I for one think giant insects should have extremely high armor penetration and be heavily resistant to cutting weapons. Plenty of bugs produce biometal, in fact certain spiders (Should they live long enough) have fangs made almost entirely of metallic compounds–rather than chitin.
It would also be nice if ants swarmed survivors, being more dangerous the more ants are adjacent to the player. Could become real nasty if soldier ants gained a grapple.
Likewise spiders should benefit from fighting on webbed tiles, as well as making webbed players more vulnerable.
Maybe have mosquitos and leaches apply a ‘bleeding grapple’ that doesn’t do much damage on its own but bleeds players for more each turn.
Frogs could pull players closer just like zombie hollows
Would it be possible to give moose a charge attack? Like some flavor text that lets you know the moose is about to charge, after which it quickly moves in a straight line? Getting hit would toss/damage players based on the distance traveled.
On the topic of deadlier spitters…isn’t it odd that players never properly treat BEING SPLASHED WITH ACID? Players should take long term damage if their environmental resistance can’t defeat the acid attack and they don’t thoroughly wash the effected area.
New type of smoker zombie that emits a cryogenic fog maybe? Lab only?
Mutants that attack the player with primitive weapons (And could be a great source of XL attire for bovine/ursine players) Even more dangerous than hulks in a melee thanks to combat maneuvers, armor and weapons. Supported at short range by atlatl armed foes, blow darters and nets. Could be living nomadic in sewers/subways/caves etc.
Shoggoths are basically a lava lamp made out of mouths. Attacking them with melee should GUARENTEE you’ve been bitten unless made via a reach weapon.
An upgraded zombie technician that can directly damage metal weapons at range?
More encounters with nether creatures. They’re the best resource for unusual enemies. Maybe have an ‘aftershock’ follow the cataclysm wherein a second wave of the critters pour in, accompanied by ‘nether weather’. Maybe have it triggered via a lab finale or Old Guard quest?
Have some monsters be immune to vehicle ramming. Maybe even have them glom onto the sides of a speeding vehicle like a passenger as they continue to attack it.
******I think the real problem is balancing difficult enemies with the thought of new players just straying into the path of a ‘no-win’ encounter. Maybe generate smaller bits of worldmap at a time but generate DIFFERENT ‘themed’ map chunks of escalating difficulty the further a player strays from start.
*****ALSO the fact that a player can tackle most monsters via whatever method they’ve worked towards (melee, ranged, running the over) without much trouble should be addressed. Make certain enemies ESPECIALLY dangerous at range/close quarters this’ll sort itself out.
