Splitting up PCs

[BobVosh]

This isn't a Oh no, the split up, how do I prevent them from dying thread.

It is a "I want to split them up, how do I do this?" thread. I am curious if you guys have any good methods for it whenever you have the rare occasion that you want them to do it.

[Halae]

One surprisingly effective method is to have a barrier that only lets a certain type of creature in - such as about, say, half the party. Another good one is during a fight, you have the characters necessitate going off in different directions to engage the enemy, then you have a wall fall between them (or they fall into separate pits, that works too). Essentially, you just have to create a way that the players aren't able to get back to their compatriots - at least not easily.

[Tvtyrant]

Have a town that needs defending but has two gates; have a wall get disintegrated or knocked down by a siege weapon between the gates. Alternatively have a timed quest where two things have to be done faster than a single group could do them.

[jguy]

I hope this is at low level because Dimension door, teleport, heck, even Anklets of Translocation make splitting up a party forcibly really hard

[Reynard]

Do the PCs have any personal plots going, or is everyone following the main one?

If they have their own problems, like kidnapped parents or something, make them make the choice between following a really good lead on that, or staying with the rest of the party.

For example, while trawling through a shady nobles house, they find details of a slaving operation that mentions the name of [PC-with-missing-family-members] hometown. This note hints that the slaves are being taken in a direction far, far away from the current main events of the Plot.

[Cespenar]

Have two simultaneous important events that need to be taken care of as soon as possible?

Really, that's how %90 of the split ups happen in all works of media.

[Godskook]

My PCs split rather naturally when they hit towns, and just last session, I had one dragged off by a voidmind werewolf cause he went to the bar alone(it helped that he was the new player in the group, but still)

[grimbold]

Have a town that needs defending but has two gates; have a wall get disintegrated or knocked down by a siege weapon between the gates. Alternatively have a timed quest where two things have to be done faster than a single group could do them.

both of these are good
or be like my dm and say
OMG a magical portal splits up the partY!!

[Amnestic]

The next time [a Caster Class] casts a spell, it turns out that they're in some sort of Wild Magic area! Gasp! The magic fizzles, pops, crackles and all those other cereal sounds, resulting in the group being teleported. Shockingly, a Wild Magic area isn't easy to direct and the group is somewhat scattered with no way to find their compatriots.