Absent Players and XP Awards [Archive] - Wizards Community

Absent Players and XP Awards [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
SilverSabre25
02-17-06, 01:55 PM I am a semi-experienced DM who has recently run into a bit of a conundrum. I have one player in particular (fairly new to the group) who is almost always late, often wants to leave early, and sometimes just doesn't come to sessions because he doesn't feel like it or "has tons of work to do" that we all know doesn't need done for weeeks.

As a result, we often have his character sheet but not him. In previous games, the DM has just given full combat XP as long as we had the absent person's character sheet. I'm all right with that part of the time, but this is getting out of hand.

How do the rest of you handle absent players? Do you give them full XP or no XP? I have thought of the solution of giving haf XP from combat as long as we have the character sheet. Is this a fair solution?

One of my playesr, a good friend with whom I've played for quite awhile, thinks that it is a very unfair idea. So far she is the only one who has voiced an opinion. She also has played under DMs who give full XP no matter what.

Advice please! Thank you!
SilverSabre25
CzarGarrett
02-17-06, 02:11 PM If the character is not there, they don't get XP.

Thats the simplest way to do it.

The way the XP system is skewed, if you are lagging behind the rest of the party, the XP is proprotional, so you'll catch up.

Although repeatedly missing sessions will eventually make the character far too far behind to survive.

From the sounds of it, unless you really need this player, phase him out of playing. He has issues with commitment to playing which are being a limitation factor to the rest of the group.
TheChilliGod
02-17-06, 02:13 PM I'd say it depends.

I've got one player in my group that is roughly the same is yours, only his chief excuse is that, since he failed last year's exams, he has to stay at home for the majority of weekends to study and is 90% likely to not be available.
So we agreed that when (if) he can come, his character is automatically leveled up to the average party level, possibly minus 1. All other times, we don't even play his character for him, the PC just goes off again.

In other, less severe cases, (like 1 or 2 sessions) your xp depends on whether or not your PC was present at the time. If the PC gets to be played out by either the other players or me, full combat xp is awarded for any battles the PC participated in, but only the minimum of roleplaying xp. If the PC is not to be played, (an option available on request) then no xp is given out to the character.

Unless the average party level goes up one. In that case, I'd be generous (Unles there's too many objections from the rest of the group, figuring out this sort of thing is a team effort.)
Illion the Red
02-17-06, 02:17 PM If you are not at the session you get the big olde gooseegg. Zip. Squat. Nada. Nothing.

If you show up late enough for us to start without you, then you miss out as well.

If you leave early, you miss out.

If you have to leave on time and the session runs late, you get full XP.

If it's my fault (as DM), you get full XP.

We schedule games around everyone's schedule, so if you can't make it, it's your own fault.
DanjaNinja
02-17-06, 02:24 PM My group has had a lot of players like that. It's very frustrating. Sometimes the players had legitimate excuses, sometimes they didn't. Finally we've come to the point where we tell new players right off the bat, "If you can't show up consistently, don't bother showing up at all." It may seem mean, but the benefit of not having to deal with flakes assuages my conscience.
BlueLikeYou
02-17-06, 02:43 PM I usually just run the player as an NPC, and award full XP. Then I don't have to try and come up with a reason for the character suddenly disappearing and then reappearing later. This also keeps the whole party at the right level.
Board_Rider
02-17-06, 04:23 PM This has come up too many times to count in my group. Here is how we handled it.

1. If the guy is constantly missing and doesn't show up...he is dropped.

2. If the person is late/leaves early, and we know it, his PC is "there" but does nothing (He watches the horses/door)....no XP

3. If the person cannot make it or is consistently late/ leaves early he can opt to allow somebody to play as his PC until he/she arrives and will get full XP. If the person does not opt for this we go to step 4.

4. The PC in question gets 25% of the partys awarded XP after it has been divided. So if a party of 4 had an encounter worth 100XP the would 33XP apiece. The missing PC would get 25% of 33XP (whatever that is).
J_Riley
02-17-06, 04:34 PM In my group, I had to mandate the absent = no XP rule as well.

Once I did that, attendence increased dramatically. I think that in and of itself will weed out those with commitment problems.

As an addendum, if you are there for 51%+ of the session, you also get full XP.
DarknessEternal
02-17-06, 05:34 PM There's no need to give missing people experience. If you use the exp rules as presented in 3.5, if someone actually falls behind in levels, they will catch up to the rest of the group.

For example, if you have 3 level 10's and one level 9 (the guy who fell behind), in one CR10 encounter, the level 10s get 750 exp and the level 9 gets 1012.
Pellanor
02-17-06, 05:40 PM Our rules:
If you are going to miss a session, give the DM at least 24 hours notice.
If you can't give 24 hours notice, then at least have a good reason for not being there.
If you don't give 24 hours notice, and don't have a good reason for not doing so, nor do you have a good reason for missing the session, then your character loses a limb. You're forcing the DM to modify the story on the spot to have a good reason for your character to not participate in the session. The reason your character is not able to help is that (for example) he trips and falls down a hill, accidently loosing his arm when he lands on a half-burried axe. The pain/shock is so bad that it takes a while for you to be able to function again.
Sometimes limb loss gets replaced with some other unhappy situation. Either way you're not going to like the DMs reason for your charcter being MIA.

As for being late / leaving early, you just don't get exp for the bits when your character isn't there.
Lobo13
02-17-06, 07:21 PM -Ask your other players. See what the consensus preference is...now, you may get them saying "give absent players full xp" in order to shore up their chances...if you have players that you know will have a response opposed to what you are trying to do (levy a penalty to absent players) then give your players a choice...take some of the wonderful suggestions from this board, put them in front of your players...tally the votes (if you're not from florida or haiti you should be able to count) and see what wins...

my opinion comes from a casual gamer perspective...okay, casual gamer who happens to be an attorney...but casual gamer nonetheless...i only see limited "normal" alternatives for late/absent players...if they are absent, you either include their character as an npc controlled by you or the party and give them full xp share, or you take their character away from the party and give them no xp...or, if they are late, you either give them reduced xp based on the encounters they missed or full xp...if they actually participate in some of the game, zero xp is unreasonable, unrealistic, and just not fun...that's my take, i wish you good luck and good gaming...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
SilverSabre25 02-17-06, 01:55 PM	I am a semi-experienced DM who has recently run into a bit of a conundrum. I have one player in particular (fairly new to the group) who is almost always late, often wants to leave early, and sometimes just doesn't come to sessions because he doesn't feel like it or "has tons of work to do" that we all know doesn't need done for weeeks. As a result, we often have his character sheet but not him. In previous games, the DM has just given full combat XP as long as we had the absent person's character sheet. I'm all right with that part of the time, but this is getting out of hand. How do the rest of you handle absent players? Do you give them full XP or no XP? I have thought of the solution of giving haf XP from combat as long as we have the character sheet. Is this a fair solution? One of my playesr, a good friend with whom I've played for quite awhile, thinks that it is a very unfair idea. So far she is the only one who has voiced an opinion. She also has played under DMs who give full XP no matter what. Advice please! Thank you! SilverSabre25
CzarGarrett 02-17-06, 02:11 PM	If the character is not there, they don't get XP. Thats the simplest way to do it. The way the XP system is skewed, if you are lagging behind the rest of the party, the XP is proprotional, so you'll catch up. Although repeatedly missing sessions will eventually make the character far too far behind to survive. From the sounds of it, unless you really need this player, phase him out of playing. He has issues with commitment to playing which are being a limitation factor to the rest of the group.
TheChilliGod 02-17-06, 02:13 PM	I'd say it depends. I've got one player in my group that is roughly the same is yours, only his chief excuse is that, since he failed last year's exams, he has to stay at home for the majority of weekends to study and is 90% likely to not be available. So we agreed that when (if) he can come, his character is automatically leveled up to the average party level, possibly minus 1. All other times, we don't even play his character for him, the PC just goes off again. In other, less severe cases, (like 1 or 2 sessions) your xp depends on whether or not your PC was present at the time. If the PC gets to be played out by either the other players or me, full combat xp is awarded for any battles the PC participated in, but only the minimum of roleplaying xp. If the PC is not to be played, (an option available on request) then no xp is given out to the character. Unless the average party level goes up one. In that case, I'd be generous (Unles there's too many objections from the rest of the group, figuring out this sort of thing is a team effort.)
Illion the Red 02-17-06, 02:17 PM	If you are not at the session you get the big olde gooseegg. Zip. Squat. Nada. Nothing. If you show up late enough for us to start without you, then you miss out as well. If you leave early, you miss out. If you have to leave on time and the session runs late, you get full XP. If it's my fault (as DM), you get full XP. We schedule games around everyone's schedule, so if you can't make it, it's your own fault.
DanjaNinja 02-17-06, 02:24 PM	My group has had a lot of players like that. It's very frustrating. Sometimes the players had legitimate excuses, sometimes they didn't. Finally we've come to the point where we tell new players right off the bat, "If you can't show up consistently, don't bother showing up at all." It may seem mean, but the benefit of not having to deal with flakes assuages my conscience.
BlueLikeYou 02-17-06, 02:43 PM	I usually just run the player as an NPC, and award full XP. Then I don't have to try and come up with a reason for the character suddenly disappearing and then reappearing later. This also keeps the whole party at the right level.
Board_Rider 02-17-06, 04:23 PM	This has come up too many times to count in my group. Here is how we handled it. 1. If the guy is constantly missing and doesn't show up...he is dropped. 2. If the person is late/leaves early, and we know it, his PC is "there" but does nothing (He watches the horses/door)....no XP 3. If the person cannot make it or is consistently late/ leaves early he can opt to allow somebody to play as his PC until he/she arrives and will get full XP. If the person does not opt for this we go to step 4. 4. The PC in question gets 25% of the partys awarded XP after it has been divided. So if a party of 4 had an encounter worth 100XP the would 33XP apiece. The missing PC would get 25% of 33XP (whatever that is).
J_Riley 02-17-06, 04:34 PM	In my group, I had to mandate the absent = no XP rule as well. Once I did that, attendence increased dramatically. I think that in and of itself will weed out those with commitment problems. As an addendum, if you are there for 51%+ of the session, you also get full XP.
DarknessEternal 02-17-06, 05:34 PM	There's no need to give missing people experience. If you use the exp rules as presented in 3.5, if someone actually falls behind in levels, they will catch up to the rest of the group. For example, if you have 3 level 10's and one level 9 (the guy who fell behind), in one CR10 encounter, the level 10s get 750 exp and the level 9 gets 1012.
Pellanor 02-17-06, 05:40 PM	Our rules: If you are going to miss a session, give the DM at least 24 hours notice. If you can't give 24 hours notice, then at least have a good reason for not being there. If you don't give 24 hours notice, and don't have a good reason for not doing so, nor do you have a good reason for missing the session, then your character loses a limb. You're forcing the DM to modify the story on the spot to have a good reason for your character to not participate in the session. The reason your character is not able to help is that (for example) he trips and falls down a hill, accidently loosing his arm when he lands on a half-burried axe. The pain/shock is so bad that it takes a while for you to be able to function again. Sometimes limb loss gets replaced with some other unhappy situation. Either way you're not going to like the DMs reason for your charcter being MIA. As for being late / leaving early, you just don't get exp for the bits when your character isn't there.
Lobo13 02-17-06, 07:21 PM	-Ask your other players. See what the consensus preference is...now, you may get them saying "give absent players full xp" in order to shore up their chances...if you have players that you know will have a response opposed to what you are trying to do (levy a penalty to absent players) then give your players a choice...take some of the wonderful suggestions from this board, put them in front of your players...tally the votes (if you're not from florida or haiti you should be able to count) and see what wins... my opinion comes from a casual gamer perspective...okay, casual gamer who happens to be an attorney...but casual gamer nonetheless...i only see limited "normal" alternatives for late/absent players...if they are absent, you either include their character as an npc controlled by you or the party and give them full xp share, or you take their character away from the party and give them no xp...or, if they are late, you either give them reduced xp based on the encounters they missed or full xp...if they actually participate in some of the game, zero xp is unreasonable, unrealistic, and just not fun...that's my take, i wish you good luck and good gaming...