Help resolving a (temporary?) party split

[PlatinumVixen]

So I've had an unusual situation pop up in a game.

To make a long story short-ish:

I'm running what was one campaign, but has split up into multiple campaigns due to TOO MANY PLAYERS. I've got one team of four and two teams of three. I don't have much of a problem with the split; I've got the free time for it and frankly it's more fun to me as they get to explore different parts of the campaign world. That said, this nice equilibrium is abruptly being split up.

See, one of my players, for various reasons, has decided that she wants to split from /any/ of the other parties for a while, but wants to keep playing her character on a solo campaign. A combination of circumstances in the player's life along with the fact that two of the players did a brief scene during a multi-party-team-up combat (that zombie horde sequence that took forever and had way too many people in a previous topic I made) as a joke that her character realistically didn't find funny so much as horrifying (Long story short: Maybe don't willingly have a succubus make out with someone's girlfriend and then high five about it) has made her decide that this character is going to split from her party for a while.

I obviously don't have a problem with splitting parties, but this has a few issues:


- She's the /party leader/ of one of the three person parties, a Warlock. The other two members of the party are a Sphere Paladin and a Ravenlord Harbinger.
- The two leftover characters don't know each other at all. They literally just started adventuring together through the party leader.
- The Sphere Paladin belongs to the city one of the other parties is adventuring in...But she can't join up with them because she bears a grudge against that party leader IC for upsetting the Warlock...by...having a succubus make out with the Paladin, again, long story.
- The Ravenlord Harbinger meanwhile would be literally murdered for setting food in the city in question and has no reason to do so right now and no real attachment to the Paladin yet.
- In their current situation the Ravenlord Harbinger and the Paladin probably do not want to go without an extra person right now, but the only NPC I can think of to aid them with a stake in their current plot is...the Warlock's adult dragon mom (no, don't ask me why the Warlock wants to wander off from that quest, but it's not my place to prevent PC's from making questionable decisions after being sufficiently warned). Admittedly she's weakened right now...because they're trying to cure her of magical illness. She does have a humanoid mode but even at a disadvantage that's a lot of power to give a level 5 team that already has animal companions.
- I'm not keen on making any one party terribly big.
- The Paladin and Harbinger are the Chosen Ones of two religions that hate each other but bear no ill will towards each other as individuals. Good when they have someone bonding them together! Indifferent at this point when they do not, and while I know they'll go through with the dragon mom quest on principle they don't themselves have much of an emotional bond to it.

This was long winded and a bit scatterbrained, but I'm scrounging for ideas on trying to figure out how to keep the Paladin and Harbinger together (and if they do split up...I'm not sure where to send them without making another overcrowded party). I'm also not sure what sort of journey of self-discovery to send the Warlock on, but doubtlessly I'll think of something and it's less of a pressing issue.

[thecrimsondawn]

It sounds to me like you have at least a few really good role players in that game. Situations like this are not a bad thing.
One idea is to see if one of the two players wants his guy to run off and do his own thing, while he comes in as a temp npc kinda deal - at least till the party is back together

Another idea is to have the god of the Paladin sent a messenger or a message of some sort - maybe a dream - as an insight that his help will be needed with a task

Depending on alignment, you could bind his actions down from a superior or leader type figure npc, binding him to a plot

Something my last DM used was a threads of fate kinda deal - where every party member is destined to keep crossing paths (or at least the ones you want to cross paths) with various events causing the parties to intersect.

Should he want to split, see what that player wants to do. If they are evil maybe they can start up there own evil type of thing that his former party may end up attempting to slay.


Just a few off the top of my head.

[Hellborn_Blight]

As someone who is never going to run a campaign with less than three people (much less a solo game), I'm not sure that I can really answer what to do other than have your groups of four and three inherit one those players each. If you don't like 5 people in a group then I'm not really sure what you should do here. Maybe find another player for these guys?

I've never liked when parties split in my games, but that might be mostly because when it happened it was because of a falling-out occurring. I have had to endure campaigns when there was scarcely a permanent player to be had, and that is more about just recognizing the desire to play while they are there and not really giving a damn about continuity.

[PlatinumVixen]

Thanks for the responses, already pretty helpful. A few replies before I sleep.


As someone who is never going to run a campaign with less than three people (much less a solo game), I'm not sure that I can really answer what to do other than have your groups of four and three inherit one those players each. If you don't like 5 people in a group then I'm not really sure what you should do here. Maybe find another player for these guys?


It has to do with the groups in question as to why I don't want them to go to five.

With these particular people, the sweetspot for them seems to be three-four people. It's partly due to how dedicated and into it they get about roleplaying; when there's more than four someone inevitably gets left out, when there's two people often feel like they run out of things to say or do to each other in any one particular session. Three or four, though, they go on for hours without trouble.

They also tend to spend a lot of time planning and thinking. I like to encourage it, but when there's a lot of them it's sometimes meant we take an entire session just to get through a single round of combat.


Depending on alignment, you could bind his actions down from a superior or leader type figure npc, binding him to a plot


Alas, all three people in the party are Chaotic Good. Yes, even the Paladin. She's a Paladin of Freedom, forgot to mention. Every time a superior has given anyone in the group an order they've tended to turned in the opposite direction (which has largely been hilarious). None of the other parties are like this, which might explain a lot.


Another idea is to have the god of the Paladin sent a messenger or a message of some sort - maybe a dream - as an insight that his help will be needed with a task


The Paladin and Harbinger's gods aren't on speaking terms (the gods are pretty fallible in this setting; the Harbinger's Chaotic Neutral goddess was banished to the Underdark-equivalent due to a family dispute and the Paladin's goddess was the adviser of the god that banished the Harbinger's goddess). That said, the Paladin's goddess does seem relatively amicable, so I might be able to pull something off from this angle.

[atemu1234]

I've had big groups before. My current group consists of about a dozen people, of whom half actually show up, and only three or four of whom are regulars.

[goto124]

Alas, all three people in the party are Chaotic Good. Yes, even the Paladin. She's a Paladin of Freedom, forgot to mention. Every time a superior has given anyone in the group an order they've tended to turned in the opposite direction (which has largely been hilarious). None of the other parties are like this, which might explain a lot.

Have a (faux) leader tell them to do the opposite of what you want them to do :P
Joke suggestion, sorry

[PlatinumVixen]

Have a (faux) leader tell them to do the opposite of what you want them to do :P
Joke suggestion, sorry

I have deeply legitimately considered that and it would probably work.

The Ravenlord Harbinger tells people to do the opposite of what he actually wants them to do all the time anyway. (It's what his goddess would want.)


I've had big groups before. My current group consists of about a dozen people, of whom half actually show up, and only three or four of whom are regulars.


I wish half of them wouldn't show up. Yet they are shockingly punctual. I can't believe that's a problem but it sort of is.

[Crake]

I wish half of them wouldn't show up. Yet they are shockingly punctual. I can't believe that's a problem but it sort of is.

I would murder for this kind of player enthusiasm.

That said, as a succubus enthusiast (they make great plot devices, don't look at me like that) I have to ask what the story is with the paladin and succubus, and how it got to the point it did (and why the person who was making out with the succubus isn't dead, or at the very least her plaything)

[PlatinumVixen]

Succubus was the most succinct way of explaining it.

To make a way longer story moderately shorter, the campaign world is a very morally grey (albeit fairly comical) setting with it's own ecosystems and whatever. While I converted it to 3.PF, it was not specifically made for D&D or Pathfinder, so there are a lot of weird...bits that fit together weird.

As a consequence, one of the races in the setting is a race called the Lilitu (which has almost no relationship to the D&D Lilitu...which is colloquially referred to as "____cubi" by some folks in setting (include the party) for reasons related to their appearance and method of reproduction/feeding...for which the Succubus stats were used almost wholesale for some of the monstrous NPCs of, though the race has it's own normal stats balanced to LA+0 player races with a optional monstrous class that eventually gives succubus (or other cubus) features.

Of course at least two party members immediately became smitten with the idea of owning their very own in-name-only whelp of a succubuddy despite this not being nearly as amazing of feat as it might be in most campaigns as soon as they were owed a favor by a dirty planar cop (it's been that sort of campaign) after it became obvious that I didn't mind NPCs tagging along as long as the PCs gave them orders instead of expecting me to control them.

As for "how it got to the point it did", it's not actually all that interesting but I'll put it in spoilers below (otherwise this text will go on for miles).


>Leader Of Party 2 - hereafter referred to as the Anathema Harbinger because oh my lord there's literally a harbinger in each party and absolutely no one intended it - has an intimidate and debuff build. Anathema Harbinger becomes frustrated by immunity to Fear/Mind-Affecting. Anathema Harbinger is kind of a Neutral Jerk. Anathema Harbinger successfully gets Dirty Planar Cop to give her a young, weakling Lilitu. It made sense in character.

>Anathema Harbinger decides, hey, let's make that wee little Lilitu take a class that removes immunity to Fear so I can use intimidate. Class is given Sphere casting because we use it in setting. Anathema Harbinger orders Lilitu to become healbot.

>Paladin of Freedom believes in "like, free love, man" thanks in part to her patron goddess. Paladin of Freedom pursues relationship with Warlock that does not necessarily agree with that idea.

>Big Party Team Up happens.

>Paladin and mount are severely wounded in battle.

>Anathema Harbinger orders Lilitu buddy to heal the Paladin /by making out with her/.

>Paladin gets into it for some reason.

>Warlock is decidedly not into it.

Frankly the Paladin is pretty lucky that this wasn't a violation of her /particular/ oath, though her goddess still regards it as extremely poor decision making.

[Crake]

Succubus was the most succinct way of explaining it.

To make a way longer story moderately shorter, the campaign world is a very morally grey (albeit fairly comical) setting with it's own ecosystems and whatever. While I converted it to 3.PF, it was not specifically made for D&D or Pathfinder, so there are a lot of weird...bits that fit together weird.

As a consequence, one of the races in the setting is a race called the Lilitu (which has almost no relationship to the D&D Lilitu...which is colloquially referred to as "____cubi" by some folks in setting (include the party) for reasons related to their appearance and method of reproduction/feeding...for which the Succubus stats were used almost wholesale for some of the monstrous NPCs of, though the race has it's own normal stats balanced to LA+0 player races with a optional monstrous class that eventually gives succubus (or other cubus) features.

Of course at least two party members immediately became smitten with the idea of owning their very own in-name-only whelp of a succubuddy despite this not being nearly as amazing of feat as it might be in most campaigns as soon as they were owed a favor by a dirty planar cop (it's been that sort of campaign) after it became obvious that I didn't mind NPCs tagging along as long as the PCs gave them orders instead of expecting me to control them.

As for "how it got to the point it did", it's not actually all that interesting but I'll put it in spoilers below (otherwise this text will go on for miles).


>Leader Of Party 2 - hereafter referred to as the Anathema Harbinger because oh my lord there's literally a harbinger in each party and absolutely no one intended it - has an intimidate and debuff build. Anathema Harbinger becomes frustrated by immunity to Fear/Mind-Affecting. Anathema Harbinger is kind of a Neutral Jerk. Anathema Harbinger successfully gets Dirty Planar Cop to give her a young, weakling Lilitu. It made sense in character.

>Anathema Harbinger decides, hey, let's make that wee little Lilitu take a class that removes immunity to Fear so I can use intimidate. Class is given Sphere casting because we use it in setting. Anathema Harbinger orders Lilitu to become healbot.

>Paladin of Freedom believes in "like, free love, man" thanks in part to her patron goddess. Paladin of Freedom pursues relationship with Warlock that does not necessarily agree with that idea.

>Big Party Team Up happens.

>Paladin and mount are severely wounded in battle.

>Anathema Harbinger orders Lilitu buddy to heal the Paladin /by making out with her/.

>Paladin gets into it for some reason.

>Warlock is decidedly not into it.

Frankly the Paladin is pretty lucky that this wasn't a violation of her /particular/ oath, though her goddess still regards it as extremely poor decision making.

That is most certainly an.. odd turn of events. So the Paladin of Freedom pursues relationships with the warlock, who is, from the sounds of it, rebuffing her advances, but seems to get annoyed when the paladin instead decides to pursue a different intimate interest (probably not love interest though)?

Also, is PC in your game a female? Cause that's the impression i'm getting :smalltongue:

[atemu1234]

I wish half of them wouldn't show up. Yet they are shockingly punctual. I can't believe that's a problem but it sort of is.

Yeah...

Your best option is to split it up. Think of it a little like a play. When the cast gets too large, you need to split it up so that the players don't feel left out. Once you get past four or five players, the opponents won't last a round. I, for one, still need to split up the party.

The problem is always going to be there. So, you're DM, you have an actual plot for your games, n'cest pas?

The easiest solution therefore is to find some subplot that can divide the party. Kind of like Lord of the Rings. While one group might work to kill the BBEG by destroying his 'phylactery' (we'll use a lich for Sauron here), the other party could be rallying an army to assault his head-on.

[Albions_Angel]

What about a new NPC? The world of D&D must be full of young men and women willing to go out and kill dragons/rescue princesses/beat up out of work Undead.

Have an NPC their level with high CHA. Possibly a sorcerer? Maybe a Swashbuckler? He is looking for companions to go on an adventure of wanderlust (and is willing to pay AND split loot) with him, to become firm friends and enjoy many stories worthy of retelling in a bar with a strumpet on your lap (seriously, Swashbuckler is sounding good right now!). Think Captain Hook, or similar roughish figure, with flair and charm and whit and a long pointy bit of metal. Fill him full of skill tricks and a rich backstory. He will pull the two of them together and lead them on wonderful journeys.