More than one PC per player?

[Jeb McDonald]

Having each player play more than 1 PC can work provided the player avoids having his two characters working as a team with some sort of "telepathy". If the player can play the two characters as two seperate entities, it can work.

 

[am181d]

I've played tons of games with multiple PCs per player, with small or larger (5-6 player) groups. In the current campaign, each player has 1 "primary" character and 1-2 additional characters that weave in and out of the campaign. At times, one of the additional characters subs for a "primary." At times, 2 or more PCs are played concurrently. My players don't have any problem roleplaying multiple characters at once, but they've been doing it for years. I actually prefer having 2 PCs available when role-playing encounters, as it cuts down on the number of times I say, "I want to say X, but my character would never say that."

 

[Elrik_DarkFury]

I don't find this idea appealing,because i want to focus on my character rather than worrying for 2.
I believe that a rather not very skilled but eager to play dm,can adjust the campaign and style of play for 2-3 characters.
Otherwise,the dm can play an npc or 2 without any serious problems.

_______________
The Wizard

 

[Bendris Noulg]

I don't find this idea appealing,because i want to focus on my character rather than worrying for 2.
I believe that a rather not very skilled but eager to play dm,can adjust the campaign and style of play for 2-3 characters.
Otherwise,the dm can play an npc or 2 without any serious problems.

Or allow Gestalt.

 

[Mercule]

I loathe the idea of multiple characters per player, but that's because I tend to be roleplay oriented. Character depth is hard enough to get without splitting people's attention.

My solution for low player-count games (I ran a 1 PC game for years along side my standard 5 player game) is to redouble my work on NPCs. Yeah, they aren't as deep as a PC, but you can acheive enough verisimilitude to augment the PC and the story. And it's more work for the DM, but DM's are supposed to bust their butt outside of game time.

On the other hand, if you run a more gamist game, where the PCs are playing pieces for the players, then I see nothing wrong with multiple characters.

 

[DiFier]

I've been in a long term, campaign that has 2 players and has gone from level 3 to level 17. at 6th level we each took leadership and then got cohorts. Since each of our charachters sometimes goes our seperate ways; then we'll each play the other's cohort. of it is all 4 the DM usually plays the cohorts except in combat. it's worked rather well. but I think becasue there is a definite main charachter for ecah player.

 

[Chimera]

Way back in the Dark Ages (tm)... High School, late 70's, AD&D. Four players rotating GMing. We each ran five characters, each having our own Cleric, Wizard, Thief, etc. The entire group, plus henchmen and followers travelled the world in a big fleet. When we got to the Dungeon or area where we were adventuring, the three players would each select two characters to make up a party of six PCs.

Played a CoC campaign that ended last fall. 1920's England. Three of us (out of 5) played 'secondary' characters. Two of them were servant/driver types, mine was a military liaison/contact type. All 3 were somewhat 'lesser' than our main characters and subject to Keeper (GM) intervention.

Played in a few large games over the years. Used to be that six PCs in a party was fairly common. Then 3e comes out with a standard party size of FOUR, which absolutely floored me.

 

[rich]

we have a small group, and I play 2 characters. For a short while we had 6 PC's for 3 players. I like playing 2 PCs, but I usually have one that's pretty simple and one that's more fleshed out. It's tough to roleplay 2 PCs.
We also noticed that too many PCs with too few players really slowed down the game...

 

[DaveMage]

Or allow Gestalt.

Exactly!

Zen: Check out the new Unearthed Arcana under gestalt characters (page 72). I'm playing in a game now with a DM and 2 players and the gestalt option works much better (IMO) than two (or more) characters each.

If you don't have access to UA, basically gestalt characters take 2 classes and gain the better stats, and the full benefits of each class.

When a player has two characters, it's difficult to roleplay because you ahve to constantly ask "which character is talking?" With gestalt, the players each play a character that has two classes (but not multiclassed) which makes it much easier to role-play, and yet you still have the benefit of a more balanced party.

 

[The Baron]

I just add npc allies

When I only get two people to show up for a session, I usually provide them with an npc ally or two. It's really not that hard, and it gives the players that extra connection to the world they're playing in.

The downside is those times when the dm is playing the npc and he's attacking monsters - also controlled by the dm. The players then get to watch as the dm plays with himself.

And watching the dm play with himself is never a good thing.