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[My Name is Immaterial]

I meant 'are the monsters themselves formulaic?'.

That was starting to become an issue even in 3e. With many stats being determined, via a one-size-fits-all formula, from other stats of questionable relevance, so that - for example - any two creatures with the same hd and constitution score will have the same exact save dc for any breath weapon they may have (despite any differences they may have and even of one has a dex score of 1 and can barely aim it's weapon), and giants receive skill points from hit dice meant to represent sheer immensity.

There are formulas for things like DCs, but they're never called out, IIRC. You are free to disregard them.

[BlackFlyme]

Is it against the rules for a ranger to ready an action to fire through a door once it is opened, essentially gaining a surprise round that only he can act in?

Our ranger had been doing it all session, and always killed at least one enemy. Then he almost always goes first and clears the rest of the room because even when he rolls a one, his initiative will be among the highest of the party.

[SOLDIER First]

I'm not sure if it's allowed, but if the DM and everyone else are fine with it..

[BlackFlyme]

There was an argument about it. As I mentioned, almost all the kills were his.

[Rolan7]

I don't know if it's legal, but I'd handle it as giving the entire party a surprise round.  And if they burst into 2-3 empty rooms that way, it stops working unless they actually detect enemies on the other side first.

[TheBiggerFish]

The GM just needs to stop having enemies behind the door.

[MrRoboto75]

The GM just needs to stop having enemies behind the door.

Instead, have the enemy be the door

[SOLDIER First]

The door requires ample amounts of shoving, but just before the last blow it opens and the party falls into an abyss.

[My Name is Immaterial]

Behind one door is a pile of gold and magic items, and behind the other two are goat demons.
Make your choice wisely!

[Rolan7]

Mimics, is there any problem they can't solve?
Alternatively, have a band of kobolds (or other high-listen ranged units) waiting on the other side of the door with a readied action to fire.

[BlackFlyme]

It's an adventure path. Not the DM's fault that every door is shut. We're retaking an entire citadel by ourselves, and apparently no-one is supposed to care that we aren't subtle.

More than a few APs are like that, unfortunately. Despite being in areas completely filled to the brim with hostiles, some APs even note that leaving to rest and heal has no effect on the enemy's placement or tactics.

Then there's other like Giantslayer, that literally throw dozens of waves of enemies at you without you even leaving the immediate area. Or the DM misinterpreted what it meant by 'the city is under siege by hundreds of orcs'. But I don't know about that first-hand; I heard about that from another group, who promptly rage-quit on that DM.

[Flying Dice]

So basically you're playing Rainbow Six in D&D? 

[Bohandas]

It's an adventure path. Not the DM's fault that every door is shut. We're retaking an entire citadel by ourselves, and apparently no-one is supposed to care that we aren't subtle.

More than a few APs are like that, unfortunately. Despite being in areas completely filled to the brim with hostiles, some APs even note that leaving to rest and heal has no effect on the enemy's placement or tactics.

That's badly written. I blame videogames.

[BlackFlyme]

Pathfinder Adventure Paths are, from what I understand, written assuming that the playing group is made of four people with little to no experience with tabletop games.

Still more than a few curveballs from time to time though. There was one I played where at level two, we had important perception checks we missed because the DCs were higher than 30. Or in this campaign, there was an area with swarms immune to physical attacks, took half damage from magic, and had spell-resistance 20. We were level 6. That's 14 or higher on the die for a full-spellcaster that is not optimized, or more for classes that do not treat all their class-levels as caster-levels, such as the Ranger or Paladin.

[Rolan7]

Swarms are cool, but with spell resistance??
I guess you're supposed to use torches and alchemist fire?
Or wait, spell resistance doesn't help against - no nevermind, it does protect against area of effect evocation (SOMEHOW!?).  Just as weird as evasion...  I guess.  But more effective than antimagic in that regard O_o