D&D 5E Wandering Monsters

[Over the Hill Gamer]

Do other DMs use terrain and location based encounter tables that are completely irrespective of PC level?

Most random tables are level-based, meaning if you are 1st level and travel through the Great Forest you won't ever encounter a troll. And if you're 10th level you probably won't encounter a band of goblins. The monsters that you encounter randomly are “level appropriate.” Kind of like taking your kids to an age appropriate movie.

My tables ignore level and consider only the terrain or location and maybe the time of day. I know it's sort of an old-school concept but I find wandering monster tables generate a lot of fun at the table. Encounters could range from fellow travelers to something truly horrific. Whether you are just 1st level or 10th level, if you travel deep within the Great Forest you have the same probability of encountering "it." If you bat in the league you must take the calls for the league!

Well what happens when your fledgling band of low level heroes gets unlucky and runs into a marauding dragon? Does the fiery drake just wipe them out of existence? Well it could I suppose, especially if they were warned repeatedly about venturing in the Great Forest. But what I almost always do is allow them to see the dragon from afar. The dragon is flying to some destination, the PCs take cover, and the dragon flies on. Or perhaps if they encounter a troll, it merely wants to collect a toll. Seeing such powerful creatures increases the sense of danger without risking the necks of PCs. Of course, if they fail to follow common sense such encounters could turn deadly -- like flagging down the dragon or refusing to pay the toll.

Alternatively, if your 10th level group of stalwarts runs into a few lowly kobolds seeking to ambush the unwary do you waste time with such a pointless encounter? Nah. Perhaps the kobolds could offer some clues or rumors. Or maybe the group just notices them but the kobolds wisely take stock of the situation and beat it.

Such lopsided encounters can become great opportunities for roleplay since one side has no interest in fighting and must talk their way out.

There is something fun and exciting about exploring the great outdoors --danger, adventure, and fortune await. A good wandering monster table is helpful and also fun for players and the DM, too. Especially, if there's no telling what you might encounter "out there."

 

[steeldragons]

"Wandering."

You want to talk about "wandering monsters."

"Wondering" monsters might be a fun RP situation and could get very existential.

But I think you have the right idea for Wandering Monster tables. Imnsho, Level ought not play into it. Terrain and how common/rare a given type of creature is should be the deciding factors. If the party can't handle them, that's for the players to decide. If they decide and die...well, tough. That's what rolling up new characters is for.

 

[Over the Hill Gamer]

"Wandering."

You want to talk about "wandering monsters."

yes, I am wondering about wandering monsters.

 

[Quickleaf]

Do other DMs use terrain and location based encounter tables that are completely irrespective of PC level?

Most random tables are level-based, meaning if you are 1st level and travel through the Great Forest you won't ever encounter a troll. And if you're 10th level you probably won't encounter a band of goblins. The monsters that you encounter randomly are “level appropriate.”

I haven't seen many official 5e encounter tables, besides the example one in the DMG. Most of the AD&D encounter tables I've seen included a wide spread of monsters, some "under level" and others (usually the rare/very rare kind) "over level."

My tables ignore level and consider only the terrain or location and maybe the time of day. I know it's sort of an old-school concept but I find wandering monster tables generate a lot of fun at the table. Encounters could range from fellow travelers to something truly horrific. Whether you are just 1st level or 10th level, if you travel deep within the Great Forest you have the same probability of encountering "it." If you bat in the league you must take the calls for the league!

Well what happens when your fledgling band of low level heroes gets unlucky and runs into a marauding dragon? Does the fiery drake just wipe them out of existence? Well it could I suppose, especially if they were warned repeatedly about venturing in the Great Forest. But what I almost always do is allow them to see the dragon from afar. The dragon is flying to some destination, the PCs take cover, and the dragon flies on. Or perhaps if they encounter a troll, it merely wants to collect a toll. Seeing such powerful creatures increases the sense of danger without risking the necks of PCs. Of course, if they fail to follow common sense such encounters could turn deadly -- like flagging down the dragon or refusing to pay the toll.

I think you hit the nail on the head about giving fair warning. If there are really powerful monsters on an encounter table, there should be legends and hearsay about those monsters that the DM makes readily available to the PCs.

On my own encounter tables, particularly when it comes to "fly over" encounters, I typically mention something like the bolded line below...

[SECTION]Roc
A roc soars through chilly mists on the hunt, preferring elephants and yaks (giant goats), while avoiding giants and jann. Tracking the roc back to its lair (or being carried there) has a 25% chance of locating 1d4+1 man-sized roc eggs worth 2d6x100 gold each. A DC 15 group Dexterity (Stealth) check hides from the roc.
If encountered at night, the roc merely passes high above as a chilling silhouette that blocks the moon and stars fleetingly. It does not attack as its vision is poor at night. There is a 50% chance it is ridden by one of the yikaria’s Seven Sages (see Chapter 9) surveying the lands of men.[/SECTION]

Alternatively, if your 10th level group of stalwarts runs into a few lowly kobolds seeking to ambush the unwary do you waste time with such a pointless encounter? Nah. Perhaps the kobolds could offer some clues or rumors. Or maybe the group just notices them but the kobolds wisely take stock of the situation and beat it.

One of the keys to a successful encounter table is to introduce dynamic verisimilitudinous behaviors for the monsters – ideally that's baked into the tables themselves, but sometimes it needs to come from the DM's own improvisational genius.

I'd have the "few lowly kobold ambushers" act like scouts. They're hidden and are watching the PCs, planning to report back to a larger group of kobolds. If noticed, they flee through small-sized tunnels. Now there's an interesting challenge! Do the halflings & gnomes in the party give pursuit? Does the druid (or other caster) expend shapechanging resources to pursue the kobolds in a form more suited to the claustrophobic tunnels? Does the ranger try to scout out a way to cut them off? Do the PCs squeeze through the cramped tunnels, expending extreme effort to try and reach the kobold scouts?

You could just handwave the encounter to "you beat up some kobolds, now interrogate them." Nothing wrong with that. But look at what you'd miss out on.

Such lopsided encounters can become great opportunities for roleplay since one side has no interest in fighting and must talk their way out.

I wholeheartedly agree with your sentiment. Some of the best roleplaying exchanges I can remember came from the PCs speaking with "under level" or "over level" monsters.

There is something fun and exciting about exploring the great outdoors --danger, adventure, and fortune await. A good wandering monster table is helpful and also fun for players and the DM, too. Especially, if there's no telling what you might encounter "out there."

Totally!

I really like to include a variety of encounters. Sometimes that means monsters/NPCs you fight, monsters/NPCs you talk to, and sometimes it means environmental encounters. I love it when the adventure site itself bleeds into the encounter table. For example, on one of my recent tables for a Tibetan-inspired mountain range, I have an entry for "Ruins"...

[SECTION]Ruins (d4)

1. Rock-carved yikaria citadel destroyed during the War of Seven Thunders. Exploring the ruins for 1 hour reveals a minor treasure (see Appendix B).
2. Old aarakocra aerie with a shattered portal desecrated with geomantic symbols, and occupied by 2d6 gargoyles. Casting gust of wind or wind wall on the portal instantly conjures an air elemental as per the conjure elemental spell. Only one elemental may be conjured using the portal once every 24 hours.
3. Old ruined dwarven tower built with halls suited to Large creatures. Dwarvish inscriptions tell of a terrible foe poisoning the mind of the dwarven high king and destroying them from within. There is an elongated window facing north in the tower and astronomical engravings on the floor. A DC 15 Intelligence (Nature) check realizes this is a “lunar window” which, if gazed through on a full moon, points to a spot in the Galuil Mountains (an entrance to the duergar fortress Aelinvaast).
4. Ancient labyrinthine ruins sunken into the rock as if by an earthquake. The walls are inscribed with Abyssal pictograms proclaiming the glories of Bathl-Aramat. A gorgon stalks the ruins (see pg. 16 for its unique description). Characters exploring the ruins for an hour may make a DC 15 Intelligence (Investigation) check to find a secret passage leading into the Labyrinth of Bathl-Aramat (see this chapter).

[/SECTION]

 

[Shiroiken]

I design wandering monster tables based on the region, which are completely independent of level. Smart players know when to run, so high level monsters aren't instant-death due to bad luck.

When I design wandering monster tables for an adventure, those are more likely to be on par with the adventure's level. Some monsters will be overly weak or too strong, but they are the exceptions.

 

[hastur_nz]

By all means, don't necessarily pander to the 'level appropriate' straight-jacket. But...

For me, the biggest problem with old-school random monster tables is just that - they are a collection of monsters, waiting around for PC's to fight. In fact, too many of us begin these encounters by saying "roll for initiative" before the players even have a chance to do anything. I've been guilty of that myself a lot.

The best cases I've seen / used, are where you have random Encounters, where the PC's come across one or more groups that can lead to some kind of interesting Encounter. That might be a chance to learn something useful, a chance to start / change / resolve some kind of plot, and/or a conflict that may or may not end up in combat. By all means, an 'inappropriate level' of adversary might be present. But you also have to be aware of creating random events that are so out of whack that there really isn't a chance for the players to get anything out of it except a chance to die / get bored.

Simple examples of Random Encounters from recent games I've run, which were mostly improvised on the fly based on rolling on the Storm King's Thunder chart:
1) at dusk, the PC's are getting close to the village they plan on staying overnight; a band of armed Orcs is seen, creeping up on the village...
2) mid-afternoon, the PC's are getting close to their 'goal city' ahead of a suspected Giant Incursion, when they see a Hill Giant trying to pull a huge vegetable out of the ground, and nearby a group of Orcs and Ogres are milling about, playing dice etc.

In both these cases, the 'random encounter' did in fact end up in combat, but each also advanced the plot. For example, #1 lead to dead orcs and the PC's being self-proclaimed protectors of the village. #2 lead to dead orcs and ogres, and the Hill Giant became a captive of the PC's, with the intent of leading them to the chief's lair.

Other Random Encounters I have planned / thought about, include Barbarians and/or Villagers and/or Orcs, who all have some kind of 'plot exposition' built in, and most of them are definitely not designed to end up in combat.

For me, there's definitely a lot of "stuff" that goes on while the PC's are wandering the wilderness, which doesn't need much (if any) time spent on it. Sure, they might see a group of Elk running across a field, an Eagle soaring overhead, a bear crapping in the woods... but it's just background fluff that is simple window dressing, not what most people play D&D for, so keep that stuff minimal and focus on important stuff that engages your players and gives them decisions to make. So for example, high level PC's may well meet all sorts of goblins, kobolds, random villagers, and so on in their travels, but how many times is that going to be a meaningful Encounter? Same for low-level PC's seeing a titanic Dragon flying overhead - unless you want to see how stupid your players can be, it's not really a meaningful encounter if evasion is the only option, and you're going to let them succeed if they try.

So going forward, I'm definitely trying to focus on just the important stuff that engages players and gives them meaningful decisions to make. If that means a five day journey from Waterdeep to Goldenfields is hand-waved in two sentences, because the PC's are following the main roads and are mostly accompanying other travelers / merchants etc, that's all good by me, it means we can get on with the interesting parts of the campaign faster.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Alternatively, if your 10th level group of stalwarts runs into a few lowly kobolds seeking to ambush the unwary do you waste time with such a pointless encounter? Nah. Perhaps the kobolds could offer some clues or rumors. Or maybe the group just notices them but the kobolds wisely take stock of the situation and beat it.

Are you kidding? That's not a pointless encounter, that's an opportunity to acquire some new slaves/mercenaries/undead skeletons!

I honestly do think that skipping over such encounters is doing an injustice to the players. Although, if it turned into combat, I might skip over that part of the encounter and just, "Okay, you kill all fourteen kobolds, if that's what you're trying to do. Take 1d6-1 HP of damage each, unless you want to play this out in detail."

 

[abirdcall]

I think it is important to keep in mind how dangerous things should be.

If the fledgling adventurers are on Trade Road or in Local Forest they should be fairly safe. If there are dangerous monsters there then the nearby town should have been wiped out long ago.

 

[Monayuris]

I run 5E and Adventurer Conqueror King, and in both cases I use wandering monsters in the dungeon and wilderness.

Dungeon monsters are tied to dungeon level so you tend to get 'level appropriate' encounters, but wilderness is more tied to environment. So there can be way tougher monster encounters than can be dealt with in a straight fight.

But I also use the full procedures from ACKS or B/X. There is a surprise chance, a monster reactions roll, and an encounter distance roll. Between these three, it is an extremely rare situation where the players are jumped by monsters too powerful for them and forced to fight. In nearly all cases players get forewarning or at least enough distance to make a decision about engaging in combat, parley or run. About 99% of all combat encounters in my games are initiated by the players.

Also, using the above procedures set up varied and interesting encounters thatt are more than just 'you see orcs, roll initiative...' I think random encounters as a game concept are incomplete and unfair without a procedure for reactions (and morale).

 

[iserith]

My wandering monster tables typically include Medium, Hard, or Deadly challenges relative to the PCs' expected level. I say "expected" because my campaigns usually involve a player pool with each player having more than one character, so levels in the party can vary from week to week. So it's possible that my wandering monster table is, at times, not "level-appropriate."

Here's the thing: Any challenge is fair, regardless of difficulty, if the DM has properly telegraphed the difficulty and the players have a choice whether to engage with it or not. So, in my view, make your wandering monsters as easy as difficult as you want - just make sure that, when describing the environment, the players are able to glean - or are motivated to take action to glean - the difficulty of what they potentially face before committing.

Typically, I use wandering monsters as a form of time pressure. When the PCs want to take time at a task, that will come with a wandering monster check. So in effect they are getting automatic success on a task (within reason) in exchange for a chance that a wandering monster comes around. Usually, wandering monsters do not have any treasure either and, in some campaigns, they are worth less XP than normal. This makes taking time a meaningful decision (on top of time-sensitive quests or the like).