Giant Boar 5e: Stats, the Charge and Running a Boar Hunt

A giant boar is a CR 2 Large beast with AC 12, 42 hit points, a 40-foot speed and a +5 tusk attack for 10 damage. Its Charge adds 7 (2d6) damage and knocks the target prone when it runs at least 20 feet straight in first. In the 2014 rules the target gets a DC 13 Strength save against the prone and the boar has Relentless, a once-per-rest refusal to drop. The 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1) make the prone automatic, raise its AC to 13, and swap Relentless for Bloodied Fury: Advantage on melee attacks once it's at half health.

Table of Contents

• •Giant Boar Stat Block (2014)
• •The Giant Boar in the 2024 Rules
• •How Giant Boars Fight
• •How Many Giant Boars for Your Party?
• •How Players Beat Giant Boars
• •Giant Boar Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Giant Boar Stat Block (2014)

The ordinary boar is a Medium CR 1/4 beast with 11 hit points and a +3 tusk for 4. It has the same Charge and Relentless traits, with smaller numbers: a 1d6 charge bonus, a DC 11 save and a 7-damage threshold on Relentless. The giant boar has nearly four times the hit points and two and a half times the tusk damage. Its Wisdom is 7 and passive Perception 8, so a party can often get the first move on one.

The Giant Boar in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 boar charges more reliably and fights better when hurt. The 2014 boar is harder to finish. Both make the first charge the scariest moment of the fight.

How Giant Boars Fight

The opening charge. +5 against AC 16 hits on an 11 or better, 50% of the time. A charging hit deals 17 on average (10 + 7). In 2014, a target with Strength +5 (a fighter proficient in Strength saves) resists the prone 65% of the time; a wizard with Strength −1 resists only 35% of the time. In 2024 there is no save: every charging hit on a Large or smaller target knocks it prone.

Why prone matters with more than one boar. Melee attacks against a prone creature within 5 feet have Advantage. Standing up costs half the target's speed. So the first boar charges and knocks the fighter down, and the second boar's tusk attack hits with Advantage: from 50% to 75% against AC 16.

Back off and charge again. The charge needs 20 feet of straight movement before the hit. With 40 feet of speed, a boar can back away 20 feet one turn and charge the next, or circle. Moving away from a character's reach provokes opportunity attacks, so play the boar as stubborn: it charges once, then stands and gores. If the terrain gives it a clear run, it backs off when the target is down.

When it's hurt. The 2014 boar's Relentless means a hit for 10 or less that would drop it leaves it at 1 hit point instead, once per rest. That's effectively up to 10 extra hit points and one more turn. The 2024 boar gets Advantage on every melee attack at 21 hit points or fewer: 75% to hit AC 16 instead of 50%, about 7.5 damage a round instead of 5. Either way, a wounded giant boar is at its most dangerous.

How Many Giant Boars for Your Party?

A single giant boar is a good boss beast for a level 2 party. Three are Moderate under the 2024 budget for level 4 characters, but the 2014 multiplier calls it Deadly, and three charges in round one can drop one or two characters. Check the 2014 numbers in our encounter calculator.

As mounts. A giant boar is Large, so it can carry a Medium rider. An orc war band riding giant boars is a strong set piece. A controlled mount can only Dash, Disengage or Dodge, so it doesn't gore; the boar is the rider's transport. An independent mount keeps its attacks.

How Players Beat Giant Boars

• •Deny it the run. No 20 feet of straight movement, no Charge. Fight in trees, rocks, a narrow trail or a doorway.
• •Use its Wisdom. Wisdom 7 (−2) is its weak save. Animal Friendship charms it (Intelligence 2 is under the 2014 spell's cap). Avoid Strength saves against a 2024 boar (+5).
• •Finish the 2014 boar with a big hit. Relentless only works against damage of 10 or less. A finishing hit for 11 or more ignores it.
• •Kill the 2024 boar fast. Once it drops to 21, it attacks with Advantage. Burst damage that takes it from above half to 0 skips Bloodied Fury.
• •Get up first, then fight. A prone character attacking has Disadvantage. Standing costs half your speed but is almost always worth it.

Giant Boar Encounter Ideas

The royal hunt. A noble's hunting party wants the party along as guards for a giant boar hunt. The boar is real. So is the cousin who has paid a beater to drive it straight into the noble's path.

The tusk-tithe. A village of swineherds owes a yearly tithe of one giant boar's tusks to a hill giant. This year the boar they caught broke loose in the village square on market day. The party is in the way.

The wereboar's herd. Something is guiding a herd of giant boars to tear up farmland around a single estate. The herd's leader, a wereboar, wants the estate's owner to sell.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a giant boar in 5e?

CR 2, worth 450 XP, in both the 2014 and 2024 rules.

How does the giant boar's Charge work?

In 2014, if it moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target and hits with its tusk on the same turn, the target takes an extra 7 (2d6) slashing damage and must succeed on a DC 13 Strength save or be knocked prone. In 2024, if it moved 20 or more feet straight toward a Large or smaller target immediately before hitting with its Gore, the target takes an extra 7 (2d6) piercing damage and is knocked prone with no save.

What is Relentless?

A 2014 trait: if the giant boar takes 10 damage or less that would reduce it to 0 hit points, it drops to 1 hit point instead. It recharges after a short or long rest. The 2024 giant boar doesn't have it.

What changed for the giant boar in 2024?

AC went from 12 to 13, Charge no longer allows a save and works only on Large or smaller targets, Relentless was replaced by Bloodied Fury, and it gained a +5 Strength save. Hit points, speed and damage are the same.

Can a druid Wild Shape into a giant boar?

Not with the Wild Shape rules in either SRD, which top out at CR 1. A giant boar is CR 2. Circle of the Moon druids (not in either SRD) can reach CR 2 forms at higher levels.

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.