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Crab 5e: Stats, the Crab Familiar and Blindsight
A crab is a CR 0 Tiny beast with AC 11 (natural armor), 2 hit points, 20 feet of walking and swimming speed, and a claw that deals 1 bludgeoning damage. It's Amphibious and has 30-foot blindsight, which is the reason it matters: as a familiar, a crab lets its caster perceive things within 30 feet that eyes can't, including invisible creatures. The 2024 crab (SRD 5.2.1) has 3 hit points and a +2 claw instead of +0. Unlike the giant crab, an ordinary crab's claw doesn't grapple.
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Crab Stat Block (2014)
Crab
Tiny beast, unaligned
Armor Class 11 (natural armor)
Hit Points 2 (1d4)
Speed 20 ft., swim 20 ft.
STR
2 (−4)
DEX
11 (+0)
CON
10 (+0)
INT
1 (−5)
WIS
8 (−1)
CHA
2 (−4)
Skills Stealth +2
Senses blindsight 30 ft., passive Perception 9
Languages —
Challenge 0 (XP 10; PB +2)
Traits
Amphibious.The crab can breathe air and water.
Actions
Claw.Melee Weapon Attack: +0 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 1 bludgeoning 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.
Blindsight 30 feet means it perceives its surroundings within that range without relying on sight. Its passive Perception is only 9 (Wisdom 8), so it notices little beyond that radius. Stealth +2 and a shell-colored body make it easy to overlook on a beach.
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.
One more hit point is the change that matters for a familiar. A crab that survives a 2-damage hit is a crab you don't spend an hour resummoning.
The Crab Familiar: Blindsight on Demand
The crab is named in the 2014 Find Familiar list. The 2024 list doesn't name it, but the spell also allows any Beast of CR 0, and the crab qualifies. The familiar can't attack, so its claw is irrelevant.
Find Familiar lets you perceive through the familiar's senses, "gaining the benefits of any special senses" it has. With a crab that means 30 feet of blindsight. Uses:
•Finding invisible creatures. Blindsight doesn't depend on sight, so an Invisible creature within 30 feet of the crab isn't hidden from it. Put the crab in the doorway of the room where an invisible thief keeps disappearing.
•Seeing in magical darkness or fog. A Heavily Obscured area blocks eyes, not blindsight. A crab in the middle of a cloud of darkness tells its caster where everything is within 30 feet.
•Underwater and on land. Amphibious means a crab familiar scouts a flooded corridor and then walks out of the water into the dry room behind it.
The cost is the viewing rule. In 2014, looking through the crab's senses takes your action and leaves you blind and deaf to your own surroundings until your next turn. In 2024 it's a Bonus Action with no such penalty, so a 2024 caster can check the crab's blindsight and still cast a spell the same turn.
Wild Shape. The crab has a swim speed, which locks it until druid level 4 in 2014. In 2024 only flying forms are delayed, so it's available at level 2. A druid in crab form has 30-foot blindsight: a decent pick for a druid scouting a dark sea cave.
How a Crab Fights
Barely. A 2014 crab's claw is +0 (hits AC 12 on a 12 or higher, 45%) for 1 damage. The 2024 claw is +2 for the same 1 damage. Wild crabs scuttle sideways into the surf or under a rock when anything bigger comes close.
No grapple, no pinch-and-hold, no extra damage. If your table expects a crab to clamp onto someone's toe, that's the giant crab's stat block, or a harmless flavor moment.
Running Crabs and Giant Crabs
An ordinary crab is worth 10 XP and works as beach scenery. For a crab fight, use the giant crab: CR 1/8 (25 XP), Medium, AC 15, 13 hit points, and a +3 claw for 4 (1d6 + 1) bludgeoning that grapples (escape DC 11). It has two claws, so it can hold two targets at once in both editions.
For four level 1 characters under the 2024 rules, eight giant crabs (200 XP) use exactly the Low budget, and twelve (300 XP) is Moderate. AC 15 is high for level 1 attackers, so expect a slow fight. Check 2014 numbers in our encounter calculator.
How to Beat a Crab Familiar Watching You
When the enemy wizard's familiar is a crab:
•Stay outside 30 feet. Its blindsight stops at 30 feet and its passive Perception is 9. A creature beyond that range with any Stealth at all goes unnoticed.
•Invisibility won't help inside that range. Don't count on it.
•Find the out-of-place crab. A crab in a library, in a dry tower, or in the same spot every day is suspicious. It's a Celestial, Fey or Fiend, not a Beast, so Animal Friendship won't target it, and that failure gives it away.
•Step on it. 2 or 3 hit points. Any damage ends it.
Crab Encounter Ideas
The invisible smuggler. Contraband vanishes from a dock warehouse while guards watch the door. The thief is invisible. A wizard ally places her crab familiar inside the entrance and catches the shape moving through the crab's blindsight.
The tide-line warning. On a beach at dusk, the shore crabs all scuttle into the water at once. Two rounds later, giant crabs come up out of the surf.
The sea cave scout. A druid in crab form leads the party into a pitch-black sea cave where a merrow waits in ambush. The druid's blindsight spots it; the party's torches don't.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you have a crab familiar in 5e?
Yes. The 2014 Find Familiar names the crab, and the 2024 version allows any CR 0 Beast, which includes the crab.
Does a crab have blindsight in 5e?
Yes, 30 feet, in both editions. A caster looking through a crab familiar's senses gains that blindsight.
Does a crab grapple in 5e?
No. The ordinary crab's claw deals 1 bludgeoning damage and nothing else. The giant crab's claw grapples (escape DC 11).
What changed for the crab in 2024?
It has 3 hit points instead of 2, Strength 6 and Constitution 12, and its claw attack is +2 instead of +0. AC, speeds, blindsight and Amphibious are the same.
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.