Deer 5e: Stats, Hunting and the 2024 Deer

A deer is a CR 0 Medium beast with AC 13, 4 hit points and a 50-foot speed, faster than any standard player character on foot. Its 2014 bite deals 2 (1d4) piercing damage; the 2024 version rams for the same amount as bludgeoning. Nobody fights deer. Tables meet them when the party hunts for food, when a druid needs a fast form, or when something is chasing them. The 2024 deer (SRD 5.2.1) is harder to sneak up on and harder to pin down: it gains 60-foot darkvision, Perception +4 and Agile, which means it never provokes an Opportunity Attack when it leaves an enemy's reach.

Table of Contents

• •Deer Stat Block (2014)
• •The Deer in the 2024 Rules
• •How a Deer Fights (It Runs)
• •Running a Hunt: Deer Encounters
• •How to Kill a Deer on a Hunt
• •Deer Wild Shape and the 2024 Deer Familiar
• •Deer Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Deer Stat Block (2014)

Speed 50 and Dexterity 16 (AC 13) are the whole creature. Its passive Perception is 12 with no skill proficiency and no special senses, so a 2014 deer can't see in the dark and is easy prey for a careful hunter at night.

The Deer in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 deer notices a hunter with Stealth +5 only when the hunter rolls under 9, so the hunter succeeds 60% of the time instead of 70% against the 2014 deer. It also spots movement in the dark, which ends the night-hunting trick.

How a Deer Fights (It Runs)

A deer that gets cornered rams or bites once, for about 2 damage at +2, and then runs at the first gap. A DM should treat it as a creature trying to leave the map:

• •Turn one is its last. A deer that Dashes covers 100 feet a round. Most characters move 30 feet, or 60 with their own Dash. Anyone who doesn't drop it on the first round loses it.
• •2024 deer slip free. Agile lets it run past a character's reach without the free swing that would normally punish it. Surrounding a 2024 deer doesn't trap it unless every adjacent square is blocked.
• •Stags in a rut. If you want a deer that holds its ground, use the elk (CR 1/4), whose ram hits at +5 for 6 damage and can knock a charged target prone. The giant elk is the legendary-stag option at CR 2.

Running a Hunt: Deer Encounters

A deer is 10 XP and never a meaningful fight, so run it as a skill scene. The SRD has no hunting procedure, so this is a DM ruling, not rules text:

1. •Find the trail. A Wisdom (Survival) check, DC 10 in good forest, 15 in sparse or hunted-out land.
2. •Close in. Each hunter makes a Dexterity (Stealth) check against the deer's passive Perception (12 in 2014, 14 in 2024). Roll once per hunter, with a herd you can use the highest passive in it.
3. •One shot. If the hunters are unseen, they get a round of attacks before it bolts. A shortbow hit from a character with +3 Dexterity deals 1d6 + 3, at least 4 damage, so any hit kills a 4-hit-point deer.
4. •The chase. If anyone fails the Stealth check, the herd scatters at 50 feet a turn. That's the end of the hunt unless someone has a mount or a fast form.

The interesting part is what else is in the woods. Use the deer as bait: a wolf pack (CR 1/4 each, 50 XP) follows the same herd. Three wolves are 150 XP, inside the 2024 Low budget (200 XP) for four level 1 characters, and their bites knock people prone. The encounter calculator is there if you want the 2014 numbers.

How to Kill a Deer on a Hunt

• •Ranged attacks first. A shortbow or longbow from hiding. Melee hunters need to be unseen and within 5 feet, which rarely happens.
• •Stop it running. Entangle restrains creatures in a 20-foot square on a failed Strength save, and a deer has Strength 11 with no proficiency. A Restrained deer has a speed of 0 and gives attackers Advantage.
• •Ask it. Speak with Animals gets directions, not meat: a deer knows where the water is and what has been hunting near it over the past day.
• •Hunt at night in 2014 only. A 2014 deer has no darkvision. A 2024 deer sees 60 feet in the dark.

Deer Wild Shape and the 2024 Deer Familiar

Wild Shape. A deer is CR 0 with no fly or swim speed, so it's available from druid level 2 in both editions. Its value is speed. At 50 feet (100 with Dash) a druid in deer form outruns nearly everything a low-level party meets, which makes it the go-to escape form or the form for carrying a warning to the next village. In 2024 the druid keeps their own hit points, gains temporary hit points equal to their druid level, and gets Agile, so it can leave melee without taking a swing.

Familiar (2024 only). The deer isn't on the 2014 Find Familiar list. The 2024 spell allows any CR 0 Beast, and the deer is one. A deer familiar is Medium, which rules out sneaking through vents. Its upside is Agile: a familiar can't attack, but it can take the Help action to give an ally Advantage against an enemy within 5 feet, then walk away without provoking. That's the trick owls do with Flyby, done on foot.

Deer Encounter Ideas

The white hart. A pure white deer appears to the party three times in a week, always at the edge of a forest. It's a druid's Wild Shape form, and the druid wants the party to follow it to a poacher camp before the next full moon.

The starving village. A village's hunters come back empty for a month. The deer haven't left; something with darkvision has been taking them at night. Tracking a 2024 deer herd at dusk shows the party what's been eating them.

The stampede. A herd of thirty deer runs across a road just as bandits spring an ambush. For one round the road is full of fast-moving bodies, which the DM can treat as difficult terrain and half cover for everyone.

Frequently Asked Questions

How fast is a deer in 5e?

50 feet per round in both editions, or 100 feet with the Dash action. That's faster than a standard human, elf or dwarf character.

Does a deer have darkvision in 5e?

The 2024 deer has 60-foot darkvision and Perception +4. The 2014 deer has neither, only a passive Perception of 12.

Can a druid Wild Shape into a deer?

Yes, from druid level 2 in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It's one of the fastest forms available at that level.

Can a deer be a familiar?

Only under the 2024 rules, where Find Familiar accepts any CR 0 Beast. The 2014 spell has a fixed list that doesn't include the deer.

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.