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The metagame artifacts from pf1e were my favorite way of implementing home rules. No, your wizard buddy didnt suddenly become comatose because their player had to do something IRL, the Scar of Destiny whisked them away at a bad time, just as it always threatens to do to you.
I prefer the Gamers movie solution and just say "he's over there" in case they absolutely need to pull him to use a spell only he has for a sec.
If one of my players can't make it and it's not possible to remove their character from the group storywise (meaning I'll have to control their character in combat), the character will immediately equip the "Talisman of Protection from DM Stupidity". What it does is:
- When a character holding this item dies, they fall unconscious instead and disappear into a demiplane. While in this demiplane, the character is stable at 0 hit points. When the party takes a long rest, the character will reappear near a random other player character as if they had also taken a long rest.
- If the player retakes control of the character while they are still in the demiplane, the character reappears next to another player character of their choice with 1 hit point.
- If all other player characters die, the character in the demiplane will die too. If the method of their original death would have left a corpse, the corpse will reappear adjacent to a random player character's body. Otherwise, they will disappear alongside the demiplane.
Basically, it makes them immortal unless a TPK happens.
Do you have a lore reason that explains it, or is it just a fourth wall breaker (for the greater good)?
For now it's just a fourth wall break because none of the players questioned it.
If they do ask, the lore reason is:
"DM" stands for Dunnusaidu Marudu, an ancient philosopher and the inventor of hedonism in this universe. When he died, he decided that even though he has experienced all the possible sensations that his current body and the current time period can provide, he still hadn't had enough. He had enough followers to become a minor god, and his spirit wanders the world, possessing random people for a short while to gain new experiences. He is not malicious which is why he created this talisman that appears on those possessed by him, he usually doesn't speak much when he does this, and he never makes major life decisions in the given body.