D&D General Am I the only one who plays D&D with more than 1 character per player???

[jasper]

I used to allow multi pcs per player per session, but around 3E the game changed so the encounters were 4 to 5 pcs versus the encounter. So it was not longer needed. But with Tasha's and other builds I have seen multiple "hirelings" per pc.

 

[Zsong]

Heck. I still use henchman and morale. I have players with several characters.

 

[jayoungr]

I ran games this way for a couple of years when I only had two players. They'd play two characters apiece. When we got more players, though, we dropped down to one character per player.

 

[nogray]

I currently play in a 5e campaign where the other player and I each run two characters (and have had a couple other mini-campaigns that ran the same way). I also currently DM a 4e epic campaign where each of the (two) players are playing two characters. It's not just you.

(historical note)
Back in the 2e days, the Dark Sun campaign setting had "character trees" (I think that's what they were called) where you had four characters, actively ran one per adventure, but had a stable of three in the background. I think there was an advancement scheme for the background characters, though I don't recall the precise details. (I think it was along the lines of "when the active character levels up, choose one of the inactive characters to also level up. There may have been restrictions about not levelling a background character to a higher level than the currently active one.)

 

[Bupp]

I've played and run games with multiple characters per player.

2 characters per player is the norm at my table, though I usually only have 2-3 players. One character seems to be the "main" and the other ends up being a glorified stat block.

I was ran a one on one game where the player played an entire party of characters. A party made up of one of each of AD&D's elf races.

The game I'm currently playing on Roll20 we have a sidekick, Droop the Goblin from LMoP. I run the character sheet on Roll20, and make a bunch of the combat choices for Droop. The DM does most of the role playing, and occasionally in combat will take the reins to do something offbeat with him.

Each of the other players have roleplayed Droop at times. Always in a "goblin voice". We explain this as that Droop is crazy, and these are all different voices that are in his head. Or that they are actually different entities that are influencing Droop. Yet to be seen.

 

[Gadget]

I have not seen 1 player running more than 1 character (other than the rare aberration) since the old school days of having parties of multiple hirelings and henchmen and such. In late 2e and certainly 3e, the game became very complex and "analysis paralysis" became an issue, along with speeding up game play.

In campaigns where there have only been one or two players, I've more often seen the DM just adjust the game to accommodate.

 

[John Quixote]

Players having multiple characters is a different matter entirely from players having henchmen and followers. I do allow both, but I'll only permit a player to run one player character at a time during a given adventure. So if, for example, Bob the player happens to have a 5th level fighter, a 4th level magic-user, and a 2nd/3rd magic-user/thief in his stable of player characters, only one of them ever gets to be run during a given game session. (And the stipulations given in AD&D against players with multiple characters sharing magical items between then are strictly observed: that way, Bob can't just heap three characters' worth of magical items on whichever one character is going on the adventure that week.) Each separate player character, too, can have their own separate stable of henchmen and hirelings, and those followers will be loyal to that specific character.

 

[aco175]

Anyone ever do 2 players for 1 character? Now that would be something.

We have had players only show up regularly and then stop for a week or two each month for whatever reason. We ended up having another player take over the PC on the off weeks. Not ideal, but it worked out fine.

I tried a campaign with the players each having a few PCs and then picking one for the week. I had a table where there was 3 every week players and 2 here and there players so generally 4 players showed each week. I pictured an adventurers guild where each week would be a complete mission and the players could take different PCs to round out the party for each mission. Worked ok for two weeks and eventually became the same group of players using the same PCs since they were leveling up at the same rate and the other PCs were still 1st level. After a month or so, it became more a normal campaign with longer sessions.

 

[Nod_Hero]

When the group of players is less than 4, we usually play multiple characters to make up an adventuring group of 4 characters.

 

[Charlaquin]

Players having multiple characters is a different matter entirely from players having henchmen and followers. I do allow both, but I'll only permit a player to run one player character at a time during a given adventure. So if, for example, Bob the player happens to have a 5th level fighter, a 4th level magic-user, and a 2nd/3rd magic-user/thief in his stable of player characters, only one of them ever gets to be run during a given game session. (And the stipulations given in AD&D against players with multiple characters sharing magical items between then are strictly observed: that way, Bob can't just heap three characters' worth of magical items on whichever one character is going on the adventure that week.)

That hardly seems necessary in 5e to me thanks to the attunement mechanic.