I've been playing Pathfinder for only about two years now, and in all of the games I've been in I've noticed the GM rarely makes combat particularly dynamic or "interesting". Now what do I mean by that? Well, it's not that they're boring or doesn't leave us at the edge of our seat, but that the terrain is mostly just semi-empty rooms or hallways with a few mundane details. We can't use the terrain to our advantage as players, and the monsters just kind of come up and attack us, mostly (but not always) getting into melee range.
I'm about to GM a game with these same folks, who are my close friends, and the only experience I've had running Pathfinder is two aborted attempts at Jade Regent and an online Skype game. Both times, I was guilty of having non-dynamic combat.
Any advice on how to make combat a bit more "electric", as it were? What are some ways that I can make both the environment and the monsters more compelling, rather than just be large, semi-empty rooms with combat being dumbed down to "who gets whose hitpoints down first" in a dull melee slugfest?
This game, btw, is gonna be a one-shot, since I'm studying abroad in July. The PCs are at level 10.
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A bit of preparation beforehand can be a great help. Take the time to make a description of what the room you fight in looks like. What does it smell like, how is the lighting? Decorations on the walls?
Next, put in some "things" to add more tactical possibilities. Furniture can provide cover and block charge lanes. Unsafe floor boards limit where you can stand. Load-bearing pillars can either shield your back from flanking, or get sundered (bringing down the ceiling on everyone). Slippery patches leave some people flat-footed.
Don't use everything in one room; information overload is bad too. Look in the environment chapter in the core book, and select 1-2 features to use per battlefield.
Then we have enemy monsters. What are their goals? Do they kill to sate their need for slaughter, or do they try to drive away intruders? Do they focus on the weakest PCs first, or do they believe that once they take down the big melee fighter they can mop up the rest at leisure?
You can also play around with starting positions. Do monsters enter the room from the opposite side, or are some of them already in the room? Do reinforcements enter the fight in subsequent rounds? Do monsters double back to cut off the PCs from all sides?
Do monsters take cover behind aforesaid furniture to launch a missile barrage? Move in between the terrain obstacles to force the PCs to fight the monster tank rather than the monster artillery?
Are monsters hidden in the ceiling, dropping down on the head of PCs who walk under them? Incorporeally float up from the floorboards, attacking, then sinking back?
Do monsters use battlefield-shaping? A sudden smokestick attack or even stinking cloud to divide up the PCs? When the PC wizard hiding in the back can't see the monsters due to the smoke, what's he gonna do?
It's worth working around your PCs and their abilities. For example, there's no point in basing a combat around pit traps and pressure plates or slippery slopes and poisoned spikes if they're all going to be flying (which, at level 10, is entirely possible).
Some environment ideas:
They're in a burning building (or galleon); the area which is on fire spreads at random every combat round.
Lack of visibility due to supernatural darkness or fog clouds.
Wind effects that mean the players have to make a skill / attribute check to move where they want.
Innocent bystanders in the combat zone who need protecting.
An incredibly strict time limit meaning you need to get past the enemies rather than killing them all.
Multiple snipers attacking from cover.
Random magical battlefield effects, affecting both sides - unpredictable confusion, healing and teleportation, for example.
Tunnels so cramped the PCs have to crawl.
Some enemy ideas:
Enemies who talk to you and explain their philosophies, either to horrify the players or make them doubt their cause.
An enemy who you need to take alive (to interrogate, or because they're a controlled ally, or because they're city guards just doing their job).
Enemy healers, to keep the battle going longer.
Enemies who specialize in combat maneuvers; sundering armor, bull-rushing you into wall spikes, and so on.
Enemy casters who use interesting spells like Mad Monkeys.
A PC who is secretly a traitor - since it's only a one-shot.
Some background imagery to make encounters more memorable:
A bar-room brawl escalates dramatically.
A secret tunnel behind a waterfall.
A museum full of priceless art.
Undead hands clawing at you from inside the walls.
A boat on a river of blood.
Mirrors everywhere, some of them cursed.
Chaos at an unusual zoo.
A bottomless pit.
Defending the sacred pool in a dryad's glade.
A city of screaming statues.
Inside the rib-cage of a vast and long-dead monster.
Also be ready to adopt on the fly, know your encounter/monster and be avble to change it accordingly.
Be creative: a good player idea deserves some good response. :)
And also don't always stuck to the rules, make DC, modificators etc. on the fly, nothing slows/break a fight more then rulebook mashing... (something I learned from Shadowrun^^)
And related to this: No mobiles, PDA, tablet on the gaming table, I hate when player constantly searching on websites/apps for rules etc.
Try different battle fields, try fighting in a jungle or a cave with stalagmites and stalactites
combat maneuvers have an enemy or 2 focus on tripping them, or disarming them
Combining encounters can be interesting, creature encounters combined with traps or hazardous environment could allow you to make the monsters more interesting or even have the creative PC use the environment against foes. Deliberately catering to a potential use of a magical item the characters possess can be quite rewarding, many GMs tend to cater to the players weaknesses which is fine but should be balanced with encounters in which they can shine by some creative use of their abilities or items.
If you have a rogue make some interesting traps that would be much more dangerous without a rogue, allow for opportunities to surprise foes that are especially dangerous, have a bunch of gargoyles fly over a lavapit if the characters have a hammer of thunderbolts to potentially stun a large number of them, a wizard might be particular vulnerable to combat maneuvers, the above link has some excellent suggestions.
1) Put more things in that characters can interact with. What is the nature of the room? A banquet hall, throneroom, communal sleeping chamber, mine, kitchen, or worship area? Imagine you are seated in the room somewhere. What to you see? There is no need to include everything, but include some tangibles objects. If the party doesn't act on them, then have some of the enemies do so.
2) Let the players know that they may attempt actions not discussed in the rule books. It is still up to you to determine what kind of check it is, whether or not there is a consequence, and how difficult it is. This one can be tough hurdle for some players to cross.
3) Descriptions! Describe the action, don't just say what it is.
"You miss" = "He throws his shield forward just in time to intercept your attack"
"That one hits" = "But it throws him off balance. You circle around and hew his arm off. He screams for only a moment as he lurches forward then falls over dead. "
"Roll damage" = "You summon into your hand several spheres of magical energy that radiate vaguely blue hues. The fly directly at the high priest, bypassing his armor, and knock him against his sacraficial alter. His religious paraphernalia scatters and hits the floor."
"He gets up and power attacks" = "The orc musters the courage to fight to the death. Pulling himself up on one knee, he sneers at you and spits. He raises his mighty blade and, taking two great strides, brings it down on you with the strength he has left."
4) Change it up. Sometimes for cinematic purposes, it will behoove you to describe what is happening in a new room before drawing it. Ask the players what their characters do just before calling for initiative. What it more important at that moment? Drawing the correct dimensions of the room, or drawing them into the scene? We are so dependant on the grid these days that many players will be a bit spooked when it is gone. There is no need to draw it out though.
1) Play spellcasters who are not so severely penalized for moving around
2) Play E6 so multiple attacks are not required to contribute
3) Play a different game not designed in such a way that non-magical fighter types (monsters included) have to stand still in order to deal useful damage
A shrine of Gorum, whose walls are covered with various images of bravery, brutality, cowardice, success and failure. Eerie stone statues line the walls, several times as large as a normal man and depicted as fully covered in steel armor. Against the opposite wall is an altar.
Possible Complication 1:
The room's 'floor' is a series of rusted steel bars forged into a grid pattern -- leaving 1' by 1' square holes. The floor is strong enough to support tons of weight, but creatures have to move carefully when placing their feet or moving so they don't slip and fall. Beneath this grid is the real floor, set ten feet below and littered with garbage, bones and rusted weaponry. A trapdoor in the corner would allow access, but it's shut with a heavy padlock.
Creatures that move on this surface must succeed at a DC 5 Acrobatics check or lose the action and become Prone. Creatures that move faster than half speed take a -10 penalty on this check. Creatures cannot run or charge on this surface, but they can brace against the bars and thus do not lose their Dexterity bonus to AC for balancing when they are not moving.
Possible Complication 2:
Part of the room's bars are thinner and spaced more widely apart. The DC to move safely across them is increased by 2, and creatures cannot brace against them to maintain their Dexterity bonus to AC.
Possible Complication 3:
The antagonist in this room, a priest of Gorum, is a Disarm specialist. He delights in disarming combatants so that their weapons fall through the spaces to the stone floor ten feet below, then killing them while they are unarmed.
Possible Complication 4:
As a visible reminder of vigilance in combat, stone golems have been left on the perimeter of this room. These golems do not attack normally, but perform slams against creatures that provoke attacks of opportunity. They may be destroyed but only grant partial XP, due to the largely environmental nature of their presence.
Treasure:
The spoils of prior combats litter the floor below, left as an offering to Gorum. This treasure would mostly exist in the form of magic weapons, armor, and combat-effective potions. Characters that succeed a [DC] Knowledge (nobility) check will recognize one of the dead bodies as belonging a skilled but rash and boastful son of an aristocratic family, whose disappearance caused them a great deal of grief. The return of this body while it is still in good condition may be as valuable as the rest of the treasure here.
If the DM is not offering details descriptions of the rooms, then as a player, try prompting him. If you're fighting in what he says is a ruined banquet hall, ask him if there's a table you can leap up onto to get a height advantage, or that you can put between you and an enemy so you're harder to approach.
A good combat requires use of imagination on the part of the players and the DM; a good DM will recognize that you're trying to spice things up a bit and will work with you. Just don't try for anything too outlandish.
Also, try utilizing some premade maps. RPGMapShare and the Dundjinni forums both have a lot of free-to-use maps that are very detailed. Heck, I used the latter map making tool (Dundjinni) to create the entirety of the map for the first 'dungeon' of the Carrion Crown adventure path.