D&D 5E Splitting the Party: Yay or nay?

[Croesus]

In my experience, parties tend to split up for one of three reasons:

1) Expectations of a fight are low. They're in town, talking to folks, gathering info, shopping, whatever.
2) They're being tactical. Setting up an ambush, scouting the goblin camp before attacking, stuff like that.
3) They're overconfident (or bored). The battle's going well, so one character decides to charge alone through several rooms looking for stuff to loot, then runs into more than he can handle.

Usually, the third reason is the only one that screams "Certain Death".

 

[Lanefan]

Sneakies sneak ahead, noisies stay put and wait.

That alone is more than enough reason to vote 'yes'.

 

[Shiroiken]

In the dungeon, this is usually a death sentence. A scout who never moves more than 1-2 turns ahead of the party is probably the furthest I'd normally suggest. Sometimes you might need to split up, such as to disable the trap mentioned in the OP, but as a player, I'd avoid it as a rule of thumb.

In the wilderness, there are more opportunities, but it's still not a great idea. The best uses are to scout out around an area or if you're moving to set up an ambush or something, but you should try to stay within shouting distance.

In urban environments, it's usually encouraged. Characters have different needs and desires, so it makes sense for them to separate to save time. Downtime activities usually take place here, and those split the party. Occasionally the urban area will be dangerous, but this is the exception, rather than the rule.

 

[Kobold Stew]

I voted no, but not for the reason stated.

It's not because it makes the party weaker; it's because it changes the player dynamic at the table, and splits the DM attention between two groups. Less fun, almost always.

 

[Nagol]

I voted no, but not for the reason stated.

It's not because it makes the party weaker; it's because it changes the player dynamic at the table, and splits the DM attention between two groups. Less fun, almost always.

Yeah, the DM is typically the bottleneck. It gets worse when his attention is split between multiple groups and situations.

 

[iserith]

I love splitting the party.

But then I DM most of the time.

 

[cmad1977]

Yes. No. Sometimes.


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[Xeviat]

I had a fun moment come out of a party splitting. One group's encounter was going south, and fast, and they ended up dying. So we switched to the other group, who took care of their enemies with time to spare, so one of the characters was free to fly over and help out the other pair of characters.


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[hastur_nz]

In Scooby Doo, one of the most common sayings was always "Let's split up and search for clues". It made for great TV. And of course, nothing bad ever came from it...
I have no idea why my players never try the same tactics, not even when I was DMing Curse of Strahd.

 

[ccs]

I love splitting the party.

But then I DM most of the time.

I know the joy.
I've had parties split by lvs/rooms/buildings, miles, planes, even time.