Giant Frog 5e: Stats, Swallow and the Halfling Problem

The giant frog is a CR 1/4 Medium Beast with AC 11, 18 hit points, 30-foot walking and swimming speeds, and a standing leap of 20 feet. Its bite grapples, and its Swallow action gulps down a Small or smaller creature it's holding. That size limit is the whole design: against a party of humans and dwarves, the frog is a nuisance with a sticky bite. Against a halfling, a gnome or the wizard's familiar, it's a creature that can make a party member disappear. The 2024 frog swallows without an attack roll but spits its meal back out after one turn.

Table of Contents

• •Giant Frog Stat Block (2014)
• •The Giant Frog in the 2024 Rules
• •How Giant Frogs Fight
• •Running a Giant Frog Encounter
• •How Players Beat Giant Frogs
• •Giant Frog Wild Shape
• •Giant Frog Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Giant Frog Stat Block (2014)

The 2014 giant frog from SRD 5.1:

How the 2014 Swallow plays out, step by step:

1. •Bite. +3 to hit, 4 piercing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 11) and Restrained. The bite has no size limit, so it can hold a Medium fighter as easily as a gnome.
2. •Swallow. On its next turn, the frog makes another bite attack against the creature it's grappling, but only if that creature is Small or smaller. Restrained targets are attacked with Advantage, so the +3 bite hits AC 14 about 75% of the time.
3. •Inside. A swallowed creature is Blinded and Restrained, has total cover from everything outside, and takes 5 (2d4) acid damage at the start of each of the frog's turns. Nothing in the stat block lets the frog spit it out. The creature stays inside until the frog dies.

One detail matters a lot: swallowing ends the grapple. The 2014 frog can then bite and grapple a second target while still digesting the first. It just can't swallow the second one.

The Giant Frog in the 2024 Rules

SRD 5.2.1 turns Swallow into a short gulp instead of a slow digestion.

Practical effect: the 2024 frog takes a Small character out of the fight for about one round and deals 5 acid, then drops them Prone at its feet. The 2014 frog keeps them until someone kills it. The 2024 grapple also no longer Restrains, so a grabbed character can still attack the frog normally.

How Giant Frogs Fight

Ambush from the water. Giant frogs sit half-submerged in reeds and murky ponds. Stealth +3 (2014) or +4 (2024) isn't great, but swamps give them Lightly or Heavily Obscured cover that does the rest.

Leap, then bite. Standing Leap gives a 20-foot long jump and a 10-foot high jump without a running start. A frog can jump from a lily pad cluster to the riverbank, or up onto a low wagon, and still bite. Use it to cross water and mud that slows the party.

Go for the small ones. A frog that bites a Medium character can only hold them. Its real target is the halfling, the gnome, or any character who picked Small size, plus familiars, Small allies and NPC children. Use frogs to make a Small character's size matter for once.

Swallow and leave (2014). After swallowing, the 2014 frog hops into deeper water and swims away at 30 feet. A swallowed character takes 5 acid a round and can only escape if the frog dies, so the party has to chase it. That chase is more interesting than the fight.

Gulp to protect itself (2024). The 2024 frog can't keep its prize, so use Swallow as a tempo play. A frog surrounded by three characters swallows the most dangerous Small one, eats the attacks, then spits them out Prone at the end of its next turn.

Running a Giant Frog Encounter

A giant frog is 50 XP. With the 2024 encounter budget (per character, SRD 5.2.1):

• •Level 1, four characters: 4 giant frogs is a Low fight (200 XP), 6 is Moderate (300 XP).
• •Level 2-3: 6-8 frogs around a pond (8 frogs, 400 XP, is Low at level 2 and also Low at level 3, using 400 of the 600 budget), or frogs as support for lizardfolk in a swamp village.
• •Level 4+: frogs stop being a threat on their own. Swap in a giant toad, which swallows Medium creatures.

Under the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines, four frogs are 200 XP doubled to 400 for the group, a Deadly fight for four level 1 characters on paper. In practice frogs deal low damage (+3 to hit, 4 per bite), so they're less dangerous than the multiplier says unless the party has Small members. Check it in the encounter calculator.

How Players Beat Giant Frogs

• •Kill the frog to free the swallowed. 18 HP at AC 11 doesn't last: two or three hits. Once it dies, the swallowed creature crawls out using 5 feet of movement and lands Prone.
• •Don't count on healing the swallowed one. A swallowed character has total cover against attacks and other effects outside the frog, so Healing Word can't reach them and neither can area spells. Heal them after they're out.
• •Escape the grapple early. Escape DC 11 is easy: a Small rogue with Acrobatics +5 breaks out on a 6 or higher, 75% of the time. Breaking free before the frog's next turn prevents the swallow entirely.
• •Charm it. Intelligence 2 and Wisdom 10. Animal Friendship works in both editions and is a quiet way past a frog guarding a ford.
• •Stay out of the water. Frogs swim at 30 feet and are Amphibious. Fighting them from a bank or a boat keeps you from being dragged under.

Giant Frog Wild Shape

The giant frog is CR 1/4 with a swim speed.

• •2014: the swim speed rules it out until druid level 4 (level 2 forms can't have a swimming speed). At level 4 it gives you 18 hit points, Amphibious and a 20-foot standing leap.
• •2024: only fly speeds are restricted at level 2, so a level 2 druid can take the giant frog form. You keep your own hit points and gain temporary hit points equal to your druid level.

The frog form's best trick is Swallow against Small enemies like goblins and kobolds. In 2014 you can swallow a goblin and then bite the next one. In 2024 the swallowed creature is out of the fight for a round and then lands Prone next to you.

Giant Frog Encounter Ideas

The ferry crossing. A rope ferry crosses a slow, muddy river. Halfway over, three giant frogs leap onto the raft (10-foot high jump, no problem) and go for the smallest passengers: a halfling family, their dog, the party's gnome. The ferryman wants to cut the rope and drift. The raft is 20 feet wide and tilting.

The frog pond feast. A swamp village keeps giant frogs in a fenced pond for food. Someone has broken the fence, and frogs are hopping through the village at night grabbing chickens and one missing child. The party finds a frog at the edge of the reeds with the child held in its bite. A child has a handful of hit points and won't survive the first 2d4 acid, so the party has one round to break the grapple or kill the frog before it swallows.

Familiar trouble. The wizard's owl familiar is Tiny and has 1 hit point. A giant frog in a sewer grabs it and swallows it on its next turn. The acid lands on the frog's following turn (at the start of it in 2014, at the end in 2024), and the owl dies unless the party kills an 18-HP frog first. The real problem is what the owl was carrying: the key it was sent to fetch is now inside a frog swimming off into the dark.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a giant frog swallow a player character?

Only a Small or smaller one, such as a halfling, a gnome or any character of Small size. Medium characters can be bitten and grappled but not swallowed.

How long does a giant frog keep a swallowed creature?

In 2014, until the frog dies; the creature takes 5 (2d4) acid damage at the start of each of the frog's turns. In 2024, only until the end of the frog's next turn: the creature takes 5 acid damage and, if it survives, is spat out Prone.

What CR is a giant frog in 5e?

CR 1/4 (50 XP) in both the 2014 and 2024 rules, with AC 11 and 18 hit points.

What level can a druid turn into a giant frog?

Druid level 4 under the 2014 rules, because it has a swim speed. Druid level 2 under the 2024 rules, which only restrict fly speeds at that level.

How far can a giant frog jump?

Its long jump is up to 20 feet and its high jump up to 10 feet, with or without a running start, 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.