Purple Worm 5e: Stats, Swallow Mechanics and How to Get Out

A purple worm is a CR 15 Gargantuan monstrosity with AC 18, 247 hit points, a 50-foot speed and a burrow speed that tunnels through solid rock. Each turn it bites (22 damage, and a Large or smaller target can be swallowed) and stings with its tail (19 piercing plus 42 poison on a failed save in 2014, or 51 flat in 2024). A swallowed character is blinded, restrained and takes 21 acid damage per round (17 in 2024) until the worm dies or someone deals 30 damage to it from inside and it fails a DC 21 Constitution save. The 2024 worm hits much more often (+14 instead of +9), swallows with a bonus action after grabbing, and can hold up to three creatures at once.

Table of Contents

• •Purple Worm Stat Block (2014)
• •The Purple Worm in the 2024 Rules
• •How Swallowing Works
• •How the Purple Worm Fights
• •Running a Purple Worm Encounter
• •How Players Beat a Purple Worm
• •Purple Worm Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Purple Worm Stat Block (2014)

This is the purple worm from SRD 5.1, matching the 2014 Monster Manual.

Three lines in this stat block decide the fight:

• •Blindsight 30 ft. and tremorsense 60 ft. The worm doesn't rely on sight. Darkness and invisibility don't hide a creature standing on the ground within 60 feet. Its passive Perception is only 9, so it notices little beyond those senses.
• •Constitution +11 and Wisdom +4. Its two proficient saves cover the effects that end fights. Its Dexterity (-2), Intelligence (-5) and Charisma (-3) saves are terrible.
• •Tunneler. It burrows through solid rock at half its burrow speed (15 feet per round in 2014) and leaves a 10-foot-diameter tunnel behind it.

The 2014 bite and stinger are listed at +9 to hit, low for a creature with Strength 28 and a +5 proficiency bonus. That's the printed number, and it's one of the biggest differences from the 2024 version.

The Purple Worm in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 purple worm (SRD 5.2.1) keeps its AC, hit points, CR, senses and saves. Its attacks and its swallow are rebuilt.

What that means at the table:

• •It hits almost every time. Against AC 18, a +9 attack hits on a 9 or higher (60%). A +14 attack hits on a 4 or higher (85%). The 2024 worm lands its sting far more often, and the sting no longer offers a save.
• •The swallow save changes ability. In 2014, the rogue's Dexterity save protects them. In 2024, it's Strength, so the wizard and the rogue are the ones at risk and the fighter is the one who resists.
• •It burrows much faster. A 2024 worm moves 50 feet underground per turn, so it can surface anywhere in a large cave on the first round.

How Swallowing Works

Swallowing is the reason people look this monster up. Here is the full sequence for both editions, with the odds.

2014 rules:

1. •The worm hits with its bite (+9). The target takes 22 piercing damage.
2. •If the target is Large or smaller, it makes a DC 19 Dexterity save. On a failure, it's swallowed.
3. •A swallowed creature is Blinded and Restrained, has total cover against attacks and effects from outside the worm, and takes 21 (6d6) acid damage at the start of each of the worm's turns.

2024 rules:

1. •The worm hits with its bite (+14). The target takes 22 piercing damage and is Grappled (escape DC 19) and Restrained while grappled.
2. •As a bonus action that same turn, the worm uses Swallow on a Large or smaller creature it has grappled. The target makes a DC 19 Strength save. On a failure, it's swallowed and the grapple ends.
3. •A swallowed creature is Blinded and Restrained, has total cover against outside attacks and effects, and takes 17 (5d6) acid damage at the start of each of the worm's turns. The worm can hold up to three creatures.

Because the 2024 bite and Swallow happen on the same turn, the target never gets a turn to escape the grapple before it has to make the Strength save.

The odds of being swallowed per bite, against a character with AC 18:

A save bonus of +2 succeeds on a 17 or higher against DC 19 (20%). A +10 bonus, typical for a level 13 character with proficiency and a 20 in that ability, succeeds on a 9 or higher (60%).

Getting out. There are three ways:

• •Hurt it from inside. If the worm takes 30 or more damage in a single turn from a creature inside it, it makes a DC 21 Constitution save at the end of that turn. Its +11 succeeds on a 10 or higher, so it fails 45% of the time. On a failure, it throws up every swallowed creature, which lands Prone within 10 feet (2014) or 5 feet (2024). The 30 damage has to come from creatures inside the worm; damage from the party outside doesn't count toward it.
• •Kill it. When the worm dies, swallowed creatures are no longer Restrained and can crawl out of the corpse using 20 feet of movement, ending Prone.
• •Get help with magic. Teleportation that doesn't need sight, like Dimension Door to a place you can describe, works at the DM's discretion. Spells that need "a creature you can see" or "a point you can see" won't work while you're Blinded.

Why getting out is hard. A swallowed creature is Blinded and Restrained, so every attack roll it makes has disadvantage. Dealing 30 damage in one turn with disadvantage on every attack is a tall order for most characters, and even then the worm passes its save 55% of the time. Meanwhile it's taking 21 or 17 acid damage every round. Expect a swallowed character to stay swallowed for two to four rounds unless the party outside kills the worm.

How the Purple Worm Fights

The worm is an ambush predator with an obvious plan: come up from below, eat someone, sting someone else, go back down.

Surface under the party. It hears footsteps through tremorsense out to 60 feet. On the first round, it bursts up beneath the group, bites the most isolated Large-or-smaller creature and stings another. Choose the bite target by its weakest save: Dexterity in 2014 (often the fighter in heavy armor) and Strength in 2024 (often the wizard).

Damage per round. Against AC 18, with the stinger target at +3 on Constitution saves:

The 2014 sting averages about 56 damage on a hit against a +3 Constitution save (19 piercing, plus 42 poison three times in four and 21 the rest). The 2024 sting is a flat 51 on a hit. Either can drop a level 13 wizard from full in two hits.

Swallow, then turn away. A swallowed creature has total cover, so the party can't heal it, buff it or target it. Once someone's inside, the worm can keep fighting the rest of the party while the acid works. In 2024, it should try to fill all three slots.

Leave when hurt. A worm below about 80 hit points dives back underground with its swallowed meals. With a 30-foot (2014) or 50-foot (2024) burrow speed, it leaves the party with a desperate chase through loose earth and fresh tunnels. Anyone swallowed is now underground too.

Running a Purple Worm Encounter

One purple worm is a solo boss for four characters at levels 11 to 13. Using the SRD 5.2.1 XP budget (the worm is worth 13,000 XP):

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines (used by our encounter difficulty calculator) rate one worm as Deadly for four level 10 characters, Hard at levels 11 and 12, and Medium at level 13.

Plan for a party that loses a member. Swallowing removes a character from the fight for several rounds and can kill them. Give the party a reason to fight smart rather than a reason to flee: the worm surfaces near something they must protect, or it's blocking the only exit.

Terrain matters. In open desert or a large cavern, the worm surfaces anywhere. In a stone fortress with thick walls, it tunnels at half speed and the party hears it coming. A rock floor over loose soil gives it a smaller set of places to burst through.

Related burrowers for lower levels: the ankheg (CR 2), the bulette (CR 5) and the remorhaz (CR 11, which also swallows).

How Players Beat a Purple Worm

• •Fly. Tremorsense can't detect flying creatures, and the worm has no ranged attack and only 10-foot reach. A character flying more than 10 feet away from it can't be bitten or stung, and tremorsense won't find it (the worm can still see it normally). A party with flight can take it apart from the air.
• •Target Charisma. Its Charisma save is -3, so its best possible roll is 17. Banishment from a caster with spell save DC 18 or higher works automatically, because saving throws don't succeed on a natural 20 by default. Even at DC 15 it fails 85% of the time. That buys up to a minute to heal, reposition or escape (it's native to the plane, so it comes back when the spell ends).
• •Target Dexterity. Dexterity -2 makes it a good target for area spells like Fireball and Lightning Bolt, and it has no damage resistances or immunities at all.
• •Avoid Constitution and Wisdom saves. Constitution +11 and Wisdom +4 mean poison, Hold Monster and other Wisdom-save control spells fail more often than the CR suggests.
• •Spread out, but not alone. The worm bites one target and stings one per turn. Clustering lets it pick, but an isolated character is the obvious meal. Stand in pairs 15 feet apart.
• •Have a swallow plan. Decide in advance who goes in after a swallowed friend and who keeps the worm busy. In 2014, the high-Dexterity characters are safest near it; in 2024, the high-Strength ones.
• •Read the 2024 grapple. If a 2024 worm bites but doesn't use Swallow that turn (for example, because it already has three creatures inside), the grappled character can escape on its turn with a DC 19 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check.

Purple Worm Encounter Ideas

The caravan road. A desert caravan route crosses a stretch of sand where three wagons have vanished this season. The worm takes whatever makes the most noise. The party can set a decoy (a wagon full of rocks pulled by ropes) and fight it on their terms, or cross in silence and hope.

The mine that hit a tunnel. Dwarven miners broke through into a smooth, perfectly round 10-foot tunnel with acid-etched walls. Something made it, and it's coming back along the same route. The miners want the party to collapse the tunnel; the guildmaster wants the worm dead for its poison gland.

The worm-rider's cult. A cult has learned to lure a purple worm with rhythmic drumming and uses it to swallow enemies. The drums are the key: silence them and the worm surfaces at random, attacking cultists and party alike. Play the drums yourself and you might call it where you want.

Loot note. Both SRDs list purple worm poison as an injury poison worth 2,000 gp. The 2014 version must be harvested from a dead or incapacitated worm and deals 42 (12d6) poison damage on a failed DC 19 Constitution save, or half on a success. The 2024 version deals 35 (10d6) on a failed DC 21 save, or half on a success.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a purple worm in 5e?

A purple worm is CR 15 (13,000 XP) in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It has AC 18 and 247 hit points.

How does a purple worm swallow you?

In 2014, a Large or smaller creature hit by its bite makes a DC 19 Dexterity save or is swallowed. In 2024, the bite grapples and restrains the target, then the worm uses a bonus action to Swallow: the grappled creature makes a DC 19 Strength save or is swallowed. A swallowed creature is Blinded and Restrained, has total cover from outside, and takes acid damage at the start of each of the worm's turns.

How do you escape from a purple worm?

Deal 30 or more damage to the worm in a single turn from inside it. The worm then makes a DC 21 Constitution save, and on a failure it regurgitates every swallowed creature, which lands prone nearby. If the worm dies, swallowed creatures can crawl out using 20 feet of movement.

How much acid damage does a purple worm do inside?

21 (6d6) acid damage at the start of each of the worm's turns in the 2014 rules, and 17 (5d6) in the 2024 rules.

How many creatures can a purple worm swallow?

The 2024 purple worm can hold up to three swallowed creatures at a time. The 2014 stat block gives no limit.

Can a purple worm sense flying creatures?

Not with tremorsense, which can't detect flying creatures in either edition. It can still sense anything within 30 feet through blindsight.

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.