Camel 5e: Stats, Cost, Carrying Capacity and Mounts

A camel is a CR 1/8 Large beast with AC 9, 15 hit points, a 50-foot speed and a bite that hits at +5 for 2 (1d4) bludgeoning damage. It costs 50 gp and carries 480 pounds under the 2014 rules, which makes it the desert alternative to a riding horse: slower (50 feet vs 60) but cheaper and just as strong. The 2024 camel (SRD 5.2.1) is sturdier, with AC 10, 17 hit points, a Constitution save of +5 and 60-foot darkvision, and its bite now deals 4 (1d4 + 2).

Table of Contents

• •Camel Stat Block (2014)
• •The Camel in the 2024 Rules
• •Buying, Loading and Riding a Camel
• •How a Camel Fights
• •Running a Desert Caravan Encounter
• •How Players Beat Mounted Raiders
• •Camel Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Camel Stat Block (2014)

Strength 16 and Constitution 14 make it a pack animal; Dexterity 8 gives it AC 9, the lowest of any mount in the SRD's equipment table. Passive Perception 9 and no darkvision mean a 2014 camel won't warn you about anything.

The Camel in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 camel is a better desert animal: it sees at night, and it adds +5 to Constitution saves. One point less Strength costs it 30 pounds of capacity.

Buying, Loading and Riding a Camel

Both SRDs list the camel at 50 gp in the Mounts and Other Animals table. For comparison, a riding horse is 75 gp (480 lb., 60 ft.) and a mule is 8 gp (420 lb., 40 ft.).

• •Carrying. 480 lb. (2014) or 450 lb. (2024). Pushing, dragging or lifting doubles that.
• •Pulling. An animal pulling a cart, sled or wagon moves up to five times its base carrying capacity, vehicle included: 2,400 lb. for a 2014 camel, 2,250 lb. for a 2024 one.
• •Riding. A mount must be at least one size larger than its rider, so a Large camel takes a Medium or Small rider. Domesticated animals are assumed trained to accept a rider. A controlled mount moves on your turn and can only Dash, Disengage or Dodge.

Find Steed. The 2014 spell names the camel as one of five steed forms (with the warhorse, pony, elk and mastiff). The steed uses the camel's statistics but becomes a Celestial, Fey or Fiend, its Intelligence rises to 6, and it understands one language you speak. The 2024 spell is different: the steed always uses the Otherworldly Steed stat block, and "a camel" is just how it can look.

Wild Shape. A camel is CR 1/8 with no fly or swim speed, so it's a level 2 form in both editions. In 2014 a level 2 druid in camel form has 15 hit points, more than a wolf (11), and can carry the party's halfling across a desert at 50 feet a round. In 2024 the druid keeps its own hit points and gains temporary ones, so the camel's value is its size and speed, not its hit points.

How a Camel Fights

It doesn't want to. A camel's bite is a warning, not a weapon:

• •2014: +5 against AC 13 hits on 8 or higher (65%) for 2.5 average damage, about 1.6 a round.
• •2024: +4 against AC 13 hits on 9 or higher (60%) for 4.5 average damage, about 2.7 a round.

The bigger factor is that a controlled camel doesn't attack at all. A rider controlling it limits it to Dash, Disengage or Dodge. A camel that Dodges imposes Disadvantage on attacks against it, which is often the right call when raiders are shooting at the pack animals to stop a caravan.

An independent (uncontrolled) camel acts on its own initiative. A DM can play a spooked camel that bolts with someone's saddlebags still attached.

Running a Desert Caravan Encounter

A camel is worth 25 XP. In a raid, the camels' XP inflates the budget without making the fight harder: controlled mounts don't attack.

Example for four level 1 characters (2024 Low budget: 200 XP): four bandits (CR 1/8, 25 XP each) riding four camels is 200 XP on paper. In play, the camels add 60 to 68 hit points of bodies and speed, but no damage, so the fight plays closer to four bandits that hit and run at 50 feet a round. The 2014 group multiplier counts all eight creatures (×2.5) and calls it Deadly, which overrates mounts that never attack. Try other mixes in our encounter calculator.

Under the 2014 Conjure Animals, a druid can summon eight beasts of CR 1/4 or lower, and eight camels are eight Large bodies: each takes a 10-foot square, so they can fill a 40-foot-wide canyon two animals deep. The 2024 spell doesn't summon stat blocks, so that trick is gone.

How Players Beat Mounted Raiders

• •Hit the rider. Under the 2014 rules, when a mount provokes an Opportunity Attack, the attacker can target the rider or the mount. Pick the rider. (The 2024 mounted combat rules don't include that line.)
• •Knock the rider off. If an effect moves the mount against its will, or knocks the rider Prone, the rider makes a DC 10 Dexterity save or falls off.
• •Or drop the camel. AC 9 (2014) is very easy to hit. 15 hit points is two or three solid hits, and the rider is on foot.
• •Win them over. Animal Friendship on a raider's camel (Intelligence 2) charms it, and a charmed camel won't happily carry its rider into you. How it behaves is the DM's call.

Camel Encounter Ideas

The salt caravan. A merchant hires the party to escort twelve camels across a salt flat. The camels are worth more than the salt. At night, raiders try to cut four of them loose rather than fight the guards.

The stubborn steed. A paladin's Find Steed camel (2014) has Intelligence 6 and opinions. It understands Common, refuses to cross a certain dune, and is right: there's a sinkhole underneath.

The last well. Two caravans meet at a nearly dry oasis. There's enough water for one string of camels. Whoever the party helps, the other caravan's master remembers it.

Frequently Asked Questions

How much does a camel cost in 5e?

50 gp in both the 2014 and 2024 equipment tables.

How much can a camel carry in 5e?

480 pounds under the 2014 rules and 450 pounds under the 2024 rules. Pulling a cart or sled, it can move five times that, including the vehicle.

Can Find Steed summon a camel?

In 2014, yes: the camel is one of the listed forms and uses its own stat block. In 2024 the steed always uses the Otherworldly Steed stat block, but you can choose for it to look like a camel.

What CR is a camel?

CR 1/8, worth 25 XP, in both editions.

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.