Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is coming! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
DM query: Any interesting differences between different party sizes?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="guachi" data-source="post: 7090615" data-attributes="member: 6785802"><p>My current group is six. It's about as large as I'd like to go as it doesn't bog down too much but it allows 1-2 players to miss a session and not cause too many problems.</p><p></p><p>Groups of six are sturdier and can withstand a PC dropping to zero basically every combat and still make it through. The group is more likely to have all skills covered. </p><p></p><p>I tried to enforce a rule where each PC needed some connection to at least two other players. One benefit is that backstory can be included more easily as it isn't solely focused on one PC. Groups of six allow entertaining inter-PC dynamics and there are times where the PCs will talk among themselves and I can sit back and do something else for 5-10 minutes. I love small groups because the focus can be intently upon PC motivations and morality but it can be mentally taxing as a DM so getting a breather is nice.</p><p></p><p>Front line characters will be more hard-pressed in combat as party size increases so do number (or difficulty) of enemies.</p><p></p><p>One consequence of a six-person party is much reduced call for NPCs in the party (either DMPCs or henchmen). I did introduce for two sessions of combat a family in their homestead that was under attack by goblins (see module B10 <em>Night's Dark Terror</em>). It was fun as I was able to introduce the NPCs and then the PCs ran them for combat. They were 3rd level at the time and they had fun with the head of the homestead who was a 5th level Champion fighter with GWM. He mowed through the goblins but since they rolled the dice it was like <em>they</em> got to feel powerful and get a taste of what it will be like when they hit 5th level.</p><p></p><p>I wouldn't want to do more than six unless it was a group of old-timers who could really keep the game moving along.</p><p></p><p>Oh, and as for NPCs in a party long-term I settled on adding a dog to the party. B10 has a random encounter where they are given a dog by an old guy. I decided the dog could level up like a henchman getting half xp. And dogs are built to obey their masters so any spotlight hogging is because the PCs want the dog to shine.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="guachi, post: 7090615, member: 6785802"] My current group is six. It's about as large as I'd like to go as it doesn't bog down too much but it allows 1-2 players to miss a session and not cause too many problems. Groups of six are sturdier and can withstand a PC dropping to zero basically every combat and still make it through. The group is more likely to have all skills covered. I tried to enforce a rule where each PC needed some connection to at least two other players. One benefit is that backstory can be included more easily as it isn't solely focused on one PC. Groups of six allow entertaining inter-PC dynamics and there are times where the PCs will talk among themselves and I can sit back and do something else for 5-10 minutes. I love small groups because the focus can be intently upon PC motivations and morality but it can be mentally taxing as a DM so getting a breather is nice. Front line characters will be more hard-pressed in combat as party size increases so do number (or difficulty) of enemies. One consequence of a six-person party is much reduced call for NPCs in the party (either DMPCs or henchmen). I did introduce for two sessions of combat a family in their homestead that was under attack by goblins (see module B10 [I]Night's Dark Terror[/I]). It was fun as I was able to introduce the NPCs and then the PCs ran them for combat. They were 3rd level at the time and they had fun with the head of the homestead who was a 5th level Champion fighter with GWM. He mowed through the goblins but since they rolled the dice it was like [I]they[/I] got to feel powerful and get a taste of what it will be like when they hit 5th level. I wouldn't want to do more than six unless it was a group of old-timers who could really keep the game moving along. Oh, and as for NPCs in a party long-term I settled on adding a dog to the party. B10 has a random encounter where they are given a dog by an old guy. I decided the dog could level up like a henchman getting half xp. And dogs are built to obey their masters so any spotlight hogging is because the PCs want the dog to shine. [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
DM query: Any interesting differences between different party sizes?
Top