So I'm currently running a campaign of Curse of Strahd and I'm doing it with milestone levels as recommended. I have two players that aren't able to make it every week and I was wondering what do people do about that with regards to levelling up? Do you just level them up by proxy when the party levels up or do they only gain levels when they can attend?
If someone in my group can't make it, we either have someone play their character, or we assume that they are there, but" in the background", and not fighting or RPing.
Either way, they level up at the same rate/earn the same xp as everyone else.
Similar to above, but without someone else playing the character. Only the characters whose players are present can do anything, but everyone levels at the same rate.
I'd have another player run the missing character, but I'd ask the owner if they have someone they prefer to run the character, or will it be handled at the table with a roll of the dice?
The absent player has to accept the outcome of whatever happened. Usually this is only some consumable items are used up, but the consequences could be more substantial. I would try to steer clear of absent player's characters having any meaningful contribution to RP. If the high charisma Paladin is absent, then maybe the Rogue has to give it his best shot, with the stats of a Rogue.
But, leveling the party together is the only way to go in my opinion. It is a group activity and breaking the party up into levels is only going to become trouble. That is one improvement from AD&D that I completely agree with.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
I'd keep the party's levels the same. Just level them together.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
It depends on the campaign and group. Sometimes I level them at the same rate as everyone else, sometimes not. There’s no wrong answer! Although for Curse of Strahd, especially with milestones, I’d lean towards leveling as a group.
If you are in the middle of a dungeon or similar, I'd say that either the DM or another player needs to play the character. They can't just disappear*. They need some involvement, at least until there is a reasonable point where they could leave the group.
If you are somewhere they could legitimately leave the group for a short time, I'd do that. In that case, at our table, we still level them up at the same rate, but we ask the player to describe what they did on their return.
* Actually, this is D&D. You could, legitimately, have the character abducted by magic, then returned at the start of the next session they are present. If they have spells to allow them to do this themselves, they could have received an urgent message and have to abandon the group. I'd only ever do this in rare circumstances, but the option is there.
I think each campaign is for selected players and all players need to attend. Adding more players is easier than playing without all characters.
Example: Players 1,2 and 3 play campaign together. If player 2 is not able to join the session gamemaster can make one-shot or play different campaign with players 1 and 3.
At least on my group there is total of 5 players but we are running three different campaigns because we choose the campaign we continue based on people around the table. On downside progress is much slower when playing multiple campaigns.
Fair enough. Our group enjoys this way of playing it, and making up a story as to why your character wasn't present can be fun, as can playing someone else's character for a bit. I would generally avoid long term negative consequences applying to the character whose player is not present where possible, though: Having them come back to a dead or cursed character, or having lost an important possession, would not be much fun. We also try to make decisions the way the missing player would have.
Fun's the important bit, though. If it ceases to be fun, we'll change it.
I just leave them out unless another player is going to run their character. In the case where the group will be at a major point in the adventure, I might just call the game until the next session. Or just come up with something else for the group to do for the time being.
I have heard somewhere that a DM could instigate a rule- that if a player couldn't make it that they could be preforming the "Help" action to give a player an advantage on skill checks or attacks. I am going to be starting a Murka campaign, and I have a young player (14 years old) who got emotionally attached to her character. I believe the Help action could keep the player's character out of striking distance of enemies.
Has anyone else used this before? (I know I am 4+ years too late for this conversation.)
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So I'm currently running a campaign of Curse of Strahd and I'm doing it with milestone levels as recommended. I have two players that aren't able to make it every week and I was wondering what do people do about that with regards to levelling up? Do you just level them up by proxy when the party levels up or do they only gain levels when they can attend?
If someone in my group can't make it, we either have someone play their character, or we assume that they are there, but" in the background", and not fighting or RPing.
Either way, they level up at the same rate/earn the same xp as everyone else.
Similar to above, but without someone else playing the character. Only the characters whose players are present can do anything, but everyone levels at the same rate.
Leaving characters on uneven levels is way more complicated and detrimental than just leveling them up together.
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Where possible, have them "Guard the wagon" for the session.
If they are mid-dungeon, someone else needs to play their character until the absentee is back.
Level them up together.
I'd have another player run the missing character, but I'd ask the owner if they have someone they prefer to run the character, or will it be handled at the table with a roll of the dice?
The absent player has to accept the outcome of whatever happened. Usually this is only some consumable items are used up, but the consequences could be more substantial. I would try to steer clear of absent player's characters having any meaningful contribution to RP. If the high charisma Paladin is absent, then maybe the Rogue has to give it his best shot, with the stats of a Rogue.
But, leveling the party together is the only way to go in my opinion. It is a group activity and breaking the party up into levels is only going to become trouble. That is one improvement from AD&D that I completely agree with.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
I'd keep the party's levels the same. Just level them together.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
It depends on the campaign and group. Sometimes I level them at the same rate as everyone else, sometimes not. There’s no wrong answer! Although for Curse of Strahd, especially with milestones, I’d lean towards leveling as a group.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
It depends on the situation.
If you are in the middle of a dungeon or similar, I'd say that either the DM or another player needs to play the character. They can't just disappear*. They need some involvement, at least until there is a reasonable point where they could leave the group.
If you are somewhere they could legitimately leave the group for a short time, I'd do that. In that case, at our table, we still level them up at the same rate, but we ask the player to describe what they did on their return.
* Actually, this is D&D. You could, legitimately, have the character abducted by magic, then returned at the start of the next session they are present. If they have spells to allow them to do this themselves, they could have received an urgent message and have to abandon the group. I'd only ever do this in rare circumstances, but the option is there.
I think each campaign is for selected players and all players need to attend. Adding more players is easier than playing without all characters.
Example: Players 1,2 and 3 play campaign together. If player 2 is not able to join the session gamemaster can make one-shot or play different campaign with players 1 and 3.
At least on my group there is total of 5 players but we are running three different campaigns because we choose the campaign we continue based on people around the table. On downside progress is much slower when playing multiple campaigns.
Fair enough. Our group enjoys this way of playing it, and making up a story as to why your character wasn't present can be fun, as can playing someone else's character for a bit. I would generally avoid long term negative consequences applying to the character whose player is not present where possible, though: Having them come back to a dead or cursed character, or having lost an important possession, would not be much fun. We also try to make decisions the way the missing player would have.
Fun's the important bit, though. If it ceases to be fun, we'll change it.
Thanks everyone for the replies! Fan consider this post closed now, I'm just going to continue to level them up alongside the group!
I just leave them out unless another player is going to run their character. In the case where the group will be at a major point in the adventure, I might just call the game until the next session. Or just come up with something else for the group to do for the time being.
I have heard somewhere that a DM could instigate a rule- that if a player couldn't make it that they could be preforming the "Help" action to give a player an advantage on skill checks or attacks. I am going to be starting a Murka campaign, and I have a young player (14 years old) who got emotionally attached to her character. I believe the Help action could keep the player's character out of striking distance of enemies.
Has anyone else used this before? (I know I am 4+ years too late for this conversation.)