Character selection - PBP - party input

[J-H]

I'm getting ready to run a Castlevania 2-based game on the forum, running from level 2 to levels 9-10. Each player will quickly acquire a Legacy item; most of these are +2 weapons with a couple of other minor bonuses and some scaling... think the Vampire Killer whip, Blessed Dagger, etc.
Since no two characters are allowed to have the same weapon, I've asked every player to make two potential characters. I currently have 6 applicants/ 12 characters for 5 slots, and 2-3 more players who have expressed interest, so I may end up with as many as 18 characters to pick from.

In a typical PBP, the DM picks the characters with no input from the players.
In a typical tabletop session 0, characters are made with a degree of back-and-forth communication.

I am considering some sort of secret-ballot "PM me your top 3 party-mate character choices" voting method as a factor in selecting the final party of 5 to help them determine their party balance and bridge the gap between the two. Has anyone done this before, or seen it done?

[JNAProductions]

I'm getting ready to run a Castlevania 2-based game on the forum, running from level 2 to levels 9-10. Each player will quickly acquire a Legacy item; most of these are +2 weapons with a couple of other minor bonuses and some scaling... think the Vampire Killer whip, Blessed Dagger, etc.
Since no two characters are allowed to have the same weapon, I've asked every player to make two potential characters. I currently have 6 applicants/ 12 characters for 5 slots, and 2-3 more players who have expressed interest, so I may end up with as many as 18 characters to pick from.

In a typical PBP, the DM picks the characters with no input from the players.
In a typical tabletop session 0, characters are made with a degree of back-and-forth communication.

I am considering some sort of secret-ballot "PM me your top 3 party-mate character choices" voting method as a factor in selecting the final party of 5 to help them determine their party balance and bridge the gap between the two. Has anyone done this before, or seen it done?

I've not done it, but it seems pretty reasonable to me.

Part of the thing is that, in Session Zero of a game with friends, you have your player pool, but not characters.
In a PbP, generally, you don't have a player pool in mind yet. So it's pretty different.

[Bobthewizard]

PMs would be fine. We can all send those to you if you want.

I would like to suggest another option. You said you wanted 5 and there are 6 applicants. I would take all 6 players to let everyone in the game and ask everyone which character they want to play. Then if the party doesn't look balanced, or if the Legacy items overlap, either you could ask some of us to change or we could all discuss it here.

[J-H]

If I get 6, I may do that. There are still 4 days left and 3 others who have expressed interest, but haven't posted characters yet.

[Amnestic]

Assuming you're not just taking everyone (and then having them vote on who wants which of the two characters) I think a secret ballot would work via PMs/DMs.

[Pyrophilios]

Going for the classic Defender/Healer/Skirmisher/Controller/Wildcard setup

You could go for:

Barbarian, Druid, Ranger, Sorcerer, Monk (A group stationed in the wilderness)

Paladin, (Celestial) Warlock, Monk, Wizard, Sorcerer (a group more at home in social environments)

If I have to chose between my two characters, I'd prefer the warlock, because for me they are the most fun to play.

[Bobthewizard]

If I get 6, I may do that. There are still 4 days left and 3 others who have expressed interest, but haven't posted characters yet.

I missed that part. If you get more than 6 applicants, then PMs could be helpful. Once players are selected, maybe we could discuss trading out to our other one if the rest of the players are ok with that.