History Main / PlayerCharacterCalculus

* ''Videogame/PAYDAYTheHeist'' is meant for four-player online co-op, but the offline play lets the player choose one member of the eponymous Payday gang and play him, while the other three are controlled by the AI.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTactics'': allows you to field up to five characters in any battle (in story battles, you CantDropTheHero and there may be other restrictions in play) and you can have up to 16 (24 in the PSP port) total characters in your roster.

* The ''VideoGame/EyeOfTheBeholder'' series put an unusual spin on this: at the start of each game, you can create a party of four customizable [=PCs=], but the actual limit is six, as you can additionaly recruit up to two predefinied [=NPCs=] you meet on your adventures.

* All (but one) of the ''WildArms'' games only allow 3 people on a team, but the first game only had the three playable. The remake adds people who [[GuestStarPartyMember join for a time]], and can later be permanently added to your team late game.

Another rare template, mostly existing as a middle ground between Four and Six Heroes.

This is a classic RolePlayingGame party, owing to the fact that six players is the optimal table size for a TabletopRPG module.

* The Infinity Engine games--''VideoGame/BaldursGate'', ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'', ''VideoGame/IcewindDale''--all allowed up to six characters in the party, being straight-up implementations of the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' ruleset. ''IWD'' even lacked a designated "main" player character, allowing you to create an entire party from scratch.

* The original ''VideoGame/DungeonSiege'' allows the player to have up to eight characters in their party (including the customized PC). Alternatively, some party slots can be filled with (literal) packmules for increased inventory space.

* The ''VideoGame/EyeOfTheBeholder'' series put an unusual spin on this: at the start of each game, you can create a party of four customizable [=PCs=], but the actual limit is six, as you can recruit up to two predefinied [=NPCs=] found on your adventures.

* The ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' series lets you have up to five PlayerCharacters in your active party at a time. In ''[=EO4=]'', though, you could fill the sixth slot with a GuestStarPartyMember on certain occasions.

* All of the VideoGame/GoldBox games (''Pool of Radiance'', ''Savage Frontier'', ''Champions of Krynn'', etc., etc.) had the same PlayerParty mechanics and limited its size to six heads, although some games featured an additional NPC GuestStarPartyMember, technically bumping the party size up to seven.

[[AC:Turn-Based Tactics]]

* [[NonPlayerCompanion Predefined NPCs]] become the majority in the party, so the finer "1+???" distinctions are no longer relevant. Still, CantDropTheHero and WeCannotGoOnWithoutYou will often apply to the "main" PlayerCharacter, while the two NPC companions will be interchangeable.

* ''VideoGame/BeyondDivinity'' had two pre-defined protagonists bound to each other by a PsychicLink. ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSin'' revisits the idea by having two [[FeaturelessProtagonist fully customizable player characters]], whom the player can control together or individually and switch at will (plus, each protagonist can get a hireling or a summoned monster, technically bringing the party size up to four).

* The party in ''VideoGame/{{Wasteland 2}}'' has room for four [[FeaturelessProtagonist custom player characters]] and three [=NPCs=].

* The ''Franchise/MassEffect'' series likewise allows two party members to follow Shepard. The first game even expects the player to compliment Shepard's [[FighterMageThief firepower, biotic, or tech]] strength with appropriate companions.

* ''VideoGame/AceCombatZeroTheBelkanWar'' and ''VideoGame/AceCombat6FiresOfLiberation'' give their protagonists a single wingman each who can be given orders and, in the latter game, equipped with better planes.
* ''VideoGame/{{Drakan}}'' is a rare example with a non-human NonPlayerCompanion: while you control the Lone Heroine Rynn throughout the game, she is accompanied by a dragon named Arokh who is essential to beating the game but cannot follow Rynn into dungeons.

* The original ''VideoGame/DungeonSiege'' allows the player to have up to eight characters in their party (including the customized PC). Alternatively, some party slots can be replaced with a (literal) packmule for increased inventory space.

* ''VideoGame/MegaManX7'' and ''[[VideoGame/MegaManX8 X8]]'' allows you to take two of the player characters together, but only one can be controlled at a time, while the others will come in if you switch them. ''X7'' has the LazyBackup problem (dying will make you lose a life, even with your ally still up), while ''X8'' fixed it (the downed character will be switched automatically and recover some of the lost health).

* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' and ''VideoGame/{{Skyrim}}'' allowed the player to bring hirelings along, mostly as rewards for advancing faction-specific storylines, but ''Skyrim'' also lets you hire mercenaries with gold.

A special category where the player has no immediate in-game avatar. The vast majority of strategy games with a NonEntityGeneral fall here, even though they allow you to field and controls dozens to hundreds, even thousands of units--but their plot significance is often negligible.

The player controls a single PlayerCharacter (or at least [[AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent one at a time]]), and that's it. This template is extremely common in shooter, hack-n-slash, fighting, roguelike, and adventure games, as well as in more story- or sandbox-oriented [=RPGs=]. It also includes games where the PC is given assistants upon reaching certain plot points but cannot control them in any way, including whether and when they leave.