Lair Encounters

What this is

When the expedition stumbles on a faction's lair in uncontrolled wilderness, this procedure determines whose lair it is and how much of the faction is still present.

Invoked by: Wilderness Encounters in an uncontrolled hex, or DM judgment.
Invokes: a faction template; Encounter Staging.
Returns to: Wilderness Encounters (or the calling procedure), once the lair is staged.

Step 1: Determine the lair's original owner

Roll or pick from the Regional Faction Table for the current terrain. The result is the faction whose lair the expedition encounters.

Step 2: Determine the lair's current occupants

The encountered lair may be occupied, abandoned, or have different creatures inside altogether.

Roll d100.

d100	Lair	Formations	Features	Treasure
01–35	Abandoned. The original lair occupants are long gone.	No formations.	No guardian features	Sparse or none
36–50	Squatted. A creature has moved into the empty lair.	No formations; Roll one creature/group from the Wilderness tables who now occupies lair	No guardian or trap features	By creature(s) encountered
51–80	Held. The lair is in active use.	All formations by the template	All features by the template	All treasure by the template
81–00	Diminished. The faction has been reduced to a leader and a few followers.	Leader formation and 1 support formation	No guardian features	Leader's share only

Use the faction template from step 1 to build the lair and occupants according to the result on the table.

Step 3: Stage the encounter

Invoke Encounter Staging (Lair column). Distance and grounds are produced; reaction and surprise do not apply to the sighting itself. If the party engages the inhabitants, stage that engagement as a separate wilderness encounter.

Regional Faction Tables

A region's Faction Table lists the faction templates whose lairs might be found there. Roll or pick. Bracketed entries are templates still in development.

Hill, Mountain, Wilderness

• Orc
• Cult
• Red Dragon
• [Goblin]
• [Hobgoblin]
• [Bugbear]

Forest

• Cult
• Orc
• [Goblin]
• [Bugbear]

Grassland and Civilized Fringe

• City Guard (rogue or remote outpost)
• Cult
• Orc (raiders)
• [Thieves Guild]
• [Goblin]

Coastal

• City Guard (harbor outpost)
• Cult
• [Thieves Guild] (pirates)
• [Sahuagin]

Underdark

• Beholder
• Kobold
• [Drow]
• [Grimlock]
• [Quaggoth]
• [Myconid]

Volcanic

• Red Dragon
• Kobold (lava theme)

Swamp

• Cult
• [Lizardfolk]
• [Sahuagin]

Arctic

• Cult
• [Frost Giant]

Desert

• Cult
• Orc

Sky

• Red Dragon
• [Cloud Giant]