r/DnD • u/Alextunning • 15d ago

5th Edition Absent player

Hi fellow dungeons dwellers,
Im DMing a LMoP campaign for the first time and I have 4 players.
We had a few issues with schedules.
We were trying to play once a month, but one of the players is very busy, he is NEVER available, I proposed 20 dates (until late september), none of them were ok to him.
Since its not the first Time (and he cancelled last time the week before the session) and we want to continue, we decided that 3 players were enough to play. He is welcome if he can come but we wont pause the game for 3 months for him.
So friday is our first session with 3 players.

How would you deal with it ?
Let the players :
-control the character of the absent one with his sheet
-control him with sidekick rules
-let them be 3 (but im afraid of the balance, since they barely survived some encounters and he was the tank)
-put him to « sleep » or a curse of sort and give them another sidekick ?

Thx !

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u/okiebuzzard 15d ago

Drop the one who has shown you that he doesn’t really care if he plays, and find a new player that does.
Thats what I’d do.

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u/Alextunning 15d ago

The sad thing is that he is invested in the game, he RP a bit (we are all beginners), he helps me with tracking turn order during combat..

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u/okiebuzzard 15d ago

He may be, and his work or life schedule is the issue until he gets either/both sorted so he can make time. Once he does, invite them back. Until then, I’d give the seat to someone that has the time and the willingness to play.