More Assorted Items for Assorted Situations | 5e Random Tables

October 30, 2023
Posted by Luke Hart

By Dean Rigdon

These 5e random tables can be used to enhance your game by providing new and interesting items for your players to encounter. Feel free to customize these 5e random tables as desired to fit your and your players' playstyle.

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Helpful Books

The books here will help any merchant, innkeeper, or specialized worker perform their job better if they’re literate.

d10	Item w/ Description	Cost
1	*Tome of Travel* A helpful book filled with maps, charts, and various postulations on locations in the realm has some well-created versions that give tips on where to find fresh water, dangerous areas, and the places of towns and villages to stay the night in.	2 gp
2	*An Innkeepers Guide to Cooking* A book stuffed with delicious recipes offers any self-respecting tavern owner’s first choice when preparing a menu. There is also a section on where to find the ingredients for the recipes within.	3 gp
3	*Smithing at its Finest* Its pages contain exact timings to get the hardest, sharpest, and most flexible varieties of steel. It won’t make an apprentice into a master, but it will appreciably improve quality, with little cost of time.	2 gp
4	*Defensive Stance* A book for guards, watchmen, or any combatant offers a better look at their self-preservation and protective techniques.	1 gp
5	*Spellcasting for Peasants* This tome contains volumes of information on common spells. Mastering high-level spells is not a topic this book covers, but it will help build fundamentals and allow for extra low-level options.	1 gp
6	*Creature Index* An alphabetized compendium of creatures knows more about some than others. For example, more is known about sheep than goblins. Regardless of the level known about each creature, there should be at least some useful information to help in either battling or breeding.	10 gp
7	*The Tales All Told* This book has over 300 fairytales, in essence, and perfect for entertainers. From everywhere and anywhere, it includes variations of the same tale from different cultures, accounts never put to words before, and, most importantly, classic morality stories every child has heard for centuries.	1 gp
8	*Aft or Stern?* Ships are complicated beasts. Luckily this book is here to remind shipwrights and sailors what is happening beneath the hull. The pages cover terminology, construction, loading, handling, management, and even combat, everything to do with a naval vessel.	1 gp
9	*What a Deal* The book offers tips and tricks to haggle, barter, and deal, but doesn’t promise to make you a master negotiator. That takes time and practice. It does, however, provide a good example of what tools will give you the upper hand in a trade.	2 gp
10	*Care Compendium* There are many books about healing humanoids, but animals get sick too with diseases unfamiliar to a casual healer. This book aims to provide farmers with preventative care regimens for all their animals and a compendium of knowledge for when an animal does get sick.	1 gp

Items in a Guard Post

Any guard post has similarities with others, such as boredom and note-taking. This table aims to capture the essence of any room serving as a guard or watchmen base.

d10	Item w/ Description	Value
1	*Bottle of Rum* While technically not allowed on duty, guards need something to warm them up on a cold night. A bottle of liquor is typical, regardless of the approval of the captain of the guard.	4 sp
2	*Deck of Cards* A deck of cards is generally accompanied by a small pile of copper pieces in the winning guardsman's coin pouch. Gambling and cards are popular ways to pass the time.	5 sp
3	*Whittling Kit* Sitting in the guard post gets tedious sometimes, so guards bring something to keep their hands busy and their minds sharp. A whittling kit makes for a rewarding distraction.	2 sp
4	*Brass Key* A forgetful guard isn’t a guard for long. Guard posts are easily compromised if the door isn’t locked or the key is left out in the open.	3 gp
5	*Spare Dagger* A spare dagger is stored in some obscure location in the room. The dagger makes the guards feel safer, although they usually carry spears or swords.	2 gp
6	*Wanted List* A list of criminals and thieves is known to be at large in the area. The list is updated daily to ensure the guards are well-informed on whom to stop and whom to let pass.	1 sp
7	*Traveler Log* A log of everyone who has passed through the location of the guard post. This could be accompanied by an inspection of cargo, passengers, or any other necessary record of what is passing through an area.	3 sp
8	*Extra Uniform* Everyone knows that things happen and spills are made. But the guard captain can’t just excuse sloppiness. As a result, an extra uniform is stored in the guard house just in case. A crafty adventurer could put this to good use...	3 gp
9	*Signal Powder* An odd horn, filled with an explosive powder on one end and packed with brightly colored chalk on the other. When the fuse is lit... BOOM!—instant explosion of color and noise far into the air!	5 gp
10	*Packed Lunch* Guards need to eat! After long hours on duty, a guard will take a well-deserved lunch break. Lunch includes bread, cheese, and a few dried berries. It really makes a guard yearn for some mead to wash it down with.	3 cp

Two-Faced Goods

This random table contains usually available goods, but to evade high taxes, government monopolies, and even government bans, these items are sold illegally under the table.

d10	Item w/ Description	Cost
1	*Salt* A highly taxed good, salt is also essential for preserving food. Anyone that can’t afford the high table price will find whatever way they can to survive winter.	5 cp per lb.
2	*Spices* Spices aren’t necessary for survival, but a struggling innkeeper that wants to charge spiced meal prices will buy large amounts of untaxed spice.	2 gp per lb.
3	*Black Powder* A dangerous substance and highly valued for use in cannons or other such devices, black powder is most decidedly not for the ordinary peasant, making it incredibly highly taxed.	20 gp per charge
4	*Gems and Precious Stones* Gems are highly valued in royal society but have little value to a farmer. The market for these is more towards lesser nobles who want to appear more affluent than they are.	prices per Game Masters Core Rulebook
5	*Mithral* The most durable metal of all, this is a substance kings request for their armor and wizards require for high-level magic. The underground market for these is created by smiths that want to move up and lesser magicians who can’t afford the steep prices.	100 gp per lb.
6	*Spell Components* Spell components are widely varied objects but are strictly controlled not to be sold to those who would do evil with them. The market for these goods is low-level magicians that only know a few spells.	25 gp
7	*Medicine* Medicines are uncomplicated to create but require skill and training to be made correctly. There isn’t a lot to go around, so the nobility hoards it. For a simple farmer, medicine could be a lifesaving commodity.	1 - 25 gp per dose
8	*Game* Hunting certain creatures is off-limits due to scarcity, holiness, or other factors. But, if an entrepreneurial hunter has the right contacts, they may be able to sell some delectable illegal meats.	1 - 5 gp per piece
9	*Silk* Silk is smooth and luxurious, providing a thin and comfortable clothing layer. Compared to woolen clothing, the difference is like night and day. Lesser nobles and even wealthier tradesman are always vying for a chance to get out of wool and into silks.	10 gp per yard
10	*Paints* The pigments used in paints can be found commonly for some colors, and rarely for others. The expensiveness of paint varies by color and quality, but exceptional grades of paints are usually reserved for royalty and nobility. Painters are always eager to get their hands on a cheap bottle of high-grade paints.	1 gp per gallon