| 4 people marked this as a favorite. |
Serpent's Skull is one of those APs that really benefits from having a lot of DM investment put into it; the sandboxy elements, long stretches of overland travel and potential for heavy roleplaying all lead to the DM having his hands full. So to lend a hand to DMs in need, I'm going to post up some random encounter tables I've used in my Serpent's Skull game to liven up the wilderness.
Souls for Smuggler’s Shiv—Random Shipwreck Encounters
50% of the shipwrecks have a creature lairing in them. 25% have loose floorboards (Ref DC 15 negates). 20% of uninhabited wrecks have 4d20 gp of treasure, 75% of inhabited ones have 3d100 gp of treasure.
01-06—1 octopus Avg. CR 1
07-13—1 lacedon Avg. CR 1
14-16—1d4 ochre eurypterids Avg. CR 1
17-20—1 common eurypterid Avg. CR 1
21-25—1 hunter urchin Avg. CR 1
26-30—1 giant crab Avg. CR 2
31-38—1d4 lacedons Avg. CR 2
39-49—1d6 human skeletons Avg. CR 2
50-60—1d4 human zombies Avg. CR 2
61-65—1d3 common eurypterids Avg. CR 2
66-75—1 shark Avg. CR 2
76-80—1 medium water elemental Avg. CR 3
81-85—1 pteranodon Avg. CR 3
86-90—1d3 hunter urchins Avg. CR 3
91-93—1 crab swarm Avg. CR 4
94-96—1 spear urchin Avg. CR 4
97-98—1 sea hag Avg. CR 4
99-100—1 bluetip eurypterid Avg. CR 5
I used this table to generate the following shipwrecks for my players to explore:
D1. Tattooed Lady—2 common eurypterids, 1 steel mirror, 10 yards canvas, 50 feet silk rope, silver shortsword (Perception DC 15 for the mirror)
D2. Tears of Grog—No encounter, no treasure
D3. Golden Bow—3 human zombies, an astrolabe, compass and pair of loaded dice (Perception DC 15)
D4. Bloody Doll—1 ghoul, feather token (anchor), 58 gold pieces, chain shirt (Perception DC 15 for the feather token)
D5. Scallywag—1 pteranodon, collapsing floorboards, amethyst pendant worth 135 gp (Perception DC 15)
D6. Windwar—3 hunter urchins, 4 spears, scale, 50 gp in gold bars, 10 days worth of rations (rations need Perception DC 15 to find)
D7. Bearded Harpy—1 harpy, bracers of armor +1, 650 gp in silver and gold coins (all in chest, trapped, poison dart trap)
D8. Scarred Maiden—No encounter, collapsing floorboards, no treasure
D9. Crimson Angel—1 crab swarm, no treasure
D10. Volar’s Lash—No encounter, no collapsing floorboards, no treasure
D11. Wavereaper—3 human skeletons, collapsing floorboards, bullseye lantern, bugle (no Perception DC)
D12. Crow’s Tooth—No encounter, no collapsing floorboards, two doses soothe syrup (Perception DC 20)
D13. Bloodwalker—No encounter, no collapsing floorboards, no treasure
D14. Alma’s Ruin—No encounter, collapsing floorboards, no treasure
D15. Redwake—1 ochre eurypterid, no collapsing floorboards, no treasure
D16. Thrune’s Fang—2 lacedons, collapsing floorboards, masterwork studded leather armor (on one of the lacedons), jade stone worth 30 gp (Perception DC 25)
This had the unintended, but pleasing, side effect of having most of the ships nearest the cannibal camp have little treasure and rarely any encounters.
| 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I wasn't a huge fan of the Smuggler's Shiv random encounter table as written--it was alright, but it didn't differentiate between the beaches and the interior of the Shiv. So I built my own table. The CRs are a little higher on average than the ones in the table in PF 36, and that's intentional. I wanted to stress to my players that, even though the island's interior was stalked by cannibals, it might be safer to retreat a bit from the ocean.
Smuggler’s Shiv Encounter Tables—Beaches
01-04—1d3 rhamphorynchus Avg. CR ½
05-09—1d3 ochre eurypterids Avg. CR ½
10-14—1d6 dire rats Avg. CR 1
15-17—1 ghoul Avg. CR 1
18-19—1 octopus Avg. CR 1
20-22—1d6 human skeletons Avg. CR 1
23-26—1d6 jungle goats Avg. CR 1
27-30—2d4 monkeys Avg. CR 1
31-34—1 common eurypterid Avg. CR 1
35-37—1 hunter urchin Avg. CR 1
38-45—1d4 cannibals Avg. CR 1
46-49—1d4 vipers Avg. CR 1
50-53—1 dimorphodon Avg. CR 1
53-56—1d6 human zombies Avg. CR 2
57-61—1 giant crab Avg. CR 2
62-65—1 bat swarm Avg. CR 2
66-70—1 constrictor snake Avg. CR 2
71-73—Pezock Avg. CR 2
74-77—1d4 dimorphodons Avg. CR 3
78-80—1d4 venomous snakes Avg. CR 3
81-84—1d4 common eurypterids Avg. CR 3
85-88—1d4 ghouls Avg. CR 3
89-90—1 pteranodon Avg. CR 3
91-92—1d4 hunter urchins Avg. CR 3
93-94—Avret Kinkarian (unique) Avg. CR 3
95-96—1 crab swarm Avg. CR 4
97-98—1 harpy (unique) Avg. CR 4
99—1 bluetip eurypterid Avg. CR 5
100—Red Mountain Devil (unique) Avg. CR 5
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Lastly, my most recent random encounter table is for the PCs soon-to-come journey across the M'neri Plains. The CRs again skew a bit high, but there's a high chance of getting flavor encounters with relatively peaceful herbivores (although stampedes do occur and they might fight back if assaulted). I designed the M'neri to be more like a fantastic version of the African savanna than the random encounter table in Racing to Ruin. Sargava: The Lost Colony emphasized that dinosaurs were relatively rare, and Heart of the Jungle suggested that deinonychus are growing more common lately than they have been in the past, so the deinonychus are one of the few dinosaurs on this table. I want the dinos to be a bit more special when my PCs make it to the Screaming Jungle and Korir Plains.
Note that B2 = Bestiary 2
Random Encounters—M’neri Plains
01-02—1d4 baboons (Avg. CR 1)
03-04—1 monitor lizard (Avg. CR 2)
05-06—1 cheetah (Avg. CR 2)
07-08—1 leopard (Avg. CR 2)
09-10—1 mosquito swarm (B2) (Avg. CR 3)
11—1 cockatrice (Avg. CR 3)
12-14—1 giant scorpion (Avg. CR 3)
15—1 lion (Avg. CR 3)
16—1 centaur (Avg. CR 3)
17-18—1 rhinoceros (Avg. CR 4)
19-21—1d6 antelope (use rams, B2) (Avg. CR 4)
22-23—1 dire lion (Avg. CR 5)
24-26—1d4 ankhegs (Avg. CR 5)
27-30—1d8 hyenas (Avg. CR 5)
31-34—1d8 Mwangi tribesmen (Avg. CR 5)
35-36—1 leucrotta (B2) (Avg. CR 5)
37-38—1 giant frilled lizard (Avg. CR 5)
39-41—1d8 worker ants (Avg. CR 5)
42—1 thunderstorm (Avg. CR 5)
43-44—1 army ant swarm (Avg. CR 5)
45—1 lurker in light (B2) (Avg. CR 5)
46-49—1d6 zinzas (deinonychus) (Avg. CR 6)
50-51—1d6 dire hyenas (Avg. CR 6)
52-55—1d8 wildebeest (use aurochs) (Avg. CR 6)
56-58—2d6 gnolls (Avg. CR 6)
59-60—1d6 lions (Avg. CR 6)
61—1 wyvern (Avg CR 6)
62-65—Rival faction (see subtable and PF 38) (Avg. CR 6)
1—1d6 Shackles freebooters
2—1d6 Mantis mystics
3—1d6 Aspis mercenaries
4—1d6 Sargavan guards
66-67—1d4 rhinoceros (Avg. CR 6)
68—1 death worm (B2) (Avg. CR 6)
69-70—1d4 water buffalo (use bison) (Avg. CR 6)
71—1 brush fire (Avg. CR 6)
72-74—1 elephant (Avg. CR 7)
75-76—1 quetzalcoatlus (PF 37) (Avg. CR 7)
77—1d4 lurkers in light (B2) (Avg. CR 7)
78-79—2d6 giant ants (Avg. CR 7)
80—1d8 centaurs (Avg. CR 7)
81-84—3d10 zebras (use horse) (Avg. CR 8)
85-88—3d10 antelope (use rams, B2) (Avg. CR 8)
89-90—1d8+2 lions (Avg. CR 8)
91—1 gray render (Avg. CR 8)
92—1d6 manticores (Avg CR 8)
93—1 gorgon (Avg. CR 8)
94—1 sphinx (Avg. CR 8)
95—1 behir (Avg. CR 8)
96—1 giant tarantula (B2) (Avg. CR 8)
97—1 deinotherium (use mammoth) (Avg. CR 9)
98-99—1d6 elephants (Avg. CR 10)
100—1 young gold dragon (Avg. CR 11)
This is awesome, Demiurge! Has anyone ever created - or ever seen - an additional table for the Bandu Hills?