Hawk 5e: Stats, the Hawk Familiar and Daylight Scouting

A hawk is a CR 0 Tiny beast with AC 13, 1 hit point, a 60-foot fly speed and talons that hit at +5 for 1 slashing damage. It's built to spot things: in the 2014 rules Keen Sight gives it a passive Perception of 19 for anything it can see, and the 2024 hawk (SRD 5.2.1) trades that trait for a flat Perception +6 (passive 16). It has no darkvision in either edition, which is the single most important fact about it as a familiar: a hawk is a daytime scout, and at night it's close to useless.

Table of Contents

• •Hawk Stat Block (2014)
• •The Hawk in the 2024 Rules
• •The Hawk Familiar
• •Hawk, Owl, Bat or Eagle?
• •How Hawks Fight
• •Running Hawks in an Encounter
• •How Players Beat a Hawk Scout
• •Hawk Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Hawk Stat Block (2014)

The SRD 5.1 hawk.

Its listed passive Perception is 14. Keen Sight gives Advantage on sight-based Perception checks, and Advantage adds 5 to a passive score, so for anything in view the 2014 hawk notices at 19. Its AC 13 ties the weasel for the best among 1-hit-point familiars (owl 11, bat 12, rat 10), though that rarely saves it.

The Hawk in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 hawk's +6 applies to every Perception check, hearing included, where the 2014 bonus only spikes for sight. For a watch at a camp in daylight the 2014 hawk is better (19 against 16). For noticing a sound in the brush the 2024 hawk is better (16 against 14). Everything else is unchanged, including the lack of darkvision.

The Hawk Familiar

The hawk is named on the Find Familiar list in both SRDs. Like every familiar it is a Celestial, Fey or Fiend with the hawk's statistics, can't attack, and can deliver your touch spells with its reaction within 100 feet.

The hawk's job is high reconnaissance. A 60-foot fly speed covers 600 feet a minute, enough to circle a valley while the party waits in the trees. Send it up, look through its senses, and you see the battlefield from above with a passive Perception most characters can't match. In 2014 that look costs your action and leaves you blind and deaf to your own surroundings until your next turn. In 2024 it costs a Bonus Action.

It can't see in the dark. No darkvision means a hawk in a dungeon, a cave or a moonless night sees only what's lit. If the campaign is mostly underground, the hawk is the wrong pick. The telepathic link only reaches 100 feet, so a hawk scouting farther out has to fly back to report.

The Help problem. A familiar's main combat contribution is the Help action: it distracts one enemy within 5 feet so an ally's next attack against it has Advantage. A hawk can fly 30 feet in, Help, and fly 30 feet out, but it has no Flyby, so leaving provokes an opportunity attack. A typical +5 attacker hits AC 13 on an 8 or better, 65% of the time, and 1 damage kills the hawk. Use the hawk to Help against an enemy that has already spent its reaction, or one that would rather swing at the fighter. Otherwise, keep it in the sky.

Touch spells at range. The hawk can reach an ally 60 feet away in one move and deliver a touch spell with its reaction when you cast it. The 100-foot limit is the same for every familiar, but only the owl gets into position as fast.

Hawk, Owl, Bat or Eagle?

The 2024 Find Familiar list ends with "or another Beast that has a Challenge Rating of 0." The eagle is a CR 0 Beast with the same speed and passive Perception (16) as the 2024 hawk, AC 12 and 4 hit points instead of 1. Under 2024 rules, an eagle familiar is a sturdier hawk. Under 2014 rules the list is closed and the eagle isn't on it, so the hawk is the daylight flier.

How Hawks Fight

A hawk's talons hit at +5 for 1 damage. Against AC 12 it lands 70% of the time: 0.7 damage a round.

Hawks earn a place in a combat as someone else's eyes. An NPC scout or druid with a trained hawk sees the party coming, and the hawk's high passive Perception defeats most attempts to sneak up. If an enemy has a hawk, the party loses surprise unless it moves at night or under cover.

For birds that fight, use the blood hawk: CR 1/8, 7 hit points, a 4-damage beak and Pack Tactics.

Running Hawks in an Encounter

A hawk is worth 10 XP. Use hawks as:

• •An alarm. A hawk circling overhead marks an enemy camp's lookout. Kill it or hide from it, and the camp is surprised.
• •A delivery. A noble's hunting hawk carries a message tube to the party mid-journey. Under Animal Messenger, a hawk travels about 50 miles per 24 hours, the flying rate.
• •A clue. A hawk wearing jesses but no handler means someone nearby lost a bird, or lost their life.

If you need an encounter number anyway, run it through the encounter calculator: two hawks are 20 XP, which is nothing for any party.

How Players Beat a Hawk Scout

• •Move at night. No darkvision means a hawk can't spot the party in darkness. This is the cleanest counter.
• •Stay under cover. Forest canopy, buildings and caves block line of sight. A hawk's Perception only works on what it can see (and, in 2024, hear).
• •Shoot it. AC 13 and 1 hit point: any hit kills it. Vicious Mockery works too, though the hawk's Wisdom +2 gives it a fair chance to save.
• •Kill the familiar first. If the hawk is an enemy caster's familiar, replacing it costs an hour and 10 gp of materials. Do it right before the fight.
• •Talk to it. Speak with Animals works on a wild hawk. A hawk that's a familiar is a Celestial, Fey or Fiend, so the spell doesn't work on it, which is itself a tell.

Hawk Encounter Ideas

The falconer's contest. A lord holds a hunting contest with trained hawks. One competitor's hawk keeps flying straight to a ruined watchtower and refusing to return. It's someone's familiar, and its master is watching the contest from the tower for a reason.

Eyes on the road. Bandits along a trade road keep three hawks. Every caravan they've robbed was spotted hours before the ambush. The party can travel at night, kill the hawks, or set up a decoy caravan and let the hawks see exactly what the bandits want them to see. The bandits' camp is a fine place to use a bandit captain.

The message that arrived too late. A hawk lands on the party's wagon with a message under an Animal Messenger spell. It was sent three days ago from 150 miles away (a 3rd-level casting stretches the spell to 72 hours), and the sender asked for help "by the next full moon," which was last night. Whatever the sender feared has already happened.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a hawk in 5e?

A hawk is CR 0 and worth 10 XP in both the 2014 and 2024 rules.

Does a hawk have darkvision in 5e?

No. Neither the 2014 nor the 2024 hawk has darkvision, so a hawk familiar can't see in darkness. If you need a flying familiar that sees at night, an owl has darkvision out to 120 feet.

Is a hawk a good familiar?

It's the best daylight scout on the 2014 list, with a 60-foot fly speed and a passive Perception of 19 for sight. It's a weak Help familiar because it has no Flyby and provokes opportunity attacks. Under 2024 rules, an eagle (also CR 0) does the same job with 4 hit points.

When can a druid Wild Shape into a hawk?

At druid level 8 in both editions, because the hawk has a fly speed.

What's the difference between a hawk and a blood hawk?

A hawk is a CR 0 Tiny bird with 1 hit point that deals 1 damage. A blood hawk is CR 1/8 with 7 hit points, a 4-damage beak and Pack Tactics. Use blood hawks when you want a flock that can hurt a level 1 party.

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.