A space hamster† crawls from a character's backpack. Via telepathy, they tell of stowing away to escape their cruel owner, a powerful spellcaster.
Noncombat Encounters of the ship events, space anomalies and wonders for Spelljammer in Dungeons and Dragons 5e
Tables for Noncombat Encounters for Ship Events and Space Anomalies & Other Wonders.
Spelljammer noncombat - wildspace & asteroids | astral & dead gods | bral & merchants | ships & captains | events & anomalies | all sj tables
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Spelljammer Ship Events and Space Anomalies
Distractions and interludes which can happen nearly anytime, including during a spelljammer journey.
There are also many distracting creatures, weird mysteries, and wonders out in space. This is a sample of the unusual ones.
More tables at 200 Spelljammer Noncombat Encounter on DM's Guild
Creatures with a dagger (†) are from Boo's Astral Menagerie
Ship Events - Noncombat
| 1d20 | Spelljammer Events |
|---|---|
| 1 | The ship's atmosphere ripples and thickens briefly, dragging a gravity bubble for a few days. Its gravity flips (as reverse gravity) at random . |
| 2 | A bubble engulfs ship, then bursts, inundating with dead space guppies. |
| 3 | Ship passes through a prismatic vortex, affecting all aboard onboard with Rary's telepathic bond for a few days; or roll on Space Anomalies |
| 4 | Ship surges with magic, causing vessel to stop as spelljammer helm overwhelmed. Also signaling to anything nearby that ship is immobile. |
| 5 | A seemingly distant star flares with a blinding white flash. Characters with darkvision make a DC 15 Dexterity save or affected by blindness. |
| 6 | With an iron firearm, an sentient allosaurus (Int 10) appears on the ship, asking for directions in unknown language. Eventually teleport away. |
| 7 | An astral inversion grips ship, imposing weightlessness for a few days. |
| 8 | A space mollymawk† (Dex 20, AC 15, Dex Save +7) takes a dislike to a character. Evading them, but harrassing with poop or dropped objects. |
| 9 | Fumes from a nearby gas cloud waft into the ship's air envelope. This changes its quality to foul until it is cleaned. |
| 10 | Several jammer leeches† attached to the ship have become infected and are rapidly turning the ships air foul. Soon it will be deadly. |
| 11 | Shimmering crystalline sand blows past. Time slows (or speeds up) for the ship, the current journey taking far longer (or far less time) . |
| 12 | A mote of warm light lands on the party’s ship and sinks into it. For a few days, the ship gains sentience as per the awaken spell. |
| 13 | A psychic storm, caused by the raging dreams of a slumbering god, knocks the ship violently off course, arriving somewhere unexpected. |
| 14 | A space hamster† crawls from a character's backpack. Via telepathy, they tell of stowing away to escape their cruel owner, a powerful spellcaster. |
| 15 | Passing through a nebula, magical stardust settles on a character. For several hours, they take on gaseous form while outside an air envelope. |
| 16 | Several friendly mimics disguised as debris land on ship, trying to fit in. |
| 17 | Blown by psychic winds, a flurry of massive petrified feathers collides with the vessel. Some stick to the ship, giving a new appearance. |
| 18 | A playful space swine† (or space mollymawk†) lands nearby, gripping a bangle which is actually the talarith of a reigar |
| 19 | Color drains from the world as the party and their vessel come under the effects of the etherealness spell for a few hours. |
| 20 | Ship passes through a hallucinogenic nebula. All onboard have dreams and visions of things most important to them for a few hours (or days) |
Anomalies and Wonders - Noncombat
| 1d20 | Space Anomalies and Other Wonders |
|---|---|
| 1 | Serpent-like vessels are pulling a bizarre moon. Greeted by a yuan-ti giving tours, and gift bags with leaflets on becoming a yuan-ti convert. |
| 2 | A reverse murder comet† trails rainbows. It is a lifebringer comet, bringing well-meant but poor advice and lots of enthusiasm. |
| 3 | A portal to a plane of ooze opens briefly. It spits forth a once-lost hammerhead ship dripping in mud, its crew long dead. |
| 4 | What appears at first to be a shooting star is in fact a crew of azers towing a fledgling sun back to their forge, using chains of fire. |
| 5 | A gargantuan disk of yellow liquid is spotted on the starboard side. This is one of the Astral Tunnels that connects two points of Wildspace. |
| 6 | A gaggle of magmins reignites a frozen comet shortly after spotted by party. A few hang on as it starts to move, a metallic cube glowing inside. |
| 7 | Color swirls into a sphere. Ten rays of kaleidoscopic light sprout from it. This is the gestation of a beholder being dreamed into existence. |
| 8 | A drifting pyramid of clouds hangs in the distance. A court of couatls have convened to discuss philosophy and their future endeavors. |
| 9 | Hundreds of modrons stomp through a blue portal, parading across the void. Part of a multiverse-spanning event; the Great Modron March. |
| 10 | In distance a solar dragon defeats a lunar dragon. It proceeds to eat a moon and trumpets challenge to universe. It all has a dreamlike quality. |
| 11 | A future version of a character appears in translucent form to warn their younger self of grave danger but fades before they can explain much. |
| 12 | Ahead, a purple worm crests the horizon. Inside its mouth, a humanoid is fused with its gullet. The blue-eyed hybrid fades like a mirage. |
| 13 | Meet a cosmic leviathan, a gigantic squid carrying a forest several miles across, with stone ruins visible. It is followed by hundreds of kindori†. |
| 14 | A gigantic bottle comes into view. Inside it has many messages of spacefarers. One contains a worrying message hidden by illusory script. |
| 15 | In the distance, moving at incredible speed, a silver humanoid surfs atop a flying sword. The mysterious being is gone as swiftly as it arrived. |
| 16 | An ancient pegasus with huge wings has a space hamster passenger. They guard a hidden demi-plane somewhere nearby. |
| 17 | A bubble contains a pocket astral sea, filled with random items that pop in and out of existence. Appears to be connected to bags of holding. |
| 18 | A gigantic cube, made up of many gelatinous cubes floats through the void, absorbing all manner of debris and dead creatures. |
| 19 | A beholder welcomes group to their palace, made only of copper pieces. |
| 20 | A shadow dragon casually keeps up with the ship, introducing itself but no interest in vanity or wealth. Mostly just seems to like conversation. |
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