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Axe Beak 5e: Stats, Flock Tactics and the 2024 Type Change
An axe beak is a CR 1/4 Large flightless bird with AC 11, 19 hit points, a 50-foot speed and one attack: a +4 beak for 6 slashing damage. The SRD 5.1 describes it as a tall bird with strong legs and a heavy, wedge-shaped beak that attacks any unfamiliar creature that wanders too close. Its numbers are identical in 2014 and 2024, but its creature type isn't: the 2014 axe beak is a Beast and the 2024 axe beak is a Monstrosity. That one word decides whether Animal Friendship, Speak with Animals, Dominate Beast and Wild Shape work on it.
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Axe Beak Stat Block (2014)
The SRD 5.1 axe beak:
Axe Beak
Large beast, unaligned
Armor Class 11
Hit Points 19 (3d10+3)
Speed 50 ft.
STR
14 (+2)
DEX
12 (+1)
CON
12 (+1)
INT
2 (−4)
WIS
10 (+0)
CHA
5 (−3)
Senses passive Perception 10
Languages —
Challenge 1/4 (XP 50; PB +2)
Actions
Beak.Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) slashing damage.
Stat block from the SRD 5.1 (2014 rules) by Wizards of the Coast, licensed under CC-BY-4.0. Check an encounter with this monster in the encounter calculator.
For a CR 1/4 creature it's built to absorb hits rather than deal them. 19 hit points is a lot at this CR: a 2014 goblin has 7, a wolf 11. 6 damage a hit is ordinary. Passive Perception 10 and no darkvision make it easy to sneak past, and the 50-foot speed makes it hard to outrun.
Stat block from the SRD 5.2.1 (2024 rules) by Wizards of the Coast, licensed under CC-BY-4.0. Check an encounter with this monster in the encounter calculator.
SRD 5.2.1 changes nothing in the numbers: AC 11, 19 hit points, speed 50, the same ability scores, the same beak at +4 for 6, CR 1/4, 50 XP. It adds an Initiative of +1. What changed is the first line: Large Monstrosity instead of Large beast.
At a 2024 table, the druid's plan to calm the flock with a spell fails. Bribe it with food, avoid it, or fight.
How Axe Beaks Fight
There's one attack and no trick, so the threat comes from numbers and speed.
The math. Against AC 15, the beak hits on an 11 (50%) for 6 damage, about 3 a round per bird. Six birds on one target average about 18 a round, enough to drop most level 1 characters; spread across the party, the same flock feels manageable.
They swarm one target. At 50 feet a turn, axe beaks catch anyone running. Each bird takes a 10-by-10-foot space, so a big flock needs open ground to bring every beak to bear.
They don't retreat as a group. An axe beak with a nasty temper fights until it's hurt, then runs. When a bird drops below about half its hit points (9 or fewer), let it bolt at 50 feet. The flock thins out fast after the first casualties.
Use the terrain against them. A Large bird has to squeeze through a 5-foot corridor or doorway, so there they come at the party one at a time.
Riding an Axe Beak
An axe beak is Large, so the mounted combat rules allow a Medium or Small rider if it's willing and has a suitable anatomy. Neither SRD calls axe beaks mounts or lists them for sale, so riding one at all is a DM ruling, and whether yours is trained well enough to be controlled is a second one. An untrained axe beak acts as an independent mount: it moves and attacks on its own turn, as it likes.
The horse is faster and hits harder; the axe beak has 6 more hit points.
The 2014 druid option. Because the 2014 axe beak is a CR 1/4 Beast without a fly or swim speed, a level 2 druid can Wild Shape into it. As a Large form it could carry a Medium ally if the DM agrees. The 2024 axe beak is a Monstrosity, so it isn't a Wild Shape option at all.
Bag of Tricks. In both editions, the tan Bag of Tricks produces an axe beak on a roll of 4. It's friendly, acts on your turn and vanishes at the next dawn.
Running an Axe Beak Encounter
An axe beak is worth 50 XP. The 2024 budget (SRD 5.2.1) for four level 1 characters is 200 (Low), 300 (Moderate) and 400 (High):
Axe beaks
XP
Level 1 (4 characters)
Level 2 (4 characters: 400 / 600 / 800)
4
200
Low
Low (200 of 400)
6
300
Moderate
Low (300 of 400)
8
400
High
Low
12
600
Over High
Moderate
Under the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines (used by our encounter calculator), the group multiplier hits flocks hard. Three axe beaks are 150 × 2 = 300 adjusted XP, Hard for four level 1 characters. Four are 400 adjusted, right on the Deadly threshold.
Axe beaks fit wilderness travel at levels 1-3: open grassland, scrub, badlands. They also work as livestock: a rancher's herd, a caravan's draft birds, a racetrack's stable. That gives the party a reason to deal with them other than killing them.
How Players Beat Axe Beaks
•Don't run in the open. You won't outrun 50 feet. Back into a doorway, a gully or a stand of trees where only one or two birds can reach you.
•Area damage. 19 hit points is too much for most 1st-level area spells to finish in one go, but Thunderwave (2d8) pushes Large creatures 10 feet on a failed save, which breaks up a crowd around a cornered ally. Burning Hands (3d6) hits several birds in a cone.
•Kill one at a time. Focus fire. A dead bird stops attacking; three wounded ones don't.
•Sneak past. Passive Perception 10 with no darkvision means a party moving quietly at night will usually get by unnoticed.
•Use the right spell for your edition. Animal Friendship and Dominate Beast work on a 2014 axe beak. On a 2024 axe beak they fail; Command ("Flee!") works in 2024 because the 2024 spell dropped the requirement that the target understand your language; in 2014 it fails against a creature with no language.
Axe Beak Encounter Ideas
The bird drive. A rancher needs twenty axe beaks moved across three days of open country to a market town. The birds are bad-tempered and peck anyone who gets close. Raiders want the herd, and the herd hates everyone. Run it as a skill challenge with a fight at the river crossing.
The broken fence. A farmstead's pen has collapsed and six axe beaks are loose in the next village, where they've cornered a priest in a bell tower. Every bird the party kills is money out of the farmer's pocket; every bird they catch earns a reward.
The race. A frontier town's festival includes an axe beak race, and one rider has paid to have a rival's bird drugged. The drugged bird bolts into the crowd mid-race. The party has a round to stop it and the rest of the festival to find out who paid. If your group loves a good recurring rival, Loreify's session recaps keep the name straight.
Frequently Asked Questions
What CR is an axe beak in 5e?
An axe beak is CR 1/4 and worth 50 XP in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It has AC 11, 19 hit points and a 50-foot speed.
Is an axe beak a Beast or a Monstrosity?
In the 2014 rules it's a Large Beast. In the 2024 rules it's a Large Monstrosity. The stats are otherwise the same, but in 2024 spells and features that only work on Beasts, like Animal Friendship and Wild Shape, don't work with it.
Can a druid Wild Shape into an axe beak?
Under 2014 rules, yes, from druid level 2: it's a CR 1/4 Beast with no fly or swim speed. Under 2024 rules, no, because the axe beak is a Monstrosity and Wild Shape forms must be Beasts.
Can you ride an axe beak?
Only as a DM ruling. It's Large, so the mounted combat rules allow a Medium or Small rider if it's willing and has a suitable anatomy, but neither SRD describes axe beaks as mounts. An untrained one acts as an independent mount.
How fast is an axe beak?
50 feet, faster than most player characters but slower than a riding horse (60 feet).
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.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.