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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Elder-Basilisk" data-source="post: 285844" data-attributes="member: 3146">There have been a lot of good suggestions (and a few that I wouldn't advise taking) on this thread. I've got a few contributions to add though:1. Explore the options of 3e combat. Don't have the next group of orcs the players fight be standard MM orcs. Mix them up a bit. Make them orcs of the Red Knee, a feared orc tribe used by a friend of mine when he DMs. Orcs of the Red knee are known for their dirty and vicious fighting style which involves jamming their knee spikes into their opponents' vulnerable spots. In game terms, they're Bbn 1/Rgr 1s who usually dual wield a greataxe and armor spikes. Not your standard combat style.Have other enemies who use spring attack with a reach weapon (maybe a guisarme), combat reflexes, and improved trip.Try out a fighter with improved sunder against the PCs.Take a gladiator with the disarm feats.Use bull rushes.Use hordes of zombies who make grapple attacks.Use creatures with improved grab and swallow whole, etc.Use creatures who don't use the normal combat mechanics. Stirges, for instance are not dangerous for the damage they dish out but for the con damage they cause.2. Vary the environment. It's been said before, but vary it in the encounter as well. Have foes cast obscuring mist and fog cloud.  Have enemies cast pyrotechnics on the PCs' campfire at night. Use Rock to mud on the ground in front of them when they face a group of archers. All of these things will make combat new and different and force the PCs to find new strategies to adapt to their new surroundings. For a more mundane scenario, try placing a combat on the outskirts of a frozen lake presenting the PCs with the choice of risking slipping on the ice in order to gain better tactical position or playing it safe and staying on the ground. If anything big happens on the lake (giant tosses a boulder, fireball goes off, etc) you can have the ice crack, presenting a new problem--swimming out of the freezing cold lake. Alternately, you could have it split into multiple ice chunks which characters can still balance on (and making movement very risky) or just have weak areas of the ice for characters to take chances on or bull rush their enemies onto.</blockquote>

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