2 (or more) PCs per Player

[Quasqueton]

Have you tried/allowed gaming with more than one character per Player (at the same time)? How did it work out? Good thing, or bad thing?

Note: I'm wanting advice based on actual experience, not opinions based on hopes or fears.

Quasqueton

 

[Just_Hal]

I have done it as a player and as long as everyone is ok with it, it works ok but the players have to be comfortable with the rules and classes they are portraying, we did it one fighter/rogue type and one caster (cleric/mage) type for each person so one would not have to look at all the spells.....we only did this when we were low real people or we had a newbie grp and ppl picked classes but we needed a ______ to fill in the whole, so I played 2 PC's I was OK with and RP each as needed.

 

[el-remmen]

I have run two characters before, but it was more out of necessity than a real desire to. However, it did work out okay. I had two very different characters one of who really didn't like the other (I did this so as to not be tempted to share resources in a cheesy way).

Back in H.S. I ran a game for two people where each player FIVE characters and I ran FIVE NPCs that came along. In that case it was more like a main character each and then four followers who could become main characters if a main one died.

 

[Menexenus]

I play in two campaigns where the players have multiple characters. In one military-themed campaign, each player started off with 6 characters - a seargeant and a small squad of 5 enlisted men. Of course, our group has incurred losses, but each player still controls 3 or more characters. In the other campaign, each player has 2 characters.

Both campaigns have only 3 players, hence the need for multiple characters per player. And both campaigns are going strong with no problems.

I think doubling up on characters is a good way to fill in party roles that would otherwise go unfilled.

 

[Mallus]

Never in any game I've run or played in. If anyone wants to have multiple characters then they're welcome to play one of the many fine small-unit wargames on the market. I have run my share of fine solo-PC campaigns (actually, it was one campaign where the PC's all played in roughly concurrent solo sessions thanks to living in different states).

A role thats 'needed' can be provided by NPC's that are high on color and low on DM provided advice.

 

[Ed_Laprade]

Done it when there were only 2-3 players in 1E. The thing you have to watch out for is too much sharing. (Characters of the same player looking out for each other first and anyone else later, each knowing everything the other does, etc.) But with even reasonably decent players this sort of thing can usually be minimized without a lot of work.

(Then there was the GURPS game with two players having one character each... but they both had Split Personalities. One personality knew one of the other character's personalities, but not both. It worked, but these were really good players!)

 

[Kid Charlemagne]

One idea I've always wanted to try was to have every player play one PC + 1 cohort - but no one would play their own cohort, they'd have to play someone else's flunkie. I thought that would be kind of neat. My current group just lost one player (moving away) so it might actually be an option.

 

[BlackMoria]

Multiple characters per player happens quite a bit for my campaign over the years.

My observations are that the ability to play multiple characters varies between players. Some players struggle with it and usually end up playing their favored characater as the main character and the other character more like a cohort. This likewise impacts roleplaying, with one character usually doing all the talking and other character usually not saying much.

On the other hand, I have had other players who could do it extremely well and it is fun sometimes to watch a player's characters interact with each other. Some do it so well that one doesn't really notice that the player is running more than one character since all characters are contributing and speaking equally well.

Another observation: The number of characters a player runs is a huge factor. Even for those players who can run two characters at the same time very well, the experience degrades as the player adds more and more characters. I've know a rare few who can run three characters as well as they can run one but anything above two characters at the same time adds more stress and workload to the player in question to a point that the gaming experience is less fun and the quality of play declines somewhat. I attribute this to a form of cognative overload.

 

[jasper]

It depends on the player. One player I had did 3 pcs. In fact two of his pcs got mad at the other one for trying to kill an npc that they kill him. We all looked at Bob funny that day.
Some people can handle two pcs without making them twins, family etc but a lot of people just seem to use one pc as backup.

 

[Tsillanabor]

Much of the time a player will favor one character over the other, especially in pure role-play situations. It is a good way to fill a role in a group though-my current group lacks a cleric, so I'm thinking of giving someone an ambulatory first aid kit