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Message: <blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 6989935" data-attributes="member: 12377">I think the initiative thing is a red herring. Like you say, individual initiative can still produce focus-fire and good tactics, and group initiative can still produce chaos and ineffectiveness. So don't worry about initiative; worry only about tactics. But here are some things you could try:1. Have an enemy leader who shouts tactics. This makes them a target for the PC's focussed fire. It also makes it really obvious that these particular enemies are on the ball. By contrast, dumb-looking enemies should usually just attack the nearest PC.2. Use defensive tactics. Have enemies take cover and use spells to prevent the PCs from focussing fire. Position enemies to trigger OAs if the party tries to bum-rush the enemy caster or leader. These sorts of defensive tactics can make a fight interesting without making it a PC meatgrinder.3. Smart enemies use tactics; but they also don't usually fight to the death. Have enemies flee or surrender when things start looking bad for them. This cuts encounters short and makes them a bit easier. You can also have enemies offer the PCs to surrender, and make it clear that they are sincere (maybe give an Insight check to reveal that the enemy actually will go easy on you if you surrender -- players tend to trust the results of their checks much more than things you just tell them).4. Adjust the effective XP value for a fight based on tactics. Enemies that are being really smart are worth more XP than those being really dumb.5. Have the enemies come in waves. Maybe wave 2 is reinforcements, or was trying to do some overcomplicated flanking thing. Adjust the size of waves based on how the fight is going. If smart tactics are slaughtering the PCs, wave 2 is small or nonexistent. If the PCs are stomping, then wave 2 is large or has some positional advantage or something.</blockquote>

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