Creating Encounter Tables

There are a multitude of ways a DM can create encounter tables (as many ways as there are different ranges of die rolls). The choices range from very simple (roll 1d6 for one of six possible choices) to very complicated (roll percentile dice, modify for time of day and weather and cross-index the result with the terrain). With this, and the common characteristics described above, in mind, you can create random encounter tables for virtually any situation.

As already noted, an encounter table can be constructed around virtually any type of die or dice roll. Two of the best, however, are the 2-20 table and the percentile table. Both provide a wide enough range of results to account for the varying frequency of appearance of the monsters the DM wants to use.

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