I'm planning on setting up a new game soon-ish, and may only have 3 players, 4 if I'm lucky. How can I keep a game like that balanced and interesting for everyone, as well as keeping things going at a good pace with good party variety?
If it helps, I'm planning to run Shadow of the Dragon Queen. I know it's not out yet, but the devs have said that it's appreciably more difficult than other published adventures, and is based around a war.
On a positive note, fewer players means each player gets more active time per session. Fewer people can also seem to focus better on the game in front of them; larger groups tend to split up into side-chat groups between dice rolls.
On a negative note, especially with a difficult campaign, the DM may need to boost their numbers somehow.
If players are willing and capable of running multiple characters, then there's one option for you. If not, the DM can create support NPCs to work with the player characters. That can be significantly more work for the DM, but a feasible solution. (Edit: These NPCs deserve a fair share of whatever goodies are to be found; I strongly suggest not handing everything over to the PCs, if they had outside help.)
Another option is to set that particular campaign aside, and run those players through something else.
Give them sidekicks. They were specifically designed for this. Full rules for creating them are in Tasha’s. Either give one to each player, or just a couple members depending on how big you want the group to be.
5e was actually balanced with 3 or 4 players in mind. I think it was Mike Mearls who said in an interview that when playtesting 5th Edition, they used The Golden Girls as the template for their ideal adventuring party.
I've always found it harder to balance encounters for 6+ players to make them still challenging.
Thanks for the advice! Now that I think about it, the Sidekick idea might be a good route to go with; since it's a war campaign, they could be fellow-soldiers. Or if one of the players is a Knight of Solamnia, one sidekick could be a squire.
I'm planning on setting up a new game soon-ish, and may only have 3 players, 4 if I'm lucky. How can I keep a game like that balanced and interesting for everyone, as well as keeping things going at a good pace with good party variety?
If it helps, I'm planning to run Shadow of the Dragon Queen. I know it's not out yet, but the devs have said that it's appreciably more difficult than other published adventures, and is based around a war.
On a positive note, fewer players means each player gets more active time per session. Fewer people can also seem to focus better on the game in front of them; larger groups tend to split up into side-chat groups between dice rolls.
On a negative note, especially with a difficult campaign, the DM may need to boost their numbers somehow.
If players are willing and capable of running multiple characters, then there's one option for you. If not, the DM can create support NPCs to work with the player characters. That can be significantly more work for the DM, but a feasible solution. (Edit: These NPCs deserve a fair share of whatever goodies are to be found; I strongly suggest not handing everything over to the PCs, if they had outside help.)
Another option is to set that particular campaign aside, and run those players through something else.
That's all that comes to mind right now.
Give them sidekicks. They were specifically designed for this. Full rules for creating them are in Tasha’s. Either give one to each player, or just a couple members depending on how big you want the group to be.
5e was actually balanced with 3 or 4 players in mind. I think it was Mike Mearls who said in an interview that when playtesting 5th Edition, they used The Golden Girls as the template for their ideal adventuring party.
I've always found it harder to balance encounters for 6+ players to make them still challenging.
Thanks for the advice! Now that I think about it, the Sidekick idea might be a good route to go with; since it's a war campaign, they could be fellow-soldiers. Or if one of the players is a Knight of Solamnia, one sidekick could be a squire.
"Lowly squires have saved the asses of many a knight." A. L. Squire.
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In the immortal words of 'Agent Smith', "More!" ;)
*edit, gif of kylo ren shouting more failed to load properly