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Whilst looking back over some of my older Dragon mags, I came across a few Ecology articles that included reference to "Killer Creature Combos" where the monster of issue was paired with others to set the stage for compounded difficult encounters. The one that comes to mind is the Hobgoblin in 309. How about it?
I think this idea's excellent. We all do the obvious pairing all the time, of course. A medusa with a gaggle of grimlocks, for instance. Or any monster whose spell-like abilities require Will saves with mooks whose attacks damage or drain Wisdom, or poison traps that inflict Wis damage.
But I'd love to read about less obvious, brilliantly balanced matches! This could be a most valuable addition to the Ecology description for any monster.
There was such an article in Dragon years ago, I'll see if I can't find it. The one that was memorable was yellow mold & ghouls. Pretty nasty.
I've always been partial to combining critters with damaging or draining touch attacks with critters or traps that paralyze or holds the PCs. For this, undead are particularly handy. The old ghoul-plus-shadow team springs to mind, or the mummy-plus-ghost combo. My last dungeon put a shadow in a concealed quicksand channel.
Incorporeal undead in the middle of slashing, meat-grinder, or lava-spraying traps (preferably big, room-wide ones) are also lots of fun.
And I never grow tired of creating narrow ledges, slippery bridges, and teetering rooftops, and then plaguing my precariously-balanced PCs with flying critters that can bull rush. What fun!
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There was such an article in Dragon years ago, I'll see if I can't find it. The one that was memorable was yellow mold & ghouls. Pretty nasty.
Actually, aside from the ecology (or ecologies) that I referenced, I have two separate issues with articles called "Killer Creature Combos" (or something like that). But alas, I'm in no state of mind at this hour to flip through my library of Dragon magazines.