Lizard 5e: Stats, Lizard Familiars and Wild Shape Scouting

A lizard is a CR 0 Tiny beast with AC 10, 2 hit points, a 20-foot walk and climb speed, 30-foot darkvision and a bite for 1 piercing damage. Nobody fights one. It shows up as a familiar form (the Find Familiar spell names it in both editions) and as a Wild Shape form for druids from level 2. The 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1) give it Spider Climb, so a 2024 lizard walks across ceilings without a check. That puts it next to the spider as the familiar forms that can walk on ceilings, and this page compares the two.

Table of Contents

• •Lizard Stat Block (2014)
• •The Lizard in the 2024 Rules
• •The Lizard as a Familiar
• •Wild Shape: Druids as Lizards
• •How Lizards Fight
• •Running Lizards in an Encounter
• •How Players Beat a Lizard Spy
• •Lizard Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Lizard Stat Block (2014)

The 2014 lizard has a climb speed but no Spider Climb. Climbing a wall is covered by the climb speed. Hanging upside down from a ceiling isn't spelled out, so whether a 2014 lizard can do it is the DM's call. Its passive Perception is 9. Among the 2014 familiar forms only the quipper, at 8, is lower.

The Lizard in the 2024 Rules

Spider Climb lets it climb difficult surfaces, including along ceilings, with no ability check. The +2 bite doesn't matter for a familiar, which can't attack.

The Lizard as a Familiar

The lizard is on the Find Familiar list in both editions. The familiar keeps the lizard's stats but is a Celestial, Fey or Fiend instead of a Beast.

What the lizard does better than other forms:

• •Ceilings (2024). A lizard on the ceiling of a meeting hall is above everyone's eye line and 20 to 30 feet from the conversation. The caster communicates telepathically within 100 feet, and in 2024 looks through the lizard's eyes with a Bonus Action.
• •Fitting in. A lizard in a desert town, a jungle temple or a sun-warmed stone wall goes unnoticed in a way an owl indoors doesn't.
• •Being small and slow on purpose. Twenty feet of movement is slow, but a lizard doesn't need to go far: carry it in a pocket, put it on the wall outside the room, and leave.

What it does worse: passive Perception 9 and only 30 feet of darkvision. In a dark room larger than 30 feet across, the far end is dark to it. If the job is spotting things, the owl or the cat sees more.

Lizard or spider? The spider is the other ceiling-walker on the list, with Spider Climb in both editions, Stealth +4, AC 12 and the same 30-foot darkvision. It is the better pure spy. The lizard has 2 hit points to the spider's 1, so it survives a stray point of damage, and in 2014 the spider is the only one of the two with a guaranteed ceiling walk. Pick the lizard for a 2024 familiar that should look like part of the wall in a warm, stony place. Pick the spider for everything else.

Wild Shape: Druids as Lizards

A lizard is CR 0 with no fly or swim speed, so a druid can take the form from level 2 in both editions.

• •2014: the druid takes the lizard's AC 10 and 2 hit points. One stray hit ends the form and the extra damage carries over. The druid can't speak.
• •2024: the druid keeps their own hit points and gains temporary hit points equal to their druid level, and can still speak. A level 2 druid on a ceiling with full hit points is a safe scout, and the 2024 Spider Climb makes it a good one.

For a fight at level 2, the giant lizard is the lizard form to take instead: CR 1/4, Large, 19 hit points and a +4 bite for 6, with Spider Climb in 2024.

How Lizards Fight

They don't, in any useful sense. A 2014 lizard bites at +0 for 1 damage; against AC 14 that's a 35% chance of 1 point. The 2024 bite at +2 is still 1 damage. A lizard in combat runs up the nearest wall.

Running Lizards in an Encounter

A lizard is worth 10 XP and doesn't belong in a combat budget. Use one as a spy or a clue: the lizard on the wall is the enemy wizard's familiar, or a 2024 druid in disguise who can stop being a lizard with a Bonus Action. For a group of real lizards as scenery, there's no point running them through the encounter calculator.

How Players Beat a Lizard Spy

• •Look up. A lizard has no Stealth bonus (Dexterity 11), so it hides on a plain d20 roll. In 2014 a character with passive Perception 13 beats that roll about 60% of the time. In 2024 the lizard's Hide action needs a 15 on that roll just to succeed (30%), so a lizard sitting on a wall is usually just in plain sight.
• •Fight in bright light. The lizard's 30-foot darkvision means a large dark room hides most of the party from it.
• •Any damage ends it. Two hit points. A familiar killed this way is gone until its owner spends an hour or more recasting Find Familiar.
• •Use the type. A lizard familiar is a Celestial, Fey or Fiend, which detection magic can pick up. A real lizard is a Beast.

Lizard Encounter Ideas

The ceiling witness. A merchant swears nobody else was in the counting room when the coin went missing. A lizard on the ceiling was, and it belongs to the merchant's partner. Speak with Animals lets a character talk to Beasts, and a familiar is a Celestial, Fey or Fiend. A player who casts it on the lizard and gets nothing has the clue.

The temple wall. A ruined temple's walls are covered in hundreds of lizards sunning themselves. One of them is a druid watching the party, and it climbs into the rafters when they come in.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can a lizard be a familiar in 5e?

Yes. Both the 2014 and 2024 Find Familiar spells name the lizard. The familiar has the lizard's stats but is a Celestial, Fey or Fiend instead of a Beast.

Can a lizard climb on ceilings in 5e?

The 2024 lizard can, through its Spider Climb trait. The 2014 lizard has a 20-foot climb speed but no Spider Climb, so the DM decides about ceilings.

Does a lizard have darkvision in 5e?

Yes, 30 feet, in both editions.

What CR is a lizard?

CR 0, worth 10 XP.

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.