Fantasy Encounters, Hazards and NPCs for Cave Adventures

An arcane orange jelly encompasses several bones, trying to appear as a humanoid and mimic their actions. It feeds on magical energies.

Simple encounter tables for caves in any fantasy setting. Tables for Cave Encounter Prompts, Cave Hazards & Distractions and Quick Cave NPCs.

[photo by Ivana Cajina on Unsplash]

Fantasy Cave Encounters

Cave encounters might be miners following a map, an elf who loves spiders or a magical serpent warning intruders away. There might be magical darkness or mould that sucks out heat.

A place of little light, with looming caverns and twisting tunnels, home to strange creatures adapted to the darkness. A place of stalagmites and stalactites, fungi and moulds, bats, spirits and earth-magic.

There is a fantasy encounter generator at ChaosGen. There is also a pdf of these and more tables at the DriveThruRPG as Cave Encounters.

10 Cave Encounter Prompts

1d10	10 Caves Encounter Prompts
1	A group of ragged cultists have made an altar here to a forbidden god. They are desperate and about to try to communicate with it.
2	A intelligent serpent with a humanoid head warns the characters away from a particular cave. It protects them with magical powers.
3	An arcane orange jelly encompasses several bones, trying to appear as a humanoid and mimic their actions. It feeds on magical energies.
4	A merchant from deep below wants to establish trade contacts. They have samples of rare fungi, unusual potions and dwarven guards.
5	A tentacled creature with sharp teeth camouflages against the rock and can cause magical darkness, preying on creatures within.
6	A bitter ghost wanders the caves, a former careless adventurer who can't rest until their corpse is put to rest in a nearby lake.
7	A group of miners is following a map that promises a deposit of gems.
8	A few large shaggy humanoids with low intelligence. Their leader is telepathic and tries to communicate that they wish to trade.
9	An greenish ooze can take the form of fungi and plants. It considers itself the caretaker of the caves and communicate through spores.
10	An elf wearing clothes made of webs asks the group to leave. They can change into a spider and can command spiders from nearby.

Cave Hazards and Distractions

1d10	There is (or are)...
1	a crude net trap or a maze of spiky fungi
2	a light source, ... d10 (1-2. luminous fungus 3. fireflies 4. a small fire 5. glowing slime 6. fire beetles 7. a torch 8. bright runes 9. a few candles 10. crystals)
3	risk of a collapse or mould that sucks out heat
4	a fungus that shrieks loudly when light (or movement) is near
5	the strong smell of ... d10 (1-2. mould 3. smoke 4. spores 5. something rotten 6. sulphur 7. a dead body 8. fresh water 9. bat guano 10. something sweet)
6	an area of flammable gas or a beckoning figure made of fireflies
7	poisonous (or hallucinogenic) spores covering area or thick webs
8	sounds of ... d10 (1-2. banging 3. scraping 4. slurping 5. moaning 6. splashing 7. rumbling 8. loud chanting 9. digging 10. drumming)
9	magical darkness or a quake causes fissures and rockfalls
10	a disturbance of many bats or a stalagmite carved with runes

Quick Caves NPCs

1d10	Descriptor	Profession	who...
1	muscular or gnome	hermit	is making a map (or a raft)
2	goblin or telepathic	miner	can smell out gems (or metal)
3	wary or troglodyte	warrior	seeks a way out (or a portal)
4	dwarf or lucky	beast friend	is with giant lizards (or spiders)
5	old or fungi-folk	hunter	wears a gemstone ring (or tiara)
6	undead or paranoid	scavenger	argues with a pet bat (or slime)
7	singing or dark elf	scout	is tending to fungi (or blue moss)
8	kobold or blind	earth mage	has escaped captivity
9	diseased or ooze-like	smuggler	likes tasting unknown substances
10	lizardfolk or gaunt	renegade	has limbs of metal (or stone)

More Encounters