D&D 5E Wandering Monsters

[ExploderWizard]

Level shouldn't really be a consideration. An encounter is simply that. Not all encounters need to involve a fight and encounters with living creatures who actually want to continue living will not often be an immediate battle to the death due to a chance meeting.

Encounters can be used to provide information and an opportunity to role play. It makes no sense for thinking creatures to charge headlong into battle with anyone they happen to meet "just because". Even beasts will only attack for a reason, usually hunger or to protect a mate or territory and many of those will run off if damaged quickly.

If the vast majority of creatures act as if they are actually alive and want to stay that way then level doesn't matter nearly as much.

 

[the Jester]

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

Yes, absolutely. I run a hardcore sandbox.

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?

If they're smart, they give it their treasure and flatter it, and with luck, it leaves, satisfied.

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.

All this, too.

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?

If it drains even one spell slot or hit point from the party, it's not entirely pointless from a resource-depletion point of view.

 

[S'mon]

Well, I generally use the tables provided in the material I'm running (or I forget they exist if they're hidden in an appendix - looking at you, Rise of the Runelords)

If I'm homebrewing, recently I've been using the generic fantasy encounter generator at donjon - eg http://donjon.bin.sh/fantasy/random/#type=encounter;enc-type=Road - which gives me stuff like

Arron, a male elf minstrel wandering the world. He has angered a swarm of hornets, and begs for help.
A male dwarf hermit named Kidi. He possesses the bizarre ability to charm gnomes.
A stray flock of sheep flees in panic from a giant eagle overhead.
A female halfling peddler named Priela. She is very drunk, and speaking fluent draconic.
A pack of hunting dogs flees in panic from a silver fox.
A group of peasants bringing their vegetables to market. Each of them is wearing the holy symbol of a long-forgotten fire god.
The road ahead is blocked by a company of petrified adventurers.
A female halfling peasant named Lica Bolge. She has an animal companion, a black rat named Arryn.
A gang of brigands led by a male human named Iegelm. They are only interested in stealing weapons and armor for themselves.
A female elf peddler named Duina. She is searching for her lost daughter.

 

[jgsugden]

D&D is an RPG - a role playing game. We play roles in a story. Stories where things happen randomly rather than for a purpose tend to not work as well as stories where everything happens for a reason. Chekhov's gun-esque: Everything needs to have a purpose or should be cut.

Accordingly, I plan the encounters the PCs might face when they are in the wilds. They serve the story of the adventure. Some do it directly (by having a piece of the story directly tied to the adventure) and some indirectly (by having the encountered foes reacting to key elements of the story, such as the orc tribe encountered in the wild because the dragon drove them out of their home when it settled in their mountains). Sometimes I have to adjust on the fly when a group of PCs hang out someplace unexpectedly, but I still have the encounter serve the greater story rather than just be some random XXXXX that just happens upon the PCs.

 

[The Crimson Binome]

I'm not going to adjust the chart based on the level of the PCs, because that would be metagaming, but I make sure to create the world in such a way that the PCs are unlikely to get in too far over their heads. There just aren't any dragons or big demons or anything too dangerous near the civilized areas.

 

[schnee]

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.

To build on this, that means that people living in nearby regions will be able to warn characters who go there. And players who talk to NPCs will be rewarded with this knowledge.

The closer you get to super dangerous things, the less settled it will be. The less maintained the roads will be. The fewer travelers you will encounter.

Throw in a few more things, like 'random types of evidence of the monsters that live there', and it'll be fair.

 

[S'mon]

D&D is an RPG - a role playing game. We play roles in a story. Stories where things happen randomly rather than for a purpose tend to not work as well as stories where everything happens for a reason. Chekhov's gun-esque: Everything needs to have a purpose or should be cut.

I don't play that way, and I find randomness beneficial in the 'emergent story' if you like. A lack of randomness leaves it feeling like a pre-written story, which would be pointless for me.

Everything has a purpose in simulationist play - it simulates the world. It does not need a 'story' purpose.
I like to have loads of guns, and plenty will stay unfired.

 

[TallIan]

I think that "level appropriate by area" is a better way to describe things. If the PC's are adventuring within a day or so of civilisation they shouldn't have the chance to bump into an ancient red dragon. If the dragon is so close to the city, someone from the city would have slain him or the dragon would have burned the city. You should have to venter through the Black forest, over the Great wastes and into the Spire mountains to accidentally walk into am ancient red dragon.

I also think that "encounter" should not only mean "chance to kill things for XP/treasure". There are several great examples in previous posts on how to turn a handful of low level creatures into an interesting encounter for any level PC.

 

[Li Shenron]

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

Yes.

But I also generally create areas of the world where there simply isn't any wandering monster above a certain CR. Think of it a bit like regions in World of Warcraft, where monsters of similar CR range tend to cluster together.