Multi-level parties?

[Bluepaw]

A question for you fine folks on encounter design. I'm starting up a game (4e) with a party composed of a father and two sons (and probably an NPC to balance out the party until we have a fourth). I'm interested in throwing a monkey wrench in the typical protocol by having the father starting a couple levels higher than the other two, which would obviously make sense from a story point of view.

What are some of the hazards and opportunities of doing this? I know I need to avoid either boring the higher-level guy or crushing the lower level guys. But since the father is playing a Monk, he's well-equipped to go toe-to-toe with the stronger critters in a given encounter, while the others spread out their attacks. And I like the idea of an extra layer of strategy in the encounters -- that is, PCs needing to switch targets if they discern they're mismatched.

What are your thoughts? Have you been in or run a successful party with characters of different levels?

[valadil]

What are your thoughts? Have you been in or run a successful party with characters of different levels?

I got off to a late start with LFR. When I start playing, my character was level 1 and everyone else was 3 or 4. This level spread played out fine. I still got to contribute, even though I was rarely the MVP.

You won't challenge the monk with nasty enemies, so challenge him with responsibility. Put him in situations where he needs to be in two places at once.

[Dr.Epic]

It can make things more difficult for some people and/or more easy for some. I'd suggest divide each encounter thus: have opponents for the lower level guys and some for the higher level. Just a thought.

[Mando Knight]

Try to shoot for an encounter level between the two. Without a full same-level party to support him, a higher level player in a lower-level encounter may find himself slightly more challenged than normal, but with some higher-level support the lower-levels can tackle tougher opponents than usual.

Now, the exact level probably takes some fiddling with... I'd start with a geometric mean with modifiers to favor the low-levels if I were to calculate it for an arbitrary assortment of characters. If the high level guy is only a few levels (I'd say no more than four-ish) higher than his allies, an arithmetic mean is a good enough approximation.