What is the typical party size in practice?

[Number48]

I thought 4E was balanced for 4 PCs?

I run 6 players and while it keeps you hopping in combat to challenge them and keep the action moving, the REAL challenge is to balance 6 story lines with personal hooks and character growth for everyone!

I think 1e assumed 6 players, but then again it didn't matter because there was no balance in 1e to throw off. Considering that D&D seems to be mostly played by adults with jobs that get in the way these days, I expect the game to assume a group of 4 and a game session of 2-4 hours.

 

[steeldragons]

I'm with Lanefan that the poll needs to differentiate between # of Players and # of PCs.

My two longest running/best groups were:
7 players, +DM, with between 8 and and 12 PCs. Sometimes, limited amounts of time, players might come and go so the group might rise up to 8 players or 10, but the PC count remained, basically in the 9 or 10 to 12 range (only long time, dependable players were permitted, or ever wanted, to run multiple PCs.)

and the other was 3 players +DM, that went up to 4 players (when I joined the group). Only 4 to 6 PCs there. The DM of that group usually ran a PC(DMPC) of his own...but each player only ran a single PC.

Personally, I like DMing groups of 6-8 PCs. So if that means I only have 3 or 4 players, then people are going to be welcome to run 2 PCs (I usually tend to advise against more than 2) and I can/will fill in the unused spaces with NPCs...who may, eventually, be taken up by additional players after a time...or used when their PCs die or go on sabbatical or something.

So...for the purposes of a "Poll" answer: I'm going to go with, ideally, a range of 5 to 7 players with 5-8 PCs.

--SD

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

Yeah, I've seen all different numbers of people. I think beyond 8 is insane, though. I like between 3-6, though 1 or 2 player games can work with gestalt, too. Currently playing in a 2 PC gestalt game. We're hyperspecialized to cover each others weaknesses and gods help us if one of us gets incapacitated, but it works quite well.

I think the ideal number is 5, I agree with 4E on that. If you're going to have "5th wheel" jack of all trade type classes and "melee specialists" that can't actually fight toe to toe and hold a position w/o dying, 4 isn't enough. 5th slot is great for someone who can backup any one of the other 4 or be the support character.

 

[Thorgrim Sekkrhrafn]

4th Edition assumed a baseline of 5 players + DM at the table, and all adventures and encounters were balanced accordingly. Assuming the DM made appropriate adjustments to the encounters for the number of players that actually showed up, this worked ok.

I m wondering though what the actual party size in practice is for most peoples games. I have a pool of 5 players available, but I run with a 'rule of 3'.

If I can get 3 players to commit to show up, game on. The absent players are just absent and no in game acknowledgement beyond the crudest joke I can come up with to account for the absence is made. I adapt to the number of players at the table.

Most of my games run with 3 or 4 players present, and each player runs only one character.

What about the rest of you? Do you think 5th Edition should assume a 5 PC baseline?

END COMMUNICATION

I actually play with no more than 3, mostly because I concentrate on playing with family (wife and kids). With a spread of children in the family from 21 to 4, time management becomes an issue and I really haven't got a lot of freetime to go off for three or four hours to game. So...I stick with 3.

 

[UngeheuerLich]

My typical group is 5 players. The game works nicely with that number.
I however want the game to work with a single or two players too.

4e actually does this quite well. But 4e runs quite bad in groups of 3 or 4, as you don´t usually cover all roles and enemies can now fokus on a single character.

And 3 or 4 people is a common size if I want to play a one shot, so this needs to be adressed. And from the design and development threads, it seems that at least the striker role will be killed and its stuff taken by the other classes. Which means, that 3 and 4 should work much better. And 1 and 2 member parties most probably too.

 

[OnlineDM]

I run three games (all 4e D&D).

One has three players, with an occasional fourth as a drop-in.

One has six players.

One generally has five players, though we could potentially have six or seven in certain circumstances.

I said five for the poll.

 

[kitsune9]

In my game, I try to run them with 1 PC for each player, but if they want to bring cohorts and followers, that's fine with me. Also if they want to hire mercenaries, that's okay too.

Right now, my group has five PC's, but they have two additional mercenaries, three NPC clerics so there is a total of 10 characters in the party.

At high levels, a couple of players will bring their cohorts, and the group will hire mercenaries. It's not uncommon for the adventuring party to number around 10-12 characters with non-support characters back at camp so that the entire adventuring company numbers around 20 characters.

 

[edemaitre]

Typical party size

In my experience, it was easier to run adventuring parties of more than six role-players in earlier editions of Dungeons & Dragons. Most of the campaigns in which I had 12+ people that I mentioned earlier used AD&D2. In D&D3.x, Pathfinder, and D&D4e, the optimal group for me has been about six people.

Of course, the mix of personalities and number of people who are expert in (or want to debate) the rules can make a big difference. It helps if gamers are patient and paying attention even when it's not their turn. When I've had three or fewer reliable attendees, we may double up on Player Characters. At higher levels, most P.C.s will have animal companions and a few followers along, but I keep them on the sidelines most of the time.

In addition, I've used troupe-style play when we've split larger parties. That way, when only half of the regular P.C.s are in one scene, the other gamers can still participate by taking on quasi-Non-Player Characters for that scene, then switch. It relieves me as Game Master from having to juggle too many participants internally. Some of our most memorable and longer-term N.P.C. foes and allies have come out of such play.

 

[Quickleaf]

Anywhere from 3-6. My current group has 5 party members.

I've played with parties of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, even 12 one time ( never again ).

D&D should readily support adventures for any size group.

 

[erleni]

I always played with groups of 3 to 5 people, except for a short period with a group of 7. Nowadays we are almost always 1DM and 3 players.
We prefer to run one character per player.