Baboon 5e: Stats, Pack Tactics and Running a Troop

A baboon is a CR 0 Small beast with AC 12, 3 hit points, 30 feet of walking and climbing speed, and a +1 bite for 1d4 − 1 piercing damage. Alone it's harmless. In a group it has Pack Tactics: Advantage on its attack whenever an ally is next to the target. That makes a troop of eight baboons a legitimate first-level fight. The 2024 baboon (SRD 5.2.1) is the same creature with the same numbers.

Table of Contents

• •Baboon Stat Block (2014 and 2024)
• •How a Baboon Troop Fights
• •How Many Baboons for a Level 1 Party?
• •How Players Beat a Baboon Troop
• •Baboons as Familiars and Wild Shapes
• •Baboon Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Baboon Stat Block (2014 and 2024)

Nothing changed between editions: AC 12, 3 hit points, Intelligence 4, passive Perception 11, Pack Tactics and the same bite. The only differences are wording ("Incapacitated condition" instead of "incapacitated") and the 2024 block listing Initiative +2.

Two numbers stand out on a CR 0 beast. Intelligence 4 is one point too high for the 2014 version of one common spell (see below). And the climb speed equals its walking speed, so a baboon on a ruined wall or a tree moves as fast vertically as a person does on a road.

How a Baboon Troop Fights

One bite is weak. The +1 attack against AC 13 hits on a 12 or higher, 45% of the time, for an average of 1.5 damage. Pack Tactics changes the odds: with Advantage the same bite lands about 70% of the time.

That's enough to drop a level 1 wizard in one round if the troop surrounds them. So play the troop the way the trait asks:

• •Pile onto one target. The first baboon to reach a character turns on Pack Tactics for every other baboon. Pick the character with the lowest AC and the fewest friends nearby.
• •Fight from above. With a 30-foot climb speed, baboons drop from trees, rooftops or temple columns, bite, and climb back out of reach of anyone without a climb speed.
• •Break on losses. Animals don't fight to the death over nothing. When half the troop is down, or when someone makes a loud display of fire, the rest scatter up the nearest wall.

How Many Baboons for a Level 1 Party?

Each baboon is worth 10 XP. For four level 1 characters under the 2024 rules:

Those numbers are misleading. Twenty baboons can surround two characters at once, and the XP budget doesn't price Pack Tactics well. Eight is plenty for a first-level fight. The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide math is closer to the truth: eight baboons are 80 XP, multiplied by 2.5 for a group of 7 to 10, for 200 adjusted XP, which is a Medium encounter for four level 1 characters. Try other counts in our encounter calculator.

At level 3 and above, baboons stop being a fight and become a nuisance or a distraction while something bigger attacks. An ape (CR 1/2) leading a troop works as a "boss" for level 2 characters.

How Players Beat a Baboon Troop

• •Stand together. Pack Tactics needs a baboon next to your target. A party in a tight line with backs to a wall limits how many can reach each character.
• •Area damage. Thunderwave deals 2d8 thunder damage in a 15-foot cube, half on a successful save. A baboon with 3 hit points dies on a failed save and still dies on a success unless the 2d8 roll is 5 or less, about a 1-in-6 chance. The cube starts at the caster, so aim it at the side of the ring where the most baboons are bunched.
• •Check the Animal Friendship edition. The 2014 Animal Friendship fails on any beast with Intelligence 4 or higher, and the baboon has exactly 4. The 2024 version has no Intelligence limit, so it works.
• •Feed them. Baboons are animals, not monsters. A DM can allow a character to toss food and roll Wisdom (Animal Handling) to draw the troop off. That's a DM ruling, not rules text, but it fits the creature.

Baboons as Familiars and Wild Shapes

The baboon is not on the 2014 Find Familiar list. In 2024 the spell also accepts any Beast with a Challenge Rating of 0, so a baboon familiar is legal. It's an odd choice, but it has one thing the named forms don't: hands. A familiar can't attack, but it can take other actions, and a DM ruling that a baboon can open a latch or carry a key is easy to defend.

For druids, the baboon is a level 2 Wild Shape in both editions (CR 0, no fly or swim speed). The 2024 Wild Shape rule says your ability to handle objects depends on the form's limbs, so a druid baboon can pull a lever or pick up a dropped wand, which a wolf can't.

Baboon Encounter Ideas

The market raid. Every morning a troop of baboons comes down from the hills, raids the fruit stalls and climbs onto the roofs. The merchants hire the party. Fighting them in a crowded market is messy; finding out what drove them out of the hills is the real job.

The temple troop. Twelve baboons live in a jungle ruin and treat the party as intruders. They harass from the walls in waves of four, never committing. A level 1 party has to cross the courtyard to the shrine while the troop takes bites at whoever falls behind.

The thief's accomplice. A pickpocket has trained a baboon (Animal Handling and a lot of fruit) to snatch purses and climb away. Catching the baboon leads back to the trainer.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a baboon in 5e?

CR 0, worth 10 XP, in both the 2014 and 2024 rules.

Do baboons have Pack Tactics?

Yes. A baboon has Advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of its allies is within 5 feet of that creature and isn't incapacitated.

Does Animal Friendship work on a baboon?

Under the 2014 rules, no: the spell fails on beasts with Intelligence 4 or higher, and a baboon has Intelligence 4. Under the 2024 rules there's no Intelligence limit, so the baboon makes a Wisdom saving throw as normal.

Did the baboon change in the 2024 rules?

No. Its AC, hit points, speeds, abilities, Pack Tactics and bite are identical; only the wording was updated.

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.