Wandering Monster Tables - Wilderness (Mostly)

These tables were crea ted due to the lack of included Wandering (o r Random) Monster T ables in the 5th Edition Dungeons

& Dragons books, as stated in the DMG, it’s up to DMs to make their own. However , without the information supplied to DMs,

ie creature rarity, that’ s a bit hard for n ew DMs to do.

I have used the Wandering Monster tables from 1st Edition AD&D as a guide and inspiration. All of the tables were made by

referencing the notes in the new 5th Edition D&D Monster Manual and the 1st Edition AD&D Monster Manuals, which have

handy information in them like Rarity, places located, etc.

Not all of the Monsters that are in the Monster Manual (5th Ed) appear in these tables. The following guidelines were used in

the construction of the tables to make them more realistic and useful:

- No monsters with CR 13 or above were used. Creatures with a high CR should be purposedly placed by the

DM within his campaign and not just be a wandering monster.

- Any creature that had to be placed, constructed or magically summoned for a function or purpose was not included.

(This includes a lot of the Undead, Demons, Devils, etc.)

- Truly unique and special races, were not included - they should be purposedly placed by the DM.

- Monsters that have a Rarity (AD&D) beyond Very Rare were not included.

- Monsters that are of good nature or those animals unlikely to attack the party, were not included.

- Swarms of creatures were not included as due to the numbers of creatures appearing in these tables, there was no need.

Basically these are the Monsters that you could encounter randomly. T he tables allow for a roll versus Location and also take

into account the rarity of the Monsters (Common, Uncommon, Rare, V ery Rare) and the Average Party Level.

Each of the Terrain tables is broken into four sections, seperated by black lines, starting from the top: Common, Uncommon, Rare,

Very Rare.

The table below is used to determine what rarity of creatur e is encountered.

d100 Chance

Averag e Party Level Common Uncommon Rare Very Rare

1-6 00-49 50-79 80-94 95-99

7-12 00-39 40-69 70-89 90-99

13-20 00-29 30-59 60-79 80-99

Then simply refer t o the appropriat e T errain type table and ﬁnd the ap propriate ra rity section and roll on the table. The result

shows the number of creatures that appear as well. I f there are no creatures in that section, ie for an average party level of 1-3, with

a Very Rare creature, on the Low Scrub table there are no creatures, then reroll on the above table again ignoring the same result.

The diﬀerent types of T errain that can be checked oﬀ ar e:

- Grasslands - Plains

- Low Scrub - Plains

- Farmlands

- Patrolled W ilderness - ie in proximity to (within 3 miles) of main roads and/or any settlement (village, town, city)

- Barren Rock

- Water - including land adjacent to water (rivers, lake shores, coast)

- Caves / Caverns - these are natural caves and not dungeons

- Desert

- Forest

- Jungle

- Marsh or Swamp

- Artic (Snow & Ice)

- Mountains - any area of very high elevation

- Urban - in or within sight of a settlement (village, town, city)

For any speciﬁc adventure/quest area, ie dungeon, etc, then speciﬁc Wandering Monster tables should be used for that

adventure.

For example, a party of average party level 8, is in Low Scrub, and a wandering monster is needed. Rolling on the above table,

a result of 52% is rolled. Thus on the table, it shows an Uncommon creature is encountered. Then go over to the Low Scrub table

and go to the second section down (which is Uncommon) and then roll percentage. T he roll comes up as 73%, which on the table

for an average party level of 8 cross indexes as a Giant Boar, with 1d3 numbers encountered.

Note: if you are wish to vary the diﬃculty of the encounters, to make them easier or harder for your party, use one column LEFT

on the Terrain type table (for Average Party Level) to make it easier or one column RIGHT on the Terrain type table (for Average

Party Level) to make it harder.