This is a potential encounter table. It was built with a party of 6 level 1 players in mind, randomly encountering various things while roaming a forest. This was written by Tracey, and as such there was a 1000 token bounty attached to its completion.
General Temperate Woodland Random Encounters
Standard Combat Encounters – 40
1. The party hears a loud crashing sound coming through the woods and sees a pissed-off wild boar chasing a terrified human child clutching a basket of blackberries (Boar SRD CR 2).
2. While trying to cross the river, the players are attacked by a bull shark (they can tolerate brackish and even fresh water, and have gone up the Mississippi as far as Chicago, so a shark attack in the woods, why not – surprise! SRD, Large Shark CR 2)
3. The party encounters a beautiful clear stream with sparkling water and sandy banks. A small crude sign is hammered into the ground beside it: DANGER. (redcap ambush, a CR 2 recap youngling is trying to impress his father and join the hunting band, so he’s decided to bag a party of adventurers. MM3 p 138)
4. Time to make Spot checks – the party is being stalked by a dire cougar up in the trees – use SRD leopard statistics CR 2.
5. When stepping off to use the potty off in the bushes, one of the party members (roll a d6 for lulz) disturbs the nest of a pair of ground nesting wasps. (use howler wasps as base? CR 1 MM4 p 74)
6. When camping, the party is overrun by a pair of semi aggressive curious lizards the size of dogs who really seem interested in getting into their actual backpacks and stealing their food and shiny stuff (thinking 2 swindlespitter dinosaurs, CR 1 out of MM3 p 38, treat as scaly raccoons that have learned that camping people are walking trashcans with food and shiny objects – tracking their nest might yield more loot?)
7. A satyr frat boy rolls up on the players, obviously already quite drunk and drinking some horrible curdled concoction out of a wineskin (DC something easy to identify as really bad stuff to drink, be a jerk if someone is dumb enough to try). When the players logically refuse, the satyr gets belligerent and attacks (CR 2 SRD.)
8. The party find a small, hastily erected sacrificial shrine dedicated to an Abyssal power with several freshly sacrificed wood pigeons upon it. Any examination of the shrine prompts an attack by 1-2 small, ugly, gangly almost birdlike creatures with no feathers covering their leathery wings. Their heads are elongated and covered with heavy horns, and their mouths are rimmed with needle-sharp teeth (Windrazors x 1-2 CR 1 MM4 p 176)
9. The path through the woods that the party is following is partially obstructed by a thorny bramble hedge – actually a bevy of twig blights ready to spring an ambush (MM2 p 197, CR 1/3 each, roughly 4-5 of them)
10. The party seeks refuge from a sudden rainstorm underneath a rock overhang – the ceiling of which is covered with Small monstrous spiders, which promptly attack – CR ½, 2-3?, SRD
11. The party finds the bodies of a young newlywed couple wearing their dirty and torn bridal clothes laying upon the ground. There are severed hands wrapped around their throats, which promptly attack – Crawling Claws x4 CR 1/3 each MoF p 29
12. A pair of hideously ugly animals that look like huge rats crossed with timber wolves are feasting upon the mangled body of someone in very fine blue clerical robes embroidered with silver thread – carcass eaters CR ½, 2-3? LM p 91
13. The party discovers a grove of tropical dragonfruit trees growing in the much too cool temperate forest. While examining the grove, they are attacked by a wolf-sized green lizard that looks a bit like a dragon from up in the branches – greenspawn leaper CR 2 MM4 p 144
14. The party gets adopted by a friendly raven that initially just seems interested in sitting on shoulders and occasionally cawing and bobbing its head. As the day goes on, the raven gets more and more annoying – pulling at hair and jewelry, undoing pouches and scattering their contents (especially money), flapping its wings in party members’ faces, suddenly making startling screams, etc, and nothing will make it stop. The raven will get outright destructive if they let it. The first serious attempt to get rid of it prompts a surprise attack from the bird, which is really an imp – CR 2 SRD
15. The party discovers a steep drop-off with a dramatic and lovely view of the woods below. Near the edge of the drop is a knee-high flat rock upon which is arranged an old worn handkerchief and a clay goblet that has since filled with rainwater. A skeleton wearing ragged linen robes and wearing the amulet of a nature god is slumped over the rock, and two skeletal dogs lay at her feet as if asleep – human skeleton CR 1/3, 2 wolf skeletons CR 1, SRD
16. What appears to be a Small-sized invisible creature wearing a very bloodstained Halfling-style peasant woman’s clothing is trudging slowly down the path towards the party, holding something swaddled like a baby to its chest. It doesn’t charge, but when it gets close enough it throws the bundle, full of Tiny venomous centipedes, at the party and attacks – Raiment CR 1 LM p 117 + 3-4 Tiny centipedes SRD
17. The party hears some very inexpert magical chanting – and a lot of cussing – coming from over yonder. They discover a harassed teenaged half-elf wearing the robes of an apprentice wizard lodged up a tree, menaced by two animated objects – an ash practice wand and his own spellbook. Animated Objects, 1 Tiny at CR ½, one Small at CR 1, SRD
18. The party smells meat roasting and a campfire. They will come upon a broad-chested gnoll with impressive tufts of red fur and rounded ears spit-roasting a bear haunch. This elite gnoll ranger is not amused to have their lunch interrupted by “softskins” and attacks. Flind Gnoll CR 2 MM3 p 62
19. The party hears an odd rustling disturbance off in the leaves, almost like something large is rolling around. Investigation will reveal a mass of snakes all coiled together in a single ball and rolling around a clearing. The snake mass disperses and attacks – CR 1 spider swarm from SRD reskinned as lots of little snakes, coupled with a small viper snake CR ½ also SRD
20. A big bull elk in full rut comes crashing through the trees, territorial as can be and taking extreme exception to the presence of the party. Use CR 2 bison animal from SRD, replace Stampede with Trample
21. The party discovers an old ruined chapel with cracked alabaster walls and broken stained glass windows. When they enter the zombie parishioners sitting on the moldy pews rise up and shuffle forward to attack. 2-3 human commoner zombies CR 1/2, SRD
22. Whoever was designated the camp maid that evening did a terrible job of burying trash (roll a d6 to assign a random guilty PC). Dire rats have come to investigate – dire rats x 4-5 CR 1/3 SRD
23. The party is attacked by a scurry of squirrels wearing little brown ninja outfits. Why? Because little ninja squirrels are awesome. Use stats for monkeys CR 1/6, 6-8 of them, from SRD
24. The party hears a long, low guttural animal howl – a sound of misery, not of pain or fear. They come upon a brown bear wearing a saddle standing guard over the body of its dead rider, a kobold wearing livery. An arrow is in his chest. The bear doesn’t see the humor in the party getting anywhere near – brown bear CR 2 SRD
25. The party encounters a poor covered traveling wagon, its canvas tarp covered in desperate patches. Whatever wretched animal pulled it has long since snapped its traces, and the thin sad body of middle aged man wearing threadbare wizard’s robes lays behind the wagon, his face a rictus of horror. Inside the wagon, the eyeball beholderkin that he was transporting have escaped their cages – and will aggro immediately to the party. Eyeball beholderkin x 2-3, CR ½, MoF 23
26. The party spies a scrap of rich fabric caught in a bush, then another, then another – someone’s leaving a fairly obvious trail. Following it will yield a richly dressed Gnomish woman in a wooden cage being carried by some apparently unobservant Medium sized crow men wearing dark deerskin clothing. She’s quietly tearing up her dress and tossing fragments out of her cage. 2-3 kenku CR ½ MM3 p 87
27. A large rotting log collapses while the party is climbing over it, releasing aggressive forest scorpions – tiny scorpions x 5-6 CR ¼ SRD
28. Walking along minding their own business when some jerk starts lobbing light crossbow bolts at them from max range. Said jerk is a Halfling with pointed and cruel features wearing dark clothing who is giggling with evil glee. He keeps running off to max range and lobbing more crossbow bolts. When the party finally gets within one round of closing, he grabs some glass spheres from one pouch and throws them at his feet, releasing fiendish dire rats – Wispling CR ½ FF p 139, fiendish dire rats x 2-3 CR 1/3 SRD
29. The party is walking across a meadow when the heaviest party member’s weight causes them to collapse the top of a dire weasel’s burrow – and boy, is it mad! Dire weasel CR 2 SRD
30. The party smells the incredible stench of rot and sewage. They encounter a small pond that is absolutely fouled with bodily waste – filth imp CR 2 FF p 100
31. The party comes upon a high rocky ridge with a lovely view of the trees below. As they pause for a moment to admire, they get divebombed by some eagles – eagle x 2-3 CR ½ SRD
32. A bugbear hunter spies the party and begins to stalk them, intent on a little fresh meat for his dinner – bugbear CR 2 SRD
33. The evening campfire attracts several giant fire beetles – giant fire beetles x 4-5 CR 1/3 SRD
34. The party comes to a crossroads and discovers a gory scene – the mangled corpse of a teenage human male wearing apprentice wizard robes laying on the ground in front of a crude shrine. The shrine is covered in puddles of black wax. Feasting on his corpse are a mane and a disreputable looking hawk with iron gray feathers. Mane demon CR 1 FF p 170 and a blood hawk CR ½ FF p 22
35. Early into evening as the party is selecting a good camp spot, they find that the location they scouted earlier has just been taken by an orc and his goblin companions, who quickly attack the party – Orc CR ½ SRD, 2-3 goblins CR 1/3 SRD
36. The party investigates a small cave a possible resting spot for the night, disturbing the bat swarm roosting on the ceiling – bat swarm CR 2 SRD
37. The party encounters an odd scene in a clearing: a large boulder has been set up as a table, with a nice linen tablecloth, two clay goblets, and an open bottle of wine. Slumped on one side of the rock is a skeleton wearing ragged but fashionable black clothing. On the opposite side are slumped two zombies, one wearing the red dress of a noblewoman, and the other one a tubby guy wearing a leather jerkin and breeches. When the party approaches, all rise and aggro. Human skeleton CR 1/3, human commoner zombies x2 CR 1/3, SRD
38. The party hears a steady stream of threats in a small growling voice. Coming around the corner they see an exhausted kobold with a long stick back away from several approaching orcs, apparently keeping them at bay with force of personality alone – and the orcs are starting to look tired of his crap. Orcs x 2-3 CR 1/3 SRD
39. The party hears the sounds of chopping wood. In a clearing they see a goblin shoveling up buckets of wet earth while another chops tree branches. They are carrying these to a lizardman in the center of the clearing who is building a mud and branch pyramid. Lizardfolk CR 1 SRD, goblins x2 CR 1/3 SRD
40. The party finds a small, stagnant pond. On the edge lies the still-warm body of an Elvish woman wearing a dirty gray shift, and her wrists and ankles are encircled with red rub marks from restraints. Sucking the blood from her body are several stirges, who rise from corpse buzzing when they smell the party. Stirges x 2-3 CR ½ SRD
Boss Fights – 10
1. The party decides to make camp under a big lovely flowering tree next to a nice stream – who could resist camping next to this beautiful weeping cherry tree? Pity there’s an assassin vine hidden up in the branches, very well concealed by all the damn flowers (have it drop down on someone during a watch and ambush attack since they have a move of 5 but they’re 20 feet long – yank PCs into the trees with their strength of 20 and Improved Grab? Can also animate plants to help hold people down as per entangle spell – CR 3 SRD)
2. At some point during the night, a groundling rogue tries to sneak into camp and will try to backstab whoever is currently on watch they deem most dangerous (its Int is 5, so they don’t start by quietly slitting throats of sleeping PCs, lol.) CR 3, MoF p 57 + SRD
Groundling with a Rogue Level
HD: 4 HD
HP: 25
Init: +5 (Dex + Improved Init)
Speed: 20 ft, burrow 30
AC: 20 (+1 Dex, +5 Natural, +4 armor)
Attacks: scimitar +5 1d6+1 (18×2)
Also: 2 claws +4 melee, bite -1 melee
Special Attacks: Grab, Sneak Attack +1d6 damage
Special Qualities: Resist Magic, resist Poison, scent, improved initiative
Saves: Fort +3, Ref +6, Will +4
Str 13, Dex 12, Con 15, Int 5, Wis 12, Cha 6
Skills: Escape Artist +5, Listen +5, Wilderness Lore +7, Hide +5, Spot +5, Tumble +5, Move Silently +5, Sense Motive +5, Search +5
Equipment: MW Scimitar, chain shirt, w/e makes the DM happy
3. A Dwarven knight wearing nightblack chainmail stands guard in front of a narrow bridge crossing a deep, fast moving river. His bastard sword is drawn and the tip is stabbed into the earth. He announces loudly in the name of his dread god that none may pass him on this bridge.
Sir Rhinehart the Scourge-Maker
3rd Level Dwarven Warblade (Tome of Battle p 21)
Str 16, Dex 12, Con 14, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 8
3d12 HD (39 HP)
Speed: 20 feet
Saves: Fort +5, Reflex +2, Will +1 (+2 vs poison because dorf, +2 vs spells and spell like abilities because dorf, +3 Int bonus on reflex saves if not FF)
AC: 15 (+1 dex, +6 armor, – 2 stance)
BAB: +3
Attack – Bastard Sword (treated as one-handed weap because of EWP)
2H Bastard Sword – +7 (+3 BAB, +3 Str, +1 MW) vs AC for 1d8+5 +1d6 stance damage (19×2)
Special Attacks – Battle Ardor – +3 Int bonus to confirm crits
Special Defenses – +4 vs bull rush because dorf, Uncanny Dodge – Retains Dex bonus to AC when FF.
Other Qualities: Darkvision 60 ft
Feats: EWP Bastard sword, Power Attack, usual class stuff
Skills:– Concentration +8, Intimidate +9, Tumble +7, Spot +4
Equipment: MW bastard sword, +1 chainmail, whatever else floats the DM’s boat
Stance: Punishing Stance: Stance—Attacks deal +1d6 damage, but you have –2 to AC.
Maneuvers: Sir Rhinehart may ready 3 of 4 maneuvers. Recover all expended maneuvers with a single swift action, which must be immediately followed in the same round with a melee attack or using a standard action to do nothing else in the round (such as executing a quick, harmless flourish with your weapon).
Maneuvers Known:
1. Charging Minotaur (attack casters and healers) – Charging bull rush deals damage, ignores attacks of opportunity (p 81)
2. Steel Wind: Strike—Attack two opponents (p 69)
3. Douse the Flames (use to continue pursuing healers and casters): Strike—Target cannot make attacks of opportunity for 1 round (p 91)
4. Stone Bones – Gain DR 5 / adamantine (p 84)
4. In the late evening players hear low, eerie music echoing through the trees that gets stronger and stronger, ultimately sounding like a B movie horror soundtrack (it sounds just like this). The source is a large iron harp being played by a woman made out of shadows and hatred; despite being incorporeal, she can still somehow interact with the harp. The grass around the base of the harp is dead, and the trees surrounding the woman have a sick and mottled appearance. Murk CR 3 LM p 112.
5. The party encounters a kobold wearing a turban and fanciful silk clothes camped near a crossroads. He has a little brightly painted wagon and he appears to have set up camp there for a few days. When the party approaches he is sitting crosslegged on a rug with a large basket beside him. He says he is an entertainer, and he’s stopped here for a while to perform for other travelers to make a little money before moving on. He offers to show them his act, which involves some “dancing mice.” Encounter is a CR ¼ Kobold (SRD) and a Cranium Rat Swarm CR 2, FF p 167. The rats are hanging out in his basket being all hive-mindy, and possibly somehow controlling the kobold? (DM option)
6. The party encounters a ruined country house surrounded by a garden that has become overgrown and run to seed. The garden features several large topiary plants shaped like women, rabbits, birds, etc – and one of the topiaries is an aggressive topiary boar. Topiary boar CR 2 MM3 p 174
7. The section of the forest through which the party travels grows gradually gloomier – the thick canopy of branches seems to block more sunlight than usual, and the sounds of birds and insects eventually ceases. The only sound is the faint breathy rush of air moving high up in the trees. The plants in the underbrush also take a decidedly more sinister turn – deadly belladonna growing lush and thick alongside toad lilies and poisonous monkshood. Then, the black unicorn whose territory the party has entered appears – may take exception to the female party member with the most good-type alignment and disposition and highest Charisma (ie, whomever a white unicorn would really like.) Black unicorn CR 3 MoF p 83
8. In the middle of the night, the party member with the most Lawful/Good-type of alignment and highest Wisdom modifier is attacked by a hell hound who is on a kill mission from Hell. Hell Hound CR 3 SRD
9. The party encounters the ruins of a still-smoking farmstead whose inhabitants and animals have since scattered. The barn is still standing, though, and for some reason 5-6 human commoner zombies have been herded into it (DM option to have players Listen at barn door to hear rustling inside, or just have the zombies wander out through an open back barn door when motivated to do so when hearing fresh meat themselves.) Human commoner zombies x 5-6 CR ½ SRD
10. The party is wandering along minding its own business when they hear a crashing snarl and a growl – a hungry and injured owlbear has spotted them, and it wants some fresh meat. CR 5 owlbear from SRD reduced to CR 2 roughly using the following stats, changed stats are bolded:
Size/Type: Large Magical Beast
Hit Dice: 5d10+25 (26 hp)
Initiative: +0
Speed: 30 ft. (6 squares)
Armor Class: 14 (-1 size, +0 Dex, +5 natural), touch 9, flat-footed 14
Base Attack/Grapple: +0/+8
Attack: Claw +3 melee (1d6+3)
Full Attack: 2 claws +3 melee (1d6+3) and bite -2 melee (1d8+0)
Space/Reach: 10 ft./5 ft.
Special Attacks: Improved grab
Special Qualities: Scent
Saves: Fort +7, Ref +4, Will +2
Abilities: Str 17, Dex 10, Con 17, Int 2, Wis 12, Cha 10
Skills: Listen +8, Spot +8
Feats: Alertness, Track
Change list – Hit points reduced in half from 52 to 26 – owlbear is injured
AC reduced by 1 due to -2 Dex loss from injury, reflex save also reduced
Attack bonus and damage reduced by 2 due to -4 Str loss from injury
Con also reduced by 4, reflecting hit point loss and lack of fortitude from injury
Initiative -1 dropped due to dex loss
BAB dropped by 4 overall reflecting injury
Weird/Likely Non Combat Encounters – 35
1. The party comes upon a burnt and blackened clearing with a tall metal stake in the center. A comely young woman is chained to it, completely unburned, and begs the party for help.
2. As the party walks through the woods, a small stream of iridescent soap bubbles float through the trees and burst near the party. When they do, the party hears the words of a popular drinking song with each pop.
3. The party encounters a small, very well kept vegetable garden in the middle of the wilderness – and no signs of any intelligent habitation nearby.
4. After the party camps for the evening, a little Tinkerbell-type fairy arrives wanting to share some apple wine and trade for the silver buttons on the PC’s clothes – and has some odd little items themselves with which to barter.
5. The party find a fanciful adult-sized swing with colored scarves for ropes hanging in the lower branches of a huge oak tree. There’s not a single soul around, but the swing and components look brand new.
6. The party encounters a dirty half elf peasant girl making fish traps out of reeds on a riverbank. She’s making cute animal noises at her pet ground squirrel beside her.
7. A man is running down the path, shouting at a rock that is bouncing and hopping away from him as fast as it can.
8. The party sees a herd of rabbits apparently having a conversation by the roadside. As soon as the rabbits spot the players, they start acting like normal bunnies – hopping, feeding, nose twitching, the whole shebang.
9. A woodcutter sits on a stump having his lunch of bread, beer and cheese when the party wanders by. He is cheerful and talkative, but apparently spends too much time alone – he calls his axe “Lindy” and talks about it like it’s his spouse.
10. The next morning the party discovers the corpse of the last non-undead creature they killed standing just outside of camp. It doesn’t moan, groan, or attack, but it will faithfully follow like a dog whichever player got the “kill shot” on it for 24 hours. Destroying the creature doesn’t require any rolls basically – it will just stand there peaceably and let the players slaughter it. It will return every morning though without cease until it is allowed to follow its target for a full 24 hours, after which it finally and truly falls dead.
11. The party hears some sweet but tinny music filtering through the woods. It is being played by a band of mice playing itty-bitty string and wind instruments being conducted by a frog wearing a shiny top hat and waving a cane.
12. The party hears the sounds of silver bells ringing and jangling nearby. They encounter a small band of Halfling truffle-hunters with pet pigs wearing harnesses covered in bells. The Halflings are very pleasant and conversant.
13. A very old troll male wearing stitched bark clothing hobbling along with his walking stalk, occasionally stooping to gather herbs with his dull claws. When he finally notices the adventurers (he’s half blind and deaf, -5 to his Perception/Spot type checks) he’s quite fearful, cowering away from them and holding up his walking stick as if to ward off blows. He will hesitantly introduce himself as Grandfather Nightwort, “an expert in strange growing things,” if he is asked.
14. An ornately gilded carriage is stopped in the middle of the road. Four sweating footmen are struggling to replace the broken back axle with a spare while a fat human nobleman stands by the roadside being fanned by two servants. He is sighing and looking quite put upon.
15. An elderly human male riding a knock kneed horse followed by a younger guy riding a donkey who seems amused. The old man asks the party if they’ve heard of the great beauty of his lady love, Dulcinea
16. A doddering old Dwarven cleric carrying a fruitcake in a colorful knitted bag. He has the habit of happily blessing everything and everyone he comes into contact with.
17. A stream whose banks are covered with lush plants – and whose very river stones are sprouting leaves as well. Splashing in this water requires a DC 12 Will save or sprout leaves harmlessly from your head for 24 hours. Drinking the water requires the same, but the effect is permanent without a remove curse spell.
18. A fresh grave at the crossroads, with a note stuck into the earth with a stick – I’m so sorry, (signed) James
19. Several windchimes made out of fairy bones are hanging in the trees. The bones are bound together with rough cold iron wire. When the wind makes them clack and clatter softly, the party can hear a distant sobbing wail.
20. The party encounters a stand of trees that have been shaped into useful still-living furniture – a chair from a bent maple tree, a short pine tree with a flattened top and branches woven to make the surface of a table, and a thornless rose ottoman. Several birch trees have had their tops woven together to create a light rustling arbor of leaves. Think a druid’s living room.
21. The party encounters a Dwarven monk meditating over his weapon, a three-section-staff made out of ironwood (OA p 72-73). His head and beard are shaved, and he is wearing saffron colored robes. He sits on a beautifully woven red and gold rug and has a brass censer full of cedar wood smoking beside him.
22. That evening when the party is resting before bed, a Tiny, perfectly-formed woman made entirely out of gold walks calmly into camp carrying a golden tray filled with tiny sweet cakes on paper doilies. She does not speak, but she hands them out to the entire party in the manner of a serving girl before she balances the empty tray on her head, curtseys without dropping it, and disappears in a shower of golden sparks. The cake’s flavor is different depending on the alignment of the character –
a. LG – angel food cake with lemon cream filling
b. NG – strawberry shortcake
c. CG – sponge cake covered with dulce de leche
d. LN – rum cake with a coconut glaze
e. TN – checkerboard cake, white chocolate and dark
f. CN – pecan with a caramel glaze
g. LE – devil’s food cake with raspberry filling
h. NE – Burnt milk cake with blueberry icing
i. CE – Black pepper cake dusted with powdered sugar
23. A group of wandering priests of a religious sect that believes firmly in self-denial and personal penance passes the party. They are wearing rough robes made out of goat hair and walking barefoot over thorny and rocky ground. Their human leader is polite but sorrowful.
24. A group of armed individuals approaches! Fortunately, it’s just the local lord’s militia, which are more or less just conscripted farm boys. They’re out on patrol and in a good mood, and wave cheerfully to the adventuring party when they spy them.
25. The party hears the chorus of a very popular drinking song repeated over and over by someone with a rough, slurred voice. They keep screwing up the very simple lyrics. The party encounters a really drunk goblin laying against a log, waving a bottle of fine wine. He grins toothily at the party and calls them “my frenss.”
26. The party starts to scale the side of a large boulder embedded in a hillside when one of them slips down the smooth face a little. They’re unharmed, but their slide knocked a lot of dirt away from the face of the boulder, revealing the edge of a carved eye. The thing they have been climbing isn’t actually a naturally smooth boulder, but the broken-off head of a massive statue of a man that creates part of the hill that they are climbing.
27. The party encounters a tall, slightly rounded aged ivory column that arches through the taller branches of the pine trees. Fifteen feet away, they see another, slightly thicker, and yet another still – this is one side of Gargantuan-sized or better rib cage laying in the woods.
28. A goblin woman shoves her six children into the bushes when she sees the adventurers approach. She’s obviously frightened, but stands her ground with her digging stick ready to defend them with her life (use stats for a level 1 commoner in SRD if the PCs really fight her, but my god, why?)
29. The party encounters a glade surrounded by quaking aspen trees with silver-veined leaves. In the center of the glade is a perfect ring of tall granite stones. Several of them are cracked, and one of them is completely destroyed. The large oak stump in the center of the ring has a few green leafy shoots growing from it.
30. A few Large archery targets have been set up in a field made out of bales of hay. Each pile of hay bales is covered with a burlap target with an apparently scale-sized Large humanoid painted on it, generally looking like a man but with the massive head and horns of a prize bull.
31. A very odd sight indeed – sixty white mice are crossing the road, neatly herded by a pixie shepherdess and her green lizard “sheepdog.” She waves pleasantly when she sees the party.
32. Cussing, bored baa’s, and panicked bleating greet the party when they come around a corner. A shepherd is not-so-patiently cutting a frightened lamb out of a bramble bush while the rest of his small flock stands around waiting. The lamb has kicked him several times, and he’s bleeding from a cut on his lip.
33. A snow white pine tree isn’t so white anymore – someone has festooned this poor thing with severed body parts, turning it scarlet and making it look like a Christmas tree from hell.
34. The party discovers a shining steel lance embedded almost completely in the side of a rock face at horse height.
35. The party finds a spiraling path of flagstone in a meadow. The path itself is about five feet wide but gets narrower as it spirals towards the center where it terminates in a small, pure white marble tile carved with strange glyphs. The overall diameter of the spiral is pretty large, about seventy feet. If any party member walks the entire spiral towards the center, they will briefly get an image of someplace else when they reach the central tile. The effect only triggers 1d4 times.
Reward Without Combat – 15
1. A very large forest bat is laying on the ground squeaking piteously. It’s trying to flap its wings, but they are shredded and caked with blood. On the bat’s back is a saddle with saddlebags, but there’s no rider anywhere to be seen. Saddlebags contain some survival gear, gems, and possible quest items (or DM choice, obviously).
2. A Halfling is circling a big tree, cursing under his breath and waving a stick. He informs the party that a squirrel has stolen his silver tobacco pipe, and he asks for help getting it back.
3. The party sees the nest of a male bowerbird woven out of grass and willow sticks and decorated with colorful feathers. The bird scatters in fear when it sees the party approach, leaving the array of pretty objects it’s found to attract a mate unguarded. There’s a lot of stuff, though – requires an Appraise check DC 12 to tell what’s valuable and what isn’t.
4. The party comes upon a merchant whose wagon is stuck in a rut after a recent rain. He asks for their aid in getting him back on the road (probably a couple Strength checks.)
5. The party finds a hastily abandoned camp with patches of dark bloodstained earth here and there. There are clawed footprints all over the place. A DC 12 Search check reveals a bundle thrown under a nearby bush.
6. An old Dwarven man living in a cave greets the party warmly and offers them a chance to rest up “if one of you will indulge an old Dwarf in a game of chess.” The board he offers to play upon is carved into the top of the boulder, and the pieces are exquisite. – d20 rolloff, add Wisdom mod, give the old man a +1 or +2 – if players win, he is impressed and hands out some kind of treasure and/or quest clue
7. The party encounters a partially burned overturned cart stuck with arrows that were originally flaming. There are no bodies around, but the ground is covered with booted footprints. Righting the cart will give access to its contents and maybe a clue about the owner (Strength checks.)
8. While walking across a field one party member’s steps through the covered roof of a dry well filled with old rickety scaffolding. The bottom of the well has a small cache of supplies, but will require a Climb check to get down there – and blowing it will cause the scaffolding to fall. Investigating the cache will yield treasure of the DM’s choice as well as a sheaf of notes written by someone who was really paranoid that “They” were going to find all this stuff.
9. The party encounters a human woman wearing heavy armor who is examining the hoof of her warhorse and she looks very worried. The animal has thrown a shoe and also has a cut in the sole of its hoof, and she’s afraid the animal will get in infection and have to be put down. Heal check, Cure light or similar to resolve.
10. The party encounters two kobold sages, one with bronze-tinged scales and the other with blue. They are arguing over what answer best suits the following riddle:
I have heard of something wax in a corner,
swell and pop, lift up the covers.
A proud-minded woman seized with her hands
that boneless thing, a prince’s daughter;
covered with her dress the swelling thing.
The correct answer is “dough” (sauce: the Exeter Book.) The kobolds will accept a sufficiently amusing or fitting answer as correct since they don’t know the right answer, either; DM discretion, award loots depending on inventiveness or hilarity of answer.
11. A huge lush green patch of clover covering a small clearing. The leaves of the clover are splashed with brilliant color – recently, this place was the end of a rainbow. Allow each player a Search Check against a DC of 12. Success means they find and pick a 4 leaf clover, receiving +1 to all attacks and saves for the next 24 hours.
12. The party is walking along minding their own business when they hear three loud pops and smell the strong odor of brimstone. A fearsome looking but beautiful female creature that’s six feet tall with ice blue skin, jagged devil horns, and heavy eagle wings appears (It’s an Erinyes, a CR 8 LE devil from the SRD.) She’s wearing very formal black and silver pinstriped robes in addition to her usual weapons and armor, has her hair in a crisp bun, and is carrying a notebook bound in a questionable-looking skin. She holds up one claw – she’s not here to fight the party, but introduces herself as a hellish paralegal who works for the law offices of Reck and Ruwin. She wishes to ask “a few professional questions” about the standard practices of adventuring parties. If the party answers her and isn’t a bunch of jerks, she will pay them “their consultation fee” (DM choice, buffs or treasure or both) and disappear in three loud bangs.
a. Example questions:
a.i. When you encounter a sealed tomb of someone who is noble or royal-born, is it typical to reseal the tomb after it has been examined?
a.ii. If you encounter sanctified ground that has been consecrated in the name of a deity that is antithetical to yours, is it standard practice to claim ownership of the property by consecrating it in the name of your own deity?
a.ii.1. And what rights and responsibilities are typically conferred and assumed?
a.iii. What is the assumed difference between legal casualties and murder victims when sapient species are attacked in a state of undeclared war?
a.iii.1. What constitutes “self-defense” in the context of a well-armed and well-trained experienced adventuring party?
13. An enormous golden hawk flies overhead with a metallic clatter. It drops 1d6 golden feathers marked with the sign of a solar god. They are worth 100 gp each.
14. An elderly Halfling gentleman is standing on a low bridge over a cheerful little river fiddling with his fishing pole, and the line trails into the water. He plaintively asks for help; that’s his favorite fishing lure caught under the log down there in the river, and he’ll be very upset if he goes home without it. He’ll happily trade DM’s choice of items if “one of you strong adventurers” can retrieve it for him.
15. The party encounters two husky half orc boys, the older one beating the dogsnot out of the younger one while snapping “Dad is going to kill us!” After the party tears the two apart, the older boy explains that the younger one “borrowed Dad’s special bola” and like an idiot he somehow got it lodged high up in a tree. Dad must be quite a guy – each stone for the bola is actually made out of lead and weighs almost eight pounds. The older boy begs the party to get it down before his Dad comes home, and he offers them “this neat thing he found” in exchange (or neat things, depending what DM wants to give.)