Running a Guardian Naga fight this week? Loreify records your session and writes the recap, including every monster, NPC and loot drop your party ran into.
Guardian Naga 5e: The Lawful Good Serpent at the Door
A guardian naga is a CR 10 Large serpent priest with AC 18. The 2014 version has 127 hit points, a 10-foot-reach bite backed by a save against 45 poison damage, and the spells of an 11th-level cleric. It is lawful good in both editions, so it's usually the thing standing between the party and something that should stay locked away, not a villain. Like the spirit naga, it returns to life 1d6 days after dying. In 2014 only Wish stops that. The 2024 guardian naga is a Celestial with two bites a turn, a blinding poison spit, and a weakness the party can actually use: Dispel Evil and Good cast on its remains keeps it dead.
Your players will remember this fight. Will you? Loreify turns your session audio into notes, NPC lists and quotes in 5-10 minutes.
Guardian Naga Stat Block (2014)
This is the SRD 5.1 guardian naga, a lawful good Monstrosity.
Guardian Naga
Large monstrosity, lawful good
Armor Class 18 (natural armor)
Hit Points 127 (15d10+45)
Speed 40 ft.
STR
19 (+4)
DEX
18 (+4)
CON
16 (+3)
INT
16 (+3)
WIS
19 (+4)
CHA
18 (+4)
Saving Throws DEX +8, CON +7, INT +7, WIS +8, CHA +8
Damage Immunities poison
Condition Immunities Charmed, Poisoned
Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages Celestial, Common
Challenge 10 (XP 5,900; PB +4)
Traits
Rejuvenation.If it dies, the naga returns to life in 1d6 days and regains all its hit points. Only a wish spell can prevent this trait from functioning.
Spellcasting.The naga is an 11th-level spellcaster. Its spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 16, +8 to hit with spell attacks), and it needs only verbal components to cast its spells. It has the following cleric spells prepared:
1st level (4 slots): command, cure wounds, shield of faith
2nd level (3 slots): calm emotions, hold person
3rd level (3 slots): bestow curse, clairvoyance
4th level (3 slots): banishment, freedom of movement
5th level (2 slots): flame strike, geas
6th level (1 slot): true seeing
Actions
Bite.Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one creature. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 45 (10d8) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Spit Poison.Ranged Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, range 15/30 ft., one creature. Hit: The target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 45 (10d8) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Stat block from the SRD 5.1 (2014 rules) by Wizards of the Coast, licensed under CC-BY-4.0. Check an encounter with this monster in the encounter calculator.
It's proficient in every saving throw except Strength: Dexterity and Wisdom +8, Constitution and Intelligence +7, Charisma +8. Spells that call for those saves will fail more often than they land.
Its attacks both carry the same DC 15 Constitution save against 45 (10d8) poison damage, half on a success:
•Bite: +8, reach 10 feet, 8 piercing plus the save.
•Spit Poison: +8, range 15/30 feet, no damage of its own, just the save.
Against AC 16 (+8 hits on 8 or higher, 65%) and a target with Constitution +2 (fails DC 15 on 12 or lower, 60%), the bite averages about 29 damage a turn and the spit about 23. That's one attack a turn, though. The 2014 naga has no Multiattack, so every turn it casts a spell or attacks.
Celestial Restoration.If the naga dies, it returns to life in 1d6 days and regains all its Hit Points unless Dispel Evil and Good is cast on its remains.
Actions
Multiattack.The naga makes two Bite attacks. It can replace any attack with a use of Poisonous Spittle.
Bite.Melee Attack Roll: +8, reach 10 ft. Hit: 17 (2d12 + 4) Piercing damage plus 22 (4d10) Poison damage.
Poisonous Spittle.Constitution Saving Throw: DC 16, one creature the naga can see within 60 feet. Failure: 31 (7d8) Poison damage, and the target has the Blinded condition until the start of the naga’s next turn. Success: Half damage only.
Spellcasting.The naga casts one of the following spells, requiring no Somatic or Material components and using Wisdom as the spellcasting ability (spell save DC 16):
Stat block from the SRD 5.2.1 (2024 rules) by Wizards of the Coast, licensed under CC-BY-4.0. Check an encounter with this monster in the encounter calculator.
2014 Guardian Naga
2024 Guardian Naga
Creature type
Monstrosity
Celestial
HP
127
136
Speed
40 ft.
40 ft., climb 40 ft., swim 40 ft.
Condition immunities
Charmed, Poisoned
Charmed, Paralyzed, Poisoned, Restrained
Attacks per turn
One
Two Bites, either one can be Poisonous Spittle
Bite
8 + DC 15 Con save vs 45 poison
17 piercing + 22 poison, no save
Spit
Attack roll, 15/30 ft., DC 15 Con vs 45 poison
DC 16 Con, 60 ft., 31 poison and Blinded until the start of its next turn; half and no blindness on a success
Celestial Restoration: Dispel Evil and Good on its remains prevents it
Skills
None
Arcana, History, Religion +11
Twice the damage. Two bites against AC 16 average about 51 damage a turn. Two uses of Poisonous Spittle against a Con +2 target average about 51 too, with no attack roll, and each failed save leaves a character Blinded until the start of the naga's next turn.
Big single spells. Flame Strike at level 6 is 6d6 fire plus 6d6 radiant in a 10-foot-radius cylinder, average 42, DC 16 Dexterity save for half. Cure Wounds at level 6 heals 12d8 + 4, average 58.
Lost control spells. Command, Hold Person, Bestow Curse and Banishment are gone. A 2024 guardian naga fights with teeth and venom.
How Guardian Nagas Fight
It's a gatekeeper. A guardian naga starts most fights with words, not venom. It speaks Common and Celestial. Let the party explain itself, and decide in advance what answer it wants.
2014: control first, venom second. At DC 16, the opening moves are strong: Banishment on the biggest threat, Hold Person from a 4th-level slot on three Humanoids, or Command ("Flee," "Drop") on someone at the edge of a ledge. Then bite or spit whoever is still coming. True Seeing and Clairvoyance mean it usually knows the party is coming, and what they look like under any illusion.
2024: blind the healer. Poisonous Spittle reaches 60 feet. Spit at the cleric and the wizard, blinding them until its next turn, then bite the front-liner. Use its climb and swim speeds to fight from a cliff face, a ledge or a pool where the party's melee can't follow.
Heal and hold. Cure Wounds at level 6 brings back more than a third of its hit points. A 2024 naga at half health that heals once is a long fight.
Geas is for afterward. Geas takes 1 minute to cast, so it isn't a combat spell. A guardian naga that wins, or that the party surrenders to, uses it: "Leave this valley and never speak of the door." A target that acts against the command takes 5d10 psychic damage, no more than once a day, for 30 days.
Running a Guardian Naga Encounter
A guardian naga is worth 5,900 XP. For four characters:
Party of 4
Encounter
2024 difficulty
2014 difficulty
Level 8
1 guardian naga
Moderate
Hard
Level 9
1 guardian naga
Moderate
Medium
Level 10
1 guardian naga
Low
Medium
The 2014 labels follow the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide thresholds, which our encounter difficulty calculator uses. A lone guardian naga is the natural setup: one creature, one door.
Decide whether it should be fought at all. A lawful good guardian is a puzzle, a negotiation or a moral test as often as a battle. If the party fights it, give them a reason the fight is necessary, or a consequence for picking it.
How Players Beat Guardian Nagas
•Target Strength. At +4, it's the only save the naga isn't proficient in, so spells that call for a Strength save are the best bet. In 2014, grappling or shoving it is a contest, and it has no Athletics or Acrobatics proficiency. In 2024 a grapple or shove lets it choose a Strength or Dexterity save, and it will pick Dexterity (+8). The 2024 naga is also immune to Restrained, so web and vine spells that restrain don't work.
•Cut off its voice. It casts with verbal components only, so a Silence spell shuts down Flame Strike, healing and Geas in both editions. Counterspell works on a single big spell.
•No poison, no charm. It's immune to poison damage and the Charmed and Poisoned conditions in both editions.
•2024: no Paralyzed either. Hold Monster and similar spells can't paralyze it.
•Spread out from Flame Strike. The cylinder has a 10-foot radius. Keep characters more than 20 feet apart.
•Keep it dead (2024). Cast Dispel Evil and Good on its remains and it doesn't return. A cleric can cast it from character level 9. In 2014 only Wish does the job.
•Or talk. It's lawful good, knows Arcana, History and Religion at +11 (2024), and likely knows more about the thing it guards than anyone.
Guardian Naga Encounter Ideas
The other naga. A guardian naga watches a sealed crypt where it has killed the same spirit naga four times. Each time, the spirit naga's Rejuvenation brings it back in 1d6 days. The guardian wants the party to find a Wish. The spirit naga, whispering through the crypt door with Minor Illusion, wants the party to kill the guardian first.
The thief under geas. A thief hires the party to recover a bag he left in a temple. He can't go back himself: the guardian naga cast Geas on him 25 days ago, and going back would cost him 5d10 psychic damage a day. In five days the Geas ends and he'll go himself. Why is he in such a hurry?
The truthful door. The naga's True Seeing reveals what the party is hiding. If one of them is a shapechanger, someone under Disguise Self or an illusion, the naga refuses entry and tells the others why. Loreify can record the session, so later you'll know exactly what the naga told them.
Frequently Asked Questions
What CR is a guardian naga in 5e?
A guardian naga is CR 10 (5,900 XP) in both the 2014 and 2024 rules, with AC 18. It has 127 hit points in 2014 and 136 in 2024.
Is a guardian naga good or evil?
Lawful good in both editions. In 2014 it's a Large Monstrosity; in 2024 it's a Large Celestial.
How do you permanently kill a guardian naga?
In 2014, only a Wish spell keeps it from returning to life in 1d6 days. In 2024, casting Dispel Evil and Good on its remains prevents its Celestial Restoration.
What spells does a guardian naga cast?
The 2014 guardian naga casts cleric spells as an 11th-level caster, including Command, Hold Person, Bestow Curse, Banishment, Flame Strike, Geas and True Seeing. The 2024 version casts Thaumaturgy at will and Clairvoyance, Cure Wounds, Flame Strike, Geas and True Seeing once a day each.
What's the difference between a guardian naga and a spirit naga?
The guardian naga is lawful good, CR 10, and casts divine spells with Wisdom. The spirit naga is chaotic evil, CR 8, and casts arcane spells with Intelligence. In 2024 the guardian is a Celestial and the spirit naga a Fiend.
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.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.