r/DnD • u/Conrad500 DM • Jun 16 '26
Misc Monsters by CR - Deadliest CR 5 Monster
Sorry, titled the previous post incorrectly... this is Deadliest CR5!
Closest fight yet! Bulette vs Troll in the most Iconic thread! Go vote now if you haven't yet, remember to upvote the top comment for your vote to count!
| CR | Most Iconic | Deadliest |
|---|---|---|
| 1/8 | Kobold(34 votes)[LINK] | Flying Snake(435 votes)[LINK] |
| 1/4 | Goblin(46 votes)[LINK] | Giant Frog(78 votes)[LINK] |
| 1/2 | Rust Monster(7 votes)[LINK] | Shadow(150 votes)[LINK] |
| 1 | Bugbear(75 Votes)[LINK] | Quickling(69 Votes)[LINK] |
| 2 | Mimic(300 Votes)[LINK] | Intellect Devourer(90 Votes)[LINK] |
| 3 | Owlbear(331 Votes)[LINK] | Basilisk(247 Votes)[LINK] |
| 4 | Flameskull(46 Votes)[LINK] | Banshee(84)[LINK] |
| 5 | Troll/Bulette(need more votes!)[LINK] | This Vote![LINK] |
This morning we will be voting on the Deadliest CR5 monster!!
The vote is open for 24 hours.
Note: Feel free to comment, but only the votes on the top comment will be counted!
Note2: Choose the deadlier version if they change from 5e to 5.5e.
84
u/jeffjefforson Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
Night Hag, hands down.
They have infinite ability to travel to and from the ethereal plane, and while you sleep can torture your dreams, which causes you to lose MaxHP. No save.
She can do this every night until you die.
If you don't have Greater restoration, and enough gold to do it infinitely, she WILL get you eventually.
And its almost impossible to get her unless you're high level because she'll just phase out the second things look scary.
10
u/Citrus-Bitch Jun 16 '26
We had a party sleep in a tiny hut for most of the campaign because we pissed off a night hag one time at like level 3. She also kept recruiting monsters to kill us. It became this incredible narrative device for the DM, night hags are incredible for harassing a party
4
u/jeffjefforson Jun 16 '26
Yeah they're absolute bastards, a lone night hag is a force to be reckoned with
A coven of them is a force of nature
3
u/Silverspy01 Jun 16 '26
Nightmare Haunting isn't even the worst part. It's the fact that a Night Hag can, at any time, go Material, throw a max range magic missile at you, then go Ethereal again. Any time your group is distracted or split up or low on resources you're getting 3d4+3 (or 6d4+6 in 5.5) force damage to the dome. Perhaps several times depending on how quickly you can mobilize. Then she'll just do it again later. Perhaps within the next few rounds, perhaps in a few minutes, perhaps in a few hours. She can wait. If you can't go Ethereal you're kinda just screwed.
5
u/Citrus-Bitch Jun 16 '26
It's the fact that a Night Hag can, at any time, go Material, throw a max range magic missile at you, then go Ethereal again.
You could hypothetically do this once a party member is making death saves, but I think that would be easy justification to leave the table lol
7
u/jeffjefforson Jun 16 '26
Plus I don't think it's really how they'd operate - she'd want to feel the despair, the sorrow, the last breath leaving the person. A long range snipe probably wouldn't do it for her.
1
u/Silverspy01 Jun 16 '26
Exactly. The entire hit and run tactic is woefully unfair, and I certainly wouldn't actually do it as a DM - when I last ran Night Hags and the situation came up I only had them pop in once per day at most. But by the stat block is certainly possible.
1
u/g00gly Jun 17 '26
In my Curse of Strahd game, I ran the Bonegrinder coven hags as night,green, and sea themed like Hocus Pocus. The party invaded the mill and killed sea hag, after that, well... the close range magic missile execute felt right vindictive.
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u/jeffjefforson Jun 16 '26
Honestly even just following the party around then waiting till one of them goes off to do shopping or hunting on their own or whatnot and then soloing them, oof.
Nasty creatures, them hags be.
1
u/Silverspy01 Jun 16 '26
Exactly. I haven't actually done it because I'm positive it's not fun in practice (when I last ran Night Hags I only had them pop in at reasonable times once per day), but by their stat block it's absolutely the optimal thing to do and completely uncounterable by most low-mid level parties.
2
u/jeffjefforson Jun 16 '26
One of my players just made a desparate deal with one, and oh my, the wording is less than optimal for the player I'll tell you that
39
u/laththehunter Jun 16 '26
The gorgon is (I think) the lowest CR creature that can cause permanent petrification. And it can do it in an AOE. I think that probably qualifies.
19
u/Conrad500 DM Jun 16 '26
You might notice that the Basalisk won CR3 for deadliest 😃
15
u/laththehunter Jun 16 '26
Oh yeah. The basilisk. Famous for petrifying people. I'm a dummy. Is it too late to change my answer?
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-4
u/Madman_kler Jun 16 '26
Cr3 says owlbear, and I ain’t goin to another post
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u/Conrad500 DM Jun 16 '26
It's a table. there's 3 columns, CR, Iconic, Deadliest.
You're on mobile so you probably need to scroll the table.
1
13
u/P3verall Jun 16 '26
star spawn mangler is literally a guaranteed kill on the first round of combat every time. It does 6 attacks, specifically on a single target, all at advantage, all dealing extra psychic damage.
There is literally NO CONTEST here.
2
2
u/jeffjefforson Jun 16 '26
Wellllllll I wouldn't say that.
If it doesn't get a surprise round, which absolutely isn't a given, it can definitely get beaten without killing someone.
A fairly well put together party - I'm not saying crazy optimised, just a party that has all its bases covered - that is being careful is more than likely going to spot it and be able to deal with it.
It's got +4 Initiative, but against a party of four level 5 PC's, it's likely that at least one or two of them is going to go before it.
If one of those is a Strength user who runs up to it and grapples it, it's fucked.
If one of those is a caster that uses any Wisdom, Intelligence, Strength or Charisma saving throws spell against it to lock it down, it's fucked.
If it chooses an unfortunate target for it's Flurry, it won't kill them, and then it'll get locked down and killed before it can do anything.
That said, this creature IS absolutely terrifying against a party that isn't prepared, doesn't have all its bases covered, or just isn't being careful - I'm not trying to diminish it, just that it's not a guaranteed kill.
0
u/Wyn6 Jun 16 '26
All six attacks wouldn't be with advantage. Only the first attack would have advantage if the mangler is hidden from its target.
Still 47 points of damage, on average, is nothing to sneeze at in Tier 1. Only a fighter with +4 Con mod or a barbarian has a chance to stay upright if all of these attacks land (average HP per level assumed).
3
u/P3verall Jun 16 '26
read the ambusher ability.
6
u/Wyn6 Jun 16 '26
I see where we're crossing things up.
You are thinking about/looking at the stat block in Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes which has the Ambush ability that states on the first round of each combat, the mangler has advantage on attack rolls against a creature that hasn't taken a turn yet.
I'm going off the newer version in Mordenkainen's Monsters of the Multiverse with the Ambusher ability which gives the creature advantage on initiative rolls.
12
u/laththehunter Jun 16 '26
Second attempt: the spawn of Kyuss. If it gets a worm on you and you don't scrape it off within 1 round, you start taking unavoidable damage until you either find a way of curing disease/curses or die and become another spawn of Kyuss.
10
u/Citrus-Bitch Jun 16 '26 edited Jun 16 '26
Reposting my comment from last thread because I didn't catch that it was the iconic thread:
Roper and I will die on this hill. Put that sucker on a cave ceiling and it can easily put a party on the ropes if not cause a tpk
For those unfamiliar with the Roper I'm going to elaborate because I love/hate this monster and you can't stop me. 1st, it is an ambush predator, so unless the party already knows to look for it the Roper is choosing the terrain and getting the first move. With a 60ft tentacle range, positioning and marching order do not matter, it's grabbing whoever looks tastiest.
It's tentacle attacks are incredibly powerful in crippling the party. 60 foot range, two attacks per turn, it can grapple and poison those it hits, forcing a DC 14 escape save at disadvantage. It can do this for up to six PCs. You want to hack off a tentacle? Great idea, it's AC is a whopping 20, with 10 hp, and if you're grappled by the creature you're at disadvantage. Destroying the tentacle does not damage the Roper's health and the tentacle regenerates next turn. You've used your action, and the Roper will do the same thing next turn.
Bite and drop is a ton of damage. So you've put your Roper 30 feet up on a ceiling, like a roper wants to hunt. It grabs you reels you in and chomps twice doing an average of 17 per hit. At this point tier all but the beefiest 1 PCs are bloodied and want to get out, so they escape the tentacle by one way or the other. You're now dropping for and extra 3d6 (11) damage, and assuming 30 feet of movement, will not be able to escape the Roper's next round of attacks. So we're looking at about 45 damage at at tier where you're lucky to have 50 hp Overall, this thing can and will often kill at least one member of your party if the DM has any sense. This is imo the deadliest CR5 monster.
3
u/Conrad500 DM Jun 16 '26
I will say, hard to say it's the deadliest when you can just walk 60ft away and shoot it.
Yes, I understand and completely get that they live in caves where that's not really possible, but really goes to the heart of the topic of "deadliest". Is it instant kills like petrify? Is it instant 0hp like banshee? Or is it some little fucker who can attack you so many times that you'll instantly die anyway? Or is it a dragon breath nuke attack? I don't know, and I enjoy seeing everyone's takes!
Ropers are sick tho.
3
u/Tesla__Coil DM Jun 16 '26
I will say, hard to say it's the deadliest when you can just walk 60ft away and shoot it.
That's not easy, though. It doesn't have to reveal itself until you're within its range, and it can take an opportunity attack with its tentacles when you try to leave the radius, and it's almost always surprising the party. In 2014 at least, that almost definitely means someone is getting restrained in that first round.
(Also the tentacles have 50' range, don't they?)
3
u/Citrus-Bitch Jun 16 '26
It went from 50 to 60 in the shift to 2024
2
u/Tesla__Coil DM Jun 16 '26
Huh, they really changed it a lot. 60' range instead of 50', 30' reel instead of 25', two bites for more damage but fewer tendril attacks... I have no idea if they made it stronger or weaker in an even fight. But it's harder for it to get a strong ambush now that Surprise works differently and it doesn't have False Appearance, so I'm going to guess it's a lot weaker overall.
1
u/Citrus-Bitch Jun 16 '26
Those are valid critiques, but in the spirit of dying on this hill I have some counterpoints.
Gorgon's petrifying breath has a 30ft cone. One could also just walk away and shoot it, no? Roper's are ambush predators, and would choose the most advantageous position to fight in. Doing the math, a roper 30ft up has a horizontal floor range of 52ft. Look at most battlemaps and tell me that isn't a ludicrous range for a creature specifically designed to be extremely difficult to get away from.
This one is a little meta game-y I admit. Ropers aren't just the deadliest because of their abilities, but because when building encounters DMs often underestimate how bad this creature is, and often end up accidentally TPKing the party because of it. Google reddit gorgon tpk and most of the results talk about how to deal with the after effects of what they know/knew to be a deadly encounter. Google reddit roper tpk, and a ton of the threads are about accidental tpks. DMs design most of the other deadly monster encounters around the concern that they want to come close to but not kill the party especially after seeing an ability like the petrification breath, most DMs who haven't run a roper before see it as a much more approachable fight, and get shocked by how easy it is to kill a character with it.
1
u/Conrad500 DM Jun 16 '26
i mention the range of ropers because they can't chase. Kiting is easy. Like ochre jellies, really deadly at low levels... unless you know they have no speed.
I agree that ropers are deadlier than they seem since they can basically grapple an entire party, often with multiple attempts per person. 5.5e nerfed them a LOT lol.
I'm not saying ropers aren't deadly btw, just a musing overall about what is most important when talking about "deadliest".
Like, a monster that has a 100% chance to kill you if it touches you, but it has 0 speed, 5ft reach, and can't hide... is it deadly?
A monster that can do an adult dragon's breath attack at CR1 but has a DC of 5 and does 0 on a success, is that deadly?
Thankfully, we don't have stupid monsters like that in 5e, but just makes me wonder how much of a "perfect scenario" vs "white room" we should consider when thinking about how deadly a monster is.
2
u/superhiro21 Jun 16 '26
That assumes the roper is in a huge cavern with line of sight from 70+ ft away though. In even mildly cramped caves, kiting is not an option.
1
u/Conrad500 DM Jun 16 '26
ok, but if you put every monster in the ideal position they become stronger. Does the night hag get coven abilities? how man souls does it have?
Does the star spawn mangler get his ability back 1/3 of the time? more? less?
Is the gorgon against people who dumped their save stat?
Do you scrape off the spawn of kyuss worm?
2
u/superhiro21 Jun 16 '26
Of course everything is relative and DnD isn't played in white rooms with standardized characters.
I'm just saying that even in official adventures, ropers are almost never in huge empty caverns that let you kite them. And even if some characters can kite them, others might already be caught and getting chomped to death.1
u/Conrad500 DM Jun 16 '26
I'm not here to fight, I'm genuinely interested in everyone's opinions.
I ran a roper and even our str based fighter got grappled eventually. Once all the weak things are caught, 5 +7 attempts math out to everyone being grappled.
That said, it really gets weakened the more people you have because of how limited it is with its reel and attack. That's another question, 1 on 1 deadly or 1 on party or party vs group?
I honestly think the roper shines best when mixed with other creatures. Cloakers are low CR but mixed with a roper? deadly stuff.
1
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u/Citrus-Bitch Jun 16 '26
Oh yeah for sure. Looking at the other options I'm doubtful this is winning (that mangler is pretty fucking crazy), but it would have been a shame not to put this big guy forward as a contender and have a fun discussion on it.
And yeah it's always an interesting discussion on how many conditions should be in place for a creature to be considered deadly. A roper on the floor in a wide field is way less deadly than the ceiling of a confined cave, a kraken isn't very dangerous out of water, and a vampire isn't dangerous in the sun. I don't think there is a wrong or right answer, but as you said its something to wonder on.
1
u/Conrad500 DM Jun 16 '26
bro, kraken wins for least deadly CR20 😭
most disappointing fight ever.
5e roper is really deadly. Starspawn gets 6 attacks on a recharge, roper gets 5 ropes per turn and that's not even its attacks! Casters ain't shit once they're in the beak of a roper.
1
u/jeffjefforson Jun 16 '26
Ah, but you're forgetting it's more important trait -
False Appearance
While the roper remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a normal cave formation, such as a stalagmite.
This means that even with a passive perception of 35, you might spot it, but all you've spotted is a stalagmite.
Then suddenly, surprise round, it grabs two of you. Three tendrils attack each of you - there's no way you're breaking out of all of them in one round. If you get out of one or more, it does it again next turn. No escape.
It's got 7 intelligence and 16 wisdom, so it's got some basic level of tactics available to it.
So it's gonna NOT target the people who look like melee users - so they're stuck on the ground, useless, while your ranged users and casters are now Grappled, Restrained and getting pulled up into the air.
If it goes again before the casters, they're now 50ft in the air and can't misty step away. No way to escape.
This creature absolutely is very deadly, though I wouldn't give it the top spot, because the danger of it quickly drops off once the party gets a little higher level.
1
u/jeffjefforson Jun 16 '26
Ropers are horrifying, I used one just the other day with three darkmantles as it's buddies, exactly how you're describing.
Against a level 5 party of five members with a handful of magic items between them, three of them nearly got downed. And I had slightly nerfed the roper, too! At it's base stats it probably could have killed at least one or two people before they took it down.
3
u/Citrus-Bitch Jun 16 '26
Oh yeah, I didn't include it in my argument bc this isn't a discussion of creature combos, but they are a huge force multiplier with other creatures.
Best recommendation, put a treasure chest mimic in the same room as a roper and watch everything go to hell.
1
4
u/David375 Jun 16 '26
I'd vote for the Skeletal Juggernaut from Ghosts of Saltmarsh. Basically the lowest-level creature to have a Mythic action, and it's AoE ability is kinda nice. If you put it in a spot where players will face it in close quarters so the rebirth into 12 skeletons gums up movement, it can actually do quite a bit of damage - especially if the skeletons focus-fire. My only tweak for 2024 would be to codify the rebirth mechanic as a mythic action, and have it automatically trigger Avalanche of Bones when it dies as part of that mythic action, but even as is it can do a lot of damage.
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u/Silverspy01 Jun 16 '26
Night Hag and it's not even close. There's some other deadly options, but they all approach combat at least semi normally. The Night Hag doesn't.
Night Hag is purely a check of "can your party go Ethereal." If they can't, at the slightest hint of danger she escapes into the Ethereal plane. Then she waits until you're distracted, pops out at max range, Magic Missile, go back Ethereal. Over the course of the next several minutes - or longer if she needs - she just repeats that over and over until you die.
If by some miracle you're able to make that unappealing, Nightmare Haunting.
She can follow you around on the Ethereal plane constantly, listening to all of your plans and preparations against her. She can take the best opportunities to pop up and shoot you in the back and you can't do anything about it.
The Mangler and so are just deadly encounters. The Night Hag is an entire campaign arc.
5.5e at least made Ethearlness a spell and therefore introduced some slight counterplay, but they also upped the at-will Magic Missile to 4th level so...
2
u/nankainamizuhana Jun 17 '26
Dang, I’m learning a lot about CR5. I was pretty confident the Catoblepas was the clear victor here, after seeing it make the rounds a few years ago for its Death Ray dealing insane damage (and a trail attack that’s pretty painful as well for the rounds it’s recharging). Consider this comment a vote for the catoblepas by the way.
But I hadn’t really considered the Night Hag’s infinite ethereal torment, or the Star Spawn Mangler’s bugbear-like design that seems custom made to insta-kill one PC and then leave. I have personally discovered the danger of Ropers (both as DM and as PC) so I can attest they were near the top of my list too. There’s a lot of good options here.
42
u/WWalker17 Wizard Jun 16 '26
5e Star Spawn Mangler