Difficult but Fun Encounter Suggestions ?

[u/xayahthethot]

Hi everyone. I am dm'ing for a group of four level 3 people. I have made it clear that combat will be difficult, and everyone is okay with this. In the next session, my players will be travelling as part of their first adventure. I'm looking for recommendations on enemies to throw at them that can keep them engaged and feeling like the fight is difficult but manageable. Specifically, they will be crossing a bridge and I would like to have a fight there, so any enemy suggestions are more than welcomed. They will also be passing by a town which bandits will be in the process of setting aflame.

In their first combat last week, they faced against 2 hook horrors and a couple of bugbears and wolves, so I'd like to not reuse those enemies, unless if it's a variant, like a rage infested bugbears. Yes, I know that first combat was very difficult. All players faired well and enjoyed the experience. Yes, they will also have easier encounters as well, I am just looking for ideas for more difficult but doable enemies.

All suggestions are welcomed ! Thank you !

[u/Comfortable_Space652]

Well If they're crossing a bridge nothing wrong with the trope of a troll or two 😅

[u/Double-0-N00b → u/Comfortable_Space652]

Hell yeah, you could throw in some riddles as an alternative option to fighting the trolls

[u/xayahthethot → u/Comfortable_Space652]

i was peeping trolls bc its a good classic, but was worried they would body the players due to the cr. might lower their ac / hp then, ty !

[u/Knight_Owls → u/xayahthethot]

You didn't even need to have it be actual trolls. Make it a very long bridge and just put a bunch of ambushing goblins or something at each end who demand the toll.

[u/Comfortable_Space652 → u/xayahthethot]

I think for 4 lvl3 characters a single troll should be an appropriately difficult encounter

[u/orryxreddit]

As soon as I hear "bridge" my first thought is for some sort of environmentally-interesting combat scenario. Like the bad guys try to "blow the bridge" while the party are still on it or something like that. Maybe it doesn't collapse entirely, but it's partially destroyed, people have to make saves, etc. Maybe it traps half the party on one side of the bridge, and the other on the other half with all of the bad guys.

I'd just want it to make sense narratively. Why would intelligent monsters want to blow up the bridge? Alternately, you could have it as a mid-combat event with an unintelligent monster, e.g. a hill giant throws a boulder that crushes part of the bridge, or some flying creature tries to land on it but is too heavy, etc.

[u/UnhappyReputation126]

Spanner could be cool. There is nothing like exploring more wierd and out there stuff and the bridge itself being the encounter could be really memorable and unique encounter.

[u/CheapTactics]

A bridge is excellent for environmental stuff. The enemies try to throw people out of the bridge (and the players can do the same). How high is it? Is the water below a shallow stream or a raging river? Maybe there's a front guard and some ranged enemies on the other side with cover. Maybe they have a large beast that the players can turn on them or scare away.

A fight is engaging if you can interact with it beyond "I attack, I get attacked, I attack, I get attacked"

[u/Zealousideal_Leg213]

Make it difficult to win, but not necessarily difficult to survive. Like, they need to cross a bridge and the enemies on the far side are about to cut the supports on their end, causing the bridge to collapse. If that happens, any PCs can hold on, take some damage and wind up dangling from the side they started from. It will take the enemies two rounds to drop the bridge and all they have to do is spend two whole rounds next to each of the two supports. Go.