D&D 5E Large Party With "Large" Level Split

[Winterfell]

This Sunday I am going to be running a party with 3 extra players who are going to be starting out at Lvl 1. The remaining 3-4 members are levels 6-7. The three level ones are new to 5e but played a while back in other editions.

The challenges in front of the 6-7's are more than deadly to the new level ones but I also don't want to dumb down an entire Sunday just to show these level 1 around.

Any suggestions on the type of adventure to run?

(Quick back ground on the current party: In the Shadowfell and not making too many friends. Have pissed off a large section of the undead Evernight citizens and a couple powerful members of the community, but have the ability to portal back into the material plain.)

I was thinking potentially the following:

1) Have them pull back through their portal into the material plain and have the higher levels run an escort type mission were they have to protect the level 1 crew for a yet to be determined reason.

2) Pull out an inter-city battle where I can throw in larger undead mobs while feeding the lower levels zombies and skeletons and occasionally having to have a member or two the main party come to protect the level 1's.

I know I am just shotgunning for a response, but have any of you had to run a game with a significant amount of people below your main party's level? House rule is not to start new characters above level one (they just get accelerated xp).

As always thank you for any insight you can provide.

 

[Quickleaf]

[MENTION=6789022]Winterfell[/MENTION] Yes, I've done it in the past. Basically in two different ways:

1. Run a primarily non-combat adventure, for example something with lots of investigation like L2 The Assassin's Knot. Like in older editions 1st level PCs are squishy and won't last long against the kinds of stronger monsters the 6th/7th level PCs are facing. So you want to focus on the interaction and exploration parts of the game until they get closer in level.

2. Run a split adventure with two sets of challenges, one for the 6th/7th level PCs and one for the 1st level PCs. In this case plan on running a split party for much of the time. It's important to establish meaningful goals for both the higher levels AND the lower levels to accomplish, and these goals should interface with each other somehow. Literature and games are full of this kind of stuff (e.g. Gandalf and the Balrog while the rest flee/fight goblins & orcs, the betrayal of the Grey Wardens in Dragon Age: Origins).

EDIT: Since you've got the whole Shadowfell thing going, you could get really wild and do some kind of "ghosting in" thing for the 6th/7th level PCs where they're trying to get back but the portal has been sabotaged so only semi-material (and much weaker) versions of themselves make it back. Heck, maybe they come back as Shadows (as in the undead monster). Then the 1st levels come into play to reach the Shadow Gate and help the 6th/7th levels cross over fully. You could really play with this in a lot of ways!

 

[aramis erak]

They won't be 1st levels for long. If they survive, they're going to level up rather quickly.

 

[ExploderWizard]

@Quickleaf has a pretty good plan. Make sure the lower level members can contribute in ways that won't get them killed and they will have a couple more levels very quickly. 1st-3rd level goes by just like that and in a party of 6th-7th level, the lower level characters will reach 4th faster than they would otherwise do.

 

[Scorpio616]

I see no problem unless the higher level party does not have access to Revivify.

 

[Fanaelialae]

As others have stated, levels 1-3 will go by in no time at all if the party is encountering anything remotely challenging to the 6-7s. Given this, have you considered starting the new characters out at level 3? This will save time at the table (since you won't have to pause after the first 300 and 900 XP to level the newbies up) and while they'll be a bit squishy, they should be able to still meaningfully contribute at that degree of disparity. At least based on my own experiences.

 

[Wik]

Here's a good way to handle this. I've done it before in groups with a large level gap, and it should work VERY well in 5e, where the number gap is much narrower than previous editions.

Basically, each 1st level starts with temp hp. I'd go with a number of temp HP equal to their constitution score, or something like that. These temps are on a one-time basis; once they're gone, they're gone. If you don't want to just give this bonus to them, you can have it be in the form of a magic item or potion they happen to "find".

 

[pming]

Hiya.

For my campaign, I allow new PC's to enter the game at "Average Party Level -2; maximum starting level 3". So, if your average PC level is 6, then 6-2 = 4; but nobody starts higher than 3rd, so new characters are level 3.

The thing with 5e is that level's 1 and 2 are kinda like "negative levels" of 1e days for the Cavalier (or some of the monster classes from the "Creature Books" for BECMI". I see levels 1 and 2 as "stepping stones of final training" for ones class. I mean, one 2nd level Fighter is pretty much the same most other 2nd level Fighters in terms of Fighter class abilities. But once you hit 3rd level you pick your archtype. It is level 3 that I really see a class as "full-blown". Ergo, allowing a possible starting level higher than 1st.

If you don't want to do that, another option that seems to be popular is the "HP's as if you were 3rd level". A PC would start at 1st level but have the HP's of a 3rd level. He wouldn't gain HP's until he hits 4th level.

All that said...if the newbie adventurers can survive a foray into the dungeon, chances are they'll hit 2nd if not 3rd by the time they wake up the next morning anyway, so I wouldn't worry about it.

^_^

Paul L. Ming

 

[Bupp]

I'll also put my vote in for starting at level 3. My second group I started the whole party at level 3. This took away their squishyness and they were able to hit the ground running. Should be a bit better mixed with your 6-7th level characters.

On the flip side, 3rd level characters may have too many "bells and whistles" for new/long time lapsed players. Having to pick background, race, class and subclass is a lot of choices to make when new, not to mention all the different abilities they they will have (and forget about).

 

[Rod Staffwand]

The start them at 3rd level is the easiest and most sensible, but if you're committed to 1st level (which it sounds like you are), you just have to be wary of throwing CR2+ monsters, traps and challenges at them. They might be able to contribute to such fights, but they won't be able to last long.

But the main issue is who are these new characters? Why are they joining the group? What can they offer it? What is their story? Depending on your play style and that of your players, the answers to these questions might offer a solution to your adventure difficulties.

The other players have had a chance to develop their characters, the new ones have not. Make them and their story the focus of this adventure with the higher level PCs as support. This gives the newbies a chance to grow, shine and get comfortable with system, characters and campaign.