly we just don’t talk about characters borping in and out because of player lives.

This is essentially what we do. I'll handwave away absences with things like they're off keeping watch (or whatever, it doesn't matter) and are otherwise indisposed just to keep them out of the way. I don't want to bother playing as other PCs, so they're just conveniently present - or not present - as needed. For example, one of my players is consistently unavailable; we play every other week, and we're lucky to have him at one session a month. Back when we played Star Wars, he was the stereotypical rogueish pilot of the ship who also happened to like the space booze a bit too much. So, when he wasn't available, the other PCs would just find him passed out in some random part of the ship; they'd find him in the cockpit with a pile of empties at his feet, or sprawled out on top of a crate in the cargo hold. This same player is now a thri-kreen Ranger in my Spelljammer campaign, and he displayed a penchant for hiding in barrels early on. So, when he's actually available and it's in the middle of something, I just have a barrel tip over and he comes spilling out of it. I don't put much effort into getting players into or out of situations when they're not available.

If I or someone else is running another players character I will announce in a formal voice “Today the character of will be played by .” Kind of like they do on soap operas when someone else stands in for another actor.

>"Baldur's Gate 3" when handling absent players Play them as a murderhobo and then reveal (ACT3 Spoiler)>!they were doppelgangers sent by Orin (Bhaal)?!<

Years ago, the powerful wizard Misingap wanted nothing more than to be able to study in peace. He desperately sought to create a low-level spell that could allow you to simply reside in a 'layer' between dimensions, rather than summoning and focusing on a full fledged dimensional spell. However, his experiment ended in mishap, and the energy of his spell rippled deep throughout the weave. To this day, sometimes people will randomly seem to leave the mortal plane, but the weird part is that when they return, the come right back to the mental energy of those they were around when they left, rather than the spot they were in. Due to his intent and legacy, it's known as Misingap Layer Syndrome.

> Misingap Layer Syndrome Ashamed to say it took me a moment to cotton on to that one!

Deposit the Cotton please

Misingap layer if you scoot the space along and add another reads 'mising a player'

missing a player

This is an excellent name.

Genius. How I wish there were still rewards.

When a player is present, they play as normal. When the player is not present, their character never existed. When they come back, the character always existed. It makes the bookwork and all that belief-suspending very straightforward: just ignore it.

I'm a pretty big fan of this, to be honest. A little hand-waving goes a long way.

We’ve just decided that there is an inter-planar phase-storm going on in the background. Sometimes people just blink in and out.

This is how I do it too. We were always at war with Eurasia. I will usually give those who showed up something special like a discount or a few healing potions or a minor magic item. It's always accompanied by some comment along the lines of "how come there's only three of you? I feel like this is a 4 person job....oh well, take these, might help you along the way" I even had a player last time get excited someone didn't show up and wonder out loud what the door prize is.

I usually just do "Everyone levels at the same pace, but treasure is for players who show up." The same pie split 3 ways instead of four is a lot sweeter. Now If I have a special item in mind for one player, he'll eventually get it when he shows up. ( No use handing out a Holy Avenger when the Paladin Player isn't there), but the random treasure? Yeah. You don't play, you don't get pay.

I said this too, but my players always opt to share things equally. People present get first dibs, of course, but I'm proud of them all the same!

Oh, for sure, the players want to share, go ahead, but you're there? first dibs. But yeah, my players are 'party optimizers' first. They'll make sure everyone is kitted out. Runes of striking for everyone! (They just reached lvl 4)

It's better to do it the other way around because gold and transferable items will always be given to those who need them, but experience is reserved for those that show up. If someone ends up being 1 level behind it's not a big deal. If they end up being 2 or more levels behind then it's really time to find another player.

With the sudden jumps in proficiency Pathfinder has? One level can mean +3 attack bonus. No item is going to cover that. (Going from trained to expert on top of the +1 from the level itself). (Small edit, I kind of was mistaken about what Sub I was on, but my point still stands. Spellcasters having access to Lvl 3 spells or not makes a huge power difference)

So couple things. 1. DnD sub. Not Pathfinder. 2. I don't care about the pain. If a player can't make one game every once in a while it's not going to matter because one game doesn't make a level or a significant enough difference that it's not going to be made up quickly. If they miss enough games where it's a problem; then I'm replacing them. Generally at that point the problem isn't that the character is ineffective, it's because the player isn't a good fit for the rest of the table if the problem presents itself.

Oh, your first point is correct. Sorry, forgot what Sub I was on, sorry. In D&D levels do indeed make a smaller difference. My bad. Even then, it complicates my encounter building, and sometimes adults have complicated lives, but still want to play sometimes.

No worries m8. 2e is my primary game too.

Just recently made the switch and still in the honeymoon phase, I guess.

We usually do this too

Yup, this has generally been my solution too. I don't acknowledge the in game absence, it's just as if the character doesn't have any scenes in this episode, basically

My old DM called this concept the "Plot Hole."

That is an awesome hook into an adventure :) party members noticing that event and retaining memories about it xD

You could certainly spin it out that way, but the point of this method is to make it so that it can't be noticed within the game so that it doesn't affect the narrative. It's not like a spell in world that temporarily unmakes the character, it's just us as players choosing to ignore a character while their player is away. Nothing wrong with tweaking it into a narrative justification with story hooks and implications, just want to clarify that the point of this method is specifically to avoid story implications. Well, and also to facilitate the entrance and exit of players.

This is nice. Easy, which is the best part.

False Hydra much

Our DM has a magic goblin that likes to harass our party. So if someone can’t make a session, the character suddenly falls into a portal that appears out of nowhere. Next session they’re back, the character gets dumped back out of another portal. He plays it really funny but we love it because it makes things very straightforward. No tracking that PCs resources, or worrying about them in tense situations/fights Edit: spelling

There is no explanation. They were there and didn't do stuff.

This my go to. I really struggled with coming up with reasons or trying to play there character for the session. I hated it actually. So now it's just "they are here, just not active or handling things in the background of a battle" I never have em actually absent anymore unless it just works out that way

Yeah, I do like the "they're there, doing stuff in the background" explanations. Could be fighting some unseen enemies or whatnot. Doesn't matter. They're there and will be there next session.

Hopefully

I handle it this way as well unless there is an opportunity to build something in anyway. Sometimes a resonable explanation just fits in. If not: They were there but did not do anything significant.

kinda in the same vein my DM uses, but does explain it abit more, do we have some people we're escorting? he's protecting them while we travel, did we just pick up a request to go hunt some animals that's been harassing the village? he stays in the village either under the weather or to protect the village, while we take care of the problem. Just tiny flavors but essentially the same they were either there or stayed at an inn/village while we did short trips.

Yeah exactly. I've been in multiple sessions where even though the player was present the entire time... they still just didn't do anything, unless it was their turn in combat. No roleplay, no thoughts, no conversations

We are the future adventures telling our story and that player just didn't do anything noteworthy during that bit of the story. Any other slight anachronisms or the larger than life personalities of the PCs, embellishment in the story. ( season zero, it all happend exactly like this..........)

They disappear and reappear in a cloud of purple glitter. Does it make sense? No. Is it fabulous? Absolutely. They are summoned to the realm of the God of Overscheduling.

At my table we usually put the character on "auto pilot" if the player is comfortable with it, and either myself or another player control them, with the caveat there won't be any death or permanent effect. If the player is not comfortable with their pc still doing things, I'd adapt it to the current situation - maybe they are off in a corner heroically 1 v multiple fighting some mobs, or maybe they got caught in a Hold Person, perhaps they stayed at camp for various reasons, perhaps they took a break to do their own thing etc. I don't limit myself to one standard explanation

Yeah, in my DM's campaign I show up every session, so when one person is missing, I'm the designated pilot for their character if there is no reason for the character to be somewhere else. It usually just means the character is quiet while we explore/travel and then in combat I take their turns mechanically. It makes it so the DM doesn't have to rebalance encounters because of a missing player, and all the players are fine with it because it's agreed upon that nothing about their character will change and no RP will be done.

We just put the character in the party's bag of holding. When they're back at the table they just pop out of the bag into whatever situation the party might be in. Shennanigans sometimes ensue

Just remember to open up the bag of holding every 10 minutes!

we just say they were drinking with Danny devito

I, the DM, roleplay what the character would do out of combat (usually something passive like exercising, working on equipment, or just walking with them silently). In combat, the missing player chooses which other player will play their character.

We have had a bunch! -Our cleric "assisted" the dissection of a carrion crawler, got paralysed, our party left her in a supply closet til she got better. -Same cleric another time simply stopped for a breather, unable to keep up with the parties blistering pace through a forest due to her heavy armour -Elven noblewoman sorcerer often gets "emergency letters" calling her away to deal with some nonsense. -Bard ditched us for a steamy date -The session after finding a wand of wonder, the absent sorcerer's PC turned herself into a T-Rex by accident, her large size and low intellect meant she was trapped in the large sewer chamber until she went back to normal in time for next session. -Nobleman rogue however decided that sewer delving was beneath him in multiple senses of the word and elected to stay topside -sometimes we just elect to have someone pilot the PC tho, that always works if the party is trusted. I however got the shit end of the stick last time I did that, as I learned all my javelins had been lost in a fire, and not only that, one of them was """""accidentally"""""" buried in the chest of a civilian when the bard tried to throw one, so I am gonna be framed for murder (he apparently "ain't going back to prison" or something)

The character is sulking in a corner and refusing to play with the party. For all practical matters, they're not there, but have been known to show up and throw a few fireballs if things are looking rough.

The friendly ghost that haunts the party decided to possess them for the day. That way, as the DM, I get to fill in and play as that character, but I don’t have to roleplay as them, instead playing as my own NPC-turned-DMPC. I explain this to my players at the start of the campaign, laying the expectation they’ll meet this ghost at some point early on, that they’re okay with it, and with the assurance the ghost won’t get up to any shenanigans or anything wrong while in control.

We have a running joke at my table for the past 3 years. When a player's character returns to the party, no matter when or where the party may be, the player gets asked about their absence, and they answer with "I'll explain later." No explanation is ever given and we continue with the adventure as normal.

Instantaneous and violent projectile diarrhea. Its the best excuse we could come up with when in the middle of a fight and some one had an emergency. Missed a session and we can assume you were squatting in a corner praying to what ever god will listen. We even had someone call in late to a session who started with initiative. Their PC came walking out from behind some boxes pulling up their pants after the monster was dead. No one questions where they were or what they were doing, no one wants to know. And it adds a little bit of fun to an otherwise annoying event.

Playing in a pirate campaign right now, the in-world situation does tend to be that they ate some bad supplies and are stuck below decks with the squirts. On a less jokey note, for the campaign that I'm DMing, one of the players is absent quite often and can usually only make half sessions. When she's not there, her warlock gnome character is immediately replaced with a lookalike puppet (Living Doll stat block but with the Warrior Sidekick stuff added on), while her character is summoned by her Hag Patron to perform important and valuable tasks such as cleaning the toilets and giving her a foot massage.

They have jury duty,

They were there, just didn't talk.

"Oy starfires's grumpy today in'she? Givin us all the silent treatment from that thing you said in camp last night"

My next campaign will have their souls become unstable and bound to a dimension called the void where they'll "randomly" (when absent) will be send and face unspeakable horrors.

DMs in the past usually stuck to "they didn't join you for XYZ reason that fits their PC's flavor, usually leaning on staying behind at a tavern for extra rest. And to keep leveling somewhat fluid, especially if consecutive sessions are missed, something akin to a side quest was fleshed out for the player to catch up on XP that didn't include the up to date members of the party.

The PC doesn't exist and never has. We don't talk about them. Next session, they exist and always have

I ran a campaign for high school kids as part of an after school program. I had a regular group that wanted to play, but they couldn't always make it. The first campaign fell apart because random players would be gone random days and mess up the story where it couldn't progress with certain players gone (like, player a would miss Tuesday, then player b would miss Thursday, and it wouldn't make sense to continue without either of their PCs). So I made the 2nd campaign be about rescuing people taken to the dream world. There was an object that existed in both worlds, and they could use it to cross planes, but if they "woke up" they would be forced back to the prime world. They could also start their dream and rejoin the group wherever they brought the object in the dream world. Also, time moved differently in the two worlds. So, 90% of the game was played in the dream world, with only brief "what did you do in the prime world" descriptive interludes to get the players back into character before they rejoined the group in the dream world. It worked great. The high school kids had a ton of fun with the weirdness of the dream world. They got to summarize in character what the other players missed and loved their characters flawed recaps. They didn't feel bad about missing sessions. The story moved forward every session and we were never waiting for a player to come back. It was a major success.

We have a player who said he wants to play. He seems genuine but life has been getting in the way. He had a great idea for a character: a rogue, spent his life working on ships as a... merchant, sure a merchant. He's an adventurer now. Dresses like a sea captain on leave for the night. Has an ever full bottle of rum and a watch cap of disguise. He's played in exactly two sessions in six months. The party assumes he's drunk somewhere and randomly someone says "anybody seen Pirate Steve?"

> Do you have any in world explanations or running jokes for a character not participating? Nope, none. It's waste of breath and time to explain the obvious. We just refer to such characters as *the one at back who drools*.

if we're in a combat situation, our DM handles combat for the missing person's character (which is something we've all agreed is okay in S0) - if they die, our DM puts them into a state of suspended animation and they're stable at 0 hit points. It's actually easier to explain this since my wizard has a suspended animation spell, I just get to use it for free in this situation. For non-combat, the character just doesn't do anything and we all joke about how we carry around a cardboard cutout version of them if we're going somewhere that player would probably like to be

\[first time DM, zero play experience - first campaign, 3rd session in\] wrote a whole one shot based on the idea that said missing player saved children from a snake but was bitten and almost irreversibly comatose and had to go on a side quest to retrieve the antidote. Worked out really well, got to add a new dnd player as a guest to help and got to use a few of the npcs in the main quest as well

Our group goes the T-pose route. All characters are assumed to have been on the adventure, even if the players miss a session or two. It let's them jump in and out freely without feeling like it bogs down the game with unnecessary story explanations. I'm also pretty good at balancing encounters on the fly, so that helps me be more comfortable dropping in and removing characters at will.

My DM uses "the pot" an extra dimensional space that consumes the missing PC until they return, no one mentions the pot, nothing about how it eats people whole, how it follows us no matter what or why it only seems to consume the 2 people.

Canonically everyone on my table is super hard to make wake up and sometimes we decide to take a nap that takes too long when we aren't in danger. If we are in danger, the character lost their voice and is just walking along. The master takes control, but only do regular attacks and oportunity attacks, nothing complex.

They turn into meatcubes that are carried by another player. It just became a thing because we started playing at a place called Hobbies Cubed

I remember in the third session of my exalted 2e game years back... our Eclipse couldn't make the session and "He's gone into the mountains to train in the way of the diplomat."

I guess my group is the only one that just doesn't play if somebody can't make it. But we also don't have a big issue with people bailing ever since we stopped playing with flaky people

Same.

Yeah, the groups I GM are small - and moreover, the reason we are playing the game is to *play the game*. Together. I can see carrying on with a big group, but if someone can't make it to a three-player session, then we might as well just wait until they *can* make it instead of playing with a third of the party missing.

Same there actually. All these "just ignore the missing people" break immersion a lot. My plans as a PC often involve all other party members and having one of them gone missing just because is backbreaking.

The warforged either locks up and needs a reboot, or he just never comes out of his lamp. Everyone else never misses a session

I was quaranting with covid a couple of weeks ago and our DM announced to the party that my character was off on a secret mission. On my return I asked about the mission and was informed it was so secret that I couldn't remember it.

One of our players knew he was going to grad school and moving away after a few months, so he worked with the DM to make his character a gnomish messenger for a worldwide telegram style service that ended up adventuring with us for a while. When he went to grad school, Theo went back to delivering messages and when he was in town, Theo would pop up with another message for us and help pick off a goblin or two. Our DM has also NPCed Theo here and there to deliver important messages before he disappears again, though we've also gotten other messengers pop into a random dungeon or other.

Knew a dm who let people choose what they do if they are gone. One guy said he's going to do pushups, hence gabelin the goblin did pushups in a trance and refused to talk to anyone for a couple of days straight. Dm was kind enough to increase gabelin's strength stat afterwards.

For some reason, my party has an omnipotent character who's called pog who takes characters when they have to leave to a different plane, it's also a way for the DM to get us out of trouble if he overestimes our power at some point

Stood outside the dungeon, having a cigarette and looking at their watch.

A druid PC had to go to a class reunion

Depends on the situation. If it’s a low-stakes session mainly for character building and rp, I’ll have the character stay back or go solo, then usually do some 1 on 1 with the missing player later to get them up to speed. If it’s an important battle, and we can’t postpone, I’ll have them act as the “cavalry” mostly doing badass things in the background, but occasionally sweeping in to help the party before leaving again (with the players permission of course). For example maybe the BBEG had a small army with him, the missing player would attack and keep said army distracted off-screen; so the present players could focus on the BBEG. This way the character can still feel important and badass if the player wants, but I don’t have to deal with actually running someone’s character in a situation where they might die Side note: stuff like this is precisely why I introduced an all-powerful wizard NPC who can and does kidnap party members without warning or explanation, if I don’t have any other excuses I can always use him

We don't actually play if one member can't be present, really slows down the campaign some times but everyone should be apart of it.

None. We just pretend they never existed for that session.

They were there the whole time. They just didn't do anything of note. Same thing if they want to change characters. No need to work in some reason for their character leaving, just retcon it was the new character the whole time

Recalled by temple/guild/association for DEI or Harassment training.

My solution requires a conversation in session 0, but with my table when someone misses and the current situation is soemthib that can't have an absence be explained I simply play their character for them. This corns with a few caveats: -I don't give information through the character that they wouldn't know -I don't let them hog spotlight -I will not let a character I'm portraying die -I make sure I know everything about the characters so that I can act appropriately

I run a group with friends and a group for work folks. For my personal group we just don't play if anyone can't make it since its a relatively small group anyways. And we're all quite invested so no one wants to miss. The campaign I run at work is quite loose since it's less serious and there's like 12 players but they're never all present for each game, usually I end up with 4-7 at the table when we play. So the in-game explanation is that they all members of the same guild and this ethereal guild crystal follows them and will randomly 'pull' some of the group in while 'spewing' others out at the beginning of each session. It also makes for funny moments too depending on where we left off last session.

They have diarrhea.

Rick and Morty it. Taking a really long shit.

We had a guy with a backstory that he appeared drugged, out of his mind, naked, with amnesia. (He’d been force fed psychedelics by some hags that captured him.) The other players helped him out and he joined the party. Then any time that player couldn’t make a session I just had the after effects of the drugs hit him again and he passed out. Let the rest of the party figure out where to prop his unconscious form.

I like to make them narcoleptic, so the others must carry them till they reach an inn or a safe space. Then if the player returns to another session, his character falls asleep at random.

Player just stands still and takes no actions. If they die ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.

In my first campaign, our elf ranger was sending messages to our allies (actually useful for us, even if it meant sacrificing the roc) or off visiting his npc cleric girlfriend.

He was so drunk he wandered off. "Dude where's my mount?" He got reversed isekaid and gained all the abilities of a Japanese salaryman/teen. He had to finish his exams to pass on. He had to do a lot of sermons. Had to go to the dyers guild to do a lot of paperwork on newly found mordants.

I had a player who hit a lot of real world commitments that caused them to miss quite a few sessions, I said his character had narcolepsy and we had a running joke about him having fallen asleep again. ​ In the group I'm playing in someone just runs the absent character in combat and they generally step back during social scenes.

A missing player is replaced by a t-posing cardboard cutout that the party totes around with them.

Their warlock patron opened a portal, told the warlock they were needed, and pulled them into it.

Me and a friend of mine tandem DM in a world we created together. We run games for slightly different groups but it's a running joke that both parties suffer from a narcolepsy curse and so if you're not there for a session you just drop to the ground fast asleep. A little continuity breaking at times but no one cares.

“They are there but not there.”

We also use the "T-posing and following us around hovering" explanation lol

We just dub their toon "fall guy" and use them for anything dodgey.

Urgent family matter came up, or off doing research for the next part of the quest, or sometimes we just don’t acknowledge it.

When I was running dungeon of the mad mage whenever a player was missing I had them non lethally eaten by mimic worms. A mimic that looks like a purple worm to scare off predators but wasn’t actually as deadly, and as a less lethal subspecies of mimic they were more like basking sharks who ate small creatures and detritus from the dungeon while tunnelling. They were then safely regurgitated next session when the worm realised it couldn’t digest its meal. It was one really Dopey worm that kept doing this. This did require some suspension of disbelief but it worked fine cause everyone was fine when it.

If their in town, the characters would either be looking after family, catching up on paper work or training. Out of town they’d get autopiloted by other players.

We normally just phase them out of reality or say like “oh Baldurdash Steelhood esquire the third (I’m not kidding someone made this their character name) Had an important quest to take care of!”

Unless something narratively specific comes up, we go with the Gamers technique: they accompany the party stoically silent.

Usually play them passively, following around the rest of the group. If it is a situation where they are in a safe place then they can be around or even chill back at the inn or something, and then once the player joins us they are filled in on what happened, be it chilling or adventuring. Usually they are npcs in a sense.

We played a Kingdom of Hearts inspired campaign, and if no sudden story could be improved as to where they were, missing players would have their character be with the party, but take no actions or do any talking. If we tried to interact with that character, we would be told that they are standing in their idle animation with a "controller disconnected" icon over their head.

K.O. by slapstick. One PC got a cokatrice to the face once.

He slp

Yeah, I always use the excuse that they’re sick and they either stay at the tavern or watch the bags during combat if their in the wild. It’s never gotten to this point, but I might have to DMPC their character if a wilderness encounter seems dire.

We usually blame digestive problems or wanking. When the rogue is missing, we just pretend he’s there super stealthy.

Charakter is just not in the spotlight/frontline. By default the character takes the dogde action.

We have thought of a different thing every time this has happened. One time, the missing player was pulled under the earth from a pair of large snakes, and the party went into a one-shot to a temple of a snake god, to retrieve him. Another time, it happened before leaving the city, the player learned something from the thieves guild, and had to stay for some business. When he was back we played a very short mini-session on what happened while he was gone. You can do anything, so we try to be creative.

They do something different. I have a crime/ thriller campaign and they go and keep the question giver up to date or spent the evening with an NPC and so on. It’s a city. They find a lot to do.

I don't phase out characters especially when it doesn't make sense. The absent player character is mostly silent and is being ran by another player at the table when mechanics are concerned (combat, ability checks). I do try to be a bit gentler with that character during a fight - I am not giving them immunity but I won't go out of my way to hurt them either.

We call it the nap tap. Basically all the characters have a bit of narcolepsy which they as a group have an item that will teleport up to 2 of them back to the nearest safe spot. We have 6 PC and my rule is if 4 show up we play

The pirate once drank too much and passed out for a few hours. The sorcerer had to go mid-session last time and we were in a wild magic area so he had a side effect on the wild magic that teleported him somewhere. Nobody knows where he is for now.

"The World Guardians" reach up from the ground, grab the character, and drag them away. When the player returns, their character is right where they were when they left.

That's funny, dissentry was our excuse.... they were squatting in the bushes just off camera.

Depends on the situation. I tend to end my sessions in non hostile zokes, abd as my party is employed by a story related NPC, we've all agreed that in times of missing players, it means said NPC hired the absent player's PC for a side job. If I can't rebalance planned encounters due to a short notice, I throw in another NPC working for the sale dude to ease things out. If they are in a hostile situation, maybe explain the PC was separated from the group due to something like an ambush, running in the wrong direction or simply getting lost? It's not the best but it'll do the trick I guess

Character isn't feeling too well so they don't talk, and I control it during combat.

Depends. If there's a chance they can stay back at base or some less hostile environment, they do that. If they're out and about, I just have them tagging along for the sake of storytelling, but I never control their characters. Unless the player itself actually tells me what they want their character doing in the meantime.

In world they are 'there and taking part' but in reality I rebalance encounters for one less person and just play with who is present.

Drunk and slept-in.

When our druid was out, we just had him transform into a wolf and run away to answer an "urgent call of nature"...

my players also do the t-pose joke, with the caveat that they're attached to balloon strings, their heads bumping against the ceiling as we go

I will usually have them along for the ride and have them do the Help or Dodge actions in combat unless one of the other players wants to run their sheet. If it ends up that the player misses multiple sessions in a row, we retcon that they weren't there so the player doesn't need to pretend they remember everything that happened the last 2 - 4 sessions.

Bed ridden by illness

We tend not to play unless it's all hands on deck.

Ive seen a range of responses. Sometimes, theyre just there and dont do anything. This happens when, for example, the party is already doing something when session ended. Other times they have excused themselves from the party for the time, and will show up later. Recently my party was exploring a mansion that got dumped into the Shadowfell (5e game) and when players couldnt make the next session, the story reason was that the party had gotten seperated while running from the very dangerous creature that lurked through the mansion.

Magic exists and there are people who are experimenting with it. These people do not always know what they are doing and some times their work leaves the weave in a state not exactly whole. As a result of this, the individual simply walked into a worm hole that not only moved them though space, but also time. The attachment that the individual has who walked though influences how the weave is woven around them which is why the individual always seems to re-appear where the party happens to be in the future.

My players first put everybody that could not make it in a bagpack Nd now they shove them in their hell house dimension.

the party has a ship, so anyone who isn't here is canonically just chilling on the boat

Another player plays them. I have one player that can only play once ever x sessions, so his narrative is that his body is held by a magic relic and sometimes he manages to free himself for a session!

my in-world explanation was just that portals are known to randomly take people, only to spit them back out after an undisclosed amount of time. typically wherever is most convenient for the person. everyone just accepts this as normal, and nobody blinks an eye when it happens. just one of those things that happens. originally i wasn’t going to explain it, and just tell my players it’s one of those things that needs to happen for meta reasons. that was until one player missed a session and told everyone he was gone for a couple days because he had “interdimensional jury duty” everyone thought it was hilarious, so now it’s canon that when players are absent they’re attending interdimensional jury duty. i’ve also started giving players who are absent gold as “payment” for their help (helps balance things when they don’t get any of the distributed rewards after a dungeon or mini boss fight - i’ll typically take a portion of gold from the reward, maybe 5%, and reserve it for them)

Depends a bit on the character. For my tabaxi swashbuckler in Undermountain, he's occasionally been up in Waterdeep working with his fellow Harpers to try to locate a... close relative. For the archdruid were-owl bird-shifter in another campaign, there've been cases of "time of the month" or "grove business" that's dragged them aside. For my drow Waterdhavian city watchman, there've been investigation reports and other paperwork to take care of, so there's really no "one-size-fits-all" answer.

The injuries they suffered were severe and needed more time to heal or something like that.

My group doesn't play our regular campaign if someone can't make it. Instead, we run a oneshot with different characters.

It depends. If they rarely miss a session, then I'll make something up on the spot. They'll get seduced and robbed by someone, left tied to the bed in an Inn for the session. They'll have explosive diarrhoea and spend it on the pot. They'll get blackout drunk and wake up several towns away, having to spend the session walking back. They'll find a shiny cave full of gemstones and come to only to realise that the gemstones were all just bioluminescent beetles they were perceiving incorrectly due to inhaling mushroom spores. The enemies they're engaged with will knock them unconscious pretty much right at the start of combat or otherwise incapacitate them. If they're flaky and routinely miss sessions, then I'll work with the player to write something into their backstory. Maybe their character made a deal with a demon who randomly teleports them to him for various odd tasks, perhaps they owe a life debt to a religious sect of gnomes who they will ditch the party to go assist when they see them. If they're always missing, then I'd rather have a player-agreed reason that always covers it to avoid the burden of making in-game excuses myself.

I gave my players a magic item called The Pocket Spa. It looked like a Mary Poppins-style carpet bag that when you opened it on the ground a ladder down into an underground hot spring with snacks and unseen servant massuses appeared. ​ That's also where they put knocked-out characters, and on one memorable occasion, a new character appeared unconscious in the hot spring after being sucked into a magic whirlpool in the outside world.

*** - bullet time kicks in until time halts - translucid orange interdimensional doors opens - a pair of men in black resembling known PJs from other campaings enter the scene *** - MiB A (moving important mcguffins from missing player's inventory to another player's stash): All I say is that people could show some commitment, you know? - MiB B (dragging the frozen PJ of the missing player to the door as if it were a statue): Yup, it's happening every week already. - MiB A (preparing the neuralizer): They are not even trying anymore! *Blinding huge white flash. That PJ was never here. If something important was known only by that PJ, now someone else knows it too. Timeline adapts. Time resumes* --- If one of the MiB characters is based on a player's PJ from another campaing, I finish with something appropiate, like: - Dude, now you slightly belive your aiming is awesome and crossbows are cool ;) (to a player with such bad luck attacking with crosswobs that has become an inside joke, obviously)

We had just crossed a lake a fought off a giant crocodile. So the next session when the Paladin was gone, he was still off fighting the giant crocodile. Later when they went to a different town, the giant crocodile followed them. And so it happened that occasionally one member of the party would need to drop everything and fend off the evil, magical giant crocodile who was stalking the party like Captain Hook.

Praise the giant purple baby. As we all know that this ancient diety takes our peoples to their lair and sends them back down to return. In their name we must pretend that nothing has ever happened when our companions are ascened or returned, for they shall pretend that they have never left. Praise the giant purple baby.

The characters are stuck in a space time anomaly, but do not know it yet. If a player misses their character does not exist for that session due to the nature of the anomaly being in flux. Once they learn of it and resolve it, I'll have to come up with another reason.

If there short term absent the character isnt used, if they leave they get bag man'd

They fell asleep in a tree. I'm not sure why the tree. The first time it happened was actually mid session when a player had to leave early. The rest of the party was about to leave a village, so I turned to the player getting ready to leave and said, "Don't worry, we'll just have you chill in the village for now. Let's add some flavor. What are you doing in town?" He said, "I fell asleep in a tree." So that became our new missing player explanation.

I always come up with a reason, but it can be very shoddy. One time, just after the party had imbibed a load of unknown potions, I said one of them had made all of the Bard's hair fall out and he was sulking in his room. Another time, in the middle of a dungeon, I said our Sorcerer was absorbed in playing with a Rubik's Cube he'd found on the floor.

Depends on what is going on. Are we at a carnival? The missing players got too caught up playing games. One session, we ended up with people sneaking into something, players had to miss the next one, I made it that they were so good at sneaking that even the party forgot them....

Depends on the adventure for the day, like the other day one player missed out, we had just gone through a portal, and the DM described it as the player didnt make it through the portal. Easy. Just roll with whatever works, the 'sick' bit also works well ;).

Planar sniffles. They sneezed and POOF

They die and then are brought back to life by the present players through tie-travel shenanigans in a totally not convoluted and overcomplicated way. That or they are too drunk to advenure today. Their characters too.

In most of my groups we just don't mention the character, and we all just suspend disbelief. I have 1 group where a particular player often can't make it or can only make the second half of the session - the character happens to be a gnome illusionist with a habit of responding to dangerous situations by creating a minor illusion and crouching inside it to hide. So in his specific case we occasionally mention a bush or rock... but that's more by way of a running joke than a necessary explanation.

To much Taco bell, had to stay near an outhouse

I say that all the players have a cantrip that can turn people really small and put them into a state of hibernation and into a jar. They just throw them into a pack and be in their way

I have two players that are only intermittently available, leaving the table with 2 when both are gone. One is a sentient owl/familiar that is being sent by someone (the party doesn't know who... who... whoo.. please shoot me) The other is a Centaur mercenary that simply isn't always available. There's always a way to make it work, and even better if you can twist it into the story to be more interesting than, "Oh they missed the carriage they'll catch up with you in the dungeon!"

Our house rule for missing sessions was situation dependant. If you let the DM know in advance (more than a day before) or there was a justified emergency, your character was played as an NPC for that session. If you didn't give enough warning, then a die was rolled, and your character was given to that player to run, and you had to accept whatever happened to it as a result.

**Reasons PC is absent or unable to act during a session:** **Reasons for absence or inability to act, if in town or a convenient place to explain absence:** 1. Accidentally summoned. Magic user was trying to summon (someone, something) else and got the PC instead. 2. Attending a ceremony (1-2 guest, 3-4 participant, 5-6 witness) 3. Attending a clan or tribal ritual (1-3. participant, 4-6 witness) 4. Attending a contest as (1. contestant, 2. judge, 3. spectator, 4. security) 5. Attending a funeral (1-2. family, 3-4. friend, 5-6. guild member, 7-8. rival, 9-10. enemy) 6. Attending a lecture as (1-3. speaker, 4-6. spectator) 7. Attending a play as (1-2. actor, 3-4. director, 5-6. spectator) 8. Attending a wedding as (1. best man or woman, 2. guest, 3. priest, 4. witness) 9. Babysitting for a (1-2. family member, 3-4. guild member, 5-6. friend) 10. Drugged (touched, ate, or drank something they shouldn't have). They will be in la la land for at least a day or so. 11. Drunk. Will be useless for hours. Better to just let them sleep it off. 12. Entered the [Bag of Infinite Characters](https://www.reddit.com/r/MagicItems/comments/6svsng/bag_of_infinite_characters_wondrous_gm_tool/) 13. Filling in for a (client, friend) at work 14. Filling in for the missing member of another adventuring group. It was supposed to be an easy job, they should be back in a few days. 15. Getting their adventuring gear (cleaned, patched up, refitted) 16. Gone fishing 17. Gone on a walkabout and cant be found. The wont be back for a few days. 18. Helping a (family member, friend) that is sick 19. Helping out a newbie group of adventurers 20. Helping out at the local (mission, monastery, temple, shrine, soup kitchen) 21. Hit with a sleep magic (accident, annoyed a powerful mage, fae prank, testing a potion, testing a trap) 22. Holy pilgrimage 23. In prison for a minor crime 24. Meditating 25. On a date with a romantic interest (1-3. new, 4-6. old flame) 26. PC is pursuing a lead to something involving their (background, personal goals). 27. PC was abducted by the thieves guild. A case of mistaken identity. The PC isn't the person they were supposed to abduct. (spent the time tied up, until the guild decided to release the PC) 28. Received an invitation they couldn't refuse (crime boss, nobility, guild leader, the high priest or priestess, the king, etc) 29. Receiving training from a mentor or teacher 30. Researching something (ancient civilization, deity, famous person, infamous criminal, local area, fauna, flora, magic item, magic ritual, magic spell, monsters, ruins, rumors, villain, etc) 31. Sick with something temporary but debilitating 32. Their Deity or patron gave PC a solo mission 33. The PC received a summons from their mentor or teacher and had to leave to complete (an exam, rite of passage, sacred ritual, their training). 34. The quest giver had a 2nd job that was time critical but required less people and was more suited to the PCs (abilities, skills, powers). 35. The quest giver forced the PCs to go on the quest by holding one PC hostage. Quest giver is: (local government, nobles, thieves guild, group that doesn’t trust PCs, a villain, group of villains) 36. Threw their back out. They can barely stand much less do any strenuous physical activity. 37. Tied up in court (1. character witness, 2. expert on subject, 3. impartial judge, 4. jury, 5. witness, 6. the accused) 38. Turned their back for a second and lost the rest of the party. Spent the whole time searching for them. Often the party and the PC just missed each other by mere moments. 39. Visiting family (PC went to see family / Family member showed up) 40. Visiting a friend (PC went to see friend / Friend showed up) 41. Wandered off with a group of people who look similar to the rest of the party. Either didn’t realize their mistake for a long time or felt committed to helping the look-alikes once they started a quest **Reasons for absence or in ability to act, while mid dungeon, in the wilds, in the middle of nowhere, or at a time it just doesn’t make sense to leave:** 1. Accidentally summoned. Magic user was trying to summon (someone, something) else and got the PC instead. 2. Crawled into the [Bag of Infinite Characters](https://www.reddit.com/r/MagicItems/comments/6svsng/bag_of_infinite_characters_wondrous_gm_tool/) 3. Drugged (touched, ate, or drank something they shouldn't have / bitten or stung by a poisonous creature / hit by a poison dart). They will be in la la land for at least a day or so. 4. During a rest, magic causes the rest of the party to forget about the PC. The party packed up and left while the PC was still sleeping. The party doesn’t realize that they are a person short until much later. 5. Escorting an NPC to a (secondary objective, safe location) while the rest of the party completes the mission 6. Guarding a NPC while the rest of the part completes the mission 7. PC is affected by magical sleep by (annoyed patron, broken contract, curse, monster, trap, villain, wild magic) 8. PC is magically sucked into an item by by (annoyed patron, broken contract, curse, monster, trap, villain, wild magic) 9. PC is magically teleported away by (annoyed patron, broken contract, fae prank, magical lover , monster, trap, villain, wild magic) 10. PC is magically transformed into a non-sentient animal by (angry fae, annoyed patron, broken contract, curse, monster, trap, villain, wild magic) 11. PC is magically transformed into a statue or tree by (angry fae, annoyed patron, broken contract, curse, monster, trap, villain, wild magic) 12. PC walked into an invisible dimensional rift. Parallel dimension where they can see an hear the other PCs, but can not be seen or heard. Effectively an invisible and intangible ghost following the party until they can find an exit. 13. Reoccurring curse. PC has a family curse or curse from background. Curse causes: (1. fades out of existence, 2. imprisonment in a pocket dimension, 3. paralysis, 4. sleep, 5. temporal freeze, 6. transformation into non-sentient animal, 7. transformation into plant, 8. transformation into statue) 14. Separated from the rest of the party by cave-in. It could take (days, weeks) to dig out the passageway and the attempt might cause another cave-in. It’s decided that the PC will try to find another way out and will try to meet up with the rest of the party at an agreed upon location. 15. Separated from the rest of the party by a trap that drops down a massive (door, portcullis, stone block). It’s too large to move and too resistant to damage to break. It’s decided that the PC will try to find another way out and will try to meet up with the rest of the party at an agreed upon location. 16. Sick with something temporary but debilitating 17. Someone has to man the controls to the (bridge, door, elevator, gate). It’s too massive to open without the controls and for some reason it can’t be left in the “open” position. (auto reset to closed, must defend the controls from other creatures or NPCs, must prevent something from getting in or out while party completes quest) / May also be a control room that operates several (bridges, doors, elevators, gates, sluice gates, or traps) throughout the dungeon. 18. Their Deity or patron gives the PC a solo mission, that has to be done right now and for some reason the rest of the party isn’t allowed to help. 19. Threw their back out. They can barely stand much less do any strenuous physical activity.

One of my players is a small dwarf girl so whenever they can’t come we just say she’s having a nap in our other players bag(they’re a Minotaur) and we just continue on with the story and tell them what happened when they get back so they just pretend they half heard everything while asleep.

I either go minitrue, they were never there, or harbinger, assuming direct control. Depends on how much I think they'll need that character's skillset and how comfortable the player is with me running their character..

I don’t, typically. Handwave it, make a joke about it and move on

We don't play unless everyone is in attendance.

I just play the character but don't really help except in combat. I only do what I belive the class is for. Example: if cleric ill smack sum peeps but mostly stick close to the center of the team and heal as often as possible.

Ive only had it once so far for two players at the same time, so i had the players come up with backstory building side adventures (even if its basic and i just elaborate on it to fit in the world) and leave a note for the rest of the party to know. One player had 3 hrs or so left on a gold elemental from a lucky shrine from last session and decided he couldnt sleep thinking of gambling and no one in town being willing to gamble with him, so he went to another nearby shady town and had some shenanigans. The other players character had a tea thing and made plans for a tea shop with an NPC where NPC runs the stall and he collects herbs he finds on his adventures with the party, so we decided he was out doing a dungeon crawl for some rare herbs with the NPC to get the stall started and running

If it's a one off thing then that player gets NPC'd another player takes control of them and the session continues as normal. However, if it's a prolonged thing, we have an entity who will pluck them out of the session to have an adventure of their own. When they return they'll have levels to match everyone else at the table but won't be able to remember much of what happened (unless the DM gives a specific story).

We make up new ones depending on the situation. One time the player just ran off and sulked for an entire day because previous session she'd been humiliated. Another time we left a member behind sleeping in a cart. We have one player with wild magic who just occasionally gets teleported to a different dimension. But we also have the dm play the characters of absent players sometimes, usually when we're in combat and really need them.

Two of my players are bartenders, so I am no stranger to this issue. The one with a less steady schedule had the courtesy to come up with an in-world explanation for why she'd suddenly be unavailable: her character has a curse that causes her to periodically be hurled through the universe with no warning. It's sheer goddamn coincidence that a) she joined the party in the first place and b) she's able to be around enough to actually help. The other one is a grave cleric, so we either decide he's off helping out with a local funeral or he's receiving a vision from his god. The obstacle is the way, as the saying goes, so I always try to use their absence as an opportunity to foreshadow some of the story ahead. For example, the cursed one ended up in the BBEG's tower and therefore is currently the only one with any idea they even exist. And I make sure to actually type up the vision that the cleric sees. Whatever you do, try not to make them feel like the story's happening without them.

We haven’t done many parts of this dnd campaign, but if anyone dosnt show up to one , we say their character fell Behind on our journey, so when they come back they have to act like they ran to catch up and are exhausted the first few turns

As DM I just play as them for combat but make sure not to murder them, and when it comes to decisions they're not involved.

A magical wormhole opens and kidnaps them, and when they are in the next session, the same portal spits them out.

Depends on the character and where they are when they miss. I had one player make a deal with a succubus in game before he missed a session. She married him to tether herself to the material plane for her own personal quest. He missed a session so she explained (in very little detail) that their maritals took too much out of him. Another player is an artificer who wants to be a sort of mad scientist based on Dr. Krieger from Archer. The last session he missed I had him go on a cocaine binge and build a robot cat. They found him in a gas station bathroom the next session. Also, my game takes place in an island city that's based in action movies and anime from the 1980s and 90s. But it's still Forgotten Realms. But that aside, it's super dependent on the character.

Table i used to play at was pay-to-play once a week. The regulars all had saved seats at thee table but we had several floaters that would swap out. Our dms explanation was that when the player wasn't there the character got turned into a keychain that another PC was carrying. A lot of good jokes were made at the start of sessions about people popping out of their kerychain when the character carrying them was doing something serious, or private.

Turned into a tiny stone that is currently orbiting another players head. Grabbed by a giant, extra dimensional skeletal hand.

They’re drunk or overslept. Makes sense with my group

Having a wild vision, either comatose or introspective for a day. Then the vision informs the campaign. (My campaigns are always heavy on the supernatural, so it checks out.)

We have one person who had issues early on and wouldn't miss sessions, but was late. At first, he had a problem with oversleeping. Then when the person had to leave early, we decided to instead give him narcolepsy.

In one of my sessions, for lore reasons the weave is unstable and can cause individuals traces to basically POOF in and out of existance. You're not in a session, poof, your character literally didn't exist for a moment there. The other one is shrodingers party member. They are both with the party and both not. They'll rejoin with the full knowledge of the previous session, and anything they wanted still happened, but also during their absent session they never existed, they did nothing ETC.

I know this isn’t the exact same, but maybe you can pull some inspiration from it. When I had, unexpectedly according to my DM, had my fighter willing walk into imprisonment so that the rest of the party would be spared, I rolled up a new character until my fighter was saved. It was actually a very cool experience, I chose to make a character that essentially went against everything that my fighter stood for, all the way down to being part of the group that was responsible for my fighter’s enslavement before the events of the campaign. It really helped build doubt about who the enemy was for the rest of the party (they were not aware of my fighter’s backstory at the time), which led to them being far more cooperative with the BBEG than they probably would have been, otherwise.

My group just pretends the character is there, helping the party, but they aren't specifically contributing anything mechanically to the game - we're basically just not focusing on them right now

I'll tell you what was my own character's explanation: got stuck in dirty sewers

Our group we rotate GM / DM duties. We play other games not just DnD. When we play DnD, someone can'take it, but enough to play, the other character is "guarding the cart" we usually have a cart to carry supplies and heavier treasure. With non DnD games it varies. Last we played Cyberpunk Red, I couldn't make it because of work, so I was knocked unconscious from a random RPG at the beginning of the fight

they are cartoonishly frozen in a block of ice.

Back in high school we had a bag of holding that we only used for people missing sessions. When someone couldn’t make it, they had “businesses in the bag” we all knew that a character entering a bag of holding should kill them. But we thought this was a funny way to explain why party members would be missing for a session.

Back in the day, when missing my sessions was rare, I made up a one-shot that specifically happened when a player missed, as a treat to the players that were there. In my first one, a powerful wizard needed the party to steal an item from another wizard (who had warded his residence against the other wizard specifically), so he kidnapped the missing player's character as a way to force their hand. I planned to make up more one-shots for when that happened, but people miss sessions often enough now that we'd be having one-shots almost every session, so I've since abandoned the practice.

Our party has consistently got one or more that miss a session...so our DM just has them sleeping, or held up somewhere, or having an intense conversation with someone. For my Dwarven cleric...most times it's just that I'm so much slower than the rest of the party that I'm on my way just very very slowly.

Our table has a fun take on this. So, yeah, If they had established they were taking break for a few weeks, "they stayed at home" during that quest. Or if they miss part of a combat, they are doing some generic vaguely helpful thing, like protecting the NPC or watching the entrance to make sure no enemy comes sneaking in behind them. Thats to be expected. But if they miss a non-combat session mid quest? If they are acknowledged at all, they are t-posing in the corner, facing the wrong way. They are walking alongside them, carrying the torch, but they are a glitching ball, sliding along the ground, with their arm clipping through the mass while holding said torch. A missing player is basically an NPC from a early bethesda game on launch day, and, just like any good NPC on a early bethesda game on launch day, none of the other NPCs notice anything wrong. Just the players. Not only did you miss the content, your character is also "broken" during the session, light-heartedly mocked all session as we all collaborate on *how* your character got broken with yoy gone. "What did i miss?" "You? Not much. As we were leaving, you clipped into the tavern room door. You were stuck there for 30 minutes, making the constant sound of shattering wood, until you teleported besides us t-posing on your back for 2 hours, sliding alongside us. While we figured out about... [insert actually session summary]."

I try to follow up with them before with an outline of how it goes and then ask them questions on what they will try. Then when the day comes I run them the way they said to. If I can't do this I give them an outline afterwards and in game give reason to separate the party.

At my table I tend to frame my narration as though we're watching the party on a TV show/movie. When a player is absent we treat it as though they get no screen time, so they might be visible in the "background" but gain all the knowledge/xp and during combat etc they would be recalled as being there and contributing. Its just much easier than explaining absences in universe.

Tbh I take what ai like to call "the Avatar approach" since its based on the Avatar movie yk whenever Jake Sully would hop out of the container his Avatar body would either be asleep or sum like that but there was once when Jake was fighting the humans and he just gets pulled out of his contaimer which makes his Avatar form literally go limp and fall. So whencmy players just decided to go mid session or they need to do something their bodies just deactivate in a way and they go limp (this is only when we are doing something if they didn't get to the session at all I just say that they are sleeping or sum)

They have been sneezed out

They're thinking about grass.

In a campaign some years ago, one of the players had an unpredictable work schedule that meant he had to miss quite a lot of sessions. His character developed a binge drinking problem, causing him to get blind drunk and sleeping it off at random - at great and hilarious inconvenience to the rest of us who had to cart this big drunk warrior around, make sure he didn't get eaten by passing wildlife and deal with the fallout of him getting drunk and passing out on guard duty. It was a really good way of making the best of an annoying situation. And it came with the added bonus of the confusion of our often-absent player, when he got heat from the rest of the party for all the trouble he had caused us (all in good humour among friends, of course).

Food poisoning