Size of character parties

[Nikroecyst]

I absolutely dispise multiple characters to one pc or even hirelings or NPCs that follow the group around. Im not even a fan of familiars, but I do allow who ever to do what ever.

My group runs between 2-5, I have a ridiculously hard time finding players and getting them to stick with the group once they start.

The group im playing in has 4 players and its been that way for a long time, my old group was 3-6, which evened out to a sold 5 untill we moved.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

If the trends of this thread are true, he probably is including henchmen, DMPCs, hirelings and the like.

Oh, ok. I thought that he meant 4-9 players with 3-6 PC's.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Lanefan]

Our groups (whatever edition) these days tend to be about 5 players running a party of about 10 characters including NPCs, QPCs, and so on.

I'll always allow people to play 2 characters at once and prefer to do so myself...a good example of why came up this weekend. Party is reaching the climax of a long adventure. One of my characters dies in a preliminary encounter just before we get there. She's raised in the field, but has to rest a day before she can function...so the party put her in a safe place and because there's a time limit on what we're doing carry on straight into the (we think) final battle with the BBEG. If I didn't have a second character in the group I'd be sitting and watching for a few sessions (or not bothering to turn up), which kinda defeats the purpose; but I do, so I can keep playing.

'Course, the BBEG has my other character dominated now, so I'll be sitting and watching for a while regardless, but them's the breaks...

Lanefan

 

[donremus]

Always 5 players with 1 character each. I thinks it is easy to control more than 1 character but near impossible to roleplay more than 1 properly. We did hire a cleric at the end of Shackled City to get us through it.

 

[Doctor DM]

Just PC's? 3 to 6. I like 5 the best, allthough four is the standard, that 5th character gives everyone a little more room to experiment, instead of just the standard rogue, cleric, fighter, wizard.

3 is REALLY fun too. I've found that some of the best sessions we've ever had are with small groups.

I refuse to play with more than 7 players though, things just get too crazy/boring, IMO.

Their's usually an NPC or two hanging around also.

 

[Pierson_Lowgal]

I despise large parties. Anything bigger than 6 characters, including NPCs, is, in my experience, a mess. And as DM, 4 PC's, or 3 with an NPC, works best for me.

The larger the group in combat, the less important are each character's individual actions, which is less fun. And out of combat, with a large party, more people end up doing nothing, which is also less fun.

 

[Doghead Thirteen]

There's lots of henchman fans in this thread, it seems. I've never been fond of them or other accompanying allies myself, but the variety is interesting.

I find them extremely useful as a GM. Our gaming involves a lot of NPC interaction, and having allied NPC's along for the ride means I've always got someone to point out the glaringly obvious clue that's been holding us up for the last two hours...

The number of PC's in our group is extremely variable due to the fluctuating number of players; it's extremely unusual for everyone to make it to a gaming session.

 

[thatdarncat]

6 PCs/5 players and 3 cohorts/underlings/bratty little cousins

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Midwood got to 11 players at one point, and I was about to jump out the window.

It's now down to two parallel campaigns, one with five players and one with six. Much easier to balance and adjudicate.

The five person track had a NPC along for the ride last adventure, while the six person crew has one this time. Neither could really be described as henchmen, IMO, since they're not working for the player characters, but are temporarily interested in the same things.

 

[Remathilis]

Currently 5 players, 6 characters (1 DMPC).

I've played in groups are small as two, as large as twelves players (with two DMs no less!). I much prefer 5-6 players tops.