Free tables Travel — encounters by terrain

Random Mountains Encounters and Travel Events — d20 Tables

Free d20 tables for mountains travel in 5e: twenty things to pass and twenty encounters, half of them not fights.

Most campaigns skip the mountains with "three days later, you arrive", because making up three days of it on the spot is work. These two tables do that work: something to see every day, and something that occasionally finds the party.

Each day, roll d20 on the first column for something the party passes. Then roll a d20 encounter check: on a 17 or higher, something finds them, so roll d20 on the second column. Make it 19 or higher on a quiet, patrolled road and 15 or higher somewhere nobody sensible goes. That works out to 10%, 20% or 30% a day.

About half the encounters aren't fights. A broken bridge or a lost traveller changes a journey just as much as wolves do, and it doesn't cost a spell slot. The fights use SRD creatures only, with their counts and challenge ratings, so you can rate them before anyone rolls initiative.

For the weather, don't roll fresh each day: that gives blizzard, sunshine, blizzard. Start somewhere mild and move it at most one step a day (better, the same, or worse on a d6: 1–2, 3–4, 5–6). Four days then read as a journey rather than a slot machine.

The table

20 results. Roll d20.

d20	On the way	If something finds them
1	A rope bridge over a gorge, three planks missing.	Harpies perch above the narrow path, singing. — 1d3+1 × Harpy (CR 1)
2	A frozen waterfall, even in summer.	A manticore has made its lair above the pass and fires tail spikes from the rocks. — 1 × Manticore (CR 3)
3	A monastery clinging to a cliff face, with no visible way up.	Giant goats defend their ledge, and the only path runs across it. — 1d4+1 × Giant Goat (CR 1/2)
4	The bones of something enormous, half-buried in scree.	Orc raiders hold the pass and want a toll in blood. — 1d6+2 × Orc (CR 1/2)
5	Goat tracks up a cliff no goat could climb.	A wyvern drops out of the clouds, hunting. — 1 × Wyvern (CR 6)
6	A line of cairns marking the pass, one of them fallen.	Berserkers of a mountain clan challenge the party's right to cross. — 1d4 × Berserker (CR 2)
7	A mine cart on rails that run straight into solid rock.	An ogre and his wolves guard a bridge they've decided is theirs. — 1 × Ogre (CR 2); 1d4 × Wolf (CR 1/4)
8	A glacier with something dark frozen deep inside it.	Giant eagles attack, convinced the party is after their eggs. — 1d3 × Giant Eagle (CR 1)
9	A cave mouth breathing out warm air.	A pair of griffons defend their nest beside the path. — 2 × Griffon (CR 2)
10	Prayer flags strung across the path, faded to white.	A stone giant is hurling rocks down the slope, and it isn't clear it's aiming at the party. — 1 × Stone Giant (CR 7)
11	An avalanche scar down an entire slope.	A patrol from a mountain hold demands to know the party's business.
12	An old road carved into the mountainside, its runes worn smooth.	The pass is snowed in. Digging through costs a day.
13	A lake so clear the party can see ruins on the bottom.	A lost climber dangles on a rope below the path, calling for help.
14	A hermit's cave with a fire burning and nobody home.	A mountain hermit offers to guide the party, for a price.
15	An eagle's nest on a ledge, with something glittering in it.	An avalanche starts on the slope above.
16	The boom of a distant rockfall, echoing for minutes.	A basket is lowered from the cliff monastery, with a note asking for news.
17	A statue of a king with its face chiselled off.	A frozen body lies beside the path, clutching a sealed letter.
18	Hot springs steaming in the snow.	A rockfall has cut the path, and a narrow ledge is the only way round.
19	Clouds below the party, hiding the valley.	A goatherd warns that the old pass is haunted.
20	A signal mirror flashing from a far peak.	A cave offers shelter from the storm, its walls covered in old paintings.

Questions

How often should I check for random encounters?

Once a day of travel is plenty for a montage. Checking every few hours is for when the journey IS the adventure, and it slows the table down fast.

Should every random encounter be a fight?

No. A road where everything is a fight teaches the players that travel is a tax. Half the results here are people, obstacles and discoveries for that reason.