The following tables let you randomly select monsters based on "dungeon level." Although these charts are built for old-school dungeon delving, you can use them to generate randomly encountered monsters in just about any setting - a ruin, an old church, caves, catacombs, an old wizard's tower, or some other forgotten lair.
To use these tables, first decide what dungeon level the characters are on. This might correspond to the level of the characters but it doesn't have to. If 2nd-level characters decide to descend to dungeon level 5, so be it.
Once you have a dungeon level selected, roll a d20 and look across to see which monster table you should use. For example, if the characters are on dungeon level 4 and you roll a 12, you'll use monster table 3. Then go to the indicated monster table and roll a d20 again, to determine which monster might show up. Using the above example, consulting monster table 3 and rolling a 3 gives a result of 'Ghoul.' Instead of using dungeon levels, you can just jump to whichever monster table feels right for the circumstances. If you know you're looking for a monster with a challenge rating of 4 or 5, just roll on Monster Table 6. You can also use these tables to quickly look up monsters at particular challenge ratings. Even if you absolutely hate random encounters, you can use the tables to generate encounter ideas you might never think of otherwise.
There are a few ways to choose the number of monsters in an encounter. First, think about what makes sense. Ghouls travel in packs, but a rug of smothering is probably found alone. You might roll dice to determine the number of monsters-for example, 3d6 ghouls. You might also choose to have one monster leading others-a pack of ghouls led by a ghast, for example.
Before the number of monsters is set, you can gauge whether your intended encounter is deadly or not by using the "5e Quick Encounter Building" section of this document.
| Monster List | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dungeon Level | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 |
| 1 | 1—16 | 17—19 | 20 | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| 2 | 1—12 | 13—16 | 17—18 | 19 | 20 | — | — | — | — | |
| 3 | 1—12 | 13—16 | 17—18 | 19 | 20 | — | — | — | — | |
| 4 | 1—5 | 6—10 | 11—16 | 17—18 | 19 | 20 | — | — | — | |
| 5 | 1—3 | 4—6 | 7—12 | 13—16 | 17—18 | 19 | 20 | — | — | |
| 6 | 1—2 | 3—4 | 5—6 | 7—12 | 13—16 | 17—18 | 19 | 20 | — | |
| 7 | 1 | 2—3 | 4—5 | 6—10 | 11—14 | 15—16 | 17—18 | 19 | 20 | — |
| 8 | 1 | 2 | 3—4 | 5—7 | 8—10 | 11—14 | 15—16 | 17—18 | 19 | 20 |
| 9 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4—5 | 6—8 | 9—12 | 13—15 | 16—17 | 18—19 | 20 |
| 10—11 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5—6 | 7—9 | 10—12 | 13—16 | 17—19 | 20 |
| 12—13 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6—7 | 8—9 | 10—12 | 13—18 | 19—20 |
| 14—15 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7—8 | 9—11 | 12—17 | 18—20 |
| 16+ | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8—10 | 11—16 | 17—20 |