Monday, September 17, 2012

Revised wandering monster tables: Levels 1-3

When I first posted my expanded wandering monster tables for Holmes basic Dungeons & Dragons last September, Zenopus Archives noted he'd "like to see more human NPCs on the lower levels. This was a feature of early D&D Wandering Monster tables, including the two different tables in the Holmes 1st print and 2nd print (removed in later prints)." 

I replied at the time that I might revise the tables to include some of those characters, and hey--it only took me a year to do it!  So here are wandering monster charts for the first three dungeon levels:

One Level Below Ground            Die 
Gt. Centipedes/Gt. Rats (2-8/2-12) 1
Veterans*/Apprentices* (2-5/1-6)
  2
Kobolds (3-12)                 
   3
Skeletons (1-6)                
   4
Elves/Dwarves (1-4/2-5)        
   5
Goblins (2-8)                  
   6
Bandits (2-5)                  
   7
Mediums*/Acolytes* (1-3/2-5)   
   8
Hobgoblins (1-4)               
   9
Gnomes/Pixies (1-6/1-4)       
   10
Stirges (2-5)                 
   11
Orcs (2-5)                    
   12
 

Two Levels Below Ground           Die 
Large Spiders (1-2)                1
Fire Beetles (1-4)             
   2
Warriors*/Footpads* (2-5/1-6)  
   3
Giant Ants (2-8)               
   4
Ghouls (1-4)                   
   5
Gnolls (1-6)                   
   6
Orcs (2-12)                    
   7
Troglodytes (1-4)              
   8
Seers*/Adepts* (1-3/2-5)       
   9
Zombies (2-5)                 
   10
Lizard Men (2-8)              
   11
Berserkers (2-7)              
   12
 

Three Levels Below Ground         Die
Shadows/Wights (2-5/1-3)           1
Giant Ticks (2-5)              
   2
Gray Ooze (1)                  
   3
Harpies (1-3)                  
   4
Illusionists**/
Witches** (1-3/1-3) 5
Shriekers (2-8)                
   6
Wererats (1-4)                 
   7
Huge Spiders (2-5)             
   8
Swordsmen*/Robbers* (2-5/1-6)  
   9
Conjurers*/Priests* (1-3/2-5) 
   10
Bugbears (2-8)                
   11
Carrion Crawlers (1-3)        
   12

*Character class: see the rulebook and The Holmes Companion for details.  Assume standard weapons and armor.  Check for magic items as for high-level types under the Bandit entry in the Monster List in the rulebook.  Characters of level four and higher will sometimes (50%) employ 2-12 first- or second-level monsters as guards (choose or roll randomly).
**New monster: see Super Galactic Dreadnought blog for details.

Don't worry; I redid the charts for the deeper levels as well.  Up next: Levels 4-6.

1 comment:

Zenopus Archives said...

Good work & I like that you've incorporated your "monster entry" Illusionist/Witches.