Need Encounter Building Assistance
I use countdown timers (professor dungeon craft) in all my games. I put them on the table a lot of the times and don’t say what they are for. The players have quickly come to realize that the bad thing will happen in 6 somethings. Sometimes it’s 6 rounds. Sometimes it’s 6 dice rolls, or hits, etc. sometimes I just roll it out there and let them tell me what it’s for. Turns out they think I’m way more devious than I actually am. It’s meta for sure, but it rapidly takes the focus away from smash and stab and instead makes the players work that mush between their ears.
The scariest thing they hear at the table is, “I don’t know, John, what do you think it’s for?”
When I ran D20 games on another site, I used a system for combat very similar to Runehammer’s 5e Hardcore Mode. Which basically boils combat down in to a shorter event. In my opinion, after level 10 the RAW for any D&D game is broken.
I guess my totally rambling point is that, yes, I agree with engine above and the encounters need different goals and obstacles. It also works well for me to force a party split. Give them two, or three goals that are all happening at the “same time” and require them to tackle the issues concurrently. Otherwise, the baddy wins and the Princess gets it.