You return to the party with magnificent facial hair.

Absent Characters

I run a game on Roll20 every Saturday night. My players are all adults; they have careers, and most of them have kids. I understand that not everyone will make every game, and I don’t pressure anyone to prioritize role playing over real life, and especially over family. I get it, I am a husband and father and sometimes you just can’t give up 4-6 hours on a weekend night.

Absent players can be a problem however. I have tried in the past to build campaigns structured in such a way that allow room for a player to not be present, but their character to still be accounted for. Sometimes we assume they are present but just off camera. If the fiction allows it they may be off doing something else or somehow incapacitated. A good friend of mine runs AD&D 2E  and when a player is absent (or even away from the table) they are considered to be swallowed into a negative energy matrix, re-emerging when they rejoin the game.  In my western game Last Pale Light, an absent player can even earn XP if they let us know this is what their character is going to be doing.

I have on occasion had to put certain plot elements on hold, or planned stories and encounters that involve one character and never used the elements because the player was absent. This is how it goes; I cannot worry too much about it, especially when running a game every week.

I do like concrete mechanics accounting for absent characters however. The negative energy matrix might be a bit meta for A Gimble in the Wabe. So in true D&D fashion I’ve come up with a random d12 table.

Lost in the Woods

When a player is absent, the character is assumed to be lost in the woods. The very plants of the Tulgeywood are sentient, and the forest is full of mischievous animals, faeries and other creatures. Sometimes the trees lead you down a path you didn’t expect. When the player returns to the game, they roll on the following chart to determine what happened to the character while they were lost.

What happened when you were lost in the woods? Roll 1d12

1	You have no idea, but you have lost your shoes and your pockets are full of moss.
2	You got into an angry and misguided bet with a raccoon haberdasher. Make a CHA save vs DC 10 plus your proficiency bonus. Failure means you have lost your hat or helmet. Success means you now have a sweet coon-skin cap.
3	You woke up underneath a magic tree covered in the sticky juice of its fruit. Make a CON save vs DC 10 plus your proficiency bonus. Failure means you age 2d6 years. Success means you now have 1d6 pieces of magic fruit. When eaten make the CON save again; fail and age 2d6 years succeed and the fruit grants the benefit of a long rest.
4	You return to the party with magnificent facial hair. If you already had facial hair, it’s gone.
5	While you wandered the woods a finch fell in love with you. It will follow you until the end of the next adventure. It will do anything you ask but it cannot stop twittering its devotion to you, making it hard to sneak or hide.
6	You fought in a battle between the forces of the Hart and the Cougar. Roll 1d6. 1-2 you fought for the Hart Army, 3-4 the Cougar. 5 you were simply caught in the middle. 6 is your choice. Make a STR save vs DC 10 plus your proficiency bonus. Success means you gain your proficiency bonus x 100 XP. Failure means you return to the party with 1 HP.
7	You were seduced by a faerie. Decide if you want to make babies then make a DEX save vs DC 10 plus your proficiency bonus. Success means you get your choice, failure the opposite occurs.
8	In your wanderings you came across a flower that changes your gender when eaten. You must eat it, make a choice.
9	You found an amazing clump of peat. Squeezing it in your hands while reciting a couplet about a mundane item or weapon will make the object appear. The peat only works once.
10	You danced with the Fey for what seemed like years. If only you could remember what happened. Make a WIS save vs DC 10 plus your proficiency bonus. Success means you gain your proficiency bonus x 100 XP. Failure means you can’t remember a thing.
11	You were tricked by Brownies into harvesting mushrooms. Roll three times on the mushroom table and gain one dose of each result.
12	You undertook a quest on behalf of an earnest shrubbery. Gain one random magic item appropriate to your level.