Combat fatigue

Combat, the core of most D&D games, can get repetitive and dull if the players and games master don’t make a concerted effort to keep it varied and interesting. There are many ways of ‘spicing up’ combat, critical hit tables, dynamic initiative (‘Greyhawk Initiative’) etc. I believe one of the big pitfalls is the sensation of fighting in a vacuum, without a sense of environment and realism (verisimilitude). Commonly the mode of play is for a player to use their most effective attack repeatedly until an enemy is downed, then repeat. These tweaks are all about adding a little extra flavour to some combat engagements making them more dynamic, rooted in the environment and varied. Like spices they should be used sparingly:

1. Scope to improvise –  Rather than straight hit/miss exchanges, encourage the players to describe how they might use their weapons in a variety of ways e.g. use their quarterstaff to restraint a combatant (invoking the ‘grappled’ condition or allowing another attacker to gain advantage) Lean hard towards the ‘assist action’ (detailed in the PHB) giving other characters advantage on their actions more frequently. e.g. a dwarven character might crouch down behind an enemy combatant in a bar fight to give advantage to an ally knocking the combatant prone. This is especially good for friendly NPC’s / Henchmen rather than getting bogged down in their attack roles that are often pretty inconsequential.
2. Environment as combatant – Lots has been written on this already but it’s worth repeating; use the environment in the engagement. Rigging on a ship, slippery stepping stones, driving rain (mud), confined spaces necessitating secondary weapons (e.g. weapons such as swords require a lot of space to use effectively; consider reducing damage type or mandate a smaller weapon be used in tight spaces – there’s a reason daggers are popular!)
3. Weaponise the props – encourage your players (and monsters) to utilise the props in the environment. Some examples of this might be ; blinding a combatant in melee e.g. grabbing a handful of sand to throw in an enemies face, kicking a a load of embers from a campfire, using a cloak to cover and enemys’ face (dex save for target using DC = dex of attacker ? fail indicates ‘blinded’ condition for 1 round). Knock an enemy prone or stun them with an unexpected table flip etc.

The main takeaway for D&D players here (including DM) is don’t be afraid to ‘riff’ a little in combat to really create a cinematic and dramatic scenes. If we adhere to RAW only we do run the risk of things getting stale. The biggest USP for TTRPS is the freedom they bring, exercise your freedom!