One campaign, multiple characters - ever done it?

[MarkVIIIMarc]

I am a player in an upcoming campaign where the DM is having the characters meet probably at the Inn and then pick their companions. All of us players have been instructed to bring two characters. Presumably an NPC is going to hire one of our characters then go about the room filling out the party.

The hints are after character death or between adventures we'll be able to boot characters or replace deceased ones.

Have any of you all been in a campaign that functioned like this? Can you think of any problems?

-Keeping the back up characters of appropriate level might be a thing. Maybe not.

-Level progression could be slower. We just finished a 3 year to level 20ish xp campaign.

For benefits I figure if someone picks a character who ends up too off the rails incompatible there is a mechanic to boot the character but not the player.

-It also seems like if your character isn't fun you have a back up ready. This has worked in a campaign I ran before where back ups would sometimes go on off screen missions the players did not take, or discovered information to relay to the party and were just handy whenever someone got turned to stone or whatever.

[Spo]

Our group did the Waterdeep into Madmage campaign. Over the course of 2 1/2 years, we had characters either die or simply leave the party (in game reasons ranged from fulfulling their personal quests and "retiring" from adventuring to setting up a brothel after having a near-death experience and realizing adventuring is not a safe business). The new characters were brought into the group at the same level as everyone else with no real penalty placed on them (except poorer and no magic items in their possession - given dnd doesn't rely on needing magic items it wasn't that big a deal.).

There was no prior history with the original party members and we just created senarios that made it natural for them to join the party mid-campaign.

[KorvinStarmast]

Have any of you all been in a campaign that functioned like this? Can you think of any problems?

-Keeping the back up characters of appropriate level might be a thing. Maybe not. Our DM allowed the back up to advance in parallel.

-Level progression could be slower. We just finished a 3 year to level 20ish xp campaign. See above.

For benefits I figure if someone picks a character who ends up too off the rails incompatible there is a mechanic to boot the character but not the player.
Good idea.

-It also seems like if your character isn't fun you have a back up ready.
This is a bonus.

[Yakmala]

In one campaign I was in, we only had one healer/buffer. So I made a Cleric as my secondary character and on days the primary healer couldn’t make it, my main character, a Rogue, would be off on scouting missions and my Cleric would fill in. They both leveled up at the same rate.

[Willowhelm]

When a character has no reason to stay with the party (or dies) I think it makes more sense for them to leave and the player to bring in a different character.

In the game I’m running now one player had a second PC for the sessions between their main character dying and getting resurrected.

In the campaign I’m playing in now I started with one character in barovia but he stayed there for RP reasons so I had a new one when we got to another plane and then the party had to split for a while so I’m on a third for now.

In a previous campaign I had one main PC that for RP reasons had to leave the party, replaced by another who received an offer he couldn’t refuse, and a third I played while number 2 was away for a few sessions.

[ImproperJustice]

We ran a 5 year campaign from 1-20 once, and everyone had multiple characters at various points.
The plot became pretty broad and at one point we had one team building a base and handling quest there doing kingdom building, one group questing far and wide, sometimes crossing the planes, and a third group sailing through Space in a restored Spelljammer ship.

Players switched all the time as they wished and characters advanced in parallel reflective of their individual stories and events taking place.
It was amazing.

[elyktsorb]

Had a campaign where a character died and I made a new one up between games. It was pretty similar since I was the main rogue person for locks and traps and I didn't want to just leave a hole for that there.

[Leon]

Last in person campaign before the pandemic was one, we were a Circus troupe, a evil circus that was ultimately a front for something else that we never uncovered due to the game stopping but each player had a pair of PCs that were alternated with each session. Level ups and such were synced. Because of that switching dynamic the two sets of PCs dint really mix outside of big group scenes but were assumed to know what was going on with the other half unless it was kept secret. Every PC had a role that was part of the circus make up ~ from strongmen to ticket collectors

[icedraikon]

Currently in a campaign where we all run two characters. A Team and B Team. Was originally a 1 party campaign, but there were 2 significant plot hooks that we wanted to hit, so we made another party and swap between at every milestone. Works pretty well. About a year and a half into the campaign, 30 odd sessions into each party's plotline. DM keeps the timeline pretty even on both as well, so sometimes the actions of 1 party affect the other party.

[animorte]

DM keeps the timeline pretty even on both as well, so sometimes the actions of 1 party affect the other party.

That must be really fun to balance. This also seems to me it provides more proof that your actions can have great consequences.

[Amechra]

I was in a game that started off with three players — one guy dropped, so me and the other remaining player ended up making an extra character each to make combat less of a hassle to balance for the DM. It worked out pretty well, with a bit of a "main character + important side character" feel to it.

[Zhorn]

At the tables where I first learnt to play, rolling new characters was always done at level 1.
Point was so character weren't disposable, and character death was a serious threat.

Not everyone's cup of tea, but having played with that for a good while normalized that as a baseline for me.
It does mean I roll my eyes a little when starting a character at level 1 is referred to as a 'punishment'.
Just the mindset I suppose. Some folks enjoy single life game modes like nuzlocke in pokemon, or hardmode in minecraft. Even in many MMOs making a new character is just restarting at 1.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯

For my current group I'm taking it easy on them that if they replace a character, you just go back to the start of the last level they attained.

In a previous game I was a player in, you rerolled at the lowest level of the tier you had reached.
In any case, with how much XP you get from a few encounters, the early levels race by and the level gaps closes reasonable quickly to 1-2 levels.

More recent games I've been a player in have had new characters come in at the same level as the part, all rushed milestone levels, and magic items and treasure raining of the group for just fetching a cow. Lots of disposable characters in those games.

pick your poison, I guess.