5. Adventuring Parties

Adventuring Parties

This procedure generates parties of NPC adventurers. As the process is fairly involved, referees may wish to pre-generate some NPC parties for use in random encounters. The following general details apply to all types of NPC parties described:

  • Spells: If spell casters are present, choose or roll their memorized spells.
  • Equipment: Normal adventuring gear.
  • Treasure: Treasure types U + V, shared among the group.
  • Marching order: Decided by the referee.

If the classes presented in this document are not used, the referee should replace the listed classes with equivalents in the campaign.

Basic Adventurers

  • Composition: 1d4+4 characters of random class and level (see below).
  • Alignment: Either roll the alignment of each NPC or roll once for the party.

Expert Adventurers

  • Composition: 1d6+3 characters of random class and level (see below).
  • Alignment: Either roll the alignment of each NPC or roll once for the party.
  • Mounts: 75% chance of being mounted, in the wilderness.
  • Magic items: Per individual: there is a chance of the NPC having a magic item from each suitable magic item sub-table (see Magic Items). The chance per sub-table is 5% per level of the NPC. Rolled items that the NPC cannot use should be ignored (no re-roll).

High-Level Cleric

A high-level cleric and party (Mounts and Magic Items as per Expert Adventurers.

  • Composition: Leader (cleric of level 1d6+6), 1d4 clerics (level 1d4+1), 1d3 fighters (level 1d6).
  • Alignment: Roll for the whole party.

High-Level Fighter

A high-level fighter and a group of retainers, often on their way to or from war (Mounts and Magic Items as per Expert Adventurers.

  • Composition: Leader (fighter of level 1d4+6), 2d4 retainers (level 1d4+2, any class).
  • Alignment: Roll for the whole party.

High-Level Magic-User

A high-level magic-user, accompanied by their apprentices and a group of hired guards, often on a quest for arcane lore (Mounts and Magic Items as per Expert Adventurers.

  • Composition: Leader (magic-user of level 1d4+6), 1d4 apprentices (magic-users of level 1d3), 1d4 mercenaries (fighters of level 1d4+1).
  • Alignment: Roll the leader’s alignment. The apprentices have the same alignment as the leader, but the mercenaries may be of different alignment.

NPC Adventurer Class and Level

Level
d8 Class Basic Expert
1 Cleric 1d3 1d6+3
2 Dwarf 1d3 1d6+6
3 Elf 1d3 1d6+2
4 Fighter 1d3 1d6+3
5 Fighter 1d3 1d6+5
6 Halfling 1d3 1d6+2
7 Magic-User 1d3 1d6+3
8 Thief 1d3 1d6+4

NPC Adventurer Alignment

d6 Alignment
1–2 Lawful
3–4 Neutral
5–6 Chaotic