To retcon or not to retcon? NPC’s died because PC ghosted /u/OuroMorpheus DnD: Roll for Initiative!

So a player (Ranger) ghosted my campaign last week, throwing off the encounter balance I had planned. One player offered to pilot the Ranger, which helped, but eventually the Ranger was knocked unconscious. The player piloting him spent two turns stabilizing him (bad roll on medicine check), and around that time two NPCs went down, one of them being the healer. Both NPCs failed their first death save, and both got nat 1’s on the second, so both died. No one knew if the Ranger was coming back this week, which is why the player prioritized saving the Ranger. We still haven’t heard from him, and now the player wishes he had focused more on saving the NPCs, since the Ranger he saved appears to have left the campaign.

I’m really not sure what to do. I generally dislike retcons, unless they’re so minor they really don’t matter. This matters though, and I’m very annoyed that one person being inconsiderate indirectly led to two NPC deaths. I know the nat 1’s were just bad luck, but I really think at least one NPC would have made it if everyone knew the Ranger wasn’t coming back. And it was the perfect opportunity to kill him off! But we just didn’t know if he was really gone.

I’m tempted to retcon and let the player stabilized an NPC instead of the Ranger, but I don’t like the precedent it sets. What are your thoughts Reddit?

So a player (Ranger) ghosted my campaign last week, throwing off the encounter balance I had planned. One player offered to pilot the Ranger, which helped, but eventually the Ranger was knocked unconscious. The player piloting him spent two turns stabilizing him (bad roll on medicine check), and around that time two NPCs went down, one of them being the healer. Both NPCs failed their first death save, and both got nat 1’s on the second, so both died. No one knew if the Ranger was coming back this week, which is why the player prioritized saving the Ranger. We still haven’t heard from him, and now the player wishes he had focused more on saving the NPCs, since the Ranger he saved appears to have left the campaign.

I’m really not sure what to do. I generally dislike retcons, unless they’re so minor they really don’t matter. This matters though, and I’m very annoyed that one person being inconsiderate indirectly led to two NPC deaths. I know the nat 1’s were just bad luck, but I really think at least one NPC would have made it if everyone knew the Ranger wasn’t coming back. And it was the perfect opportunity to kill him off! But we just didn’t know if he was really gone.

I’m tempted to retcon and let the player stabilized an NPC instead of the Ranger, but I don’t like the precedent it sets. What are your thoughts Reddit?