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](<15 - 5e Quick Encounter Building.md>)" 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 | ## Monster List 1 (CR 1/8—1/4) 1. Bandit 2. Cultist 3. Flying snake 4. Giant crab 5. Giant rat 6. Kobold 7. Poisonous snake 8. Stirge 9. Tribal warrior 10. Axe beak 11. Blink dog 12. Dretch 13. Drow 14. Giant bat 15. Giant frog 16. Giant wolf spider 17. Goblin 18. Skeleton 19. Swarm of bats 20. Swarm of rats ## Monster List 2 (CR 1/4—1) 1. Wolf 2. Zombie 3. Cockatrice 4. Darkmantle 5. Gnoll 6. Gray ooze 7. Hobgoblin 8. Lizardfolk 9. Magmin 10. Orc 11. Rust monster 12. Sahuagin 13. Scout 14. Shadow 15. Swarm of insects 16. Thug 17. Worg 18. Animated armor 19. Bugbear 20. Death dog ## Monster List 3 (CR 1—2) 1. Dire wolf 2. Duergar 3. Ghoul 4. Giant spider 5. Giant toad 6. Harpy 7. Imp 8. Specter 9. Spy 10. Ankheg 11. Bandit captain 12. Berserker 13. Black dragon wyrmling 14. Cult fanatic 15. Ettercap 16. Gargoyle 17. Gelatinous cube 18. Ghast 19. Giant constrictor snake 20. Gibbering mouther ## Monster List 4 (CR 2—3) 1. Azer 2. Green dragon wyrmling 3. Grick 4. Griffon 5. Merrow 6. Mimic 7. Minotaur skeleton 8. Ochre jelly 9. Ogre 10. Ogre zombie 11. Priest 12. Rug of smothering 13. Sea hag 14. Swarm of poisonous snakes 15. Wererat 16. White dragon wyrmling 17. Will-o'-wisp 18. Basilisk 19. Bearded devil 20. Blue dragon wyrmling ## Monster List 5 (CR 3—4) 1. Doppelganger 2. Giant scorpion 3. Green hag 4. Hell hound 5. Knight 6. Manticore 7. Minotaur 8. Mummy 9. Nightmare 10. Owlbear 11. Phase spider 12. Veteran 13. Werewolf 14. Wight 15. Winter wolf 16. Black pudding 17. Chuul 18. Couatl 19. Ettin 20. Ghost ## Monster List 6 (CR 4—5) 1. Lamia 2. Red dragon wyrmling 3. Succubus/incubus 4. Wereboar 5. Air elemental 6. Barbed devil 7. Bulette 8. Earth elemental 9. Fire elemental 10. Flesh golem 11. Giant crocodile 12. Gladiator 13. Gorgon 14. Half-red dragon veteran 15. Hill giant 16. Night hag 17. Otyugh 18. Roper 19. Shambling mound 20. Troll ## Monster List 7 (CR 5—8) 1. Salamander 2. Vampire spawn 3. Water elemental 4. Wraith 5. Xorn 6. Chimera 7. Drider 8. Invisible stalker 9. Mage 10. Medusa 11. Vrock 12. Wyvern 13. Young white dragon 14. Oni 15. Shield guardian 16. Stone giant 17. Young black dragon 18. Assassin 19. Chain devil 20. Cloaker ## Monster List 8 (CR 8—12) 1. Frost giant 2. Hezrou 3. Hydra 4. Spirit naga 5. Young green dragon 6. Bone devil 7. Clay golem 8. Cloud giant 9. Fire giant 10. Glabrezu 11. Young blue dragon 12. Aboleth 13. Guardian naga 14. Stone golem 15. Young red dragon 16. Behir 17. Ereeti 18. Horned devil 19. Remorhaz 20. Archmage ## Monster List 9 (CR 12—16) 1. Erinyes 2. Adult white dragon 3. Nalfeshnee 4. Rakshasa 5. Storm giant 6. Vampire 7. Adult black dragon 8. Ice devil 9. Adult green dragon 10. Mummy lord 11. Purple worm 12. Adult blue dragon ## Monster List 10 (CR 16—24) 1. Iron golem 2. Marilith 3. Adult red dragon 4. Balor 5. Ancient white dragon 6. Pit fiend 7. Anclent black dragon 8. Lich 9. Ancient blue dragon 10. Ancient red dragon ^monster-list-10-cr-1624