D&D 5E How Many in your Group?

[Arcshot]

Started off with only 2 before increased to 3. I use published adventures so encounters tend to be more difficult for them. I (as the DM) either reduce the numbers in an encounter or has a helper (beast or NPC) to follow along their quests.

 

[Arcshot]

I favor 3-4 rather than 5 or more players because I can handle and manage their needs better, less downtime individually and more engagement from the PCs.

 

[billd91]

And, if 5e groups are trending larger than before, (if they even are), what about 5e makes it easier to play with large groups than, say, 3e or 4e?

In my case, the group isn't trending any larger than before when we ran 3e. The gaming group is the gaming group and it has shifted in size pretty much independent of the edition of the game we play.

That said, 5e is substantially easier than either 3e or 4e because we depart from the strict grid. With a grid, movement space and character space become a big deal and larger numbers of PCs (and opponents) complicate the encounters when push comes to shove and swords are drawn. With theater of the mind, everyone's been much more flexible in placement and movement. We get through people's turns faster, and the game plays a lot more smoothly.

 

[irwindyl]

I am currently running an 11 player campaign with a Co-GM. The party is more of a mercenary/adventuring company with a small stronghold and a few dozen henchmen at their disposal and the campaign is designed so that splitting the party is a huge benefit, although we sometimes plan for huge 11 vs a horde battles that are made using abstracted combat rules (the Mob Attack and transforming 10 similar units into a swarm/squad that acts as one stronger unit with multiattacks does wonder in 5e). It was a bit of a gamble at first, as the first games were slow, but that's normal given everybody was new to 5e.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

I actually just crunched a bunch of data on session attendance. We average out to four people per session. That being said, like many others, attendance seems to vary wildly (which frustrates me to no end). I've had sessions of seven people, and of just one person. It can be exceedingly frustrating. In theory, there are currently eight people in our gaming group.

 

[the Jester]

In my case, the group isn't trending any larger than before when we ran 3e. The gaming group is the gaming group and it has shifted in size pretty much independent of the edition of the game we play.

Same here- although I've taken up a second group with the coming of 5e. The two groups overlap to some extent and sometimes have minor cross overs.

That said, 5e is substantially easier than either 3e or 4e because we depart from the strict grid. With a grid, movement space and character space become a big deal and larger numbers of PCs (and opponents) complicate the encounters when push comes to shove and swords are drawn. With theater of the mind, everyone's been much more flexible in placement and movement. We get through people's turns faster, and the game plays a lot more smoothly.

Interesting. I find 5e to work better with a larger group because it's so much faster than 3e or 4e, and I've been playing with huge and always-slightly-different groups since... well, since 2e.

I don't use the grid in 5e, but I do use the battlemap a lot. But I've worked hard to break down the whole notion of squares and the grid, subverting it by doing things like placing miniatures not in specific squares (and even at intersections), using my discretion to adjudicate movement, etc.

 

[the Jester]

I actually just crunched a bunch of data on session attendance. We average out to four people per session. That being said, like many others, attendance seems to vary wildly (which frustrates me to no end). I've had sessions of seven people, and of just one person. It can be exceedingly frustrating. In theory, there are currently eight people in our gaming group.

Hmm, I have a rule about attendance: We play if we have a quorum, which I define as "three players and the DM". There are rare exceptions- 2 pcs and an npc, 2 players with 3 characters between them, etc.

 

[Saplatt]

6 plus two "part-timers," with a "hard cap" of 8.

 

[Flexor the Mighty!]

7 players + DM

 

[CaptainConundrum]

Seeing a lot of 5's. That's how many is in my group. Seems like a good number to me, but am curious what others feel like is the sweet spot.