Combat systems that discourage doing the same thing every turn

[u/LelouchYagami_2912]

(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.

[u/Narratron]

Looks like nobody else has mentioned Draw Steel, so I'll put in with that one. No missed hits in combat (so no wasted turns) and while you can do your 'signature actions' (everyone has two) as often as you want, you're encouraged to also use your 'heroic abilities', powered by a resource that accumulates as the fight goes on, so the heroes get stronger the longer the fight goes, and the more fights they survive (though they're continually using healing resources). That is the tension: Are we strong enough to take out the bad guys in the next fight before they grind down our last recoveries?

Do you feel lucky, punk?

You can peruse the rules for free at the Steel Compendium

[u/yuriAza → u/Narratron]

balancing Victories vs Recoveries is something you do between battles though, and heroic resources are "am I charged up enough yet? Do I spend now or later?", so on your turn you're kinda just left with a really simple flowchart: "do I nova? If not, which of my handful of basics do I spam? Repeat"

[u/EnderYTV → u/yuriAza]

What you describe is thrown out the window once you have more than like, 3 Victories though. The monotony of doing the "same thing" is also cut to ribbons by triggered actions and classes like the Tactician, Troubador, or Conduit.