Fantasy Cave Encounters - Encounter Table, Details and Locations
Fantasy Dungeon Fantasy Encounter Tables Caves

Fantasy Cave Encounters - Encounter Table, Details and Locations

Duncan Thomson
" A tentacled ooze lurks in a deep pool of slime, near to a mosaic which may hold a vital clue. The ooze has a basic sentience, and can has a mental connection to a spellcasting ally nearby..."

Simple encounter tables for caves in any fantasy setting. Tables for Combined Cave Encounters, Cave Encounter Details and Cave Encounter Locations.

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[photo by Ivana Cajina on Unsplash]

Fantasy Cave Encounters

Caves in fantasy are the cave complex housing monsters or tribes of small humanoids. Places to rest for a night, lair of a giant, bear or dragon. Twisting caverns leading deep underground, with luminous fungi and beings comfortable in the darkness.

It's also a place of spores, cold, bats, ruins, outcasts, bones and secrets.

There is a fantasy encounter generator at ChaosGen. There is also a pdf of these and more tables at the DriveThruRPG as Cave Encounters.

Fantasy Cave Encounters on DriveThru RPG Fantasy Cave and Dungeon Tables Bundle on DriveThru RPG

Caves Combined Encounters

These reference Caves tables for Encounter Prompts, Hazards and NPCs

1d1010 Cave Encounter Prompts
1 a wall carved with poems in different languages or roll on Hazards
2 a solitary (or giant)...
d10 (1-2. bat swarm 3. cave bear 4. rat swarm 5. cave leopard
6. fungal slime 7. insect swarm 8. cave lion 9. spider swarm 10. lizard)
3 a goblin artist who is carving charms from bones or roll on NPCs
4 several (or a pair of)...
d10 (1-2. nonhuman warriors 3. fungi folk 4. dwarves 5. smugglers
6. troglodytes 7. goblins 8. skeletons 9. refugees 10. kobolds )
5 several giant beetles with glowing glands or roll on Enc. Descriptions
6 a few (or many)...
d10 (1-2. giant centipedes 3. fungal beasts 4. giant bats 5. shadow fey
6. giant rats 7. undead 8. giant beetles 9. red jellies 10. giant spiders)
7 a bloated corpse covered in bright blue fungi or roll on Hazards
8 something that lives in water, a(n)...
d10 (1-2. aquatic humanoid 3. stun jelly 4. drowned ghost
5. giant snake 6. few giant crabs 7. tentacled ooze
8. water spirit 9. sentient slime 10. few giant frogs )
9 a nature priest, keen to show off their fungal garden or roll on NPCs
10 a potential (or signs of a) danger, a(n)...
d10 (1-2. stone spirit 3. pack of ghouls 4. carnivorous fungi 5. basilisk
6. cave troll 7. wraith 8. earth elemental 9. spider-monster 10. cyclops)

Caves Encounter Details

Use 1d6 for beasts or non-sentient creatures.

1d10They are... (or one is...)
1 hiding from (or watching) a nearby threat or infected with disease
2 drinking from (or immersed in) a(n)...
d10 (1-2. deep pool 3. stream 4. waterfall 5. spring 6. lake's edge
7. enchanted pool 8. shallow pool 9. river 10. polluted pool )
3 attracted to (or afraid of) any source of light or being very quiet
4 investigating (or watching)...
d10 (1-2. a corpse 3. a glowing spider 4. a bright rock 5. a green slime
6. inscriptions 7. crude art 8. claw marks 9. a portal 10. dripping acid)
5 trapped in webs (or a rockfall); or connected to nearby creatures
6 consuming (or investigating) a fungi which is...
d10 (1-2. poisonous 3. glowing 4. intoxicating 5. healing 6. spiky
7. flammable 8. sentient 9. emitting spores 10. slimy )
7 making (or following) a map; or creating wall carvings
8 carrying mining tools (or lots of rope); or playing a game
9 guarding (or patrolling) the area; or lost
10 carving out rock or on high alert

Caves Encounter Locations

1d10AreaFeature
1 a stream of lit water (or acid) a crystal formation or many fireflies
2 lots of mud (or fiery moss) slimy webs, area of glowing fungi
3 fungal (or crystal) growths series of tiny tunnels or a mosaic
4 a deep pool of slime (water) pile of bones (or rocks); or an alcove
5 a cliff with steps (or fungi) a stalagmite (or stalactite) with rope
6 a raft on the edge of water hole to deep below (or a tomb)
7 fungal garden or a hot spring a way up or a recent collapse
8 a large cavern or a waterfall layer of ashes or set of stone shelves
9 flooded cave or chasm edge a bone shrine or a cairn of red stones
10 a cave of crystal (or marble) dangling rope or a fungal bridge

More Encounters

There is a fantasy encounter generator at ChaosGen. There is also a pdf of these and more tables at the DriveThruRPG as Cave Encounters.

Fantasy Cave Encounters on DriveThru RPG Fantasy Cave and Dungeon Tables Bundle on DriveThru RPG

If you liked these there are Fantasy Generators at Chaos Gen, a monthly random tools Newsletter and an instagram of Random Tables.