Random encounter table for Psionic monsters - underground, above ground, and astral

[Well, there is no W psionic monster, so today I am going with this]

The DMG recommends that anytime psionics or psionic-like spells are used, there is a 1 in 4 chance that the next random encounter will be with a psionic monster.

Here are some exapanded tables of my devising, with all 1e psionic monsters included

Psionic Encounter Tables

Underground

01-05 Aboleth

06 Agathion

07 Baku

08-11 Brain mole

12-15 Cerebral parasite

16 Couatl

17-20 Crysmal

21-24 Demon, major (type 5 or 6)

25-29 Demon, minor (type 1-4)

30-31 Demon, prince

32 Deva/Planetar/Solar

33-34 Devil, arch

35-39 Devil, greater

40-50 Duergar

51 Enveloper

52-55 Githyanki

56-57 Githzerai

58-62 Gray ooze

63 Hollyphant

64-70 Intellect Devourer

71-75 Lich

76-80 Men (human psionic)

81-84 Mind Flayer

85 Modron

86-88 Mold, yellow

89 Shedu

90 Slaad

91-94 Su-monster

95 Thought Eater

96 Titan

97 Ustilagor

98 Vagabond

99 Xagya & Xegyi

00 Yochlol

Above Ground

01-05 Algoid

06-07 Agathion

08-09 Baku

10-15 Brain mole

16-20 Cerebral parasite

21-25 Couatl

26-29 Demon, major (type 5 or 6)

30-34 Demon, minor (type 1-4)

35-36 Demon, prince

37 Deva/Solar/Planetar

38-39 Devil, arch

40-44 Devil, greater

45-46 Elemental Princes

47 Enveloper

48 Foo Creatures

49 Githyanki

50 Githzerai

51 Gray ooze

52-53 Hollyphant

54 Intellect Devourer

55-59 Ki-rin

60 Lich

61-70 Men (human psionic)

71 Mind Flayer

72 Modrons

73-75 Mold, yellow

76 Opinicus

77 Phoenix

78-80 Shedu

81 Slaad

82-86 Su-monster

87 Thought Eater

88-89 Titan

90 Ustilagor

91-92 Vagabond

93-94 Xagya & Xegyi

95Yochlol

96-00 Yuan Ti

Astral Plane

01-03 Agathion

04-05 Baku

06-12 Cerebral parasite

13-15 Couatl

16-18 Demon, major (type 5 or 6)

19-24 Demon, minor (type 1-4)

25-26 Demon, prince

27-33 Deva/Planetar/Solar

34-35 Devil, arch

36-40 Devil, greater

41-42 Foo Creatures

43-52 Githyanki

53-59 Githzerai

60-61 Hollyphant

62 Intellect Devourer

63-64 Ki-rin

65-67 Lich

68-73 Men (human psionic)

74-79 Mind Flayer

80 Modron

81 Opinicus

82 Phoenix

83-84 Shedu

85-87 Slaad

88-91 Thought Eater

92 Titan

93-94 Vagabond

95-96 Xagya & Xegyi

97-99 Yochlol

00 Yuan Ti

The original table was confined to 1e MM:

01-05 Brain mole

06-12 Cerebral parasite

13-15 Couatl

16-18 Demon, major (type 5 or 6)

19-24 Demon, minor (type 1-4)

25-26 Demon, prince

27-28 Devil, arch

29-34 Devil, greater

35-38 Gray ooze

39-48 Intellect Devourer

49-51 Ki-rin

52-56 Lich

57-62 Men (human psionic)

63-69 Mind Flayer

70-72 Mold, yellow

73-82 Shedu

83-92 Su-monster

93-98 Titan

99-00 Triton

Food Chain Competition in game play

Watching one of those National Geographic shows about food-chain competition on the African savana really got me thinking. Monster combat in the D&D world would certainly not be a "one and done" event.

If you are a cheatah on the savanna, you have mere minutes to feast on your kill before some tougher beasts arrive to take it from you. It can really go in cycles too, and depend on numbers, leading to a number of "chain battles".

The vulture pack might show up first, but then the dogs. Then the lions. Then the hyenas. Anywhere near water? Crocs are a sure bet to be on the prowl too. See what I mean? A bunch of different groups arrive at once and it turns into a total clusterfuck. A D&D world is going to be even more competitive and full of would-be alpha predators.

The rule book recommends a 1 in 6 chance of a random night time encounter, checked once per night. But how does that stack up against your experience, for example, camping in a forest? Better not have any food in your tent, because bears WILL sniff it out. How much more danger would you face in a magically-enhanced forest, full of magical uber-predators??? I'd say at least one encounter a night is guaranteed, especially if the party didn't take means to cloak their presence.

Anyway, after a deadly battle with animals or monsters in the wilderness, you can EXPECT the alpha predators to show up, it is GUARANTEED. Simply roll a 1d20 for rounds till they get there, and a 1d12 for type of monster. Roll 1d4 for how many times this will happen, i.e. how many different alpha predators will show up.

Alpha predator table

1 - Humanoid/barbarian hunting party
2 - Bear family (incl. werebears, Aurumvorax, etc.)
3 - giant Insects (incl. Thri-Kreen, Formians, etc.)
4 - Canine pack (dogs, wolves, werewolves, wolfweres, etc)
5 - Lion pride (incl. Wemics)
6 - Giant (incl. ogres, trolls, etc.)
7 - random monster
8 - Dragon
9 - giant Birds (incl. bats, Harpies, Vulchlings, etc)
10- undead
11- giant Snake (incl. Behir, Boalisk, etc)
12 - giant Rats

Note, the alpha predator will probably just be interested in some food, i.e. dead meat at the scene. Intelligent alpha predators may also be interested in treasure, which means the PCs escape may be complicated....

Monster Actions - table for random encounters

Monsters are doing something when you come across them. This is a nice little random table to help you figure out what they are doing, which also gives a nice narrative context for the encounter. Roll the "in lair" percentage to determine if you found them there or "out and about".

1 -- Sleeping (in lair or some temporary location)

2 -- Eating (preparing, devouring, chewing on bones, etc)

3 -- Resting (includes relaxing and playing)

4 -- Fighting (same species for territory or mating rights, or another species for territory or food)

5 -- Traveling (going somewhere, 50/50 to or from lair, or hunting something)

6 -- Stalking (the PCs, that is. Yeah, it's on.)