Number Appearing

Number Appearing describes the typical number of creatures that might be encountered within a 2-mile radius, whether as a single herd, family or a general population of loosely associated individuals. In more confined environments, such as a dungeon, this number may reflect the count of creatures in a single room (as is common with unintelligent creatures) or it may represent the total number of humanoids occupying the lair as a whole, distributed across spaces used for sleeping, labour, hierarchy or defense.

While the number is intended to reflect a creature's natural ecology, the dungeon master should treat it as a flexible guideline rather than a fixed rule. It should be adjusted to suit the campaign's context and narrative flow. Encounters should respond to the party's actions and the environment, not to a rigid expectation. The purpose of this number is to help gauge the general scale of a potential encounter, offering structure while leaving room for nuance and improvisation.

For example, a herd of 200 animals may inhabit a region, but the party might only spot two grazing near a stream. A wolf pack might consist of five, but a single wolf out hunting may be the only one encountered. These scenarios reflect a living world in motion, where creatures follow their own routines independent of the adventurers. Rather than assuming the entire listed number must appear in every situation, it's better to treat "Number Appearing" as the scale of what could be found if the party were to seek out the source or core of the population.

Encounters

Seen as a local population rather than a definite group allows for the statistic to suggest more organic and believable encounters. Adventurers might first meet a few stragglers, only to later realise they've entered the territory of a much larger presence. This flexibility supports dynamic world-building, making it easier to shape encounters around story, pacing and tension.

Ultimately, a party's actions and surroundings should inform what they encounter. This is one reason random encounter tables often fall short — they present events divorced from player choice and environmental logic. Encounters are more compelling when they arise naturally from the party's decision to explore certain terrain, investigate a feature or move into an inhabited zone. For this reason, it's preferable for the DM to prepare a regional list of local creatures and select encounters intentionally, much like designing a dungeon room-by-room, in order to offer the richest and most immersive gameplay.

See The Adventure