Low-level adventures without goblins, kobolds, wolves, or dire rats

[Yora]

I've recently started a new camapaign and I've chosen not to have any orcs, hobgoblins, or kobolds in the setting, who are generic bad guys, and make goblins live entirely underground and elusive. I also like to play animals in a plausible way, so wolves and dire rats don't normaly attack people for food.

Which does make planning low-level adventures a bit tricky, though. Spiders, beetles, and bandits do work, but they will get repetitive pretty soon. Any ideas how to get low-level characters into fights with weak enemies that can appear in numbers but have a low chance of outright killing one of them?

[DonEsteban]

Well, are low-level undead right-out, too? They could meet a few of them before they are ready to face the evil necromancer that conjured them.

Fey can also be a nice change of pace. They're elusive, tricky, and usually less deadly than other foes, even if their CR should be a bit higher.

Speaking of CR: You can of course always just play with weaker versions of more powerful foes.

What else ...?
- Territorial lizard-folk
- Low-level cultists (level-0 clerics; okay, they're actually just another kind of bandits, but can be more interesting with just a little bit of magical oomph)
- A band of tiny and small elementals, set loose by a magical experiment
- A stirge infestation
- An ooze spawn (weakened versions of regular oozes) coming out of the locals sewers ("Get rid of them, but make sure to leave our gelatinous cube alone, it's an important part of our waste disposal plan!")
- Natural hazards and obstacles (a chasm is pretty boring once someone can levitate, but at level 1 ...?)

[Rhynn]

Make up your own creatures to fit your setting. Feel free to borrow some, adjust HD down to ½ or 1-1 or whatever where needed:

Battle Baboons
HD 1+2, AC as hide/scale, Movement as human (plus brachiation at same speed), Attacks 1 bite/bash for 1d6

The dimmer, more bestial cousins of the war-chimps, battle baboons are sometimes found in troupes on their own.

C.H.U.Ds (Cannibal Halfling Underground Dweller)
HD 1, AC as leather, Movement 75% human, Attacks 1 bite/claw for 1d4

Just what you think: halfling-size cannibals with bulging eyes, maggot-pale skin, nasty claws and fangs, their grotesque, sinewy bodies clad in rags.

Freaks
HD 1+1, AC as leather, Movement 75% of human, Attacks 1 grab for 1d4, fearless morale


Freaks were once humans and demihumans who became addicted to a powerfully narcotic mold that accumulates in the brain and gradually changes it. Initially, victims become obsessed with seeking more of the drug, lying, stealing, and killing to feed their habit. Eventually, becoming saturated, they lose all interest in the drug, and barely have attention for the basic necessities of survival. They shamble about the darkened places of cities, in back alleys and in sewers, collecting in packs that spend most of their time standing in tight circles, facing inwards, hunched over and motionless. When someone approaches who does not smell like one of them, they turn their attention outward.

In combat, freaks attack with their bare hands, grabbing and pulling, trying to exhale their fetid breath and mold-infected spittle on the victim's face. Anyone who engages in combat with even a single freak must afterwards make a saving throw vs. poison (+4 for wearing protective face masks of some sort) to avoid contracting the mold addiction. The addiction slowly worsens over time, consuming the victim's attention and life, eventually (over 2d4 weeks) turning him into a freak. Only a heal spell can stop this process, and only if applied before the victim has become a freak.

Ragamuffins
HD 1, AC as leather, Movement 50% of human, Attacks 1 grope for 1d4

Shabby, sub-human beings, dressed in rags and scraps, who shuffle around dark alleys and in sewers, clutching and groping at anyone who comes within reach.

Rathounds
HD 1, AC as leather + shield, Movement 100% human, Attacks 3 (claw/claw/bite) for 1d3/1d3/1d4


Rathounds are horrible, mangy, unpleasant crossbreeds of rodent and canine 2' to 4' long, with patchy fur, mangy skin, long snouts, thick, hairless tails, and terrible, long, sharp teeth. They live in packs, scavenging in dungeons and underworlds. Packs are led by an alpha male with 2 HD.

The bite and claws of a rathound carry awful but mundane diseases, the total effect of which is debilitation. 1d6 hours after being injured by a rathound, any character must make a saving throw vs. poison or begin to suffer the effects: a -2 penalty to AC, -2 penalty to attack throws, -2 penalty to saving throws and all other throws the DM deems affected, halved Strength and movement rate. Natural and magical healing are not possible, and a spellcaster is unable to prepare or memorize spells. The effects last 1d6 days. If not cured by the end of this period, a character must make another saving throw vs. poison or die from complications.

Sub-Men
HD 1+1, AC as leather, Movement 100% human, Attacks 1 by weapon

Degenerate, once-human inhabitants of ancient ruins and polluted wastelands, the sub-men are hideous and bestial, with stooped posture, sloped brows, small eyes, and jutting fangs. They live in tribes led by the strongest individual. They fight with great clubs of stone and bone, or with spears and javelins.

Tarantela
HD 1, Movement 50% human, AC as scale/hide, Attacks 1 bite for 1d4 + poison

These cat-sized spiders are otherwise superficially similar to wolf-spiders, with furry legs and large pedipalps. They are venomous: anyone bitten by a tarantela must make a saving throw vs. poison or be afflicted by tarantism. Victims feel restless and agitated, and unless they begin frenziedly dancing (forgoing all other activity) within one turn, they will die, convulsing and foaming at the mouth. Dancers suffer 1d6 damage per turn from exhaustion and strain, but each turn they may make another saving throw vs. poison to overcome the tarantism. Those who stop dancing before the tarantism has subsided begin to convulse and die within one turn unless cured.

[bulbaquil]

Some options to consider:


The Drunk, Pod-Spawned, and Young templates reduce encounter CR.
Encounter CR typically assumes the enemy begins the encounter at full HP and with no disadvantages or debuffs. When this isn't the case, modules (at least in Pathfinder) typically reduce the CR accordingly - consider cornering a still-manacled escaped prisoner, or an already-wounded animal.
Mind control/conditioning. Sure, animals don't normally attack unless they're starving, but these have been either conditioned (in the mundane Pavlovian way) or magically mind-controlled to do so.
On that note, apply the Fiendish template. If an animal has less than 5 HD, it won't affect the CR, and provides a reason for them to attack - normal dire rats won't usually attack humans (elves, dwarves, etc.) on sight, but ones somehow brought forth from Abaddon or the Abyss...?
Animated objects.
Low-CR traps and - as DonEsteban suggested - natural hazards. The abilities that allow higher-level characters to nullify their effects aren't available yet.
Have more of the "early" XP be given by RP encounters rather than combat ones, and have combat show up later as your players get high enough in level for the options to open up more (typically around level 3, which is probably why a lot of games start at level 3).

[Yora]

Some good ideas, thanks.

I particularly like supernatural compulsions on animals that make them act against their nature and I somehow completely forgot about noncreature hazards.

[Seharvepernfan]

Twig blights, crawling claws (with poisoned nails!), the tiny beholders from MoF, giant leeches/crabs/maggots/unusual vermin, angry evil commoners in leather armor with clubs/spears/slings, evil diminutive sprites/faeries, 1HD ghouls whose claws deal dex damage instead of paralyzation (makes good "fast zombies"), for some unusual enemies that won't overwhelm 1st level parties.

In general, keep the HP's low (about 3-5), attack bonuses at around +2, damage at around 1d4+1/1d3+2/1d6, and any save-or-suffer effects be ability damage or something that only lasts a round or two. Some these enemies are going to favor ambushes with superior numbers, flanking, and team aid-another grapples.

[Daer]

I personally have been thinking starting low level game with some sort streetgang fights. Players have to fight gang from other side to town.. at first fights are with fists only and no intent to kill each other. players don't get weapons except perhaps daggers at first .. And depending how pcs react fights might get more serious and weapons are brought to fights (specially if players end up killing one of the enemies. )

Of course there needs to be deeper background story for fights that leads things to escalate to point where they need to get real weapons one way or other.

[Anxe]

A pack of rabid dogs frothing at the mouth. My players freaked out when I sent dogs against them.

Undead are a great idea!

EDIT: Giant Vermin too if that doesn't break too far from your idea of what animals should be doing.

[Yora]

I think the even greater difficulty lies in coming up with low-level adventures that don't revolve around clearing out humanois because "they are evil" or hunting small pests.
All the creatures that realy threaten a community are too dangerous for low-level characters and they can't really take on any enemy that seriously outnumbers them.

Yesterday I ran an adventure in which the PCs explored a long abandoned cave, because they should discover a large stone idol and some wall carvings, which they needed to know about to progress. Filling those nine rooms with something interesting was quite difficult and the only threat they encountered were some fire beetles which they explicitly annoyed to get them to attack. (They wanted to capture one alive.)
In almost all published adventures, there's some goblins or kobolds "who live there" and will usually just attack on sight. Or maybe big rats or small spiders. You can do that msybe two or three times, but after that it become killing weaker people just to padd out the game. Not quite the thing I want to go with, casually killing most things you happen to walk upon.
But what else can you really do? Environmental dangers have been mentioned, but other than pits, what would adventurers have to deal with?

[Slipperychicken]

A pack of corrupt, probably-drunk law enforcement agents think one of the PCs was looking at his girl (or some other perceived slight, like being an Orc in "his bar"), then decide to teach the PCs a lesson in pain. They aren't out for blood, but will use lethal damage anyway out of carelessness (or will use truncheons, saps, and other non-lethal options if those are available), and most likely rob, humiliate, and imprison any surviving PCs if they win. They are willing to avoid violence if the PCs hand over some valuables (objects which have a sale price of 10gp or more) as an apology.

[Brother Oni]

But what else can you really do? Environmental dangers have been mentioned, but other than pits, what would adventurers have to deal with?

Undead were mentioned, but how about some undead tasked to do something by a necromancer who then forgot about them?

For environmental hazards, pits, heights (climbing up stuff), swamps, water (underground rivers and lakes with carnivorous inhabitants like piranha, leeches or other mindless vermin).

Alternately, take the adventures outside with simply getting across some wilderness without becoming lunch for stuff (crossing the territory of a large apex predator like a tiger), or simply trying to find something before they succumb to cold/heat/dehydration (snow adventures or desert adventures for example).

[ngilop]

Bullywugs, giant frogs, troglodytes, kua-toa

what exaclty do you mean whne you say low level; 1-3, below 10? that will help me think
of more asnwers.

[Kol Korran]

There could plenty of adventures who are not just "clear a place". Some Ideas I've used in the past:
1) A mystery. This works really well at low levels. It enables the players roleply their characters a bit more, get to know them. It enables them to get to know the local setting/ world/ town more. It's relatively easy on risk, at least in terms of character death. And at low levels the characters need to think and be inventive, instead of relying on "Easy win spells" such as Speak with the dead and such.

Make it a seemingly not important mystery, which turns out to be something much bigger and you got a winner.

2) Some sort of a competition, between the party and similar- powered groups. I started a pirate campaign I ran with a competition between the PCs and some other small crews on small boats to seek a treasure in a small group of isles. There was a bit of a mystery again (Find the clues for the treasure's location), but also a lot of small challenges, some of them related to the other groups, some for the isles. Some ideas:
- Get a clue from the mysterious "crab lady" an old woman living on a small rocky reef, who somehow subsides there, and is followed by a small host of crabs.
- Steal/ deal with/ kill from the fiendish monkeys on monkey island their clue. (Their number was far beyond the party's abilities to deal with straight away)
- Caves of horror: (Krenshars and lemures, with some shaking effect of the winds inside)
- The Pearl market- Deal with Aquatic elves underwater to buy a needed clue. Find something that is valuable, and communicate without words.
- Two challenges on the main isle- one a straight out burglary from the boat's engineer's vault (Got a few guards, dogs, and even a monitor lizard. The idea was not to make too much noise). And also win the favor of some pirate captain, by impressing or amusing him and his crew

The main thing is, killing stuff may be a solution, but usually it's but a part of the solution. Also, you can easily get normal animals or humanoids or critters become more "kill worthy" by adding simple templates to them, such as "fiendish" (+0 at low levels)

3) I'm a big fan of few fights, more meaningful fights. I think that on the whole most adventures, especially published adventures (Trying to run one now. You can check my sig for the log) highly underestimate PCs' abilities. (PF more than 3.5). I find that many parties are capable of dealing nicely with CRs 1-2 above their level with but little difficulty. They can deal wiht 3-4 more with severe difficulty, and those are the dangerous encounters. But below that? Sure! Throw things ahead! (And My group don't do the "15 minutes adventuring day". They play till depleted or close to, depending on the needs of the adventure). It also makes encoutners more fun, challenging and such. SO Even if your party are 1st level, I'd make most "everyday" encounters CR 2-3.

I hope this helps.

[Yora]

Particularly 1 and 2. At 3rd level they have enough to take a few hits and also a decent amount of spells.

Bullywugs and kuo-toa are really jst goblins and orcs of a different color, but with the same problem of becoming disposable humanoids who are killed without second thought if used as generic padding encounters. I prefer to use humanoids always as NPCs and not as monsters. They need to have a plan that threatens the PCs and their peopleto consider killing them. (Unless they are bandits, in which case the race doesn't matter.)

[Coidzor]

I've recently started a new camapaign and I've chosen not to have any orcs, hobgoblins, or kobolds in the setting, who are generic bad guys, and make goblins live entirely underground and elusive. I also like to play animals in a plausible way, so wolves and dire rats don't normaly attack people for food.

Which does make planning low-level adventures a bit tricky, though. Spiders, beetles, and bandits do work, but they will get repetitive pretty soon. Any ideas how to get low-level characters into fights with weak enemies that can appear in numbers but have a low chance of outright killing one of them?

Barfights & similar encounters where the primary means of conflict are less lethal as are the stakes? Coming across a press-gang in the wharf district that's grabbing someone they need to get information from.

You may also consider more problem-solving, mysteries, and puzzles as means of acquiring XP as an alternative to solely accruing XP for fights.

Also, having less mook fights and more "boss" fights could be another way to deal with this.

I'm reminded though of a 3.0 or 3.5 adventure path set in Freeport, IIRC, where things start out with the PCs getting trapped in town due to the coming festival and competition such that there were no ships leaving they could get passage on until after the festival and things start out with finding lodging then finding work/competing in the festival games for favor/cash & then being drawn into the mystery when cultists and monsters start disrupting the goings on and there's some mysterious murders that they have to get to the bottom of. There were only 2 or 3 instances of dungeoncrawling, and the first two were limited due to being more in the sewers & ferreting out cultist hideouts and the last one being the rush to get through to the BBEG before they can complete their fiendish plot.

Edit: They actually came up with a cultist NPC class for it as well, which was sort of like an Aristocrat with some weak, slow progression sneak attack and something like half-caster progression of some weak spell list, IIRC.

[ngilop]

Particularly 1 and 2. At 3rd level they have enough to take a few hits and also a decent amount of spells.

Bullywugs and kuo-toa are really jst goblins and orcs of a different color, but with the same problem of becoming disposable humanoids who are killed without second thought if used as generic padding encounters. I prefer to use humanoids always as NPCs and not as monsters. They need to have a plan that threatens the PCs and their peopleto consider killing them. (Unless they are bandits, in which case the race doesn't matter.)

IF you cannot think of a way to put to use lovecraftian horror worhsiping fish-men into a role other than 'guys that stand there and let you kill them'.

I know you have a tendacy to put everything down to its very basic components. You just gotta spread you imagination a bit wider.

bullywugs are one of those lesser used creatures, at least in my experiences I just thought that maybe your players would go ' yaay frog guys!'
but eh if everything is just X by a different Y. i guess i have no help for you and I apologize for wasting your time.

[Yora]

I can think of a lot of roles for them. Just like I can for orcs and goblins. The problem is that they don't fit into the role of "some minor fights to make exploring the dungeon more varied and exciting", which is the one I need filled.
So far, this campaign has been almost nothing but noncombat exploration and boss fights. And I want to avoid overusing those spiders and dire rats any time I need something different in a dungeon.

[Benthesquid]

Weedwhips (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/plants/weedwhip). Weedwhips everywhere. In your garden. On your rubbish heap. Growing out of the back of a zombie horse. In your bedroom. Where you sleep. Vast hordes of weedwhips shambling towards you across the fields.

Fiendish weedwhips. Half-dragon weepwhips. Awakened weedwhips with levels in rogue, sneaking up on you when you sleep.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDWHIPSSSS!

[Lentrax]

Overly elaborate, slow moving, not-quite easy to disarm death trap rooms?

Pcs enter from door one, trigger trap. Obviously, it has to be someone who leans against the wall while the rogue searches for traps on the door that is clearly designed to advertise it has traps on it.

In order to deactivate the trap, they have to coordinate various lever pulls, or perform some kind of puzzle solve.

[Thrudd]

I can think of a lot of roles for them. Just like I can for orcs and goblins. The problem is that they don't fit into the role of "some minor fights to make exploring the dungeon more varied and exciting", which is the one I need filled.
So far, this campaign has been almost nothing but noncombat exploration and boss fights. And I want to avoid overusing those spiders and dire rats any time I need something different in a dungeon.

The question you need to answer is how exactly you want your campaign to progress. Is it episodic with something totally new every adventure? Is there an overarching threat to civilization of any kind, or will all adventures be isolated occurrences? If there is an overarching threat, like demonic forces or a necromancer or an ancient hostile race, what sorts of minions do they employ? Who are their slaves and servants?


Ultimately, everything is just a re-flavoring by whatever name. It is all just a number of HD with some attacks and maybe a special ability, but that's how the game works. The flavoring is what it's all about, what makes it more than just some numbers on paper (ultimately that's all it really is). Put creatures in different environments, they behave in different ways, they have varying levels of intelligence. Think about the location, the environment, what belongs there and how it got there and what it wants. Whether something feels generic or predictable is really up to you.

For an episodic campaign where you don't have a single enemy threat which carries from adventure to adventure, you can plop a new flavor of low level creature into each adventure. Having a small tribe of violent humanoid monsters might be something you use in just one adventure. It will be scary and threatening, and if they don't show up in every game it won't feel generic.

You can have people or animals possessed by supernatural forces. They would be scattered throughout the adventure location as the supernatural compulsion draws them to protect something or to perform some task.

People or animals controlled or driven insane by parasites or symbiotes or fungal spores (different flavor of the same thing). The adventure location will be full of different species of fungus zombies and maybe some sentient fungi creatures. They might find a giant queen parasite that spawns little brain controlling leeches.

Undead have already been mentioned, animated dead can be wandering about a place due to an ancient ritual and have a standing order to defend the location from intruders. Intelligent undead like ghouls have a built-in desire for flesh and always attack the living when they can.

Giant semi-intelligent hive insects can work, ant-men or giant bee-like creatures or somesuch. They have used abandoned tunnels for their hive, or their hive connects to the adventure location and they can be found in several rooms.

Creatures created by magical experiments gone-awry (or gone perfectly), long ago escaped the laboratory and have created a civilization below ground. They normally only have rats and worms and fungus to eat, and they are very interested catch something more tasty.

Basically, if you don't want it to get stale, think of a new flavor for each adventure. Yes, ultimately it always boils down to some weak creatures that can be killed for some excitement, but that's how the game works. You just need to be creative about explaining why those creatures are there and make them feel unique by their behavior and environment, and give them different interesting special abilities (that aren't too powerful).
Frog men can hop a long distance as a special attack, or have toxic slime on their skin that makes you sick. Fungus people emit spores that make you cough or temporarily blind you. Skeletons magically reform unless their skull is smashed. Possessed people and animals could try to hypnotize you with a gaze, making you lose an action. Underground mutants have terrible odor which can impair you, but are very sensitive to light.

[Talyn]

I like Stirges - flying giant mosquitos with a crappy attack bonus, they look scarier than they are mechanically.

Also - Dire Weasels. Don't forget to give them a swim speed!

Fire beetles live in refuse, and can fit into almost any dungeon imaginable.

Halfling river pirates - fear their sling stones and good stealth scores!

[Ravens_cry]

Humans and humanoids, mayhap? Bandits might be stupid enough to try taking on a low level adventuring party, and the players could always manage to make powerful enemies somehow who always send groups just powerful enough to be a challenge but not powerful enough to kill them.

[JohnnyCancer]

Big animals above their CR. They'll probably get stomped by the big bag of HP if they rush in, but they could try setting traps and ambush it for a nice XP gain.

[Incanur]

Personally, I find humans the most plausible and engaging foes. If you want lots of them, village mobs, low-skill bandits, and raw recruits seem like solid options. Remember to model morale! A dozen armed humans might seem like an overwhelming encounter, but if they run away as soon as a couple of them drop it becomes manageable. And this is quite often how humans behave.

[Jay R]

Humans. Bandits, bullies and bravos.

You can always make humans the right level encounter.

[Friv]

I like Stirges - flying giant mosquitos with a crappy attack bonus, they look scarier than they are mechanically.

I ran a great first session adventure that was about gangs of adventurers being hired to clear a mine of stirges; it was an event that happened every spring, when eggs hatched and stirges boiled up out of the swamps and into the mountains, driving everything else out. The enemies were groups of stirges, plus social encounters with rival low-level adventurers who wanted the stirge bounties for themselves. It went really well.

[Kol Korran]

I like Stirges - flying giant mosquitos with a crappy attack bonus, they look scarier than they are mechanically.



I ran a great first session adventure that was about gangs of adventurers being hired to clear a mine of stirges; it was an event that happened every spring, when eggs hatched and stirges boiled up out of the swamps and into the mountains, driving everything else out. The enemies were groups of stirges, plus social encounters with rival low-level adventurers who wanted the stirge bounties for themselves. It went really well.

I did a remake on the stirges, which quite a few people liked. Making them a bit more interesting while keeping the original feel. Check my sig for the Compendium. It's the first entry. Hope you like it! :smallsmile:

[Knaight]

Humans. Bandits, bullies and bravos.

There's also the nice criminal underbelly of people who really would prefer to avoid fighting, but also prefer to not get caught (plus the attached hired muscle). Smugglers, corrupt minor officials, cutthroats*, the list goes on. Then there's cultists, particularly in a more sword and sorcery sort of game.

*I'm assuming open combat here, as that sort clearly is willing to fight in a more ambush scenario

[HighWater]

I've recently started a new camapaign and I've chosen not to have any orcs, hobgoblins, or kobolds in the setting, who are generic bad guys, and make goblins live entirely underground and elusive. I also like to play animals in a plausible way, so wolves and dire rats don't normaly attack people for food.

Which does make planning low-level adventures a bit tricky, though. Spiders, beetles, and bandits do work, but they will get repetitive pretty soon. Any ideas how to get low-level characters into fights with weak enemies that can appear in numbers but have a low chance of outright killing one of them?

Remember that there are situations in which almost all creatures will fight!

For instance, Adventurers are natural looters and burglars. In the dungeon they find a few bundles of clothing, some weapons, moneypouches and other possessions, as well as a few bedrolls. Chances are they'll start looting the stuff, enter the previously-hidden foaming-at-the-mouth owners whose stuff is being stolen. Stuff they probably need to survive. This is a cutthroat world and people living in the wilderness are very likely to shoot first, ask questions later. Just give them a reason to shoot. Remember that most good races will do this just as much as the "evil" ones. Elves and Gnomes prefer to fight with ambushes and can be quite territorial (to the point where the arrows in your chest are the first warning). Most players react quite differently (at least on the emotional level) to being attacked when they are in the wrong (technically stealing), or attacked by a race of so-called goodie-two-shoes. This will be a quite different combat encounter, even if it still "boils down" to killing stuff.

Same works for animals: if their lair is disrupted, or worse, if they feel their children are in danger, they will fight ANYTHING, even a Tarrasque. Being starved can also be a good motivator to go after dangerous&unusual prey. Large carnivore wildlife is more likely to hunt humans when it's already injured or sick. "Natural dungeons" are great places to have these encounters in, as they tend to make sense with little effort. (Humans and other humanoids also become considerably more aggresive and quite irrational when they get hungry, btw.)

I furthermore wholeheartedly support the suggestion of having environmental hazards. The first few levels are precisely the levels to have them at. Remember that fast moving or icy water can be lethal, making for an interesting encounter (such as a river-crossing). Crossing chasms, scaling cliffs... If you can add in some thought-elements too so that it doesn't just come down to skill checks, you'll do great and it'll certainly be worth XP.

There are also a bunch of "trick" humanoids, such as the aforementioned Troglodyte, who do something odd in combat (in the example case it's stinking up the place so bad people need to throw around Fortitude saves). This will feel different than fighting orcs or goblins. If you're still not satisfied, browse the monster manuals page by page, looking for something you have never used before and then just make up a reason why it'll be found here!

[Eldan]

Desire and the Dead from Planewalker is my favourite adventure mostly because it is low-level, with varied and nicely fluffed encounters.

A trio of chaotic jesters who were armed with magical items by an unknown to cause havoc in the area.
A ghoul monk trying to get over his desire for flesh, who had his self-control broken by magic.
Raiders from another plane who were stranded in the nearby ruins.
A street gang in service to a mafia don who also happens to be a lesser beholderkin.

Honestly, humanoid always give interesting encounters. You can give them different classes, too, or give them animals.

Raiders who got creative and use trained raptors (birds, not dinosaurs) to distract enemy guards and archers. I'd imagine that having a falcon strike at your face makes aiming a bow difficult.
A caravan with dogs and camels and a trained dancing bear.

[Jay R]

Also, think encounters rather than merely enemies. A burning house, a sinking ship, a runaway coach, a collapsing bridge, and an earthquake can all provide the opportunity for heroics that aren't combat.

[Deaxsa]

Weedwhips (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/bestiary/monster-listings/plants/weedwhip). Weedwhips everywhere. In your garden. On your rubbish heap. Growing out of the back of a zombie horse. In your bedroom. Where you sleep. Vast hordes of weedwhips shambling towards you across the fields.

Fiendish weedwhips. Half-dragon weepwhips. Awakened weedwhips with levels in rogue, sneaking up on you when you sleep.

WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEDWHIPSSSS!

Is it just me, or are these just triffids? I mean, they're even poisonous.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triffid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids

EDIT: @OP, what about a big mansion/villa they have to search for *insert macguffin or plot character, even a monster hiding in the mansion that needs to be dealt with*. However, this very villa was the home of an insane magician many years back. People say it's cursed. when the PCs enter, they find the remains of many experiments kept in a haphazard way over the years. maybe there are emaciated fiendish dire rats being kept in a bedroom, which is used as a cage. Maybe they occasionally find a hand crawling on the ground, but they only ever find right hands. Maybe they find a bloody, acidic mess, out of which the creature's pet tries to strike them down (mini boss fight, it has concealment in the tub?). Maybe the sentient furniture in a sitting room has gone insane over the years with a lack of stimulation, and as they walk in, they hear whispers as all the items in room (which stayed there because the doors could not speak to them and open for them, or the master asked them to stay there for when he returned). As the enter the room some more, the creatures trap the party inside, and demand a 'good conversation' -- you could use this to help define what the furniture, and thus the old owner of the mansion, think of as 'good conversation', and thus flesh out the story of the place -- or be shredded by the chairs. Maybe, if they explore the gardens in the back, they'll find all manners of denizens, from simple butterflies, bats, and cats to weedwhips(triffids), redcaps, and grigs. maybe even an enlarged, sentiant, and rather friendly mantis. Maybe this is all tied to the NPC the PCs are trying to find, and he has some tie to this house as well, not just using it as a hideout. One of the really nice things about this approach is that you can go WILD with the description: after years and years of no nourishment, the rats have chewed every last thing to pieces, from the bed to the mirror (of course, the mage cast a spell so they could not chew through the walls, to ignore that would be an oversight). And right there, I've given you a slew of encounters you can use a couple of times, and which will start the PCs asking questions. all you have to do is figure out the layout, stats, and plot connections. :smalltongue:

two things: yea, i totally stole all the ideas this thread has produced so far, and yea, i'm totally gonna use this myself. if (tat's a big if) i make the whole thing, i'll post that i've finished it, and will happily share it to anyone who wants to use it. :smallsmile:

[Knaight]

On mixing up battles - we've been focusing on enemy variety. Terrain is just as important, and it shows. Lets say we have one enemy composition, a group of bandits that the PCs attack, consisting of some archers and some people with clubs and spears. This exact composition is repeated. Even under those circumstances, terrain and environment conditions could produce highly varied fights.

For instance, say there's a lake of boiling mud, out of which various rocks protrude. Cover is limited, movement is more limited, and those archers are going to be all sorts of nasty. Similarly, anyone good at pushing others is going to shine, as landing in boiling mud is bad for the health. It's a pretty distinctive fight.

Now, take the city rooftops, at night. It's extremely windy, and it's a part of the city with irregular building heights, including the occasional tower (maybe a church bell tower, maybe the edge of an interior fortress, whatever). Suddenly the dynamics are completely different. Mobility is still very important, but there's cover everywhere, there's positions where those with long weapons can stab down a story with minimal risk, there's excellent places to use ranged weapons from that are pretty helpful if you have something relatively wind resistant (e.g. javelins), so on and so forth.

Basically, because of terrain I wouldn't be too worried about fights getting repetitive. It's an issue if the actual fields are repetitive, but as long as those are constantly changing, everything is pretty well covered. Plus, even within the realm of limited enemies - humans, trained dogs, trained horses - there's things like equipment to vary them. A bunch of archers are going to feel different than a bunch of people with clubs and shields. A single mounted archer in heavy armor is going to feel different than either large group. This just gets more pronounced with the terrain differences above.

[Benthesquid]

Is it just me, or are these just triffids? I mean, they're even poisonous.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triffid
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Triffids


They're totally Triffids, only not as bright. Which is what makes them awesome.

(Day of the Triffids is one of my favorite apocalypse stories, for some reason).

[Tantum Umbra]

Demonic Cultist Thiefling Duskblades!