features might draw the characters’ attention, either before or during the fight? Why are monsters
lurking in this area to begin with — does it offer good hiding places, for instance?
To add details to an encounter area at random, look to the tables in appendix A of the Dungeon
Master’s Guide to determine room and area features, potential hazards, obstacles, traps, and
more.
Random Events
Consider what might happen in an encounter area if the characters were to never enter it. Do the
guards serve in shifts? What other characters or monsters might visit? Do creatures gather there
to eat or gossip? Are there any natural phenomena — such as strong winds, earth tremors, or rain
squalls — that sometimes take place in the area? Random events can add a fun element of the
unexpected to an encounter. Just when you think a fight’s outcome is evident, an unforeseen
event can make things more compelling.
A number of the tables in the Dungeon Master’s Guide can suggest random events. The tables
used for encounter location, weird locales, and wilderness weather in chapter 5 of that book are a
good starting point for outdoor encounters. The tables in appendix A can be useful for indoor and
outdoor encounters — especially the tables for obstacles, traps, and tricks. Finally, consult the
random encounter tables in the next section of this book for inspiration.
Quick Matchups
The guidelines above assume that you are concerned about balance in your combat encounters
and have enough time to prepare them. If you don’t have much time, or if you want simpler but
less precise guidelines, the Quick Matchups table below offers an alternative.
This table gives you a way to match a character of a certain level with a number of monsters. The
table lists the challenge ratings to use for including one, two, and four monsters per character for
each level. For instance, looking at the 3rd-level entry on the table, you can see that a CR 1/2
monster is equivalent to one 3rd-level character, as are two CR 1/4 monsters and four CR 1/8
ones.
Character Level 1 Monster 2 Monsters 4 Monsters
1st 1/4 1/8 —
2nd 1/2 1/4 —
3rd 1/2 1/4 1/8
4th 1 1/2 1/4
5th 2 1 1/2
6th 2 1 1/2
7th 3 1 1/2
8th 3 2 1