Octopus 5e: Stats, Ink Cloud and the Octopus Familiar

An octopus is a CR 0 Small beast with AC 12, 3 hit points, a 30-foot swim speed and a 5-foot crawl on land. Its tentacles hit at +4 for 1 bludgeoning damage and grapple the target (escape DC 10), and once per rest it can squirt a 5-foot-radius Ink Cloud and Dash away. It's a Find Familiar form in both editions and a strong underwater scout. The 2024 version drops the grapple and Hold Breath, adds Compression (it fits through a 1-inch gap) and turns Ink Cloud into a once-a-day reaction.

Table of Contents

• •Octopus Stat Block (2014)
• •The Octopus in the 2024 Rules
• •How an Octopus Fights
• •The Octopus Familiar and Wild Shape
• •Running an Octopus Encounter
• •How to Beat an Octopus Underwater
• •Octopus Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Octopus Stat Block (2014)

Three traits shape everything it does. Water Breathing means it can only breathe underwater, but Hold Breath lets it last 30 minutes on land, long enough to crawl across a ship's deck or a dungeon floor at 5 feet per round. Underwater Camouflage gives it Advantage on Stealth checks in water: with Stealth +4 rolled twice, it beats a passive Perception of 12 almost 90% of the time (a 65% chance per die, rolled twice).

The Octopus in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 octopus is a better escape artist and a worse fighter. AC, hit points, speeds, darkvision and Perception +2 are unchanged. Out of water it uses the normal suffocation rule: with Constitution 11 it holds its breath for 1 minute, then gains a level of Exhaustion at the end of each turn until it can breathe.

How an Octopus Fights

It grabs and it leaves. A 2014 octopus that hits with its tentacles leaves the target Grappled. The damage is 1, but a Grappled swimmer's speed drops to 0, and that matters when someone is holding their breath. A character escapes with an Athletics or Acrobatics check against DC 10, which a +3 modifier passes 70% of the time. While it holds one target it can't use its tentacles on anyone else.

When the fight turns, it uses Ink Cloud: the 5-foot radius around it becomes Heavily Obscured for a minute, and it Dashes as a bonus action for 60 feet of swimming in one turn. Anyone in the ink is effectively Blinded when trying to see through it. A significant current clears it early.

The 2024 octopus doesn't start the fight. It hides at Stealth +6, and if a creature ends its turn next to it, the reaction ink fires and it swims off. Through Compression it can leave through a crack in a hull or the gap under a sluice gate where nothing can follow.

The Octopus Familiar and Wild Shape

Find Familiar names the octopus in both the 2014 and 2024 spell lists. As a familiar it can't attack, so the grapple never comes up. What it does well:

• •Underwater scouting. The 2014 sea horse and quipper also swim, but neither has the octopus's Stealth or any way to crawl out onto a dock.
• •Darkvision 30 feet helps in murky water, though it's short. Seeing through its senses costs an action in 2014 (and blinds you to your own) and a Bonus Action in 2024.
• •Delivering touch spells underwater: it uses its reaction and must be within 100 feet of the caster.

Check the edition before sending it onto land. A 2014 octopus familiar has 30 minutes out of water. A 2024 one starts suffocating after a minute.

Wild Shape. A swim speed puts the octopus out of reach until druid level 4 in the 2014 rules. In 2024, only flying forms are restricted early, so a level 2 druid can take it as one of four known forms. The 2014 druid gets a real grapple (DC 10, not based on the druid's stats) and 3 hit points. The 2024 druid keeps its own hit points, gains temporary hit points equal to its level, and can squeeze through a keyhole-sized gap with Compression.

Running an Octopus Encounter

At 10 XP, an octopus is scenery with tentacles. Four level 3 characters have a 2024 Low budget of 600 XP, so an octopus only works as part of the environment. Pair one with something that wants a grappled target: a merrow (CR 2, 450 XP) plus two 2014 octopuses in a sunken shrine is 470 XP, Low by the 2024 budget, while the octopuses keep characters pinned in place for the merrow. The 2014 group multiplier (×2 for three creatures) rates the same group Hard. Check it in our encounter calculator.

For a real tentacle threat, the giant octopus is CR 1, Large, with 52 hit points in 2014 and a grapple that Restrains.

How to Beat an Octopus Underwater

• •Use piercing weapons. Under 2014 underwater rules, a creature without a swim speed has Disadvantage on melee weapon attacks unless it uses a dagger, javelin, shortsword, spear or trident. Under 2024 rules, any weapon that deals Piercing damage avoids the Disadvantage.
• •Don't stand next to it. The 2024 octopus's ink triggers when someone ends a turn within 5 feet. Ready an attack for when it reveals itself instead.
• •One area spell. At 3 hit points, any damage spell that reaches it ends it. Fire won't be your best pick: everything underwater has Resistance to fire.
• •Calm it. Animal Friendship works on its Intelligence of 3 in both editions.

Octopus Encounter Ideas

The tide pool key. A smuggler hid the key to a sea cave's gate in a tide pool and left an octopus with it. It holds the key in a tentacle and inks anyone who reaches in. Bribing it with crabs works better than fighting.

The wrong familiar. A rival wizard's octopus familiar has been riding the hull of the party's ship for three days, watching through portholes. In 2024 it has to slip back into the water every minute, which leaves wet trails on the deck each night.

The flooded vault. A bank vault flooded when the river rose. Three octopuses got in through a drain and now nest among the coins. Each time a diver ends a turn among them, another ink cloud blooms, and the room goes black.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can an octopus be a familiar in 5e?

Yes. Find Familiar lists the octopus in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It's the best familiar for underwater scouting, but it can only breathe water: 30 minutes out of water in 2014, about a minute in 2024.

How does the octopus's Ink Cloud work?

In 2014 it's an action, usable once per short or long rest: a 5-foot-radius cloud that's Heavily Obscured for 1 minute, followed by a Dash as a bonus action. In 2024 it's a once-a-day reaction when a creature ends its turn within 5 feet: a 5-foot Cube of ink, and the octopus swims up to 30 feet.

Can a druid Wild Shape into an octopus?

In 2014, from druid level 4, because forms with a swim speed are locked until then. In 2024, from level 2, since only Fly Speed forms wait until level 8.

What's the escape DC for an octopus grapple?

DC 10 for the 2014 octopus. The 2024 octopus's tentacle attack doesn't grapple at all.

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.