Ok folks, I am in a little bit of a quandary here. I could use some advice.
We are approx. half way through an AP. For a variety of reasons (which I won’t go into at this time) our serious melee characters have a very short life expectancy. Most of the people who have tried a melee PC have ended up changing to a caster or ranged character. We have one melee PC currently, however it is (understandably) being played pretty hesitantly. So our group is now kinda lopsided and the big bad ugly guys are getting in amongst characters that don’t do well in those situations.
Our group has several players that are at least moderately inexperienced in the PF system and/or just not real great at optimizing a build. They are all actually doing very well at the role playing aspects and seem to genuinely enjoy their characters. So I’m definitely not saying they are doing-it-wrong. However, we still have this weakness in the group.
It has been suggested that I play a really survivable meatshield or a summoner with an eidolon and/or summoned creatures to take the front line duties. I am the most experienced player in the PF system and am probably the best at optimizing a build (sometimes I will spend weeks tweaking a build until it is just so). I have seen summoners just hog all the table time, sideline the other PC’s, and just generally throw a wrench in the works. On the other hand, I usually don’t enjoy playing a typical meatshield PC. To me it’s just kinda boring. They swing a weapon and absorb punishment. They get better at both through their career, but that is pretty much all they do forever. blegh
I will play around with trying to come up with a meatshield build that I can enjoy. For this thread I want to explore the other side. A summoner type of build (not necessarily the ‘summoner’ class) that won’t take over the table.
So I’ve been trying to think of ways to build a summoning character that doesn’t cause troubles. Here is what I’ve come up with so far. Let me know what you think of these ideas. Also if you have any other ideas, please add them to the list.
1. If the character has an Eidolon or Animal Companion, it is not built for combat. Maybe it is a scout, mount, or face build.
2. The creatures in Summon Nature’s Ally are not quite as powerful as Summon Monster lists. Or at least they don’t have as many special abilities. There is at least one summoner archtype that swaps out for SNA as well as shaman, druid, and hunter that can make use of SNA.
3. Normally summoning multiple creatures just exacerbates the problems since it takes longer to get through more creatures. But what if I have a clear print out of all the things I commonly summon and hand off control of 1 to each of the other players to take charge of during their turns. If I carefully pick creatures with relatively simple action choices, then it shouldn’t add much to the difficulty of figuring out their own actions. I won’t be hogging the table since they will be controlling the creatures on their turns. They don’t have to be too worried about risky choices because they are summoned creatures that will vanish in a short while anyway.
Experiences, thoughts, questions, concerns, ideas?
I'd first try to fix the problem without changing characters. There are other means to keep enemies away from squishies than just having a bunch of melees. Said squishies could also try to improve their defense, e.g. with spells like Mirror Image. Buffing the melee PC can make him more "tanky". Maybe some tips to improve their character.
It's hard to give good advice without knowing anything about the PCs, though.
I have seen summoners just hog all the table time, sideline the other PC’s, and just generally throw a wrench in the works.
I'd say these are player-based problems and not character-based problems.
Not sure exactly which part of this you're asking for advice about.
Should you play a melee character?
If so, which one should you play?
Are you asking for advice on your summoner tweaks? Are those tweaks homebrew rules or just guidelines you would follow if you make a summoner?
It would also help to know if you're the GM proposing a NPC to add to the party or if you're a player.
And honestly, you should tell us why your melee characters keep dying. It's hard to give class advice when we know that there's a big limitation in the game but not what that limitation is.
And as Derklord says, letting us know what other PCs are in the party would help.
In this thread, I am looking for advice on ideas to keep a PC that summons from dominating table time and marginalizing the other PC's. I had 3 ideas. The 3rd could be considered a house rule since it is sharing the summoned creatures.
Current party is:
Aasimar casting focused cleric
Kitsune sorcerer evoker
Catfolk investigator
Undine swashbuckler
Halfling inquisitor (archtype for animal companion) rides a wasp. Casts bluffs then ranged with slingstaff. This is my current PC.
Deaths have been from a combination of factors. High DC will saves are extremely common in this campaign. Massive damage on the lead PC in the surprise round. Really dangerous as opposed to the usual just annoying traps. The GM is not hugely proficient in the rule details. The GM tends to have all the NPC's go on a single initiative to save time and reduce confusion. Similarly rolling one save for all in a AoE spell and rolling one damage dice and multiplying by whatever for spells.
Not going to get into GM bashing. He is generally a good GM. He has been running his games this way for years.
Buffing the melee PC's has had limited effectiveness since most of the deaths have been in the surprise round or maybe the first round after that.
Yes the spell casters could cast a few defensive spells. If they live long enough and they make the concentration checks. But then they are also not contributing much to winning while they are doing that.
But really, all of that has little to do with ideas to keep a summoner from dominating the table.
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I have seen summoners just hog all the table time, sideline the other PC’s, and just generally throw a wrench in the works.I'd say these are player-based problems and not character-based problems.
To certain extent I agree with you. However, almost no matter how organized I make myself, deciding and rolling actions for a summoner, an eidolon, and 1-3 creatures is pretty much guaranteed to take quite a bit more table time than any single PC. It is also at least moderately likely at least seem to be more effective than most single PC's.
If you're really wanting to make a simple character based around summoning, go Fey Caller. The Eidolon can be a fairly good scout/support option, and all the nature's ally summons are fairly basic as far as actions go. Do their job in taking damage though.
almost no matter how organized I make myself, deciding and rolling actions for a summoner, an eidolon, and 1-3 creatures is pretty much guaranteed to take quite a bit more table time than any single PC.
You can only have an Eidolon plus summoned monsters if you cast the actual SM spells (or use the Summon Eidolon spell), so usually, it's just two entities. Talking from experience, deciding what then eidolon does is pretty easy, it's a straighforward melee. Deciding on the Summoner's actions is harder (starting at the second round, the first round is basically always "cast Haste), but once you realize that staying in the back and casting some low level spell, or even not doing anything at all, is perfectly fine, you should be able to play a Summoner quicker than many other characters. Something very important is a good cheat sheet with all the necessary information easily aviable - check out the one I made for my own Summoner (8th level at that time). I stopped printing the full character sheet after a few levels, only using that single page sheet. It sped up combat enormously!
It is also at least moderately likely at least seem to be more effective than most single PC's.
It's a rather powerful class, make no mistake, but there's a world of difference between percieved power and actual power. A full caster, especially a prepared one, has more ability to shape/impact the game than a Summoner.
An eidolon can (quite easily) be build to be more powerful than most martial PCs, that is somethign to look out for*. But the buffs a Summoner provides also lessens the issue on the perception side - it's hard to feel resentful towards a Summoner who buffs you with Haste every combat (and possibly other buffs, it's not like he has anything better to do), thus significantly increasing your combat prowess.*) The most important tip I can give in that regard is to not go all-in with offense. Take the Natural Armor evolution as often as possible, take feats to improve will save, maybe even take the Immunity evolution (I took Immunity (fire) on that Eidolon so that the Sorcerer could Fireball the area without a qualm). I'd also suggest not using quadruped, because pounce can very easily make PCs that are trapped in the no-full-attack-with-movement-bog feel bad.
Yes the spell casters could cast a few defensive spells. If they live long enough and they make the concentration checks. But then they are also not contributing much to winning while they are doing that.
What? Why do they need to make concentration checks?
There are also buff spells with a long(er) duration, you don't need to cast everything in combat. In combat, battlefield controll spells (walls, clouds, etc.) are something to look at.Is the Investigator ranged?
Is the GM following the proper surprise round rules? With a casting focusses Cleric and an Inquisitor, and a total of 6 PCs, you shouldn't actually be surprised that often due to plenty of perception. Also, very importantly, a surpsrise round only allows a single action, which means most martial enemies won't do that much. I'd suggest talking to the GM about the issue.
Practically the same goes towards traps, in Pathfinder, everyone can detect even magical traps with perception. If the GM is doing something different there, talk to him.
Really, if the GM's style is making the game unfun, the only fruitful course of action is to talk to him, trying to win an arms race cannot be the solution!
But really, all of that has little to do with ideas to keep a summoner from dominating the table.
That's because I think fixing the actual problem is more helpful than improving the band-aid.
Summoning isn't the only useful thing a summoner can do in combat. They actually get some decent conjuration battlefield control spells which can slow down enemies wanting to go around to attack the squishies or to swarm the guy in front. This may work better than summoning a couple of eagles and hoping that the enemies are bothered by their AoOs. Your current party doesn't look like there's even one battlefield controller which may be part of the problem of melee types dying.
I haven't read through all these posts but I see mostly talk about summoning so I'll throw out an idea for a meatshield that you hopefully won't find boring.
The Kinetic Knight trades out much of the kineticists ranged options for heavy armor and and easier time taking advantage of the melee focused abilities. Personally, I like to combine air and aether elements so at level 6 you can fly and going past level 7 you can start using the aether talents to bypass some of the archetypes ranged restrictions to help a little bit with battlefield control.
I've got a build that's probably at least mostly right and shows just how beefy of a lad you can make if you're interested.
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Well, as always, I will champion the church of the longspear.
Reach weapons (or size based reach builds) can provide both a form of defense by being a circle of pain and they can provide excellent melee capability.
If you get the lunge feat, you can attack from far enough away that most enemies would still have to cross your AoO range- that means you can attack some more, and the enemy might have to spend a move action just to reach you. That means that you aren't doing the normal bashing match that happens with melee characters- this is both defense and extra offense.
Additionally, lunge means you can full attack at enemies 20' away with a polearm- that is practically pounce level of range once things close in. You can put your 25'+ wide circle of pain where ever it is needed, and yet you can likely still smack a number of different targets.
And the final advantage is that so many different kinds of builds can go reach. There are many 9 level casters that can pull it off effectively. There is the classic reach cleric- who casts on his turn and melee via AoOs on his opponent's turn. Or there is the goliath druid- which can grab regeneration (which helps with those massive damage deaths in the campaign that you mentioned) and can rely upon the natural reach of a giant.
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A monster tactician inquisitor perhaps? Your summoned critters will be badass but not as gross as an eidolon. You can be far more melee capable than a summoner so, with the right build, less sense of sitting back to let your summons do all the work.
I’d build for melee instead of ranged, maybe use a reach weapon. Then you can get in there and mix it up with whatever you’ve summoned that is sharing your teamwork feats. You still have spells and plenty of skill points as well so you can do more than hit things and absorb damage when the time comes.
You’re already playing an inquisitor so you know the chassis is solid. It’s a question of whether you want to try something new and different or if you are ok with playing the same class again. It’s such a versatile class though; one inquisitor can be quite different from the next.
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I second what born_of_fire said. A Monster Tactician Inquisitor, built for melee, would do the job nicely. It's a strong class but is in no danger of overshadowing your allies. This class has good saves and good survivability - I'm playing one now. Summoned Monsters are the best way to disarm traps and spring ambushes.
I'd also like to second what lemeres said about the longspear. Despite their low strength, if your current Investigator, Cleric, and maybe even Swashbuckler all carried a longspear (at the cost of losing a shield and some AC) it might boost your group's melee defenses quite a lot. It costs next to nothing and it's a free action to drop something from your hands. The defensive benefit is probably quite a bit more than lost AC from losing shields, unless they all dumped Strength in which case they probably lack the Strength to even carry a shield ...
Big tough foes are not likely to be stopped by a single weak reach screen, but mooks against three or four reach screens are another matter. For example, if every foe who tries to get near you squishies faces THREE AoOs then there's a pretty good chance that ONE of those trip attempts will work, even if they need a NAT 20 to succeed. Which they usually won't. Given the situation your melee PC should almost certainly use a reach weapon - probably a longspear.
My experience as GM is that parties with a reach screen tend to be flat-out more effective in combat than parties lacking a reach screen.
I also suggest you talk with your GM. Several of your GM's behaviors greatly increase lethality. That's part of the problem your group is having.
* All foes on same initiative leads to burst damage and dead PCs, when spread out initiative would not. Perhaps suggest clumps of two or three.
* All foes making a single save increases lethality to PCs. Perhaps suggest clumps of 2, to save time.
Finally, your group lacks Battlefield Control. Per The Forge of Combat, where Sun Tzu meets Pathfinder, your group is imbalanced. This group lacks an Anvil (Battlefield Control) and possibly has a shortage of hammers.
BOTH these imbalances seem like they might apply:
Groups without Anvils: Groups without anvils typically end up having an overabundance of hammers with one or two members playing the part of arms. These groups typically have fast, furious fights where the group takes a lot of damage. In these situations the arms often take on a reactive role providing healing and buffs as able while the hammers frantically try to end the encounter quickly. Depending on the nature of the hammers this often drains the arms very quickly of resources or forces the hammers into more and more defensive roles draining overall resources more as the group is not ending encounters efficiently enough.
Groups without Hammers: Groups without hammers are exceedingly rare due to the ease of which many classes naturally fulfill that task. However this is usually noted by extended battles with supposedly easy encounters where more than a normal amount of resources are expended to control the enemy and buff the group sufficiently to quickly end an encounter without taking too much damage.
Your team CLERIC could compensate for the lack of an arm by using Summon Monster spells. I'll go out on a limb and guess this cleric doesn't use those spells much. Summon Monster spells help fill the absent role of Anvil (Battlefield Control). That's why YOU, the OP, want a character that's BOTH frontline melee and can summon. Your team's cleric can totally help with that, if only s/he switches up spells prepared and starts Summoning.
Buy or charm some pet dinosaurs. Done.
I'd also like to second what lemeres said about the longspear. Despite their low strength, if your current Investigator, Cleric, and maybe even Swashbuckler all carried a longspear (at the cost of losing a shield and some AC) it might boost your group's melee defenses quite a lot.
While it might not be as effective in dealing with problems in a surprise round (which might be a serious problem with the "all enemies attack first and gang up on the lead character" style of the GM), swashbucklers can get reach with most of their regular weapons if they get the blue scarf item (which can grant +5' reach with piercing weapons).
It costs panache, but you can potentially get that back from crits and deaths resulting from the AoOs. Of course, since it eats up both panache and AoOs, it takes away from parry and riposte. Reach is worth that trade, of course... but the cost lessens when you have higher dex and cha at later levels, giving more of both resource.
In my current CoCT campaign, I built a Monster Tactician with the Chivalry inquisition that gave me an Axe Beak. So...thirded.i hadn’t realized wilderness origins added axe beak to the cavalier mount list. Seems a little weird to just randomly hand existing content to new classes in new content (“vanish is now on the cleric list, but only if you buy this product!”), or maybe I’m missing part of the story?
Er . . . this happens every time Paizo prints a new spell, weapon, combat feat, rogue talent, etc., doesn't it?
Personally, I'd try to make a character that has access to a lot of customizable, renewable sources of melee-oriented companions. That usually means animal companion, eidolons, phantoms, etc. That way, if they are lost, you can get them back without too much trouble. Building yourself for combat as well should help out a bit.
I tend to default to Druid for that kind of style of gameplay (Nature Fang to be precise).
when they print something new, that is the opposite of “existing content” as I mean it here. Axe beak companions have been around forever. They just havent been available to Cavalier’s.Er . . . this happens every time Paizo prints a new spell, weapon, combat feat, rogue talent, etc., doesn't it?In my current CoCT campaign, I built a Monster Tactician with the Chivalry inquisition that gave me an Axe Beak. So...thirded.i hadn’t realized wilderness origins added axe beak to the cavalier mount list. Seems a little weird to just randomly hand existing content to new classes in new content (“vanish is now on the cleric list, but only if you buy this product!”), or maybe I’m missing part of the story?
Eh, yeah, that is a bit weird, but since it's already one of those explicit "the GM might approve other choices" things it's not quite as weird. I could similarly see a GM disallowing the Wilderness Origins options for a campaign in which they would be ill-suited.
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I think the player who is currently the cleric would be a disaster if he tried to make much use of summon monster. he just isn't a terribly organized person and is already looking up stuff in multiple books because he doesn't write down the details. I would not propose that to him.
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Finally, your group lacks Battlefield Control. Per The Forge of Combat, where Sun Tzu meets Pathfinder, your group is imbalanced. This group lacks an Anvil (Battlefield Control) and possibly has a shortage of hammers....
Actually, we used to have some non-caster anvils or combination anvil/hammers. We had at least 2 martial guys that were attempts to build a highly survivable character that block access to the rest while the hammer casters blasted the opposition.
They all died.
BFC is much easier and more effective delivered by a spellcaster in PF. It's just the way it is. Even a disorganised cleric using stuff like stacking fear spells or variations on the command spell with a dash of metamagic should have some effectiveness at that, whereas a combat maneuver build needs to be optimised within an inch of its life to get to that point.
I really think you just hit the nail on the head. Instead of trying to build something unkillable, maybe you should be asking why they are dying? Obviously if all the opponents act on the same turn you are at a disadvantage. No heals in between, no way to buff or even move..just keep getting hit until the turn is done...umm yeah. It might be easier but man you guys are getting slaughtered.
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I play a Reach Cleric (Evangelist). I get spells, buff the party like a Bard, and can take on melee. I even help control the field.
Summons take actions to play. The more you get out there, the more time the player takes at the table. Pets also do this. You don't want anyone to always take the most time to process their turn.
For your disorganized cleric, use a small set of index cards with the stats of the common critters you summon. I wrote a post with a short list for SM1 and SM2. If they can't handle even that, they can hand out the cards to other players to run.
/cevah
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This doesn't address your specific issue, but a Speaker for the Past Shaman is very helpful when the GM likes to ambush the party; once you get to 7th lvl, you can Haste the party in the enemy surprise round. Temporal Celerity allows you to act in the enemy surprise round, and Speed or Slow time gives you Haste (as a Supernatural ability, so you don't provoke, and concentration checks aren't required).
Another path is to seek a melee character designed specifically to cater to the caster heavy party.
Here is the build:
A bloodrager with arcane strike, blooded arcane strike, riving strike, cornugon smash, hurtful and a cruel weapon.
The idea behind the build is this- you are making a melee character that smashes enemies in the head so hard that they forget how to make a saving throw.
1. Riving strike is a feat that applies a -2 penalty to saves vs. spells when a creature is hit with arcane strike. Bloodrager and blooded arcane strike are there so that this doesn't use up your swift action and conflict with #3.
2. Cornugon smash is a feat that allows you to intimidate as a free action when you hit a creature with your power attack. Intimidated creatures take a -2 on saves (and a lot of other d20 things)
3. Hurtful is a feat that lets you spend a quick action a creature you just intimidated. And the cruel weapon property applies the sickened conditons (another -2 to saves and such) when you hit a shaken creature.
All combined, this makes it possible to move, attack, attack again... and end up with an enemy with -6 to saves. Which means you can zoom across the battlefield, applying debuffs and setting up the casters every turn. Or you could just melee like a normal blood rager- because someone has to murder the enemies after they have been crippled by the casters. You can also make the blood rager fairly tanky by picking the destined or arcane bloodlines for their defensive abilities.
While these are a lot of options stacked together... I feel it is a good example of how you could seek to make a melee character that can be tailored for the party. There are many feats that give small but potentially cumulative debuffs.
I think the player who is currently the cleric would be a disaster if he tried to make much use of summon monster. he just isn't a terribly organized person and is already looking up stuff in multiple books because he doesn't write down the details. I would not propose that to him.
Have you tried helping him be more organized? I make cheat sheets for some of my (fellow) players, and even made a spreadsheet with automatic calculation for a player's Zen Archer so that the player just needs to tick the boxes for stuff like Haste and Deadly Aim to see the full attack routine.
I don't think having the Claric summon monsters is the right course of action here (at the very least they'd need the Sacred Summons feat), but helping inexperienced players improve and streamline their gameplay is a good thing. Spell cards might help the player select better spells, thus decreasing the campaign's deadliness, for instance.I'd like to hear your thoughts on (especially the second half of) my previous post.
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If the lead character is getting a ton of damage dumped on him every time, then the most obvious solution is the Shield Other spell.
I know you have a cleric, but is he seriously handling healing, or going for rocket tag? If you really want to prevent deaths, then I suggest a life tank build. Play a spirit guide oracle with double life, take the fey foundling feat for big self healing, and you’ll want to pick other typical channel feats. You’ll put life link on everyone and shield other with reach on those most likely to get attacked in sneak attack. You’ll want a high constitution and charisma, for damage soaking and self healing. You may consider dipping two levels in paladin for armor proficiencies and great saves.
If you're really wanting to make a simple character based around summoning, go Fey Caller. The Eidolon can be a fairly good scout/support option, and all the nature's ally summons are fairly basic as far as actions go. Do their job in taking damage though.
That is one of the ones I was looking at that switch out to SNA.
... What? Why do they need to make concentration checks?...
Because there is very often a bad guy (often with reach) standing right next to them.
... There are also buff spells with a long(er) duration, you don't need to cast everything in combat. In combat, battlefield controll spells (walls, clouds, etc.) are something to look at....
The buff spells good enough to keep the melee characters from dying or allow the casters to survive in melee are not long duration. Four guys casting buff spells just on the other side of the bushes are going to be heard.
A lot of the classic battlefield control spells are less than stellar against the type of opponents we have been fighting or in the places where the fights have taken place. There have been a lot of incorporeal, flying, and teleporting enemies. Several of the fights have been underwater, up in trees, etc...
... Is the Investigator ranged? ...
No. Empiricist built for knowledge checks (primary) and scout (secondary).
... Is the GM following the proper surprise round rules? ...
... With a casting focusses Cleric and an Inquisitor, and a total of 6 PCs, you shouldn't actually be surprised that often due to plenty of perception. Also, very importantly, a surpsrise round only allows a single action, which means most martial enemies won't do that much. I'd suggest talking to the GM about the issue. ...
House rule usually allows surprise round to be full round actions. Most of the groups appears to be happy with that since it allows them to take a full round of actions when they get surprise.
... Practically the same goes towards traps, in Pathfinder, everyone can detect even magical traps with perception. If the GM is doing something different there, talk to him....
Scouting ahead hasn't been very safe for finding traps and/or ambushes ahead of time. Most of the traps are right in front of a creature ambush. Many of the opponents have life sense or decent numbers of them with relatively high perceptions. While scout finds and starts to disarm the trap, he is fairly often noticed and mauled while the rest of us are too far away to protect him. Not all the time, but often enough that he doesn't like to scout too far ahead by himself. If any of the rest are close, discovery is almost certain.
... Really, if the GM's style is making the game unfun, the only fruitful course of action is to talk to him, ...
Never said anything even close to it being "unfun." I personally have been having a blast. As I said, I think the others are having fun playing the characters they currently have. My original melle character was one of the 1st or 2nd PC's to die. It was a gloriously heroic death that was perfectly in-character for him. I loved it.
... trying to win an arms race cannot be the solution!...
Not trying to win an arms race with the GM. As I said, this thread was to try and explore ways to run a summoning type build to provide the melee presence without taking over the table time or marginalizing the other PC's.
If the lead character is getting a ton of damage dumped on him every time, then the most obvious solution is the Shield Other spell.
I know you have a cleric, but is he seriously handling healing, or going for rocket tag? If you really want to prevent deaths, then I suggest a life tank build. Play a spirit guide oracle with double life, take the fey foundling feat for big self healing, and you’ll want to pick other typical channel feats. You’ll put life link on everyone and shield other with reach on those most likely to get attacked in sneak attack. You’ll want a high constitution and charisma, for damage soaking and self healing. You may consider dipping two levels in paladin for armor proficiencies and great saves.
Yep, can be pretty effective. Just did that last campaign and it was pretty successful. But I don't want to run that again just now.
Your team needs a professional dwarf. (And don't forget to buy him a Commander's Helm w/Paired Opportunists at some point.)
I personally have been having a blast. As I said, I think the others are having fun playing the characters they currently have.
Ok, I'm confused here. If everyone is having fun, why are you trying to change something?
Because there is very often a bad guy (often with reach) standing right next to them.
Yeah, sorry, my mind kinda went directly to provoking for casting, ignoring that you probably meant the concentration check for casting defensively, not for recieving damage.
Scouting ahead hasn't been very safe for finding traps and/or ambushes ahead of time. Most of the traps are right in front of a creature ambush. Many of the opponents have life sense or decent numbers of them with relatively high perceptions. While scout finds and starts to disarm the trap, he is fairly often noticed and mauled while the rest of us are too far away to protect him. Not all the time, but often enough that he doesn't like to scout too far ahead by himself. If any of the rest are close, discovery is almost certain.
This is the kind of stuff why I'm not really focussing on the topic of the Summoner, because it wouldn't make a difference in such situations. If the scout dies because the party is elsewhere and the enemies in hiding are somewhy impossible to detect (and can see through Invisibility), it doesn't matter whether you're playing an Inquisitor or Summoner, does it?
Have you tried not scouting ahead? Apparently, the GM is screwing you over on perception vs stealth anyway. Seriously, if you're seen ebfore you see the enemies more often than not, keepign the party together sounds more useful. At the very least, the scout shouldn't disarm traps when the party isn't nearby. I'd try using summoned creatures (maybe buy a wand of Mount) to spring traps - that way, the trap is "disarmed" and the enemies might go out of hiding.
What level is the party?
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Massive damage on the lead PC in the surprise round.
As PCScipio indicates, this allows full attack against flat footed PC. Why is there surprise at massive damage?
The GM tends to have all the NPC's go on a single initiative to save time and reduce confusion.
This is a big problem. This gives the NPCs too much action economy. I usually see this as each type gets its own initiative count. When there are a lot of critters of one kind, they are almost always weaker minion types. By splitting them up, you can do things to prevent some from taking advantage of setups from others by using spells and tactics.
Also, who's Init Mod is used? The Speedy Sneak Rogue? Slow Plate Fighter? random? If you have a high DC caster using the high Dex rogue's for init, then that sets up a big AoE while the party is still close to each other. If the caster has to invest in going first, then they cannot invest as much in high DCs.Similarly rolling one save for all in a AoE spell and rolling one damage dice and multiplying by whatever for spells.
This makes the AoE spells more extreme in there effect. You could actually roll that, so it is not actually unfair, just unlikely.
Be sure the GM compares the 1d20+Mod using each creatures own Mod. Sometimes different NPCs will have a different Mod for the save./cevah