Random encounter tables for the depths of the earth
by Buddy Pennington
illustration by Jim Holloway
 

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1st Edition AD&D	-	Dragon magazine	-	Dragon #120

Before the Dungeoneer’s Survival Guide
was published, underground delving was
usually limited to artificial settings like
dungeons. Now characters have many,
many miles of caverns and passages to
explore as well.

Unfortunately, there have been no random
encounter tables provided for underground
campaigns. There are tables for
wilderness, oceans, the planes, cities,
manmade dungeons, and even ?for psionic
creatures, but not natural underground
areas. With this in mind, I present a series
of tables to give random encounters when
your players are traveling in the majestic
realms below the earth.

Encounters should be checked for once
every six hours (there is no day or night
underground). There is a 1 in 10 chance of
an encounter, unless noted below. The
number of creatures encountered has
been deliberately left out so you can tailor
the encounter to your party?s level. The
tables are explained as follows:

?Unpatrolled? caverns and tunnels (Table
1) are those with no major communities of
intelligent beings, though small groups of
drow, duergar, etc., may be present.

?Heated? caverns and tunnels (Table 2)
are those that are unbearably hot and
cause damage to most player characters.
(Cooler caves should use Table 1 for random
encounters.) The chance of an
encounter in a heated area is 1 in 8. If a
gateway is rolled, there should be a large
number of creatures, native to the given
plane, near the gate.

Water-filled caverns and tunnels (Table
3) are partially or completely submerged.
A few of these encounters (aboleth, eye of
the deep, etc.) are only found in deep lakes
and rivers. If an unsuitable encounter is
rolled, simply roll again or pick an encounter
from the table. The chance for an
encounter is 1 in 12. Caves with small
streams or pools should use Table 1.

Use Table 4 when PCs are within 20
miles of a duergar city. The chance of an
encounter is 1 in 6.

Use Table 5 when PCs are within 15
miles of a svirfneblin community. The
chance of an encounter is 1 in 8. Beings
and creatures encountered here will usually
be neutral or good in alignment.

Use Table 6 when PCs are within 30
miles of a drow city. The chance of an
encounter is 1 in 6. Demons encountered
should be determined by the DM to challenge
the party. Driders are only found
along the fringes of drow communities, as
they are considered outcasts. Arachnids
are found everywhere, as they are considered
pets. Character parties encountered
here will usually be evil spell-casters seeking
alliances with the drow.

Other tables may be created for the rest
of the underground races, such as derro,
kuo-toa, and so forth. These tables may
also be redesigned to fit each DM?s Underdark
campaign.

Table 1
Unpatrolled Caverns and Tunnels

1d100	Result
01-04	Roll on Table 1.A.
05-12	Roll on Table 1.B.
13-15	Roll on Table 1.C.
16-17	Basilisk
18	Basilisk, greater
19-22	Bat, ordinary
23-24	Bat, giant
25-27	Beetle, giant, fire
28	Beholder
29-30	Blindheim
31-32	Boggle
33-35	Carrion crawler
36	Cave cricket
37-38	Cave fisher
39	Cave moray
40-42	Centipede, giant
43	Character party
44-45	Cockatrice
46-47	Dark creeper
48	Dark stalker
49	Doombat
50	Doppleganger
51-52	Gargoyle
53	Gas spore
54-55	Giant, stone
56	Gibbering mouther
57-59	Hook horror
60	Intellect devourer
61	Khargra
62-63	Lizard, giant, subterranean
64-65	Lurker above
66-67	Lycanthrope, wererat
68-69	Margoyle
70-72	Piercer
73	Purple worm
74-77	Rat, giant
78	Rothe
79-80	Roper
81-84	Rust monster
85-88	Slug, giant
89	Spectator
90	Storoper
91-92	Trapper
93-95	Umber hulk
96-97	Xaren
98-00	Xorn

Table 1.A.
Fungi, Slimes, and Jellies

1d100	Result
01-05	Black pudding
06-14	Fungi, violet
15-20	Gelatinous cube
21-24	Gray ooze
25-35	Green slime
36-44	Mold, brown
45-56	Mold, yellow
57-65	Ochre jelly
66-75	Olive slime
76-00	Shrieker

Table 1.B.
Intelligent Dwellers

1d100	Result
01-06	Bugbear/gnoll
07-10	Cloaker
11-13	Derro
14-16	Drider
17-25	Drow
26-34	Duergar/dwarf
35-46	Goblin/hobgoblin
47-50	Jermlaine/mite/snyad
51-53	Kuo-toa
54-58	Mind flayer
59-61	Myconid
62-70	Ogre
71-75	Orc
76-78	Pech
79-81	Svirfneblin/gnome
82-90	Troglodyte
91-96	Troll
97-00	Xvart/kobold

Table 1.C.
Undead

1d100	Result
01-07	Apparition
08-13	Coffer corpse
14-20	Ghast
21-30	Ghoul
31-34	Huecuva
35	Lich
36-45	Shadow
46-50	Shadow demon <undead? demon?>
51-65	Skeleton
66-68	Spectre
69-77	Wight
78-84	Wraith
85-86	Vampire
87-00	Zombie

Table 2
Heated Caverns and Tunnels

1d100	Result
01-04	Azer
05-12	Bat, fire
13-17	Elemental, fire
18-20	Efreeti
21-23	Fire snake
24-27	Firetoad
28-30	Gate to elemental plane of Fire
31	Gate to para-elemental plane of Magma
32-50	Giant, fire
51-54	Harginn (elemental grue)
55-60	Hell hound
61-64	Lava children
65-70	Lizard, giant, fire
71-74	Magman
75-76	Mephit, fire
77-78	Mephit, lava
79-80	Mephit, smoke
81-82	Mephit, steam
83-86	Para-elemental, magma
87-93	Pyrolisk
94-00	Salamander

Table 3
Water-Filled Caverns and Tunnels

1d100	Result
01-15	Aboleth
16-20	Bloodworm, giant
21-28	Bullywug
29-30	Eye of the deep
31-38	Frog, giant
39-65	Kuo-toa
66-67	Morkoth
68-70	Mudman
71-73	Nereid
74-80	Ogre, aquatic
81-83	Sirine
84-00	Troll, rnarine

Table 4
Duergar Caverns and Tunnels

1d100	Result
01-05	Character party
06-60	Duergar
61-70	Derro
71-00	Use Table 1

Table 5
Svirfneblin Caverns and Tunnels

1d100	Result
01-10	Character party
11-60	Svirfneblin
61-65	Rothe
66-00	Use Table 1

Table 6
Drow Caverns and Tunnels

1d100	Result
01-05	Character party
06-08	Demon
09-19	Displacer beast
20-22	Drider
23-60	Drow
61-64	Pedipalp
65-70	Scorpion, giant
71-75	Spider*
76-00	Use Table 1

* 01-30 giant, 31-60 huge, 61-00 large