I've got a problem. Several players in my current game keep swapping characters. I'm trying to figure out a way to curb this without driving them off all together.
Right now, my players can bring in a new character at the average XP/party level. I don't generally have a problem with this, as it lets new players jump in and not feel left behind, but I've got a few abuser players who have alt-itis, swapping out every 3-4 weeks, which this table-rule facilitates.
I'm debating swapping it up, saying that they start at half or three-quarters the XP total of the rest of the party. This would put them a few levels behind, with the gap increasing with levels. (At 1/2 XP, a level 20 party gets a new character at level 14. At 3/4 XP, a level 20 party gets a new character at 17.) They're lower on XP, so the standard XP chart puts them gaining XP faster to make up the difference, so they will catch up, but only if they stick with it.
What do you guys think?