The game I'm playing in:
Doppelganger Wizard
Halfling Fighter
Elf Ranger
Eladrin Warlord
Gnoll Barbarian (me)
The game I'm running:
Elf Paladin (will be Elf Avenger)
Dragonborn Warlord (will be Druid)
Half-elf Warlock
Gnoll Barbarian
Eladrin Rogue
Human Cleric
Game 1 - Thunderspire Labyrinth
Donaar - Dragonborn Paladin
Flora - Shifter Cleric (Warlord)
Florenz - Halfling Rogue (Ranger)
Tira - Eladrin Warlock (Wizard)
Fargrim - Dwarf Fighter
Stephalin - Human Wizard
Chary - Half-elf Ranger (Fighter)
Erich - Halfling Rogue DECEASED
Game 2 - Scales of War
Cooper - Drow Warden
Rogar - Dragonborn Artificer
Larissa - Tiefling Rogue
Faldorel - Elf Swordmage
Seda Bearspeaker - Elf Shaman
Rathnaitt - Human Invoker
Kaylith - Human Druid
Roderick Alwin - Human Warlord DECEASED
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Okay my group consists of:
Floyd: Half-Orc Barbarian
Rendar: Half-Orc Warden
Quelenna: Eladrian Swordmage
Phoenix: Dragonborn WarlordIt is amazing but almost everyone in my group completely rejected the material from the PHB in favor of the stuff in PHB 2.
Okay so one of my players changed his mind. Good thing I hadn't started yet. Changes are reflected above.
Savage Blight
Reason - teifling cleric of Ioun
Arianwyn - feypact warlock (swordmage)
Vel - human wizard
Whiteclaw - gnoll fighter
Kia Rubarka - eladrin warlord
The Rogue Knight - human paladin
Gobi Thovir - dwarf paladin
A party heavy on the healing and with good reason.
Scepter Tower - FR campaign
Geleri Fairwind - half-elf ranger (rogue, wizard dilettante power)
Brujo - moonelf (eladrin effectively) swordmage
Leo - half-elf paladin
Commander Caine - human warlord
Perigia - genasi firesoul wizard
Cronin - razortooth shifter cleric
Snaggletooth - kobold rogue (the last is an ex-NPC who took on a life of his own)
Vinaar - Dragonborn Fighter/Ranger
Vincent - Human Star Pact Warlock
Nithiril Semphara (me) - Eladrin Artificer/Rogue
Xilbre - Drow Cleric
Celeste - Human Two-Weapon Ranger
Ah yes, of course my PbPs as well:
The Last Breaths of Ashenport
Seram Zal - Human Barbarian
Grafire Serpenthelm - Dragonborn Warlord
Rowan Darkwinter - Human Cleric
Mandrake the Mad - Human Wizard
IT - Warforged Fighter
Akahale - Dragonborn Warlock (Dark)
Twisted Night
Healaugh ap Caftenar - Halfling Bard
Ynyr Treiglwyr - Human Artificer
Greylan Mooneye - Eladrin Wizard
Ddraig Goth - Dragonborn Paladin
Nechtan of the Krutne - Human Ranger
Darvyl Wrightson - Human Fighter
First - Warforged Paladin
Arannis - Eladrin Wizard
Kas - Half-Elf Ranger
Tzera - Half-Elf Cleric
Varrak - Dwarven Druid
I have two pbp games that are running.
Age of Worms 4E
Best to note about this is the group has split into two groups and is likely to be splitting into three five man groups soon.
Human Warlork (Infernal)
Human Cleric
Human Fighter
Dwarf Fighter
Warforged Fighter
Half-Elf Rogue
Eladrin Rogue
Halfling Wizard
Elf Ranger
Tiefling Warlord
Eladrin Wizard
Dragonborn Cleric
Birthright 4E
Khinasi Tempest Fighter
Anuirean Ranger/Cleric of Erik
Anuirean Cleric of Haelyn
Anuirean Fighter
Anuirean Warlord
Half-Sidhelien (Elf) Sorcerer
Dwarf Cleric of Sera
Halfling Rogue
The Shattered Gates of Slaughtergarde
Mikaal Kozar, human fighter
Skye, tiefling cleric of Bahamut
Rifflo, halfling ranger
Willa, halfling rogue
Sovellis, eladrin wizard
Turcall, tiefling paladin of Bahamut
Grimm, bugbear barbarian
Grimm was, originally, a ranger. The player switched to barbarian as it fit better with his idea of the character. Rifflo is, most likely, going to change to a gnome bard now that PHB2 is out.
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May I digress slightly to ask how DMs cope with parties larger than 5-6 players? I have actually culled my groups down to no more than 4-5 players just so the players all a engaged during the entire session. My largest group was 8 players and that was a living nightmare.
Back to topic;
Elf Rogue
Dwarf Cleric
Human Paladin
Telfling Warlock
Thanks,
Stefan.
As long as you're not letting your players go off on individual tangents for long periods of time it's not usually a problem; I've run 7-person games on a number of occasions (though 8 really is pushing it). As far as combat goes, just make sure everyone decides what they're going to do before their turn arrives, and that they have all the info they need in front of them. Player indecision and confusion slow combat down more than anything else, I've found.
This.
My friends and I were talking about it only last night. Our 7 person groups also have several casual players, so often the more obsessive amongst us will have to remind them about rules, advise them on character actions.
My own way of dealing with it has been to counteract this by lessening monster HP and giving them a slight bonus to damage. Thus any time spent on the player deciding what to do, is offset by monsters not hanging about as long.
Also, a whiteboard with initiative marked up is very very useful. Unbelievably so.
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My groups tend not to get larger than about five people. I have ran groups as large as eight and find them to be cumbersome and difficult to manage, particularly since with the exception of one or two, the majority of my group is teenagers. In particular, there are one or two who spend more time chatting with each other than playing, which causes no end to problems. The worst experience I had was when I had players who wer boyfriend and girlfriend, playing characters that were boyfriend and girlfriend. That got very disruptive at times.
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Running Rise of the Runelords in conversion
KIA: Dashiva, Dwarven Ax Wielding Ranger
KIA (then raised): Flavius, Tiefling Paladin of Cayden Cailean
Shakti: Tiefling Warlock
Gaius: Tiefling Warlord
Coldwind: Elven Archer
Gisella: Elven Cleric of Desna
As to running large parties, 4.0 seems built for it. I find my bandwidth is much broader running 4.0 monsters. The equations of design are less convoluted, and as a result, the tactical execution of the bad guys is more straight forward. Sometiems this gets forumlaic, but the speed and ease of play, have been clear offsets.
The game I run we only have three players. I would really like to have another one but I can't seem to find one :-/
Eldarin Wild Magic Sorceress (soon to be written out and replaced with a deva avenger)
Half-Elf Bravua Warlord
Human defending fighter.
I play in another game it has what feels like a million players but from reading this post I guess not:
Earth Gensei Warlord
Dragonborn Cleric
Half-Elf Paladin
Teifling Swordmage
Dopplerganger Bard
Elven Ranger
Elven Rogue
I am learning from play experience that the sweet spot seems to be like 5 players for 4th edition. Too many and combat tends to drag and too few makes encounter construction more of a task. Of course that is my own opinion.
The game is explicitly designed for a party of 5.
The game is explicitly designed for a party of 5.
This edition scales so much easier then previous. I would say, they designed it with flexibility in mind, not some hard rule "You must have 5 players in order to ride." Yes, the published adventures assume that, but the DMG is packed with how you can scale the game with the number of PC. Regardless of what WotC wants, the simple fact is sometimes you don't have the golden 5 players. This thread definitely exhibits that. I even recall a thread here before about somebody playing with a "group" of one.
I won't run a game with less then 4 players which is exactly why I haven't been doing tabletop.
May I digress slightly to ask how DMs cope with parties larger than 5-6 players? I have actually culled my groups down to no more than 4-5 players just so the players all a engaged during the entire session. My largest group was 8 players and that was a living nightmare.
My group has been playing together for a while so we have, for the most part, worked out the kinks. We range in age from early twenties (one young woman) to about 46 (another lady). A majority of us are over thirty and have families so we all value the little time we have. We try to avoid wasting time on turns in combat. As DM I do not stay on someone for too long if they are hemming and hawing. We only focus on individuals as long as the group enjoys it. All in all it flows well, but we certainly have our off times, too.
Oh, and I was able to start with a new group this weekend. My son and three of his friends (all about 11 or 12 in age). They're mostly in it for the miniatures, which is fine with me. I started them on the dungeon crawl in the DMG since it was last minute and they had fun. They all want to know when we can play again, so I took that as good sign.
The group,
Balasar, dragonborn archer ranger
Skamos, tiefling battlerager fighter
Hadarai, eladrin war wizard
Garth, halfling aerialist rogue
The game is explicitly designed for a party of 5.This edition scales so much easier then previous. I would say, they designed it with flexibility in mind, not some hard rule "You must have 5 players in order to ride." Yes, the published adventures assume that, but the DMG is packed with how you can scale the game with the number of PC. Regardless of what WotC wants, the simple fact is sometimes you don't have the golden 5 players. This thread definitely exhibits that. I even recall a thread here before about somebody playing with a "group" of one.
Oh, I agree but the maths gets flakey for encounters if you follow DMG guidelines for parties of 6 and 7. These groups can handle far more than might be expected.
The group I play in
Tiefling Warlord (me)
Tiefling Warlock
Human Fighter
Human Ranger
Dragonborn Rogue
The group I DM
Human Fighter
Drow Rogue
Warforged Swordmage
Genasi Cleric
Dwarf Wizard
Gnoll Ranger
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First group I DM:
- Fluxx, Eladrin Cleric (probably multiclasing into Wizard)
- Dumpling, Halflin Rogue
- Klondike, Human Beastmaster Ranger
- Kravis, Human Paladin of the Raven Queen
Second Group I DM:
- Monty, Human Rogue
- Knight of Darkness (yes, that's his name), Human Paladin of Asmodeus
- Valentine, Human Cleric of Gorum
- Amaril, Eladrin Archer Ranger (multiclassing into Wizard)
- Dingbat, Human Wizard
The second group were originally 3e characters we converted. They were originally:
- human rogue
- human cleric (that was actually Knight of Darkness - Valentine's player wasn't in this earlier version of party - but since he was more of a hurter than a healer I suggested paladin instead)
- elf fighter
- human wizard
first group
Dwarf Cleric (me)
Shadar Kai (sp?) Rogue
Eladrin Barbarian
Elf Beastmaster Ranger
Second group
Dwarf Cleric (me)
Dragonborn Fighter
Halfling Rogue
Goblin Ranger
Warforged Barbarian
same cleric for both, my group refuses to play leaders, so i always have to, because the dm doesnt tailor the stuff to not require one
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I won't run a game with less then 4 players which is exactly why I haven't been doing tabletop.
I wouldn't write off D&D with 2 or 3 players. I have DM'd a group of only two players and it was really entertaining. You find the players are less likely to see combat as a cunning option to a situation allowing you to include some great roleplaying opportunities. In fact the game was a modified (for 2-3 players, with less combat based encounters) version of Ravenloft. Felt more like an old Hammer Horror movie rather than a high fantasy hack'n'slash - lots of running and screaming, less charging and bashing. Just keep in mind an adventure is only as challenging as the DM makes it. The magic five players quoted in the 4E PHB (or is it DMG) assumes you are having strings of encounters which predominately revolve around murdering something with your powers. This does not have to be so.
S.
I don't run games of less then 4 players because of balance issues or combat issues. I don't do it because I have a love large groups of players. I love all the different characters and the way they interact with the world and each other. Large parties normally have a much more dynamnic enviroment within the group then a smaller party. It doesn't normally matter if the game is D&D or not when it comes to my preference for party-size.
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I don't run games of less then 4 players because of balance issues or combat issues. I don't do it because I have a love large groups of players. I love all the different characters and the way they interact with the world and each other. Large parties normally have a much more dynamnic enviroment within the group then a smaller party. It doesn't normally matter if the game is D&D or not when it comes to my preference for party-size.
Cool. I like groups of 4-5 myself also. I do find that smaller groups 2-3 while decreasing the amount of combinations of player/player interaction in my experience leads to much more "intense" player/player & player/world interactions as the players can't really just let someone else handle things :)
Balance issues, well that comes down to the DM really. But I get your point, especially if you are trying to play a commercially written adventure. In smaller parties the adventure has to tailor itself to the members of the party or things will suck badly.
But end of the day great thing about RPing compared to computer games, you make of it what you and your friends wish!
Hope you find some players soon,
S.
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Here's the group I run.
We are working through the Mysteries of the Moonsea adventure hooks..so Forgotten Realms, c1374 (During the Zhentarim War).
The players are all Paragon lvl 12 (I dont know their paragon paths, however)
Juan Ramirezz, male tiefling (dagger) rogue
Daelin, male tiefling (dual-weapon) ranger
Akenaten, male deva (healing?) cleric of Lathander
Tawny K'tain, female eladrin warlord
Lentril "the Soup", male fire genasi swordmage
sometimes they are joined by Branth, half-elf warlock (but the player doesn't come regularly).
They also posses the Hammer of Vobyx (artifact), wielded by the cleric (which doesn't please the hammer all that much, /shrug)
We just had an bad-ass encounter where they sneaked into the Thayan Enclave im Mulmaster, braved the dangerous hedge maze and stormed the Leader's Wing. They prevailed but were seriously spent (dailies, magic item dailies, action points, healing surges low)..loved it!
Nakiva -tiefling warlord
Will - human rogue
Sam - human fighter
Thundar - dwarven cleric
dwarven barbarian 2h axe
tiefling bard wand
warforged cleric 2h hammer
minotaur paladin 2h axe
bugbear ranger bow
human warden sword/shield
dwarven invoker summoner
Aglaeca - Tiefling Warlock (S)
Chorro - Shifter Shaman (L)
Dran Cuthral - Drow Fighter (D)
Karn Lathern - Half-Elf Rogue (S)
Marcus Armethal - Human Invoker (C)
Shodden "Sturdy" Mahoen - Goliath Warden (D)
A pretty balanced party in terms of roles and between phb1/2. I'm excited to see how they all work together in combat now that our first fight is starting up.
Scales of War Game, which we blog about here:
http://madscales.blogspot.com/
Falchion Oversea, a deva avenger.
Asar, a gnome rogue.
Danar, a dragonborn paladin.
Samel, a deva invoker.
Jezred, a half-elf bard (NPCed by me).
Hogar, a half-orc warlord.
After discussing with the group, I might change to a sorcerer MCing into bard instead of a bard. The paladin, the invoker and the avenger (who is MCing into cleric) provide so much extra healing support that we seem to have too much healing and melee and not enough ranged support.
Running The Tears of Ioun series of modules as a PbP here.
Madda: Human Druid/Adroit Explorer 11
Setil: Deva Swordmage/Cleric of Pelor 11
Galad: Deva Shaman/Ancestral Incarnate 11
Karrn: Half-Elf Wild Sorceror/Daggermaster 11
Sundered Heart: Dragonborn Barbarian/Fearbringer Thane
Off to a rocky start due to grabby grells, but things are settling down now.
Just started running a Rise of the Runelords conversion.
Artagnon (Tag) Silverbeech - Eladrin Swordmage
Carl Markham - Human Fighter
Ciara Sendala - Human Cleric of Irori
Raif - Drow Rogue
We're still at the bottom of the learning curve as none of the players have recent experience with D&D (I think two of them played 2nd edition way back when) and some of them have never played it at all.
As the most experienced in the group, I was drafted into being the DM. While I'm enjoying doing this, I'm also a little disappointed that I haven't had a chance to be a player in a 4E game yet.