Ok I have a question.
I often try to give the players a heads up with an incoming monster. Perhaps they are spiders descending from the bell tower on silk strands, or they are a vampire that escaped his confinement and attempts to double back onto the PCs.
In both of these situations the PCs readied actions and or just launched volleys of arrows and javelins before the attacker had a chance to attack.
Any way to resolve this without always having the monsters leap out at them with no warning?
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RAW, they can't Ready an action until Initiative is rolled. It also sounds like you're giving them too much warning. In your spider example, I think the spiders would just drop at a near free-fall, not descend at a fixed rate on silk strands. They can slow themselves right near the end of their drop by their silk strand to avoid injury if you're concerned about the distance of the drop. Also, in that case and the vampire, it's also a question of Stealth vs. Perception. If the PCs don't notice the creature there, then it very well may be with no warning.
This is what passive Perception is for in my mind. When a character's passive Perception is high enough, then I let them know that the recognize something is off, perhaps the sense that something is watching, or they notice some movement in the underbrush, a shadow against a wall, that sort of thing.
They can choose to try to take a closer look (make a Perception check), but that's generally too late in the event of an ambush. In most cases, my players have learned to react first, then take a closer look.
For example, if they are exploring a forest, and one of the character notices that the underbrush is moving slightly at about 2-o'-clock and 30 yards in front of them. The characters might immediately take cover behind trees or drop prone, anticipating a possible ambush with ranged weapons, then they'll try to get a closer look.
If it actually is an ambush, then they'll react appropriately to the character's actions. They might still attack, or more appropriately ready a shot with their bow/crossbow for when a PC sticks their head up/out to get a better look. The disadvantage of the character being prone or behind cover is usually offset by the advantage of being hidden. So it's still a tough start to an encounter.
I also have surprise checks in my campaign, which are generally an opposed check. So if the ambushing group is totally undetected, and they leap to attack, it's a Stealth check against passive Perception or passive Initiative (character's choice), or they are surprised.
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In terms of the OP, I look at real-life tactics through history. In general, intelligent creatures with weapons will attempt ranged attacks first, with cover and spread out if possible. This applies even to creatures like goblins and orcs, who live their lives in near perpetual war. They'd be pretty good at it. The next approach is to separate out single targets to attack as a group, with reach weapons if possible. While I disagree with the "orcs with pikes" I totally agree with "orcs with spears" because a spear is one of the most effective melee weapons available historically, and swords and axes were generally sidearms for when the battle gets close. Rushing in for direct one-on-one melee is what they are trying to avoid.
Also, most of my intelligent monsters retreat and attempt to regroup, or simply flee if possible. For any creature to fight to the death, I expect there to be a reason. Goblins fearing retribution from orcish superiors is probably sufficient to keep them in the battle until half of their allies are down, but tortured and alive is still better than dead.
Also, assuming the monsters are at home (in their dungeon), they make extensive use of the terrain and their knowledge of it. And their home tends to fit their preferred tactics. For example, troglodytes like lairs with lots of smaller tunnels. My trogs are bipedal and quadrupedal and climb well, so they can scurry up walls to small ledges that provide partial cover against creatures below them, and they like to ambush from a tunnel, then retreat and come around to another side (or an ally who does the same), even better if larger creatures try to follow them in their tunnels. They typically use slings, javelins or spears (often of bone or stone since they don't have mining or metalworking skills). Most of the time, the PCs find themselves the target of hit-and-run attacks like this for an extended period if they are delving deeper into a dungeon.
Also note that the tactics that a creature uses are developed specifically to deal with their usual opponent/prey, etc. For example, drow tactics are developed against other creatures of the underdark, not against creatures like humans from the surface. For example, there's a common assumption that creatures that have darkvision won't use light. I disagree. We don't wait until we can't see before using light, we use light so we can maximize our vision. In game terms, when we have a limited field of vision due to lack of light, and disadvantage on perception, then we'll use light. I think the same thing applies for creatures with darkvision. If you have a choice of seeing only 60' or 120' in front of you with disadvantage, or being able to see to the extent of your vision without disadvantage, you'll choose the second. Only when trying to sneak up on somebody would you choose otherwise. And if you're in a defensible position, you'd want to prevent others from having an advantage sneaking up on you. So I think that regions frequented by intelligent creatures like drow, along with their cities, would be dimly lit, not dark. They can always turn out the lights when fighting humans, but in most cases humans are very, very rare in a drow homeland.
Sure, a light gives an advantage to a creature outside of that range of the light. But as long as the light covers an area greater than the maximum range of an attack by those creatures, then you've also taken away any advantage that creature has due to the darkness. Relying on darkvision alone, by the time the drow sees that beholder, it's too late.
Obviously, while hunting and such, they would take advantage of the darkness, but the point is the defensive tactics of a drow city are against creatures of the underdark, not humans. Likewise, troglodyte tactics, goblin tactics, etc., especially their tactics in their lair, will be based upon the threats they have on a regular basis, and their hunting tactics are based on their usual prey.
As for predators, like many monsters, or even animals, it's simple. They survive by hunting. But I also base their tactics on their nature. For example, venomous snakes usually will strike (bite) and then retreat and wait for the venom to disable the prey. There are some species that are much more aggressive, and they are an exception that stands out (and terrifies the PCs). Poison is more deadly in my campaign, but then since most snakes will strike low, and the PCs are wearing boots or armor, in most cases the snake is at a disadvantage. So it's a frightening since they know what
could happen, but good decisions have prevented disaster. Creatures like lions, or others similar to them, hunt by ambush, tend to target the "weakest" by making an attack and attempting to drag the prey away. A lion, for example, is accustomed to the fact that the animals it didn't catch will flee, rather than coming to help attack it. So if it gets attacked it will flee unless there is some unusual reason for it not to. In addition, most animals, or animal-like creatures, won't even attack if they feel they are in danger.
My players are used to things like an obvious presence of giant spiders, but no immediate attack since the party is too strong. But it's a risk they have to consider if they are returning this direction in a weakened state. It also highlights the presence of the predator, even if all they see are webs and the husks of prior victims. They often consider different tactics than sending the rogue ahead to spy on something. Or maybe they don't consider it (or they don't care), and the rogue gets picked off once they are separated from the party. The potential ambush is well telegraphed, but the monster still comes from nowhere. If the PCs were smart, they have somebody with a bow, crossbow, or spell covering the rogue in the event of an attack.
On the other hand, bands of goblins, orcs, bandits, etc. that are out and actively setting ambushes? They usually outnumber the PCs 2:1 or 3:1. Adventurers are pretty much the only groups in my campaign stupid enough to wander about in the most dangerous regions of the world in such small numbers. An ambush sets the stage, and usually puts the PCs on the defensive until they can devise a counter strategy. And that's kind of what I'm looking for. Most of the people in the world encountered by a band of orcs don't survive (or survive only because they fled and were faster than the rest of their companions). The PCs survive not only because they are better in combat, but also smarter. If the players ignore the smarter part, then they aren't that much better in combat.
Evil humanoids will ambush with the purpose to kill, but while bandits are sometimes willing to kill, many times they are attacking to steal, and are often not willing to murder.
Because of this sort of behavior, I'm not as concerned about PCs surviving an ambush. Creatures that are good at ambushing will get the drop on the PCs quite a bit. But more often than not, the PCs just need to drive the creature away rather than kill it. So an ambush that drops one character to near 0-hit points is a scary encounter, but usually not deadly.
