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Message: <blockquote data-quote="the Jester" data-source="post: 6564430" data-attributes="member: 1210">So I've been running a strict "ES@1" campaign for 5e so far. There are a total of about 30 players spread between a couple of different groups that swirl into different permutations for pretty much every adventure. As of yet, the high level pcs are 5th. I know ES@1 isn't for everyone, and when I posted a previous thread on the subject a few months ago there was quite an uproar over the idea. That's fine, if you don't like it, don't do it. For those who were interested in hearing how it was going after a while, here's my basic report. It's going great! So far, smart play has been enough to keep the low level pcs from dying in droves, even in unexpected and very dangerous battles. Last night, a party of seven pcs, including two brand-new first level ones (a druid and a warlock), a couple of fifth level guys (vengeance paladin and evoker wizard) and a few 3rd level pcs (two barbarians and a cleric) were in an interesting and very dangerous encounter. It started with 6 hyenas, 4 gnolls and a gnoll pack leader (or whatever it's called). But the gnolls quickly released a hydra. The hydra, of course, is something like CR 8- it's burly, it's bad, it deals tons of damage and it had just under 200 hps. It was one of those encounters where I seriously thought there was a good chance of a TPK- but the party hung together, used smart tactics and killed it with no deaths. It was a harrowing, barely-made-it kind of fight, but the party triumphed. And even those 1st level guys both survived and contributed. The warlock's eldritch blast dealt somewhere around 25 damage to the hydra. The druid kept pinging it with a sling, but more importantly, healed one of the barbarians who was nearly down (I think he had 4 hps left) at a crucial moment. For the record, I neither pulled punches nor fudged at all. Another recent encounter with a different group that included some level 2 and level 5 guys was with a pair of winter wolves. Again, the lower-level pcs not only survived, they contributed meaningfully. I'll update again- either this thread or in a new one- once I have a greater level disparity to report on. I absolutely acknowledge that the ES@1 paradigm doesn't work for everyone, doesn't work for every edition of D&D and might break down eventually. So far, though, my players and I have found it to be working just fine.</blockquote>

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