Guard NPC Stat Block 5e: City Watch, Sentries and Gate Fights

This is the Guard NPC stat block from the 5e SRD: the creature you use for a city watch patrol, a gate sentry or a merchant's hired bodyguard. A guard is CR 1/8 (25 XP) with AC 16 from a chain shirt and shield, 11 hit points, a +3 spear for 4 damage, and passive Perception 12. It's built to be hard to hit and easy to kill, which makes it better at raising the alarm than winning a fight. The 2024 Guard keeps every one of those numbers, drops the two-handed spear option, and gets a CR 4 Guard Captain to lead it.

Table of Contents

• •Guard Stat Block (2014)
• •The Guard in the 2024 Rules
• •How Guards Fight
• •How Many Guards for a Level 1 to 5 Party?
• •How Players Beat Guards
• •Guard Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Guard Stat Block (2014)

AC 16 is the number that surprises players. It's the same AC as a level 1 fighter in chain mail, so a level 1 rogue with +5 to hit needs an 11 and misses half the time. Once a hit lands, the guard is close to done: a level 1 fighter's greatsword (2d6 + 3) and a rogue's shortsword plus Sneak Attack (1d6 + 3 + 1d6) both average 10 damage, one short of a dead guard.

The offense is thin. The spear is +3 for 4 damage one-handed, or 5 (1d8 + 1) with two hands, but two hands means no shield, so a guard who switches drops to AC 14. Thrown, the spear reaches 20/60 feet, and a guard throws it once.

The Guard in the 2024 Rules

The stat block is functionally the same creature. The real 2024 change is the support around it. The 2014 SRD has no guard leader: you'd reach for a veteran or knight to command a watch post. The 2024 SRD adds the Guard Captain, a CR 4 Humanoid with AC 18, 75 hit points and two attacks a turn (longsword 15 damage or javelin 14 damage). One captain with four guards is a 1,200 XP encounter that plays like a real patrol.

How Guards Fight

Guards are not dangerous one at a time. Their value is numbers, armor, alarm and the law behind them.

The damage is low, so make the guard's job something else. A guard's spear against AC 16 hits on a 13 or higher, 40%, for an average of 4.5 damage. That's under 2 damage per guard per round. Six guards hitting one target average about 11 a round. Real, but slow. A guard fight is dangerous when it lasts long enough for more guards to arrive.

Raise the alarm first. Passive Perception 12 catches sloppy stealth: a character with Stealth +2 fails to beat it about half the time. A sentry who spots something shouts, rings a bell or blows a horn before drawing a weapon. On turn one, the best action for a guard is often not an attack at all.

Use the Help action. A guard next to a stronger ally (a captain, a veteran, a mage) can take the Help action to give that ally Advantage on its next attack against the guard's target. One guard helping a captain usually adds more than its own spear attack would.

Hold doors, not open ground. AC 16 with a shield in a doorway or on a narrow stair forces the party to fight one guard at a time while the others throw spears from behind. In an open courtyard, guards get surrounded and drop.

Surrender and arrest. Guards are people with families and a paycheck. Most will yield when half the patrol is down, and many prefer arrest to a fight. Grappling a suspect is a Strength (Athletics) check at +1 in 2014; in 2024 it's an Unarmed Strike the suspect resists with a DC 11 Strength or Dexterity save. Let a guard demand that the party drop their weapons. Players remember the scene more than another combat.

How Many Guards for a Level 1 to 5 Party?

The 2024 encounter budget per character (SRD 5.2.1), for four characters:

Two caveats. First, a dozen guards on a map is slow at the table, so at level 2 and up, replace guard swarms with a captain or a veteran and three or four guards. Second, the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines (used by our encounter calculator) penalize groups heavily: six guards are 150 XP doubled to 300, which is Hard for four level 1 characters. At the table, six guards against level 1 characters is a fair, slow fight.

Guards also work as allies. A party defending a town gate alongside four guards gains four extra AC 16 bodies that can Help and hold a line. Run allied guards yourself, quickly, and assume they hit on 13+.

How Players Beat Guards

• •Avoid the fight. Guards are the clearest case in 5e where Deception, Persuasion, bribes and forged papers beat combat. Killing city guards turns a scene into a manhunt.
• •Area damage. AC 16 does nothing against saving throws. A guard that fails its save against Burning Hands dies if the 3d6 rolls 11 or more, about half the time. Shatter (3d8) kills on a failed save about three times in four.
• •Control spells. Guards are Humanoids in both editions, so Hold Person, Charm Person and Command work. Their Wisdom save is +0. A Commanded guard who drops its spear or flees one round can't raise the alarm.
• •Silence the sentry. A lone sentry taken by surprise may never get the shout out. Knock it out rather than kill it: when a melee attack drops a creature to 0 hit points, the attacker can choose to leave it unconscious instead. Then gag it and hide the body.
• •Kill the captain or don't. If a Guard Captain leads them, the guards fight harder while it stands. Drop the captain and the rest are likely to surrender or scatter.

Guard Encounter Ideas

The shift change. The party needs to get into a warehouse at midnight. Two guards walk the outside, two sit by a brazier at the door, and the shift changes at the third bell. During the changeover there are eight guards for one minute and then two for an hour. The plan writes itself if the players watch first.

Honest guards, crooked orders. The watch sergeant has been told to arrest the party on a false warrant. The guards at the gate don't know it's false, and they're decent people. The party can fight, run, prove the warrant forged, or go quietly and escape from a cell later.

The bodyguards. A merchant crossing a dangerous pass hires the party, and four guards already ride with her. At the ambush, the guards are allies, and the scene tests whether the players protect them or use them as shields. The surviving guards' attitude later depends on which.

When your guards become recurring NPCs (the sergeant who keeps arresting the bard), Loreify can record your sessions and keep track of who the party has bribed.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a guard's AC in 5e?

AC 16 in both editions, from a chain shirt (13 + Dex) and a shield (+2). It's high for CR 1/8 and the reason guards survive longer than their 11 hit points suggest.

What CR is a guard in 5e?

CR 1/8, worth 25 XP, in both the 2014 and 2024 rules.

What changed for the guard in 2024?

Almost nothing in the stat block: same AC, hit points, attack and CR. The 2024 guard can be Small, has neutral alignment, and its spear no longer has a two-handed damage option. The 2024 SRD also adds a CR 4 Guard Captain.

What is the Guard Captain in 5e?

A 2024 stat block for a watch commander: CR 4 (1,100 XP), AC 18, 75 hit points, and two attacks per turn with a longsword (15 damage) or javelins (14 damage). Pair one with four to six guards.

Is the guard stat block the same as a player character?

No. It's an NPC stat block for watch members and sentries, not a class or background. If you need a named guard with a personality, the NPC generator gives you a name, look and motive in a few seconds.

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.