Acolyte NPC Stat Block 5e: Spells, Healing and the 2024 Priest Acolyte

This is the Acolyte NPC stat block, the junior cleric you put in a temple, a cult or a war camp, not the Acolyte background players pick at character creation. The 2014 acolyte is CR 1/4 with AC 10 and 9 hit points, and it matters for its spells: three 1st-level slots for Bless, Cure Wounds and Sanctuary, plus the Sacred Flame cantrip at save DC 12. The 2024 rules replace it with the Priest Acolyte, same CR, which trades most of the spellcasting for armor, a mace and a radiant ranged attack, and keeps one spell a day.

Table of Contents

• •Acolyte Stat Block (2014)
• •The 2024 Priest Acolyte
• •How Acolytes Fight
• •Running an Acolyte Encounter
• •How Players Beat Acolytes
• •Acolyte Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Acolyte Stat Block (2014)

This is the acolyte from SRD 5.1. It can be any race and any alignment, so the same block covers a village temple's novice and a death cult's chanter.

Everything physical is average: 10 in Strength, Dexterity and Constitution, no armor, a club that hits at +2 for 2 damage. The two numbers that matter are Wisdom 14, which sets the spell save DC at 12 and spell attacks at +4, and the three 1st-level slots. An acolyte is a healing potion with legs and a vote on who gets it.

The spell list is short, and each spell has a clear job:

• •Sacred Flame (cantrip): 1d8 radiant on a failed Dexterity save, and the target gets no benefit from cover. This is the acolyte's only real damage.
• •Bless: up to three allies add 1d4 to attack rolls and saves for up to a minute, with concentration.
• •Cure Wounds: touch, 1d8 + 2 hit points (6.5 on average).
• •Sanctuary: a bonus action ward that forces anyone attacking the warded creature to pass a DC 12 Wisdom save or pick another target.
• •Light and Thaumaturgy: utility. Thaumaturgy is useful for theater: a booming voice, tremors, flickering flames during a ceremony.

Medicine +4 and Religion +2 round it out. Outside combat, this is the NPC who stabilizes the dying, identifies the holy symbol and knows which festival is next week.

The 2024 Priest Acolyte

SRD 5.2.1 renames the stat block Priest Acolyte and makes it a Humanoid (Cleric), Medium or Small, neutral by default.

What changed from 2014:

The 2014 acolyte is a support caster. The 2024 Priest Acolyte is a soldier with one prayer. It deals more damage (about 3.2 a turn against 2.0), takes more hits to drop, and heals far less.

Two details in the 2024 block are easy to miss:

• •Divine Aid is a bonus action. The Priest Acolyte can cast Bless and then attack with Radiant Flame in the same turn. The 2014 acolyte, casting Bless with its action, does nothing else that turn.
• •No save DC is printed. SRD 5.2.1 says a monster's stat block gives its spell save DC if any of its spells require a saving throw. Sanctuary does, but the Priest Acolyte's block leaves the DC out. Use the standard formula, 8 + Wisdom modifier (+2) + proficiency bonus (+2): DC 12, the same as the 2014 acolyte.

How Acolytes Fight

Acolytes make other monsters better. Run them from the back of the fight, and decide before initiative which ally each one is there to keep alive.

Damage, for reference. Against a character with AC 16 and a Dexterity save of +2:

Neither version threatens a party by itself. Their value is in what they do to the numbers of the creatures around them.

Bless the right three. Bless adds 1d4 (2.5 on average) to every attack. For three bandits attacking at +3 against AC 16, the hit chance rises from 40% to 52.5%. Bless the creatures that attack most often or hit hardest, such as a thug or a cult fanatic, not the other acolytes. Concentration is the weak point: every time the acolyte takes damage it makes a DC 10 Constitution save (at +0 in 2014, +1 in 2024), so a hit has close to a coin-flip chance of ending Bless.

The 2014 Sanctuary-and-heal loop. In the 2014 rules, Sanctuary only ends if the warded creature attacks or casts a spell that affects an enemy. Healing an ally doesn't count. So a 2014 acolyte can open with Sanctuary on itself as a bonus action, then spend its next turns walking to wounded allies and casting Cure Wounds while every attacker has to pass a DC 12 Wisdom save first. Bonus-action spellcasting limits the first turn (only a cantrip with its action), so the loop starts on turn two. Sanctuary uses one of the three slots, so the loop gets two Cure Wounds: about 13 hit points restored, roughly one and a half cultists worth of health.

The 2024 bodyguard ward. The 2024 Sanctuary ends if the warded creature makes an attack roll, casts any spell or deals damage. A Priest Acolyte that wards itself can't then use Radiant Flame, its mace or even Light without dropping the ward. Use Divine Aid to put Sanctuary on someone who doesn't need to attack: the cult leader reading the ritual, the noble being escorted out, the wounded captain crawling away.

Healing Word at the right moment. The 2024 Priest Acolyte has one Healing Word, 60 feet, as a bonus action. Save it for an ally at 0 hit points. Bringing a downed Tough or Bandit Captain back into the fight costs the party far more than 7 hit points' worth of effort.

Stay out of reach. AC 10 and 9 hit points means a 2014 acolyte drops to one or two hits. Keep it behind allies or terrain. Sacred Flame ignores cover, so the acolyte can sit behind a pillar and still target the party's archer behind theirs.

Running an Acolyte Encounter

The acolyte is 50 XP in both editions. Spend most of the budget on the creatures it supports. Using the 2024 budget for four characters:

Under the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines, used by our encounter calculator, one acolyte with four cultists is 150 XP, doubled to 300 for a group of five. That is Hard for four level 1 characters. The 2014 math treats the acolyte the same as any CR 1/4 creature, but in practice a 2014 acolyte's three Cure Wounds can be worth more than its 50 XP suggests in a long fight.

Two guidelines:

• •One acolyte per four or five combatants is plenty. More than that and the party spends the fight chasing healers.
• •Acolytes stop mattering by level 5. Bless and 6.5-point heals are small against a party dealing 30+ damage a round. Swap in a priest (CR 2) for higher-level temples.

How Players Beat Acolytes

The acolyte is the priority target and the easiest kill in most fights it appears in.

• •Kill the healer first. A 2014 acolyte has AC 10 and 9 hit points: a +5 attack hits it on a 5 or better and one hit nearly kills it. The 2024 Priest Acolyte is tougher at AC 13 and 11 hit points, but still drops to two hits.
• •Break Bless. Any damage forces a concentration save. A cantrip that hits the acolyte is often worth more than one aimed at the creature it blessed.
• •Ignore Sanctuary with area effects. Sanctuary doesn't protect against area effects. Thunderwave, Burning Hands and other area spells hit a warded acolyte normally, and its Dexterity and Constitution are +0 and +1 at best.
• •Use the Humanoid spells. Both editions are Humanoids. Hold Person, Charm Person and Command all work (the 2014 Command only if the acolyte understands your language), though Wisdom 14 (+2) is the acolyte's best save. Every other 2014 save is +0; the 2024 Priest Acolyte has +0 in Dexterity, Intelligence and Charisma.
• •Talk. Acolytes in a 2014 game can be any alignment, and the 2024 default is neutral. A junior priest at a corrupt temple may surrender, defect or bargain when the fight turns, especially if the party offers healing in return.

Acolyte Encounter Ideas

Healing by donation. The only temple in a mining town charges for Cure Wounds and keeps a ledger of who owes what. Two acolytes do the healing, and both are uneasy about the new high priest's prices. No fight is required; the party can pay, haggle, or find out where the money goes. A priest and a couple of temple guards are there if it turns violent.

The field chapel. A mercenary company has two acolytes in its camp, and the mercenaries fight much better near them. When the party raids the camp, the acolytes stay behind a wagon line, blessing the front rank and healing whoever falls. The fastest way to win is to go around the wagons, not through the front.

The warded reader. Cultists are holding a summoning ritual in a flooded crypt. The cult leader reads from a book in the center while an acolyte keeps Sanctuary on them and four cultists hold the stairs. Every attack aimed at the reader needs a DC 12 Wisdom save first. The party can push through, hit the acolyte to break the ward (in 2024 rules, the reader attacking anyone also ends it), or use an area spell that ignores it. If you're running a campaign where these NPCs come back, Loreify records the session and keeps track of every acolyte and cultist the party met.

For a quick name and personality for a temple NPC, try the NPC generator or the cleric name generator.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is an acolyte in 5e?

The 2014 acolyte is CR 1/4 (50 XP). The 2024 Priest Acolyte is also CR 1/4 and 50 XP.

What spells does an acolyte have?

The 2014 acolyte is a 1st-level spellcaster (save DC 12, +4 to hit) with Light, Sacred Flame and Thaumaturgy at will, and three 1st-level slots for Bless, Cure Wounds and Sanctuary. The 2024 Priest Acolyte casts Light and Thaumaturgy at will and, once per day as a bonus action, Bless, Healing Word or Sanctuary.

Is the acolyte stat block the same as the Acolyte background?

No. The Acolyte background is a character option players choose at character creation. The acolyte on this page is an NPC stat block a DM uses for junior clergy, with its own hit points, spells and challenge rating.

How much can an acolyte heal?

A 2014 acolyte can cast Cure Wounds three times for 1d8 + 2 each, about 19.5 hit points in total. A 2024 Priest Acolyte can cast Healing Word once per day for 2d4 + 2, about 7 hit points.

What is the difference between an acolyte and a priest?

Both are clergy NPCs. The acolyte (CR 1/4) is a junior with 1st-level spells or a single daily prayer. The priest is CR 2 with more hit points, stronger spells and better healing, and works as the leader the acolytes answer to.

Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.1 (2014) and 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.