Giant Hyena 5e: Stats, Rampage and Gnoll War Packs

A giant hyena is a CR 1 Large beast with AC 12, 45 hit points, a 50-foot speed and a +5 bite for 10 piercing damage. Its defining trait is Rampage, a bonus-action move and second bite, and the trigger is what changed in 2024. In the 2014 rules it fires when the hyena drops a creature to 0 hit points, so it chains kills through a weak party. In the 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1) it fires once a day after the hyena damages a creature that was already Bloodied, which makes it a finisher aimed at the most wounded character.

Table of Contents

• •Giant Hyena Stat Block (2014)
• •The Giant Hyena in the 2024 Rules
• •How Giant Hyenas Fight
• •Running a Giant Hyena Encounter
• •How Players Beat Giant Hyenas
• •Giant Hyena Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Giant Hyena Stat Block (2014)

The ordinary hyena is a Medium CR 0 scavenger with 5 hit points, a +2 bite for 3 and Pack Tactics. The giant hyena trades the pack trait for size: nine times the hit points, more than three times the damage per bite and Rampage. It has no Pack Tactics, so a pack of giant hyenas doesn't gain Advantage just by surrounding someone. Its 45 hit points are the number to remember. That's a lot of health for CR 1, and a level 1 or 2 party rarely kills one in a single round.

The Giant Hyena in the 2024 Rules

The body is the same. Rampage became easier to trigger and harder to repeat. A 2024 hyena doesn't need to finish anyone; it only needs to bite someone at half hit points or fewer. And it now has darkvision, so a night attack is fair game.

How Giant Hyenas Fight

The base damage. +5 against AC 16 hits on an 11 or better, 50% of the time, for 10 damage: about 5 per round from one bite. Against a wizard with AC 12 it's 70% and about 7.

2014: chain through the downed. The kill trigger rewards attacking whoever is lowest. A level 1 character with 8 hit points drops on a single 10-damage bite. The hyena then moves 25 feet and bites the next target, all in one turn. Against a level 1 party, a giant hyena next to two wounded characters can drop both in one turn on good rolls.

2024: the Bloodied finisher. Once a day, after biting a creature that was already Bloodied, the hyena moves half its speed and bites again. The second bite can hit the same creature or a new one. Against a single Bloodied fighter that's two bites in a turn, 20 damage if both land. The smart play is to go after whoever the party has been neglecting to heal.

Speed sets the fight. At 50 feet, nothing in a level 1 or 2 party outruns a giant hyena. It ignores the front line and runs around it. Hyenas that start a fight 100 feet away are biting the back rank on round two.

They don't stay to die. Hyenas are scavengers. DM ruling, not rules text: when a giant hyena drops to about 15 hit points it backs off to wait for the fight to end, then comes back for whatever is left.

Running a Giant Hyena Encounter

All three sit at the edge of the 2024 Low budget. The 2014 math, which our encounter calculator uses, calls each of them Hard because of the group multiplier. For 2014 hyenas the Hard label is the better guide: two of them bring 90 hit points against a level 2 party, and every downed character is a free extra bite.

The gnoll pairing is the natural one. Gnolls (Gnoll Warriors in 2024) have their own Rampage with the same trigger as the hyena's in each edition, so a pack of four gnolls plus a giant hyena turns wounded characters into extra bonus-action attacks. Keep giant hyenas for level 2 to 4 parties. By level 5, AC 12 and a single bite stop mattering.

How Players Beat Giant Hyenas

• •Don't leave anyone at low hit points. Against 2014 hyenas, a character at 10 hit points or fewer drops to an average bite (a bite can deal up to 15), and that bite becomes a free second attack. Heal early. Against 2024 hyenas, keep people above half to deny the Bloodied trigger.
• •Pick your battlefield. A hyena can't use its speed in a doorway, a narrow trail or on a cliff path. Make it come to the fighter.
• •Charm it. Animal Friendship charms it on a failed Wisdom save (it has +1), and with Intelligence 2 it is under the 2014 spell's cap of 3. Its Intelligence (−4) and Charisma (−2) saves are worse, if you have a spell that targets them.
• •Focus fire. 45 hit points against AC 12 is a damage race. Four characters each hitting 70% of the time for about 7 damage deal around 20 a round, so one hyena takes two to three rounds to kill.
• •Pin it down. A grappled hyena's speed is 0. It can still bite whoever is next to it, but the Rampage move goes nowhere and it can't run around the front line.

Giant Hyena Encounter Ideas

The battlefield scavengers. The day after a skirmish between two border garrisons, three giant hyenas are working through the dead. The party has been hired to recover a captain's signet ring from the field. The hyenas see them as competition for the carcasses.

The gnoll war band's outriders. A gnoll war band sends two giant hyenas ahead of its main force to harry travelers. The hyenas are bait. If the party chases them over the ridge, four gnolls are waiting on the other side.

The arena's starved beast. An arena keeps a giant hyena half-starved for its fights. On match day, the party learns their next opponent was replaced by the hyena at the last minute. The promoter has bet against them.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a giant hyena in 5e?

CR 1, worth 200 XP, in both the 2014 and 2024 rules.

How does the giant hyena's Rampage work?

In the 2014 rules, when it reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack on its turn, it can use a bonus action to move up to half its speed and bite. In the 2024 rules it's a 1/Day bonus action used immediately after it damages a creature that was already Bloodied, with the same half-speed move and bite.

Does a giant hyena have Pack Tactics?

No. The ordinary hyena has Pack Tactics, but the giant hyena does not in either edition. It has Rampage instead.

What changed for the giant hyena in 2024?

Rampage now triggers on damaging a Bloodied creature instead of on dropping a creature to 0 hit points, and it's limited to once per day. The 2024 giant hyena also has 60-foot darkvision. Its AC, hit points, speed and bite are unchanged.

Can a druid Wild Shape into a giant hyena?

Yes. Under the SRD Wild Shape rules, from druid level 8 in both editions, the first level that allows CR 1 forms. Circle of the Moon druids (not in either SRD) can take it sooner.

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.