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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Haltherrion" data-source="post: 5397240" data-attributes="member: 18253">I can understand your desire for an XP spread but if you are going to allow the players to mix their PCs at will, it might be best to keep them all in lock step. THe worry I would have is that while the lock-step feels a little artificial, it also avoids the problem where some players swap their PCs around a lot and others always run the same PC. You can get to a point where the latter player has a PC noticably higher level than the other player's PCs and either that player with the higher level PC can't play his PC or dominates the group. If you keep them in lock step, then swapping PCs around doesn't cause too much grief. Usually, the fact that the off-scene PCs aren't getting magic items will allow for sufficient distinction between the group. As for your desire to allow lower level adventures, you aren't talking too great a level spread. It seems that within that spread (couple levels or so) it should be possible to get the same feel adventure targetted at the somewhat higher level group. That is, do you really need the level 4 adventure and the level 2 adventure? If you really want to force a level spread, you can keep the PCs segregated but that seems to defeat your purpose. In my current campaign, I'd originally thought to track XP separately for the PCs and alt-PCs but the bookkeeping is a headache and I didn't want barriers to people swapping characters around as needed. Plus, there are some players who love their PC and would switch to the alt if I asked but why knock their obvious enjoyment? And there are others who are extremely flexible. Why have a system where flexibility (which helps the ref) causes them to drift lower in level than the more focused ones? Character swapping isn't just for the players fun. By being flexible with swapping PCs and keeping them all the same level, it is fairly easy to pull a party together regardless of who shows. Moreover, it doesn't penalize the flexible players who are allowing you to field the group. In some systems, swapping PCs frequently will dock the advancement of the PCs, docking the very player who is willing to provide a healer one session and a tank the next. Just a thought. Other methods work but I'd give the simple, flat, everyone is the same method a shot. If you do go that route, you might as well award session XP or simply "N sessions per level." It works just fine and solves a lot of problems with PCs coming and going.</blockquote>

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