diff --git a/changelog.md b/changelog.md
index fd4e6a4a2d14..31aefc9876a7 100644
--- a/changelog.md
+++ b/changelog.md
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@
    * Support [filter_weapon] in leadership and resistance abilities,
      which activates the ability only when the affected unit is using
      a matching weapon.
-   * Support WFL in [random_placement]num_items=
+   * Support WFL and percentages in [random_placement]num_items=
  ### Language and i18n
    * Fixed many cases of interpolated strings in the engine possibly having
      their translations retrieved from the wrong textdomain and falling back
diff --git a/data/lua/wml/random_placement.lua b/data/lua/wml/random_placement.lua
index bf6421224314..d3d78c21c655 100644
--- a/data/lua/wml/random_placement.lua
+++ b/data/lua/wml/random_placement.lua
@@ -18,6 +18,8 @@ wesnoth.wml_actions.random_placement = function(cfg)
 			local params = {size = #locs}
 			local result = wesnoth.eval_formula(num_items)
 			num_items = math.floor(tonumber(result))
+		elseif num_items:match('^%d+%%$') then
+			num_items = tonumber(num_items:sub(1,-2))
 		else
 			wesnoth.deprecated_message('num_items=lua', 2, '1.17.0', 'Use of Lua for [random_placement]num_items is deprecated. Use WFL instead and enclose the whole thing in parentheses.')
 			num_items = math.floor(load("local size = " .. #locs .. "; return " .. num_items)())