Party divide [If my party looks here, rest assured, pain follows]

[Scarey Nerd]

In the next session that I'm DMing, I intend to split two PCs from the party of six, as one of the two is leaving for uni in a few weeks and I don't want him to leave without getting in a good amount of playtime, which he won't get if he stays in the party as a lot of people are away frequently at this time of year.

I hear all around the forums that DMs shouldn't do this, but I have to if I want him to have enjoyed what little of the campaign he can experience.

The second PC's character is the first PC's character's son (Wow, that sounds confusing), and so is involved in the searching for Pirate King stuff.

Anyway, my questions are thus:


Why is it that splitting the party usually ends badly?


How can I stop the two sections of the party from levelling up at different rates, should that happen?


Apologies for long OP, but opinions, musings and thoughts welcome and needed.

[DMBlackhart]

wait, since when is splitting the party bad? Wow, I must be DMing wrong.. *shrug*.

Erm, lemme help you with your questions, as best as I can in this confused state of being.

1. *shrug* no clue, I always let my party split up as they please. We often have "sub sessions" (through IMs, Texts, W/e) or even during the gaming session itself to convey the seperate character's going-ons.

2. I don't normally see an imbalanced TOO bad. It's worked for me so far. However, I'd say just limit the XP, and design the encounters to be flavorful and entertaining, while not nescessarily reasource consuming. (Puzzles, for instance, can give RP, but not actuallly have a CR, and therefore cangive out as much as you please).

Anyways, that's really all I have to say... Im apparently not the right guy to answer this.

All the best!

[Scarey Nerd]

Thanks for your input DMBlackhart, I'm gonna try constraining exp.

The main problem is what I have set up:

All 6 members of the party (all level 4) are at a celebration after competing in the Alabaster Cup (See CW for details). The two afore-mentioned PCs leave to hunt down the artifacts of the Pirate King. The city gets attacked by a Goblinoid force, and the (Now four) PCs and various NPCs help to repel them.

As the first two PCs journey around hunting for artifacts (Will probably only find one or two), the other four try to defend the city from the goblinoid siege, going behind enemy lines to take out Worg packs, preparing defenses for attacks, and generally repelling the attackers.

I fear that one of the groups will level up faster than the other. Having said that, one group is twice the size of the other, so the Exp divide might balance it out.

[DMBlackhart]

Ah, more input, good.

Well, my advice still might not be the best, but lets see if I can't help you out a little.

As for the difference in XP, the different party sizes will balance it slightly, maybe not as much as you hope for, but still a noticable amount.

As for each "parties" actual challenges, I say make the one's hunting down the artifacts get ____ XP just for completing the entire events. It may not be "fair" but if it keeps remote party balance, then hay, do it.

On that same note, the party that is fighting goblins and worgs and stuff, they seem like they will see alot more fighting (and therefore more XP).

If your still having a problem getting it balanced out in rewards, perhaps have the treasure hunting party get some nice little magical trinkets at the value the 4-man group would be getting GPs. This way, even if they come out with slightly less XP, they got cooler stuff, and hopefully a fun mini-quest out of it.

Hope some of that helps.

[Escheton]

Parties usually have 1 main healer. Being in the group that does not have him/her could be more risky than normal.
That goes for most standard roles. No rogue+traps=ouchtime. That sorta thing.