Random Anything Tables

FWIW… One method of making random generation tables for whatever you want.

There is a school of thought which says using random generation tables is lazy. Real DMs choose treasure and opponents for their players, leaving only ability scores and skill checks and hit/damage rolls to chance, or somesuch.

Another school says that’s hogwash, and while choosing is good it’s not always necessary or fun. We have thousands of monsters and items to choose from these days, and nobody wants to rely solely on the DM’s memory. Also: fate is capricious, and that’s best represented by a roll of the dice.

I would add that dice are highly overrated when it comes to wading through tables of monsters and treasure. Excel can be bent to the task, and the result is much speedier and causes less risk of carpal tunnel.

Finally, the same empowerment which enables a DM to pick certain monsters and treasure also says that if you don’t like Excel’s suggestions you can roll again or pick the ones you like.

Why is Excel necessary or advisable? Because, using treasure as an example, the tables in the DMG are terrible. In fact, the tables in every published source are crap. They’re crap by necessity, because (1) they generally include only the items which are described in that particular source; (2) the tables are designed to be used with dice, which means that regardless of whether there are 5 items or 50 items on the table everything has to fit in the same 1-100 or (occasionally in 2e) 1-1000 range; and (3) the author didn’t waste a lot of time on making sure that the tables were logical. As a result of #2 and #3 we get tables that give equal probability for a ring of minor energy resistance (12,000 gp) and a ring of wizardry IV (100,000 gp). I’ll admit that the 3e DMG tables are better than most, generally giving higher probabilities to the items which appear higher on the list, but the assumption/requirement that dice are going to be involved yields unhelpful tables.

So, Excel.

I’m going to outline a simple table to randomly generate rings. Okay, as randomly as Excel can manage. I’m not going to just upload the spreadsheet somewhere, because that’s more work than it needs to be, and because the whole point of this is that you can edit the table to add rings from other sources… and in order to edit the table you should understand how it’s put together.

Planning: Factors

You need to decide what makes some things more common than others. I start with GP value for magic items, because it’s quick and logical. If you’re making a table for monsters, let’s say a wandering monster table for CR 7 monsters in a forest, you might want to decide how you’re going to differentiate them from each other. It can be arbitrary… that’s fine. You should have something, though, to make it more interesting than 1 point for each monster and a simple 1-17 roll, or whatever it turns out to be.

Creating the Table

Here’s a step-by-step process for making this type of table. First is obviously opening Excel.

This example is a table of minor magical rings, based on Table 7-18 on page 231 of the 3.5e DMG.

I’ll put in some headers first… they’re not necessary, but I sometimes go months without looking at a table and then have to puzzle through what I was thinking when I made it. Headers go on row 4 because there are going to be values in B2 and C2 so I’m leaving space for those.

In cell B4, I enter %low. C4: Item. D4: GP. E4: Factor. F4: Freq. G4: %hi.

Next is the items and gp values. C5: protection +1. D5: 2000. C6: feather falling. D6: 2200. I proceed down the list to water walking in C19 and 15000 in D19.

I enter =1/d5 in E5, and copy that down to E19. The values range from .0005 to 6.67E-05.

Now the real guts of the table. I skip over to I5 and enter this formula: =max(d5:d19). Right below that in I6: =min(stdev.p(d5:d19),min(d5:d19)*0.5). I7: =1/(i5-i6). I8: =1/i5.

Here’s the magic of the table, for me. In J5: =max(1/(i7-i8),1/i8). J5 now contains the value 210000.

Back over to F5: =roundup(e5*j$5,0). Copy this down to F19.

G5: =sum(f$5:f5). Copy this down to G19. The values in this column will increase from 42 at the top to 307 at the bottom.

Now up to B2: =roundup(rand()*g19,0).

C2: =concatenate(“Ring of “,vlookup(b2,b$5:c$19,2)).

Using It

Hit F9 a few times. If everything is entered properly (and if I typed everything right) you should see C2 printing randomly generated rings.

Similar tables can be made for “medium” and “major” rings, and the resulting revamp of Table 7-18 can be seen here.

If that seems like a lot of work for an underwhelming result, bear in mind that there’s no limit to the number of items you can put in the table. 5,000 different rings? No problem; they can all be given a logical frequency and random generation still takes only an instant.

And adding items is easier than making scrambled eggs. Just insert a row (ctrl+shift+insert) and type in the name and value, then copy down the formulas from the row above. Make sure column B is copied down to the row beneath the one you just inserted, or else it will get weird.

For those who care, the reason I think J5 is so cool is that it ensures that as long as you have at least two different gp values on the table, you’ll get a range of probabilities. Even if Excel has to multiply by really big numbers to do it. This is cool because part of the problem with restricting your magic item generation to a d100 table is that rounding and the limitations of the available range cause broad swaths of items to have the same probability even though they shouldn’t. Excel solves that problem neatly, and also rolls up as many values as you want very quickly. Copy cells B2 and C2 to 10 or 20 other cells, and you have 10 or 20 random rings. B2 and C2 can also be combined into one cell: =concatenate(“Ring of “,vlookup(roundup(rand()*g19,0),b$5:c$19,2))

You may decide that GP value is not the way you want to differentiate probabilities in your game. Cool; pick something else and plug those values into column D. Fiddle with the formula in column E if you want to. J5 helps keep things orderly.

Table 7-18: Rings (3.5e)

This is a modification of Table 7-18 on page 231 of the 3.5e DMG using an Excel worksheet which I outline here. The point here was to assign probabilities based on the GP value of the item, resulting in a more logical table than the too-constrained 1d100 table in the DMG.

Minor Medium Major Ring Market Price
1-105 protection 2000
106-201 feather falling 2200
202-285 climbing 2500
286-369 jumping 2500
370-453 sustenance 2500
454-537 swimming 2500
538-590 1-85 counterspells 4000
591-617 86-128 mind shielding 8000
129-171 protection 8000
618-642 172-211 force shield 8500
643-667 212-251 the ram 8600
252-285 climbing 10000
286-319 jumping 10000
320-353 swimming 10000
668-687 354-385 animal friendship 10800
688-705 386-414 1-539 energy resistance 12000
706-722 415-441 chameleon power 12700
723-736 442-464 water walking 15000
540-899 protection 18000
465-483 900-1259 spell storing 18000
484-500 1260-1583 invisibility 20000
501-517 1584-1907 wizardry 20000
518-531 1908-2166 evasion 25000
532-545 2167-2425 x-ray vision 25000
546-558 2426-2665 blinking 27000
2666-2864 wishes 32650
2865-3026 freedom of movement 40000
3027-3156 friend shield 50000
3157-3286 shooting stars 50000
3287-3373 telekinesis 75000
3374-3445 regeneration 90000
3446-3511 spell turning 98280
3512-3563 djinni calling 125000
3564-3596 elemental command 200000

House Rule: Permanency

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.


At a Glance

This is a house rule affecting the permanency spell in the Xaeyruudh campaign.


The Xaeyruudh Campaign

This is an idea I had tonight; it hasn’t been tested and I’m not going to insist on it. What permanency really needs is a system for determining which spells can be made permanent. Maybe I’ll get around to it eventually.

There are a couple of modifications/clarifications of this spell.

  • Minimum Caster Level
  • XP Cost
Minimum Caster Level (MCL)

In 3.5 (PH page 260) the MCL is equal to SL+8. So you need to be at least 9th level to make a 1st-level spell permanent, and at least 17th level to make a 9th-level spell permanent. The problem I have with this is that it makes things too easy. At 15th level, a wizard can create a prismatic wall that lasts 10 minutes per level… 2-and-a-half hours. However, he also knows how to make it permanent. It just seems to me that some extra study and experience should be necessary before one can arbitrarily make all of one’s spells permanent.

So, in the Xaeyruudh campaign, the MCL for making a spell permanent is equal to that spell’s MCL+4. In the case of prismatic wall, a wizard can make his prismatic wall permanent only after reaching level 19.

There’s a difference between casting spells on unoccupied space and casting spells on people. The MCL for making a spell permanent on yourself is equal to that spell’s MCL+6. For instance, wizard could make a globe of invulnerability permanent at level 17.

Finally, the MCL for making a spell permanent on someone else is equal to that spell’s MCL+8. A sorcerer can cast hold person at level 6… and make it permanent at level 14.

XP Cost

In all cases, the XP cost of making a spell permanent is based on that spell’s CL x SL x 100. For example, when a 5th level wizard casts water breathing, that spell can be rendered permanent by another wizard of at least 13th level, who will “pay” 1500 XP to do so.


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House Rule: Darkness

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

At a Glance

This is a house rule affecting the darkness spell in the Xaeyruudh campaign.

The Xaeyruudh Campaign

There are a few modifications/clarifications of this spell.

  • Range
  • Area
  • The definition of darkness
Range

The range of the spell is changed to Medium (100 ft + 10 ft per level), with the restriction that the caster must have line-of-sight to the target. You cast the spell at a space, not at an object.

Area

The effect of the spell is changed to a 20-foot radius spread. Unlike fireball —which basically creates 33,510 cubic feet of fire, which smooshes into the available space— darkness affects a sphere with a radius of 20 feet… the same 33,510 cubic feet, but no smooshing. If you’re more than 20 feet from the center of the darkness effect, you’re not surrounded by darkness.

The Definition of Darkness

A spherical space, 20 feet in diameter, becomes dark. Pitch black; impenetrable to normal vision, low-light vision, infravision (if you’re using a ruleset that includes that), and darkvision. Torches lit within the darkness or carried into the darkness are not extinguished, and they still produce heat and ignite flammable things normally, but their light cannot be seen. Nothing within the sphere can be seen from outside the sphere. From any position within the darkness, nothing can be seen, either within or outside the darkness. This magical darkness can be dispelled normally by dispel magic and similar spells, but it is not dispelled by light-related spells. Casting a light spell in the space occupied by a darkness spell (or vice versa) creates a region where magical and nonmagical methods of vision are partially effective. If the light has a higher spell level than the darkness, vision (including low-light, infravision, and darkvision) is restored by an amount equal to 10% per spell level of difference.

Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

House Rule: Bless Water

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.


At a Glance

This is a house rule affecting the bless water and curse water spells in the Xaeyruudh campaign.


The Xaeyruudh Campaign

The terms holy water and unholy water are applied to any water which has been consecrated/desecrated with respect to a faith, although for the sake of clarity the specific faith must be included in the item description. Sect is, in this case, irrelevant.

There are two modifications/clarifications of this spell.

  • bless water
  • curse water
Bless Water

This spell consecrates water to the caster’s faith. The result is holy water if used by someone of the caster’s faith, or normal (though refreshing and sweet) water for anyone else.

Curse Water

This spell desecrates water with respect to the caster’s faith. The result is unholy water if used by someone of the caster’s faith, and normal (though foul-tasting) water for everyone else.


Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

House Rule: Create Water

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

At a Glance

This is a house rule affecting the create water spell in the Xaeyruudh campaign.

The Xaeyruudh Campaign

For now this is just a clarification of volume, etc.

This spell creates up to two gallons of water per caster level. Assuming US units, a gallon is 128 ounces, and 231 cubic inches in volume.

Caster
Level
Cube
(inches)
Sphere
(diam, inches)
1 7.7 9.6
2 9.7 12.1
3 11.1 13.8
4 12.3 15.2
5 13.2 16.4
6 14.0 17.4
7 14.8 18.3
8 15.5 19.2
9 16.1 20.0
10 16.7 20.7

Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

House Rule: Consecrate

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

At a Glance

This is a house rule affecting the consecrate and desecrate spells in the Xaeyruudh campaign.

The Xaeyruudh Campaign

This spell infuses an area with the essence of the caster’s deity.

There are a few modifications/clarifications of this spell.

  • desecrate
  • turning undead
  • disruption of undead
  • material component
Desecrate

The curse effect is removed from this spell; that becomes the function of the desecrate spell. It is not possible to consecrate an area containing an altar dedicated to a deity not allied with the caster’s. If that altar is desecrated first, the area may then be consecrated to the caster’s deity.

Turning Undead

Clerics of the caster’s faith gain a +3 sacred/profane bonus to Charisma checks made to turn/rebuke undead. Others suffer a -3 sacred/profane penalty to turning/rebuking attempts.

Disruption

Undead animated by or loyal to the caster’s deity gain a +1 bonus to attacks, damage, and saves. Others suffer a -1 penalty to those rolls.

Material Component

The components are a vial of holy water and 25 gp worth of silver dust, which must be sprinkled around the area to be consecrated.

The area of effect is a 20 ft radius, which is approximately 1250 square feet.

Silver is 10490 kg per cubic meter, which translates to roughly 655 lbs per cubic foot. 25 gp worth of silver dust is 250 coins, or about 5 lbs, or about 13 cubic inches assuming that it’s very fine dust. This is a cube approximately 2.4 inches on a side, or a sphere about 3 inches in diameter.

Theoretically, if the silver dust is not gathered back up after the spell expires, that area could be reconsecrated (to any deity) without additional silver dust being expended. Another vial of holy water would be required, though.

Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

House Rule: Atonement

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.


At a Glance

This is a house rule affecting the atonement spell in the Xaeyruudh campaign.


The Xaeyruudh Campaign

Atonement is granted by use of this spell only for deeds which are against the ethos of the caster’s faith. This is simply a clarification of common sense: it would be ludicrous for a LG paladin to receive atonement from a CE priest.

Thus, best results are achieved by receiving atonement from a caster of the recipient’s faith, and more precisely the same sect of that faith.


Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

House Rule: Changestaff

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.


At a Glance

This is a house rule affecting the changestaff spell in the Xaeyruudh campaign.


The Xaeyruudh Campaign

Many temples of nature-related powers (including Isis) keep at least a few prepared changestaves hidden around the building and grounds. They may sell extra staves to adventurers who perform valuable services for the temple.

There are four modifications/clarifications of this spell.

  • type of wood
  • size of creature and staff
  • hit dice of creature
  • crafting time
Type of wood

The changestaff can be crafted from any kind of wood which will hold the right shape; maple is a fine choice, willow isn’t. The treant-like creature created by the spell will resemble the tree the staff was taken from.

Size of Creature and Staff

A changestaff is not a quarterstaff. For one thing it’s much more carefully decorated, but more importantly it’s thicker. A six-foot quarterstaff is probably about an inch-and-a-half thick, while a six-foot changestaff is six inches in diameter.

The creature created by activating the staff will stand about four times the height of (two size categories larger than) the staff. It will be proportional to other trees of the same type, but a rule of thumb is diameter equals one inch for each foot of height.

  • A staff cut to be wielded by a Small creature becomes a Large treant-like creature
  • Medium staff –> Huge creature
  • Large staff –> Gargantuan creature
  • Huge or larger staff –> Colossal creature

Note that using the staff involves “planting” it. In this case, that doesn’t mean burying part of the staff in the ground; a shovel will not help. It means the caster has to be able to pick up the staff, hold it in one or both hands, and drive it forcefully against the ground — not to break it, and it’s not necessary to stab it into the ground. Think Gandalf and “you shall not pass” …without needing to break the bridge.

There’s theoretically nothing stopping a 3 foot tall halfling from employing a Huge changestaff to conjure a Colossal treant… but somehow that halfling has to be able to lift and “plant” a staff that’s many times bigger than he is.

Hit Dice of Creature

The creature created by activating the staff will have 1 HD for each 4 feet of height, rounded down.

Crafting Time

Crafting the changestaff has a DC of 20, plus 1 per foot of length.

Curing and shaping the staff requires 1 day per inch of diameter. Additional time for carving and polishing is determined by the DC.

Examples

As noted above, the one-inch-per-foot rule applies to both the staff and the created creature.

A medium-size changestaff might be 7 feet tall, 7 inches in diameter, and produce a treant-like creature 28 feet tall, 28 inches in diameter, with 7 HD.

A huge-size changestaff could be 30 feet tall, 30 inches in diameter, and produce a creature 120 feet tall, 10 feet in diameter, with 30 HD.


Source


Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.

Gold Per Encounter

This information is intended for use with the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game.

I started on a better pricing scheme for bracers of armor but then realized that the reason behind the wonkiness of the official tables is that there is supposed to be a huge jump in the amount of gold characters are acquiring after level 20 versus before level 20. Well, I’m here to tell (and show) you that the huge jump is a myth. Yes, the “gp per encounter” number is higher at 21 than it was at 20, but not enough to justify “epic” magic items suddenly costing 10x as much. Epic items really aren’t all that epic, either, but that’s another post.

So I realized that before talking about bracers of armor, it was important to establish the budget PCs will have access to. Thus, the first progression to improve is the Treasure Values per Encounter table found on page 51 of the DMG 3.5 and Epic Treasure Values per Encounter on page 122 of the ELH.

Why?

The reason for doing this is simple… there’s no unified formula behind the official tables. I think there’s a hodgepodge of formulas used at different levels, but I don’t like hodgepodge. I like consistency. And in this particular case at least, I can approximate the hodgepodge fairly closely with a single formula that results in a smoother graph and —importantly for me— the peace of mind that comes from knowing how the numbers came to be in the table.

What’s the benefit to PCs?

More gold per encounter, from levels 7-18 and 25-40, and even when it’s slightly less from 18-24 it’s still very close. Overall, you’ll finish every level after 10 with slightly more gold using my table than you would have with the official tables.

What’s the benefit to NPCs (the DM)?

That means more gold for NPC gear too, which could mean they last longer against PCs and can put up more of a fight.

TL;DR

For any PC level:

(level cubed) x 0.11125 x 75 = gp per encounter.

Okay… hit me.

Part of the problem with deriving a formula was that the first several levels use an artificial lower limit of 300 gp per level.

I’ve wondered for a long time how they came up with the GP per encounter and “starting gold” numbers. It starts out easy— 300 gp per encounter at level 1, 600 at level 2, 900 at level 3, 1200 at level 4… character level, multiplied by 300 gp per encounter. I’m liking this. Then it goes to heck, ending up at 4,000 gp per encounter times the character level at level 20. And the rate at which this value improves is not continued at level 21 on the ELH table. That shoots down that idea.

Another problem, as you’ll notice on this graph, is that there’s a dimple… a rise in gold per level at 20. Note that while the gold per level is lower on my table, the total amount of gold you’ve acquired thus far is still higher at each level.

Then I thought maybe it’s based on XP rather than directly on level. Well, it’s not —at least not strictly— but that does provide the starting point for my replacement table. At level 40, the ELH table says give the PCs 534,000 gp per encounter. First, I’ll state the obvious: that’s a ridiculous amount of gold. Moving on, it’s also exactly 178 times the XP value of an encounter at level 40. Right… XP per encounter x 178 = GP per encounter… at level 40. That’s definitely not true at lower levels. So where is this number coming from?

178 is close to 160. In fact, it’s 160 x 1.1125… which is a weird number but oddly specific, so I ran with it. I started with CL^2 / 10. This equals, for example, 10 at level 10, 40 at level 20, 90 at level 30, and 160 at level 40. Then I multiplied by the mystical 1.1125. This yields, as noted, 178 at level 40. That means at level 40 this calculation will give us exactly the 534,000 gp per encounter that the official rules suggest… cool!

However, it’s a fair point that most gaming groups are probably not playing at level 40, and my table is way off from levels 10-13. In those cases, though, my formula gives the PCs more gold than the official tables —11106 vs 7500 per encounter at level 11; that’s almost 150% of the official amount— and it also means that NPCs of those levels have a bigger budget for their gear which could make for tougher fights, so I doubt anyone will complain about that. Complaints are going to come at levels 1-6, where my formulas give the PCs much less gold per level than the official tables. So, to remove PC complaints, I tentatively suggest using the official tables through level 6, after which the players should be mostly happier with my numbers. The counterpoint is that my numbers are more realistic, even if they’re less fun… no DM in his right mind would give a trio of goblins (CR 1) 100 gold apiece worth of gear and coins. The 8 gold my formula comes up with for that encounter is a lot more reasonable.

Even using my calculations from the beginning, PCs will accumulate 10% more gold by the time they finish level 10, 7% more than the official tables by level 20, 4% more at level 30, and 5% more at level 40.

Level XP/E GP/E (official) GP/E (calc)
1 75 300 8
2 150 600 66
3 225 900 225
4 300 1200 534
5 375 1600 1042
6 450 2000 1802
7 525 2600 2861
8 600 3400 4272
9 675 4500 6082
10 750 5800 8343
11 825 7500 11105
12 900 9800 14418
13 975 13000 18331
14 1050 17000 22895
15 1125 22000 28160
16 1200 28000 34176
17 1275 36000 40992
18 1350 47000 48660
19 1425 61000 57229
20 1500 80000 66750
21 1575 77271
22 1650 88844
23 1725 101518
24 1800 115344
25 1875 130371
26 1950 146649
27 2025 164230
28 2100 183162
29 2175 203495
30 2250 225281
31 2325 248568
32 2400 273408
33 2475 299849
34 2550 327942
35 2625 357738
36 2700 389286
37 2775 422635
38 2850 457838
39 2925 494942
40 3000 534000

Where’s the rest of the table?

The GP per encounter numbers are available on the SRD up to level 20, but not after that point. I don’t know if it’s okay to list the values from the ELH or not, so I’m erring on the side of caution. I will say that from level 21 onward, if you compare the “total gold accrued so far” my values give between 100% and 106% of the numbers derived from the official table.

I know it weakens my case to not show the numbers from 21-40, because at level 20 I’m giving the PCs 17% less gold than the official table, but that changes at level 25… as you should see on the graph.

Disclaimer

Wizards of the Coast, Dungeons & Dragons, D&D, Forgotten Realms, and their logos are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast LLC in the United States and other countries. This blog is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC.