So I've played two short campaigns with 3 and 4 players but my current campaign has seven players. My question is, is there any different way that I should play with that many people?
Party composition is as follows: half-elf paladin (devotion), dragonborn rogue (arcane trickster), elf cleric (life), dwarf ranger (hunter), elf wizard (evocation), alraune [homebrew plant race] druid (moon), and I'm playing a tabaxi monk (drunken master).
I had success with assigning someone as being the "Squad Leader" in groups that size. It helps keep everyone on task and reduces the amount of minutia the DM has to deal with when you have someone who is effectively an in-game delegate to the party who handles all of the major decisions.
I don't know though, I guess it is more dependent on the type of campaign you're running?
The biggest thing to keep in mind with that large of a party is, well, that the party is actually that large.
Your DM should hopefully be taking charge on this front, but do your best to make sure that everyone is being given an equal opportunity for "being in the spotlight". This can be harder (as a player) to help manage as there is going to be more overlap on the individual strengths of each player, and some of the things your character is good at might be the only thing(s) another player's character is good at. It's easy to overlook how you might be diminishing another player's contributions when there are that many of them.
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You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I once played with a party in 3.5 that got up to 12 players, it was mess, but a couple things I learned about larger parties.
Turn time limits: This was one of the most harsh, but it was necessary. The more people who play, the longer it takes to get around to their turn, so it was tempting to pull out a phone or have a chat and not pay attention to combat, so when it rolled around to that players turn again the state of the board needed to be reiterated EACH.. DANG...TIME. So we implemented a, "you have 1 minute to decide your action on your turn, or you go into a defensive stance (Dodge in 5e)" . We set the limit at one minute but the reality was we really only applied it to players who had obviously not been paying attention.
Roll multiple attacks and damage all at once: Rolling to see if you hit, then rolling damage, rolling again for the next attack...just...takes...forever. Roll everything at once, make note of what dice go with which attack.
Acknowledge that there's a lot for the DM to handle, and your character may not prove to be terribly valuable for the current arc/questline/mission. We all have to deal with this sometimes, but it comes up the more players you have.
LEARN THE RULES. Don't rely on the DM and the rules lawyers at table to answer if you can do something. Know enough about combat and your class to know if you should be able to do something, if you're wrong or there's some mitigating factor as to why you can't perform your intended action your DM will address it then. If you're the kind of player who asks, "What can I do?", you should probably sit down with the PHB and start reading.
Take on personal responsibility generalities of the game. Be the player that understands how in game travel works, or memorize item pricing, be the group secretary. The less time looking things up, the faster the game plays.
DM specific stuff:
Go wider with encounters rather than big: This mostly applied to 3.5, so I'm not sure how valuable this one is in 5e, but since the size of the party tampers with the CR of your encounters it's better to have more monsters than a single large one. A single large monster risked alpha striking a member of the party, and it's no fun being down on the second round of the encounter. If it must be a single big bad, make sure that their attacks deal more AOE than spiky single target and increase their HP in order to make sure he lives longer.
Open up a channel for mundane game questions and interactions outside of game night. Don't burn the evening on everyone getting their supplies in the random crap town. If you want to slip an adventure hook in there, talk to the player and script out an encounter with their input (never just assume a player is going to be cool with having their character taken over by the DM).
Delegate and trust your players. They want to have fun too. You have plenty to manage on your own, if you don't know a ruleset right off the top of your head but a player claims they do, be willing to roll with it. If you still think it's wrong, make a note and look it up later and address the correction at a later date.
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So I've played two short campaigns with 3 and 4 players but my current campaign has seven players. My question is, is there any different way that I should play with that many people?
Party composition is as follows: half-elf paladin (devotion), dragonborn rogue (arcane trickster), elf cleric (life), dwarf ranger (hunter), elf wizard (evocation), alraune [homebrew plant race] druid (moon), and I'm playing a tabaxi monk (drunken master).
I had success with assigning someone as being the "Squad Leader" in groups that size. It helps keep everyone on task and reduces the amount of minutia the DM has to deal with when you have someone who is effectively an in-game delegate to the party who handles all of the major decisions.
I don't know though, I guess it is more dependent on the type of campaign you're running?
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The biggest thing to keep in mind with that large of a party is, well, that the party is actually that large.
Your DM should hopefully be taking charge on this front, but do your best to make sure that everyone is being given an equal opportunity for "being in the spotlight". This can be harder (as a player) to help manage as there is going to be more overlap on the individual strengths of each player, and some of the things your character is good at might be the only thing(s) another player's character is good at. It's easy to overlook how you might be diminishing another player's contributions when there are that many of them.
You don't know what fear is until you've witnessed a drunk bird divebombing you while carrying a screaming Kobold throwing fire anywhere and everywhere.
I once played with a party in 3.5 that got up to 12 players, it was mess, but a couple things I learned about larger parties.
Turn time limits: This was one of the most harsh, but it was necessary. The more people who play, the longer it takes to get around to their turn, so it was tempting to pull out a phone or have a chat and not pay attention to combat, so when it rolled around to that players turn again the state of the board needed to be reiterated EACH.. DANG...TIME. So we implemented a, "you have 1 minute to decide your action on your turn, or you go into a defensive stance (Dodge in 5e)" . We set the limit at one minute but the reality was we really only applied it to players who had obviously not been paying attention.
Roll multiple attacks and damage all at once: Rolling to see if you hit, then rolling damage, rolling again for the next attack...just...takes...forever. Roll everything at once, make note of what dice go with which attack.
Acknowledge that there's a lot for the DM to handle, and your character may not prove to be terribly valuable for the current arc/questline/mission. We all have to deal with this sometimes, but it comes up the more players you have.
LEARN THE RULES. Don't rely on the DM and the rules lawyers at table to answer if you can do something. Know enough about combat and your class to know if you should be able to do something, if you're wrong or there's some mitigating factor as to why you can't perform your intended action your DM will address it then. If you're the kind of player who asks, "What can I do?", you should probably sit down with the PHB and start reading.
Take on personal responsibility generalities of the game. Be the player that understands how in game travel works, or memorize item pricing, be the group secretary. The less time looking things up, the faster the game plays.
DM specific stuff:
Go wider with encounters rather than big: This mostly applied to 3.5, so I'm not sure how valuable this one is in 5e, but since the size of the party tampers with the CR of your encounters it's better to have more monsters than a single large one. A single large monster risked alpha striking a member of the party, and it's no fun being down on the second round of the encounter. If it must be a single big bad, make sure that their attacks deal more AOE than spiky single target and increase their HP in order to make sure he lives longer.
Open up a channel for mundane game questions and interactions outside of game night. Don't burn the evening on everyone getting their supplies in the random crap town. If you want to slip an adventure hook in there, talk to the player and script out an encounter with their input (never just assume a player is going to be cool with having their character taken over by the DM).
Delegate and trust your players. They want to have fun too. You have plenty to manage on your own, if you don't know a ruleset right off the top of your head but a player claims they do, be willing to roll with it. If you still think it's wrong, make a note and look it up later and address the correction at a later date.