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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Shiroiken" data-source="post: 6964567" data-attributes="member: 6775477">I was mostly thinking of monsters, rather than animals. Goblins and Kobolds aren't really smart enough for something like this. Pack animals, however, should probably utilize it. My favorite thing to do with low level PCs is to have animals start dragging off the downed characters. This makes it harder to bring them back up (as they get farther away), and puts pressure on them to finish the combat before PCs get eaten. Diversity can make better combats, but I always feel there has to be a reason for it. Pets of the main enemy are good, also allies and even mercenaries work well too. When I played in 3E, my favorite character was an elf wizard. I spent almost every combat "readying to cast magic missile if <X> starts to casts a spell." This turned into "Ready Wars," when the DM started doing the same thing to me. When asked about it, I laughed and said "I was able to take a powerful spellcaster out of the combat without ever actually casting a spell. I call that a win!"I almost never use solo bosses. I normally have a bunch of minion with them, or use a mated pair. A single creature, even with Legendary Actions, just can't compete with a normal party due to the Action Economy. LOL! You're welcome. I like to make my world realistic, and no one is going to stay in a place that keeps getting invaded! Yea, I seldom get a chance for casters to escape...I played with people like that for years. I even knew a guy who'd open the MM at the table to whatever they were fighting (then get upset if someone said anything about it). Thankfully I don't have to deal with that anymore. I think something useful for that is getting more monsters (and optional rules) from the DMs Guild to keep them on their toes. I know someone who bought every d20 monster book in 3E for that reason. I'm old fashioned, but I generally use "name level" with is about 9-11 in AD&D. Of course, the adventures should reflect this. My current group got major recognition at level 9, because not only did they destroy the Temple of Elemental Evil by slaying Zugttmoy, but they also rescued Prince Thrommel IV from it's dungeons. They are very well known in the kingdoms of Furyondy and Veluna, but in the Sheldomar Valley (where they are now), they are hardly known at all. Oh, I loved the story (and a good warning for Wishers), and it works because it was used more as an adventure hook, rather than as a "I need to get rid of this item."It's hard to find good tricks to aggravate the players, because either they're not fun or they get overused fast. One of my favorites is to remember that there is more copper and silver in the world than gold and platinum (that's why they're worth more), so make sure EVERY bit of treasure they have contains a majority of the former (assuming you use encumbrance), because they'll have to leave a good chunk of their loot behind.An interesting twist on this (that can really mess with your campaign, so be forewarned) is to have the party find a gigantic treasure horde. I mean like 1,000,000 gp or more. I talking Smaug level gold pieces. When the party returns to town with their haul, they find that they've flooded the economy, and now gold is nearly worthless (say, value equal to copper). The reason why gold is rare is not because there is less of it, but because monsters have managed to horde it away from the economy. This will have long lasting effects on your campaign, so be ready for it.Another fun thing to do is the "too much of a good thing." You find out what a character (or the party), and then you make it happen effortlessly... and endlessly. For example, if someone considers themselves to be a great beauty and often flirts, they suddenly become irresistible to everyone, even monsters! If a rogue wants to be a master thief, have him blamed for a major heist, and then every robbery afterwards gets blamed on him (without him actually getting the rewards). If the party wants renown for their adventuring abilities, have them hired to slay an ancient red dragon at level 5. You get the idea  <img src="http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devil.png"  class="smilie" loading="lazy" alt=":devil:" title="Devil    :devil:" data-shortname=":devil:" /></blockquote>

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