D&D 5E How Big Do You Like To Party?

[Helldritch]

Up to 6 characters. Players and NPC alike. If I have 6 players then I tolerate no NPC with the group.

 

[Charlaquin]

In terms of players, 6 is the maximum I will run a game for, 4 is ideal, and 1 is a special case because such games have to be designed differently but are a ton of fun. In terms of characters, I usually don’t have players double up on full characters, though there are often one or two animal companions/familiars/etc. In one-on-one games, I make sure there are lots of potential NPC companions for the PC to team up with, such that they can usually have a party of 4-6 if they want. So I voted for 4, 5, and 6 since it’s supposed to be about number of characters rather than players.

 

[Lanefan]

4-5 players usually.

6-8-10 or even more characters in the played party at any given time (voted 7-9-10). This counts adventuring NPCs who are not henches as full members, as that's how we view them. Also, oftentimes players run more than one PC at a time.

Dozens of PCs overall in the setting, be they currently active, on hold (active player, inactive character), or retired (player left). Many dozens more deceased.

 

[Eltab]

My current group is 6 regular players plus a DM, two of the players alternate being DM. One other individual attends occasionally. Three are a family together; the week their car broke down, the rest of us had to learn Stealth and Diplomacy fast!

 

[Shiroiken]

So did you vote based on the 6 players (typically 5) or for the minimum 4 PCs? Hopefully your vote was based on the number of PCs.

We had up to 3 votes... I voted for 4, 5, and 6.

 

[Don Durito]

Max 5 players (with one character each). I can do 6 but combat really noticeably begins to drag. Wouldn't do more than 6, unless I was using B/X or something like that, and even then it would have to be with the right group. (My current group feels like herding cats with 5).

 

[Li Shenron]

Unsurprisingly, I also voted 4-6.

I would not be afraid to run a 5e for more than 6 PC, however I don't usually get that many players, assuming 1 PC per player.

OTOH I am generally a bit afraid of having less than 4 PC in the game, therefore I have more than once allowed the most experienced player(s) to play 2 PCs at the same time.

 

[Coroc]

Up to 6 as a DM or also as a player is no problem at all. Above that requires major people with much discipline and each player not bogarting the DM for personal shine time.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Five is generally my sweet-spot for attendance. I've run for as low as two and as many as ten. Neither of which is ideal. Once you go under three players, I think that the chemistry just doesn't spark as well, and once you go over seven, the game starts to slow exponentially.

Edited to clarify: And that's one player playing one character at a single time. I don't mind if people flit between two characters or so from adventure to adventure, but I find that when a player controls more than one character at once, one invariably gets backburnered, or the roleplaying of both suffers.

 

[ccs]

Our typical game works best with 3-5 players, each controlling 1 character.

Now & then in our PF group, usually when there's only 3 players, we'll open it up to 2 characters each. This always has mixed results. Not all of the players can play 2 characters effectively.

• One's alright at it. Both a bit bland, but alright.
• One will inevitably default to having a "primary" & then one that's little more than an extra sack of powers - synergized to work with the Prime.
• One guy just can't. If he's trying to run multiple characters then both will become devoid of any character & both will be complete messes rules wise.

Me? I can play two+ distinct characters (I'm very often the DM, so I've gotten plenty of practice over the decades). But it takes more effort when they're full on PCs vs NPCs.

Multiple PCs per player would not work in my 5e game.