The players burst into a 30x30 room. The barbarian charges straight in, flying into a rage. The rogue uses Hide by the door to gain sneak attack. The wizard stands in the back throwing out spells.Same tactics as every other battle the party has ever fought. Sound familiar?
The most familiar factor of all.
Your players are creative. They RP with the best of them. They work out unconventional solutions to difficult challenges. The Bard literally convinced the BBEG to turn himself in to the authorities.
And you are a hardworking DM! You give them new and interesting monsters to fight. You have woven a story filled with intrigue and sudden twists and surprises.
So why does every fight feel exactly the same? Maybe it's because every room you fight in is exactly the same.
The objects in the room are as important as the monsters.
When the DM draws out the room on the battlemat, 9 times out of 10 it's an empty square with a door on each side.
Sure, maybe there's a verbal description of a bed and a desk in the corner, or maybe a bookcase. But how often do those elements come into play? How many times has the fighter just hopped right up on the bed in order to get into a flanking position on the next goblin, without thinking anything of it?
Instead, imagine if there were barrels in the corner for the goblins to take cover behind, ensuring the rogue has to move into the room to get a shot on them. Or if the orcs had to charge across a bridge, where they could be knocked off with Repelling Blast. Or if the fighter could kick over a brazier full of coals, spraying the enemies with hot fire.
Terrain will save your game.
Terrain gives your players an opportunity to think tactically. If there's no terrain, then by the time the combat starts, your players will already know exactly how they want to fight. And that's less interesting for everybody.
Terrain is the X factor that keeps everybody on their toes.
Don't feel like you need to solve the puzzle ahead of time.
A lot of DMs worry when they include terrain that they need to fully understand the implications of it. After all, what if they inadvertently build an encounter with a fatal flaw that the players are able to exploit and easily subvert?
To that I say, who cares? If your players are able to find a creative solution that lets them have a crushing victory every now and again, that's great! They'll feel like geniuses! And isn't their jerry-rigged Rube Goldberg solution WAY more interesting and fun than the Paladin swinging his greatsword again?
A stream near the fight could be a place to summon a water elemental. Or an aid in a fight against a vampire. Or a means of escape. Or 10,000 other things that you and your players can figure out in the moment.
So put in random features. Don't stress, just build a room that feels real and alive, and fill it with stuff that belongs there. Let the players figure out how and when to use it, and let your monsters do the same, in the moment.
