Setting foot in the barren, chilling wilderness, adventurers not only need to brave the elements but face the monsters that dwell hidden in the blizzard. These tables are here to provide you with inspiration or random encounters to drop on your players and add some more life to the frozen wastelands of your worlds!
Sources
Each encounter focuses on a monster from throughout the D&D 5e library; to see what book or source they come from, you can consult the Book column. The sources unabbreviated sources are Basic Rules (BR), Monster Manual (MM), Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse (MPMM), Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden (RoF), Out of the Abyss (OoA), Volo’s Guide to Monsters (VGM), and Storm King’s Thunder (SKT).
Arctic Random Encounters
The following table provides random encounters for parties playing in various “tiers” of gameplay; they generally reflect encounters you can sculpt to work for tables within a level range. The Low-tier can work for levels 1-4, Mid-tier for levels 5-11, and the Upper-tier for levels 12+.
Low-Tier Adventuering Random Encounter Table
| d20 | Book | Encounter |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BR | A band of 2d4+2 bandits using snow drifts as cover to ambush travelers |
| 2 | BR | A group 1d6+3 of white kobolds scouting for food for their white dragon overlord |
| 3 | BR | 2d4 pesky ice mephits tormenting a traveling merchant and their horse |
| 4 | BR | A lone polar bear drove dire by a mysterious maddening curse |
| 5 | BR | 1d4+2 wood elf scouts fleeing a monstrous hunter |
| 6 | BR | 2d4+1 orcs celebrating a successful hunt over roasted mammoth |
| 7 | BR | A pair of disgraced veterans on the run from arrest for deserting |
| 8 | BR | A lone wounded giant snow owl with a mysterious note tied to its leg |
| 9 | BR | A wounded winter wolf who barely survived a fight against a pair of polar bears |
| 10 | BR | A lone yeti on the hunt for food |
| 11 | MM | 1d4+1 white winged kobolds fleeing with stolen goods from a ship on the coast |
| 12 | MM | One wounded young remorhaz nesting in the ruins of a watchtower |
| 13 | MPMM | 1d6+2 gnoll witherlings breaching through the snow that killed them |
| 14 | RoF | A lost young white griffon whose mother is missing |
| 15 | MPMM | A dragonborn scout and their white guard drake |
| 16 | RoF | 2d4+1 tribal warrior spore servants possessed by a cold-resistant black fungi |
| 17 | BR | A grey-feathered griffon searching for its lost child |
| 18 | MPMM | 1d4+2 gnoll hunters starving and looking for fresh meat |
| 19 | BR | A manticore patrolling the skies for an easy meal |
| 20 | BR | Two sabertooth tigers tracking a band of hunters |
Mid-Tier Adventuring Random Encounter Table
| d20 | Book | Encounter |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BR | 1d4+1 manticores hunting for easy food in a recent avalanche |
| 2 | BR | A young white dragon ravaging a nomadic caravan |
| 3 | BR | 1d6+2 druids and their mammoth pack animal traveling to a sacred site |
| 4 | SKT | A frost giant and its winter wolf companion tracking mammoth prey |
| 5 | BR | Two mammoths fending off a pack of 2d4+1 sabertooth tigers |
| 6 | BR | A pack of 1d6+2 winter wolves tracking a wounded white dragon |
| 7 | BR | Three trolls fighting to eat the juiciest bits of the dead dragon wyrmling |
| 8 | BR | Two bandit captains with 2d6+2 bandits camped at a crucial glacial pass |
| 9 | MM | 1d4+2 yetis following an abominable yeti assaulting a mining company |
| 10 | MM | Three revenants hunting a distant noble that sent their exploring party to its death |
| 11 | OaA | A two-headed troll and its 1d6+1 orges reveling in a town they’ve pillaged |
| 12 | MPMM | A bheur hag and her 1d4+2 pine dryad servants |
| 13 | RoF | Three ice trolls protecting a huge mysterious statue |
| 14 | MPMM | Two shoosuva mounted by arctic gnoll death priests |
| 15 | MPMM | A frost salamander and 1d6+3 symbiotic ice mephits drawn to a festival |
| 16 | MPMM | 1d4+1 lost sorrowsworn, manifested by doomed traveling caravans |
| 17 | VGM | A flind leading a warband of 2d4 gnoll witherlings and 1d6+2 gnoll hunters |
| 18 | MPMM | 1d4+1 winter eladrin on a journey to find a magical elemental nexus |
| 19 | MPMM | A pair of boneclaws stationed to guard a cragged crevice leading to a lich’s lair |
| 20 | MPMM | A clan of 2d4+2 polar wearbears who’ve formed a thriving fishing village |
Upper-Tier Adventuring Random Encounter Table
| d12 | Book | Encounter |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | BR | A pair of rocs protecting their nest with 2d4+2 griffons who share the clifftops |
| 2 | BR | An adult white dragon and its cohort of 4d8+6 white-scaled kobolds |
| 3 | BR | 1d4+3 orgres and 1d4 frost giant overlords planning to assault a port |
| 4 | BR | Two remorhaz threatening to destroy a settlement of pilgrims building a new life |
| 5 | MM | Four abominable yetis on a warpath through humanoid settlements |
| 6 | MM | 3d6+2 orogs led by a frost giant warleader set on capturing a port for its ships |
| 7 | MPMM | A death bheur hag coven protected by their army of 2d12+ 8 frozen skeletons |
| 8 | MPMM | A frost giant everlasting one and its two frost giant guards hunting trolls |
| 9 | MPMM | 1d4+2 frost salamanders and a water elemental conjured to defend a tower |
| 10 | MPMM | Two dire trolls who have decimated all wildlife within ten miles of their camp |
| 11 | SKT | 2d4+1 frost giants conscripted by an ancient white dragon |
| 12 | MPMM | An elder tempest has been released by an elemental cult |
