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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ender_wiggin" data-source="post: 5952917" data-attributes="member: 21629">That's a decent idea with the NPCs. I suggest two things. Either (1) the enemies have strong forced movement offensive abilities that make it hard for the PCs to camp the NPC aura and/or (2) have multiple NPCs in the same set, each of which is advantageous for parts of the combat but not others (a crude example being: gives extra damage to one enemy type but not another).--On another note, here's another "unusual" combat that I've run in the past:Running an epic-tier combat with a shade ( a solo lurker ):<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">This creature does not have its own body, but instead controls a shadow (including those of the PCs), in a room with several pillars and only 1 light source. It has all the status effects of its host, but any status effects put onto the shade go onto the host instead.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The PCs have control of the light, although the shade can wrest control of it from them at certain points in the combat.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The shade can jump from host to host for one of its lesser actions. It can also jump hosts as part of some of its attacks, or if it drops its host. The shade is also hidden within a host shadow (cannot be attacked there) unless it acts from that position or it is revealed in some way.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The shade has two mechanical "stances", depending on whether the shadow is cast over an open area (ie it is a very large, blurry, shadow) or cast a very short distance onto an immediate background (ie a small, sharp shadow). In its diffuse form, the shadow has large size, threatening reach, and casts lots of damage spells over a huge area of effect, inflicting various status effects. In its sharp form, the shadow does devastating damage to its host (invariably dropping the PC if it has its full turn).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">The PCs can move the shade around by moving, or moving the light. They can make the shade go prone by dropping prone. The shade can also force move the host with one of its lesser actions. Most of the tactical depth of this encounter revolves around manipulating the shade into the form they PCs want as well as putting the status effects on the shade.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">When I ran this combat last year, I lit a physical candle on the battlemat that represented the light source, that made real shadows off of the player minis. This way, we never had to try to calculate where the shadow would be. For my group it worked very well. YMMV.</li> </ul></blockquote>

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