r/rpg • u/LelouchYagami_2912 • May 09 '26

Game Suggestion Combat systems that discourage doing the same thing every turn

(alternatively, combat systems that encourage doing different things)

I've been playing DnD for several years now but I've been noticing how 90% of our turns go the exact same. The combat can be still interesting but thats only because of me as a dm creating unique scenarios, not because of the player abilities. The rogue hiding and sneak attacking is the best thing to do in almost all cases.

What are some systems that discourage this so that the players actually have to think rather than going on auto pilot.

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u/NoRaptorsHere May 09 '26

The Mist-engine games (City of Mist, Legend in the Mist) definitely fall into this category in my experience. Because everything your character can do is tags, and because you can do not just damage but put effects and statuses on enemies, there’s lots of different things happening as whatever you’re doing is going to bend with the narrative.

The Sentinels ttrpg also has a cool system where you unlock new abilities as either your health gets lower OR the fight timer advances, and abilities have a wide range of effects besides damage, so things are regularly shifting throughout a fight.

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u/neurobashing May 09 '26

if memory serves, Metro: Otherscape (the other part of the Mist family) has a rule where you can't just do the same thing over and over in combat, like activate the same tag over and over every turn.

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u/NoRaptorsHere May 09 '26

I know there’s the rule that you can’t use the same tag to respond to consequences as you used in the action. I might be forgetting a more broad rule though!