My group has long had a very kick-in-the-door attitude towards combat. Characters were min-maxed for DPS, and there was very little strategy to any combat. Characters would charge in, hit it till it died, and move on. Presenting stronger encounters did little to draw out strategy, as the party would still charge in, be hit until they die, then remark how the monster was too difficult.
I'm starting a new campaign and would very much like to change this mindset. I'm going to be very straightforward with my players that this is my goal, and will try to find players who want to give it a try. However, I know how deeply this attitude is ingrained. I'd like to continue GMing Pathfinder since it's the genre and system both my players and I enjoy and are invested in.
I know I can set up encounters to encourage more tactical approaches, such as by presenting plenty of important environmental aspects or more intelligently played opponents, and plan on doing both. Non rule-based approaches is not in the scope of this question. What I'm really looking for here, though, are rules whose inclusion promotes a more tactical approach.
I'm considering the called shot variant so that even weak monsters pose more threats than just a few measly HP. Similarly, wounds and vigor would make critical hits more dangerous, and possibly keep PCs from being too rash. Lastly, hero points would allow PCs to still make heroic kick-in-the-door ends to combat possible when necessary, but make them rarer and a more last-ditch effort, as they can only be used once. I've not played with any of these rules, though, and it's all speculation.
Who has played with these or other variant rules that have promoted more tactical resolution to combat, and how did they change your group's mindset?
Best Answer
Here's what I think: If you expect to diminish kick-in-the-door - kill-first-ask-questions-later mindsets by presenting beneficial tactical options alone, it's not gonna work.
If the players put their mind into optimizing, they will create insane combos and deal crazy amounts of damage, unless of course you greatly limit their building choices while carefully monitoring their sheets, and even that is not a safe bet.
If you really wanna change their, apparently quite one-sided, attitude you need something more solid: Combine a traditional approach on enabling creative and tactical play AND cut down regular encounter exp by 1/4 or even half. Then offer significant exp bonuses for compensation to players who fulfill the criteria you look for. Try giving more treasure/items when players do something interesting ( warrior comes up with a plan to use a trap against the enemies. Upon triggering it with a lever, not only do the enemies get hit, but a small crypt opens as well, containing an enchanted dagger ).
That should give them enough motivation to actually do something other than roll dice and plan builds ;-) .