Proposed — not yet reviewed by GM
AI-generated content. Review and update status to
canononce reviewed.
| d20 | Category | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1-8 | Nothing | Quiet, but the ground is managed and watched. Boundary marks, tended trails, cut sightlines |
| 9-11 | Environmental | Deliberate obstacles — a closed route, felled timber, a crossing they control |
| 12-15 | Neutral | Rangers, vassal traders, locals moving under safe-conduct |
| 16-19 | Hostile | Challenged, shadowed, or escorted to the border — enforcement, not predation |
| 20 | Discovery | Something the holders would rather you had not found |
Used for ground held by a faction that considers the party unwelcome but not yet a target.
The distinction from the Hostile Encounter Table is the opening move. Force here is a response, not an invitation: a Hostile result should begin as a challenge, a warning shot, a shadowing escort, or an order to leave — and only become a fight if the party pushes, lies, or is caught somewhere it shouldn’t be. A party that answers honestly and turns around can usually walk out of a Hostile result on guarded ground. That is the whole point of the table.
Against the Standard Encounter Table, hostile results rise from 15% to 20% and neutral traffic rises from 15% to 20%. Guarded ground is busier and touchier than open wasteland, because somebody is actually patrolling it.
See 🗺 Faction Control for how a faction’s posture selects its table and Detection DC.