Random Beggars for Your Campaign

Beggars come in all sorts and types, with no two being alike. The following tables should help add color to your street encounters. Don’t be afraid to have fun, or mix results. Most beggar encounters should be of the everyday variety, but now and then the Player Characters will come across someone unusual that catches their eye, or that may be used for an adventure plot hook.

Illustration 362 - Samantha At The World's Fair - Baron C. De Grimm 1893

Table 1: Beggar Type (1d8)

1 Helpful beggar

2 Streetwise beggar

3 Aggressive beggar

4 Unusually filthy/smelly beggar

5 Sickly/diseased

6 Drunkard/drug addict

7 Roll twice on this table using 1d6

8 Unusual – Roll 1d6 once on this table, and 1d12 on Table 2

Table 2: Unusual Beggar (1d12)

1 Blind, deaf, mute – natural or injury

2 Deformed – hunchbacked, twisted

3 Amputee – missing arm(s) or leg(s)

4 Being robbed

5 Being chased/abused

6 Simple holy man

7 Veteran soldier

8 Runaway – slave, teen, other

9 Elderly

10 Dead – natural death or murdered

11 Roll twice on this table using 1d10

12 Exotic – Roll on Table 2

Table 3: Exotic Beggar (1d12)

1 One-handed thief/branded outlaw

2 Has performing pet – monkey, dog, etc

3 Informant – will sell information (DM’s choice as to veracity)

4 Humanoid monster – goblin, kobold, etc

5 Cursed and forsaken

6 Former friend/acquaintance of PC

7 Upper class, now fallen on hard times

8 Beggar master – has stable of 2d4 beggars under their direction

9 Thugee – will stalk and kill unsuspecting PC, attacks as a 4th level assassin

10 Failed human/polymorph experiment

11 Roll twice on this table using 1d10

12 Roll 1d6 on Table 1, Roll 1d10 on Tables 2 & 3

Ignore conflicting rolls, or interpret creatively.

These tables can be downloaded in PDF format from HERE.