Blink Dog 5e: Stats, Teleport and Pack Tactics

A blink dog is a CR 1/4 Medium Fey with AC 13, 22 hit points, a 40-foot speed and a bite. What makes it a blink dog is Teleport: on a 4, 5 or 6 it can vanish and reappear up to 40 feet away in any unoccupied space it can see. In the 2014 rules Teleport takes its action and includes one bite. In the 2024 rules Teleport is a bonus action, the bite gets stronger (+5 for 5 damage), and the dog gains darkvision and sharper Perception. Blink dogs are lawful good, so they're as likely to help the party as to hunt it.

Table of Contents

• •Blink Dog Stat Block (2014)
• •Blink Dog in the 2024 Rules
• •How Blink Dogs Fight
• •How Many Blink Dogs for Your Party?
• •How Players Beat Blink Dogs
• •Blink Dogs as Allies
• •Blink Dog Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Blink Dog Stat Block (2014)

The SRD describes the blink dog in one line: it "takes its name from its ability to blink in and out of existence, a talent it uses to aid its attacks and to avoid harm." The 2014 stat block (SRD 5.1):

For a CR 1/4 creature, 22 hit points is a lot. A goblin has 7. The blink dog's bite is weak (+3, 4 damage), so its CR comes from staying power and mobility, not from damage. Keen Hearing and Smell gives it Advantage on Perception checks that use hearing or smell, which makes it hard to sneak past.

The 2014 Teleport is an action with Recharge 4-6. The dog teleports up to 40 feet and can bite either before or after the jump. That one detail decides how it fights: bite and vanish, or appear and bite.

Blink Dog in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 blink dog (SRD 5.2.1) keeps the hit points, AC, speed and CR, and moves Teleport out of the action.

The effect at the table:

• •It bites every turn now. A 2014 dog's Teleport turn still includes a bite, so it never loses damage, but it can't bite, teleport and then bite again. A 2024 dog bites with its action and teleports with its bonus action. Same damage pattern, better action economy, and a stronger bite.
• •More reliable hits. +5 against AC 16 hits half the time; +3 hits 40% of the time.
• •It sees in the dark. The 2014 blink dog has no darkvision. The 2024 one does, so night ambushes and cave fights favor it.
• •Keen Hearing and Smell is gone. The flat +5 Perception replaces it. Passive Perception goes from 13 to 15.

How Blink Dogs Fight

Blink dogs fight like a pack of skirmishers who can ignore the map. Every Teleport is a chance to bite something soft and leave before the fighter reacts.

Bite, then blink. Teleporting doesn't provoke opportunity attacks. A blink dog that bites the wizard and then teleports 40 feet away takes no reaction attacks for leaving. Teleport is ready at the start of the fight, and a dog that has used it gets it back on a 4-6, so each spent Teleport returns half the time. In a pack of six, expect three or more dogs able to blink on any round.

Blink, then bite. The other use is getting past the front line. A blink dog can see the cleric standing behind the fighter, teleport into the empty space next to her, and bite. The fighter's careful positioning means nothing. In 2014 this is one action. In 2024 it's the bonus action followed by the bite.

Ignore terrain. The destination only needs to be unoccupied and visible. A ravine, a portcullis, a burning floor or a 30-foot wall is no obstacle. Fight blink dogs on a battlefield full of chasms and ledges and they'll be the only creatures who can go anywhere.

Slip a grapple. What the text says: a grappled creature's Speed is 0, and teleporting doesn't spend movement (2024 says so outright). The 2014 Grappled condition ends if an effect removes the creature from the grappler's reach; the 2024 one ends if the distance between them exceeds the grapple's range. Neither edition's Teleport mentions grapples. DM ruling: we let a grappled blink dog teleport out, which ends the grapple once it's out of reach.

The math. Against AC 16:

Fifteen damage a round focused on one level 1 or 2 character drops them. Spread across a party, it's survivable. Blink dogs are smart enough (Intelligence 10) to pick the target that's already bleeding.

Retreat. A blink dog at low hit points with Teleport ready is gone. Play it: it bites once more if it can, then blinks 40 feet out of sight and runs at 40 feet a turn. Few low-level characters can keep up.

How Many Blink Dogs for Your Party?

Each blink dog is worth 50 XP. Using the 2024 budget for four characters:

Twelve blink dogs is a lot of initiative bookkeeping. Roll for the pack as one group in our initiative tracker and track hit points on index cards.

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide math, which our encounter calculator uses, rates six blink dogs (300 XP, doubled to 600 for a group of 3 to 6) as Hard for four level 2 characters.

How Players Beat Blink Dogs

• •Make them come to you. Blink dogs have no ranged attack. Stand together in a tight formation and every dog that teleports in lands next to several characters. Fighters and paladins should Ready attacks for "when a dog appears next to me".
• •Burn through the hit points with area spells. At 22 hit points, a pack absorbs single-target damage well. Thunderwave and Burning Hands hit three or four dogs at once when they cluster around a target.
• •Fight them in the dark (2014 only). 2014 blink dogs have no darkvision. A party with darkvision fighting in an unlit cave can see the dogs while the dogs rely on hearing and smell. The 2024 dogs have darkvision 60 feet, so this no longer works.
• •Skip Humanoid-only spells. They're Fey. Hold Person and Charm Person can't target them.
• •Talk. They're lawful good. They understand Sylvan (and Elvish in 2024) but can't speak it, so a character who speaks Sylvan can explain the party's intent and the dogs can respond with behavior: following, growling, leading the way.

Blink Dogs as Allies

Blink dogs are among the few good-aligned creatures at CR 1/4, which makes them natural allies.

• •Conjure Woodland Beings (2014). The 2014 version of Conjure Woodland Beings can summon eight fey of CR 1/4 or lower. The spell says the DM has the creatures' statistics, so the DM decides what shows up, but blink dogs are an obvious pick for a forest summoning. Eight teleporting dogs is a strong result for a 4th-level slot. The 2024 version of the spell no longer summons creatures.
• •Guides and scouts. A blink dog can scout 40 feet ahead in a blink and return. A pack that owes the party a favor can lead them through a maze, a fey forest or a collapsed mine.
• •A recurring NPC. One named blink dog that keeps showing up at the right moment is an easy way to give the party a memorable friend without a talking NPC.

Blink Dog Encounter Ideas

The hunt that comes through the party. A pack of six blink dogs is chasing a phase spider that has been taking their pups. The spider shifts out of sight; the dogs blink after it. The party's camp is in the way. The first round looks like an attack. It isn't, unless the party treats it as one.

The kennel door. A noble's menagerie holds two blink dogs in a cage with iron bars spaced too tight to slip through. They can see out. They could teleport any time, and they stay because their packmate is chained in a cellar they can't see into. Free the third dog and the other two leave, possibly with the party's thanks and a guide out of the estate.

The test. A lawful good druid circle won't speak to outsiders until the party survives a night in the hollow. Blink dogs harass them till dawn: bites, blinks, stolen bedrolls, but nothing lethal. Characters who fight with restraint are welcomed. Characters who kill a dog are not. Note which party members passed in your session notes; the circle remembers.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a blink dog in 5e?

A blink dog is CR 1/4 (50 XP) in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It has AC 13, 22 hit points and a 40-foot speed.

How does the blink dog's Teleport work?

It recharges on a 4-6 and lets the dog teleport up to 40 feet to an unoccupied space it can see. In 2014 it's an action, and the dog can make one bite before or after teleporting. In 2024 it's a bonus action, so the dog takes its normal bite action and teleports in the same turn.

Does teleporting provoke opportunity attacks?

No. The rules say outright that you don't provoke an Opportunity Attack when you teleport. A blink dog can bite and teleport away without taking a single reaction attack.

Are blink dogs good or evil?

Blink dogs are lawful good in both editions. They're Fey, understand Sylvan (and Elvish in 2024), and speak their own Blink Dog language.

What's the difference between a blink dog and the Blink spell?

They share a name and a theme only. The Blink spell gives the caster an even chance at the end of each turn to vanish into the Ethereal Plane (11+ on a d20 in 2014, 4-6 on a d6 in 2024). A blink dog's Teleport is a short, deliberate jump to a space it can see.

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.