Random Bandit Generator

Image credit: Steev / Ik

Need a party of bandits to threaten your PCs’ travels through that wild forest beyond the civilized lands? Or perhaps your PCs have been hired to protect a caravan traveling through the woods and you need an easy way to create the bandits that will set upon them during their journey.

Here’s a free bandit generator for 5e Dungeons & Dragons and for the Low Fantasy Gaming system to make the creation of a customizable party of bandits easy and fun!

Customize Your Bandits

It’s easy just to grab a stat block out of the Monster Manual. But if you want your bandits to come to life at the table, it helps to fill in the little details that make each bandit party unique. What brought them together? What are they after? How ruthless are they and how far are they willing to go to get what they want?

• Backstory: The Maker’s Forge Foe Generator will create a backstory for your bandits that you can tweak as needed to fit into the PC’s current situation. What are they up to in this remote location? Are they flush with loot from their last score? Are they tired and frustrated after numerous failures? What do they want? And most importantly: how does what they want conflict with what the PCs want?
• A name and vivid description: each bandit has a name that might be revealed during trade, negotiation, threats, or capture. And every bandit should be unique when you describe it to the player that encounters them. Vivid description is the lifeblood of the roleplaying game. Man or woman? Distinguishing marks? What is she hiding from her allies? How loyal is he to the chief? What does this bandit want? And what is he prepared to do to get it?
• Weapons and hit points: bandits will use any weapon they can get their hands on and may or may not be skilled in its use. And some bandits are a lot tougher than others.
• A captain to lead them: most bandits have a particular ruthless or greedy leader that directs their score and keeps discipline in the ranks of thieves. What is her motivation for a life of banditry? How does he treat those that serve him or fail to bring him what he wants?
• Veteran warriors, sneaky scouts, and rogue wizards: bandit crews come in all varieties. Some include veteran warriors that provide muscle for difficult scores. Others include skilled sneak-thieves that prowl ahead to burgle unsuspecting prey. Some might even count a rogue sorcerer or even guard dogs among their ranks.
• Loot: should the PCs defeat the bandits, what gear, valuables, or previous scores might they recover? What hints of further adventure might be lurking among the bandit’s possessions?

Foe Generator for 5e D&D and Low Fantasy Gaming

So what are you waiting for? Go use the Maker’s Forge Wizard Generator to get a jump-start on a party of bandits.

It does all the grunt work for you: stats, names, short descriptions, weapons, and HP for each bandit, and loot from their previous scores.

All that’s left for you to do is to bring the bandits’ goals into sharp conflict with the PCs and let the sparks fly!