How many different options should a random encounter table for a particular region have in order to make it feel distinctive. Ten, twenty? Six? A lot of DnDs default encounter tables are really large, but really, how many apex predators does a region really need? And when does it have so many options that adding more makes it start to feel dumbed down and lack identity?

DnD tables are big because they're covering whole terrain types. You don't need much more than a 2d6, unless your regions are fucking huge and then you're doing something wrong.
>but really, how many apex predators does a region really need?
Realism/verisimilitude is a false god. Cast it down and free your games.

Every healthy region has an apex predator that both keeps the ecosystem in harmony and keeps other species advancing/adapting evolutionarily, anon. One that doesn't usually cause overcrowding to the point where the current species overpopulates and starts to starve itself, or overrun the plant life until it's barren.

>>96114496
So maybe one apex predator and a half dozen secondary ones? I'm trying to figure out how many monsters I need for, say, a Forlorn Forest with minor undead and fungus theme, with one result to represent wandering interlopers from the nearby swamp. That suggests around 10, when including the ubiquitous owlbear and shambling mound for almost all forest areas (I like PCs to be able to have a couple monsters they can say "I'm in a forest so I should expect there's a chance to encounter X and Y" which, in the csse of shambling mound at least, means don't prepare too many lightning spells, as owlbears don't really have special weaknesses)

>>96114439
This guy has the right of it. If you're random encounter table is solely for combat encounters and not other things, 2d6 should be fine because, honest to god, you shouldn't be busting out a random encounter table every time the party moves through the wilderness or into a particular hex.

Enough entries so you don't repeat anything in the time the party spends in the area.

The tables are there so you have a bunch of easy to set up fights that give a variety of different opponents.

Honestly doesn't even need to be random. Just have a list you go down if the party is hanging around an area they can get attacked

>>96114607
You should but it's 2 separate rolls, one for IF you encounter something and the other for WHAT. 2d6 is fine but the exact dice isn't ss important as the number of distinct creatures that can be on the table while still giving the region a strong identity that players are likely to pick up on.

>>96114903
Okay so here's what I have for "the Forlorn Forest" (a dark damp coniferous forest full of marshes and intermittent hills, containing many fungi plant monsters and undead, adjacent to a larger swamp) as a list. Note that I haven't assigned dice to these, it could be a simple roll of a dX, or it could be turned into a d100 table with varying probabilities for each entry. The important part is the number of monsters, and whether they have a tight enough thematic grouping to give the region an identity, alongside other things like terrain description.
>2d4 phase wasps
>1 owlbear
>1 primeval owlbear
>1 dire raccoon
>1d6 wights
>2d6 stirges
>1d4 polystirges
>1 troll
>1d3 phantom fungi
>1d3 wights
>1 wraith (only at night)
>1 venom troll
>1d6 giant centipedes
>1d2 dryad spirits
>2d6 wood elves on patrol (not necessarily hostile)
>1d4 assassin vines
>1d2 shambling mounds
>1 forest sloth
Might add more but this is a basic list. Does this give the region a fairly strong identity? Should the list be cut down? Is "the forest known for undead and plant monsters" too generic? Should it lean more toward "the forest known for the great dire forest sloths and stirges from the nearby swamp" better? I want some generic forest creatures in there but I also want to exclude monsters that don't make sense. And shit like dragons should never be on a random encounter table IMO, unless there's a specific one in that territory and it's a 1% chance you run into him out flying about surveying his domain.

>>96114130 (OP)
you shouldnt use tables at all. why are you making it for a game you're going to run? you already know what kind of encounter should happen

>Sewers

>>96114130 (OP)
I find that I'm not really using random encounters these days. If each place is going to have distinctive things, I'm going to cultivate what that looks like myself, rather than by having the dice determine it. Less of a roll table and more of a custom chart with a few sensible options that I can pull from if I need to.

>>96114130 (OP)
6d6

>>96116611
This looks good to me, Anon. It's always possible to add more stuff, but I think the core identity is already there. I think all that's left is weighting it if any of those are supposed to be significantly more or less common than the others.

>>96117202
solid bait. lets see if anything bites.

>>96117202
I do that some, but even then I just use it as a list for monsters to pick from as appropriate encounters.

>>96117284
alright. I'll weight it definitely, since I like the 1% chance of a super deadly encounter that the PCs have to run from and even then might suffer some casualties.

>>96117210
I think in this situation it'd be almost the same, since it's mostly just the identity that that list creates that I am asking about, and how many options should be on it to give it that sort of character while not being too single-minded and still being "realistic"

>>96114130 (OP)
I think 20 for a region is good, with some smaller, sub regions with ten or so (like 1-20 you get to roll extra-tame and extra-dangerous mobile monsters, like fey or dragons).

>>96114130 (OP)
If you create 6 encounters for each region, and then replace used ones after each session (or just reflavour, like instead of the dragon flying overhead when the players pass through a canyon, perhaps they now spot the dragon. Lurching on a ruined Watch Tower)

>"should"
>feel feel feel
However many is necessary depending on how your group feels.
This is going to vary from person to person.
Feelings are a worthless measurement when asking internet strangers for objective information ("should" is an objective duty, obligation, or correctness in doing something).