Ogre 5e: Stats, One-Hit Kills and Running an Ogre Fight

An ogre is a CR 2 Large Giant with AC 11, 59 hit points (68 in the 2024 rules), a 40-foot speed and exactly one attack a turn: a greatclub swing at +6 for 13 damage, or a thrown javelin for 11. It has no Multiattack, no special traits and Intelligence 5. What makes it dangerous is how much of its damage lands in one hit. An average club hit takes most level 1 characters from full to 0, and a critical hit averages 22. The 2024 version adds 9 hit points and lists its gear (a greatclub and three javelins); everything else is the same.

Table of Contents

• •Ogre Stat Block (2014)
• •The 2024 Ogre
• •How Ogres Fight
• •How Many Ogres for a Level 2-4 Party?
• •How Players Beat Ogres
• •Ogres, Hill Giants and Trolls
• •Ogre Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Ogre Stat Block (2014)

This is the 2014 ogre (SRD 5.1). Its AC 11 comes from hide armor.

Look at the gap between offense and defense. AC 11 means a level 1 fighter with +5 to hit lands 75% of their attacks. 59 hit points means that fighter still needs about seven hits. Meanwhile the ogre needs one good swing to drop someone. Ogre fights are races: can the party chew through 59 hit points before the ogre gets two or three hits in?

The ogre also speaks Common as well as Giant. That matters more than it looks: it can be threatened, bribed, tricked and talked to, and some enchantments that need a shared language work on it.

The 2024 Ogre

The 2024 ogre (SRD 5.2.1) is one of the least-changed monsters in the update.

The 9 extra hit points are about one more round of a level 2 party's attacks. The javelin count is the change you'll notice: with three javelins listed, the 2024 ogre can throw three times and then it has to walk over and use its club. In the 2014 rules the stat block never says how many javelins it has, so that's up to you.

How Ogres Fight

Ogres don't plan. They see food or loot, they walk toward it, and they hit whatever is in the way. That simple plan works because the numbers back it up.

The one-hit math. Against AC 16, the ogre's +6 hits on a 10 or higher (55%). Against AC 13 (a level 1 rogue or wizard with good Dexterity) it hits on a 7 or higher (70%).

Massive damage works the same in both editions: if damage reduces a character to 0 and the damage left over equals or exceeds their hit point maximum, they die. A level 1 wizard with 8 hit points who takes 16 or more at full health is dead, no death saves. A normal ogre hit can roll that (2d8 + 4 rolls 16 or more about 23% of the time).

Average damage per round is low on paper: 13 × 55% is about 7 damage a round against AC 16. The danger is variance. An ogre deals nothing for two rounds and then removes a character.

Throw, then close. The javelin has a 30/120-foot range and deals 11. A 2024 ogre throws javelins while it closes, but with a 40-foot speed it reaches most parties in one or two turns anyway. Played well, it throws a javelin on turn one, then walks 40 feet and swings on turn two.

Pick the soft target. Ogres aren't smart, but they can see who's wearing robes. Going after the wizard is in character for a creature that wants the easiest meal. Doing it every time, round after round, is the DM choosing to kill a PC. Let it swing at whoever hit it last at least some of the time.

Ogres don't fight to the death for others. An ogre makes good hired muscle for a hill giant or a gang of goblins that pays it in mutton. Once it's badly hurt and its paymaster isn't watching, it leaves.

How Many Ogres for a Level 2-4 Party?

An ogre is 450 XP. Using the 2024 per-character XP budgets for four characters:

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines, used by our encounter calculator, call one ogre Medium for four level 2 characters (450 XP, over the 400 Medium threshold) and Deadly for four level 1 characters (450 XP over 400). Two ogres against a level 3 party come to 1,350 adjusted XP with the ×1.5 group multiplier, which is Hard.

Rules of thumb:

• •Don't use an ogre at level 1 unless the party can avoid it, outrun it on horses, or talk to it. Its crit kills.
• •At level 2 an ogre is the right "boss" for a short dungeon, especially with a few goblins or orcs around it.
• •From level 5 on, ogres are henchmen. Two or three ogres with a hill giant, or ogres guarding a troll, give the bigger monster a front line.

How Players Beat Ogres

The ogre's saves have no proficiencies: Strength +4, Dexterity −1, Constitution +3, Intelligence −3, Wisdom −2, Charisma −2.

• •Hit it often. AC 11 rewards characters with lots of attacks. A level 3 party should average about 25 to 30 damage a round against it, so a 2014 ogre lasts two or three rounds.
• •Wisdom saves. At −2, the ogre fails a DC 13 Wisdom save 70% of the time. Command works on it in either edition, because it understands Common: "Grovel" knocks it Prone, "Drop" makes it let go of its greatclub and end its turn.
• •Enchant it with words. Suggestion needs the target to understand you, and the ogre does. "Those sheep in the next valley are fatter than us" is a reasonable-sounding course of action for an ogre.
• •Not Hold Person. Hold Person only targets Humanoids. Ogres are Giants in both editions.
• •Keep the squishy characters back. The ogre's reach is only 5 feet, the same as a human's. A front-liner standing in a 5-foot doorway keeps it off the wizard entirely.
• •Restrain or knock it down. An ogre is Large, so a Medium character can grapple or shove it. Entangle restrains it on a failed Strength save (+4), which gives everyone Advantage against it and the ogre Disadvantage on its one swing.
• •Use its stupidity. Intelligence 5 and passive Perception 8 make ogres easy to sneak past, lure into a trap, or fool. Most of the time the cheapest ogre fight is the one the party doesn't have.

Ogres, Hill Giants and Trolls

These three Giants are often confused, and they cover three different jobs.

Ogres are the low-level version of the hill giant's idea: big, hungry, simple. They're also a common base for undead: the ogre zombie is a CR 2 undead ogre whose Undead Fortitude can shrug off a blow that should have dropped it. If you want a Large giant with more going on, the two-headed ettin (CR 4) swings a battleaxe and a morningstar every turn.

Ogre Encounter Ideas

The ogre who got a job. A merchant has hired an ogre as a caravan guard and pays it in salt pork. It's honest, by ogre standards. When bandits attack the caravan the party is traveling with, the ogre fights on their side, and afterwards it wants the bandits' boots for its collection. Then it wants the party's.

The mill. An ogre has moved into a watermill and is grinding anything it finds (grain, bones, a cart wheel) because it likes the noise. The mill's narrow doors mean only one character at a time can fight it inside, and the millrace outside is fast water. The miller's family is hiding in the loft.

The goblin ogre. A goblin warband has an ogre that does whatever the Goblin Boss says, because the boss feeds it. Kill the boss first and the ogre is just confused and hungry. A character who offers it food in Common may end the fight in one sentence, and earn a very large friend who follows them to the next town.

If the party adopts the ogre, someone has to remember its name. Loreify can record your sessions and keep notes on every NPC and monster the party meets.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is an ogre in 5e?

An ogre is CR 2 and worth 450 XP in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It has AC 11 and 59 hit points (2014) or 68 (2024).

How much damage does an ogre do?

It makes one attack per turn. Its greatclub hits for 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage at +6, and its javelin hits for 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage, thrown out to 30 feet (120 with Disadvantage).

Can an ogre kill a level 1 character in one hit?

Yes. An average 13-damage hit drops most level 1 characters to 0, and under the massive damage rule a character dies outright if the damage left over after hitting 0 equals or exceeds their hit point maximum. A level 1 wizard with 8 HP dies to a 16-damage hit at full health.

What changed for the ogre in the 2024 rules?

Very little. Its hit points rose from 59 to 68, its gear is now listed (a greatclub and three javelins), and the stat block uses the 2024 format. Its AC, attacks, CR and XP are unchanged.

Is an ogre a giant in D&D 5e?

Yes. Ogres are Large Giants in both editions, so spells that only target Humanoids, like Hold Person and Charm Person, don't work on them.

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.