re-joining the party after a death

[ecz]

Originally Posted by Skarg

(...)

What we used to do, is (...) let players whose PCs died start playing an NPC who is already an ally of the party and is already nearby. We tended to have many NPCs along with our parties, so this was a natural resource to use. We would also sometimes do that when one of the PCs was merely so injured they needed to rest, but healthy PCs wanted to continue adventuring. If the player then wanted to start a new character, they could introduce them when it made sense for a new person to meet the party. The party was under no responsibility to welcome or trust them, however, but usually that was not an issue.

(...)
The "lowest PC minus one point" guideline seems fairly reasonable for that, but I don't want players to feel entitled to start a replacement character at a certain point level.

I think it's generally a lot of fun to start new people at 32 points anyway, though. A loyal well-played 32-point character doesn't need to be entirely overshadowed even by 40-point allies.

The idea of a group of NPC in/around the party to change in a new PCs as necessary is very good. We did this once, when a player openly requested to take the role of a close friend of the group.
But I would leave this possibility only upon a specific request.

About the fact that it is generally a lot of fun play a 32 points hero from start I agree.
In fact in my games players were always free to decide if restart from 32 or use the house rule I mentioned.
But nobody decided to restart from 32 if he had the chance to start with a few more points.

Also I'm not sure that a 32 points hero can happily stay in a group with people with 6/8 more points of average.

The weak PCs tend to gain less exp for combat, that - in my games - is where most exp comes from.

Besides young heroes tend to die more often than the though -seasoned colleagues, at least in my games. I realize that depends on the playing style, however.

Finally an asimmetrical party can create more problems to the GM for the balance of the adventures and the things he puts into .

For example if the players at a certain moment must climb a wall while a pack of dire wolves is running behid them, a 4d/DX for non climbers will probably kill the 32 points hero, while the 40+ points adventurers should be able to clear the obstacle.

As GM then I must think in advance a B plan to let to everyone the same fair chance to survive. ( in our example any player could notice with a 4d/IQ a different escape path not requiring the hard DX saving roll, like a big three that everyone can climb rolling 2d/DX). The 32 points PC could go there while his friends go for the wall. They will quietly target the wolves with bows and crossbows once they are in safe in a higher position.