Quasit 5e: Stats, Scare Tactics and the Demon Familiar

A quasit is a CR 1 Tiny demon with AC 13, a 40-foot walking speed, at-will Invisibility, poison claws and a once-per-day Scare that can leave a character Frightened for a minute. In the 2014 rules it has only 7 hit points and resists bludgeoning, piercing and slashing from nonmagical attacks. The 2024 quasit has 25 hit points, loses that weapon resistance, and its attack now poisons on every hit with no save. It does little damage either way. A quasit's job is to make the party worse at fighting: poisoned, frightened and swinging at something they can't see.

Table of Contents

• •Quasit Stat Block (2014)
• •The Quasit in the 2024 Rules
• •How Quasits Fight
• •Quasit or Imp? The Demon and the Devil
• •The Quasit as a Warlock Familiar
• •How Many Quasits for Your Party?
• •How Players Beat Quasits
• •Quasit Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Quasit Stat Block (2014)

This is the quasit from SRD 5.1, the same stat block as the 2014 Monster Manual.

The 2014 quasit has 7 hit points, which one Magic Missile almost always finishes. Its defenses carry the CR: resistance to cold, fire, lightning and nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing and slashing; immunity to poison; Magic Resistance; and Invisibility whenever it wants.

Its claw is weak on damage (5 piercing) but carries a rider. On a failed DC 10 Constitution save the target takes another 5 (2d4) poison damage and is Poisoned for up to a minute, repeating the save at the end of each of its turns. A Poisoned character has Disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.

The Quasit in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 quasit (SRD 5.2.1) keeps the AC, speed, forms, senses and CR, and rebuilds its attack and toughness.

Three changes reshape the fight:

• •It survives. At 7 hit points, a 2014 quasit usually dies to one Magic Missile. At 25, a 2024 quasit takes three or four longsword hits from a level 3 fighter. The 2014 version's weapon resistance roughly doubles its effective hit points against mundane weapons, so the real gap is closer to 14 against 25.
• •Its poison is shorter but certain. The 2014 claw poisons only on a failed save, but the condition can last a full minute. The 2024 Rend poisons on every hit, for exactly one of the target's turns. Against a low-level fighter (Constitution save +5 with proficiency), the 2014 claw poisons on 20% of hits; the 2024 Rend poisons on 100%.
• •Scare no longer reveals it. The 2014 Invisibility trait ends when the quasit uses Scare. The 2024 quasit casts the Invisibility spell, which ends only after an attack roll, damage or casting a spell. Scare is none of those, so a 2024 quasit can frighten a character and stay invisible.

How Quasits Fight

A quasit has Intelligence 7. It isn't a planner. It's a spiteful, cowardly little demon that hurts whoever is easiest to hurt and runs from anything that hurts back.

Scare the strongest attacker first. Scare targets one creature within 20 feet with a DC 10 Wisdom save. Pick the party's best melee character, who usually has the lowest Wisdom. A fighter with Wisdom +0 fails 45% of the time. Once Frightened, that fighter has Disadvantage on attack rolls while the quasit is in line of sight and can't move closer to it.

How long the fear lasts depends on the edition:

• •2014: the fighter repeats the save at the end of each turn with Disadvantage while it can see the quasit. Needing a 10 on the lower of two dice, that's about a 30% chance to shake it each turn, so the fear lasts about three turns on average.
• •2024: the repeat save is normal, a 55% chance each turn, and the effect ends automatically after a minute.

Claw the next one. With the fighter frightened, the quasit goes after the next most dangerous attacker and poisons it. A Poisoned character also attacks at Disadvantage. Two of the party's best attackers now roll twice and take the lower die.

Damage per round against AC 15:

Damage isn't the point. Poison and fear turn a 4-person party into a 2-person party for a round or two, while something else does the killing.

Use the forms. The centipede climbs 40 feet, the toad swims 40 feet and the bat flies 40 feet (but crawls at 10). A quasit in centipede form can wait on a ceiling, drop to attack and climb back out of reach. Changing form takes its action, so do it before the fight, not during.

Flee early. At 7 hit points the 2014 quasit should leave the moment it's hit. The 2024 quasit can take a punch but no more than two. Turn invisible, become a bat and fly away. It will come back later with a grudge.

Quasit or Imp? The Demon and the Devil

The imp is the devil counterpart to the quasit: same CR, same AC, same Tiny size, same Magic Resistance and Invisibility. They do different jobs.

A quasit wins on the ground and in water and makes enemies miss. An imp wins in the air, deals real damage and can hold a conversation. If you want a monster that negotiates, use an imp. If you want one that sabotages, use a quasit.

The Quasit as a Warlock Familiar

Quasits are not on the standard Find Familiar list in either edition. A warlock can choose one through Pact of the Chain.

• •2014 (SRD 5.1): Pact of the Chain is a Pact Boon at Warlock level 3. Its special familiar forms are imp, pseudodragon, quasit and sprite.
• •2024 (SRD 5.2.1): Pact of the Chain is an Eldritch Invocation available from level 1. You cast Find Familiar as a Magic action without a spell slot, and the special forms are Imp, Pseudodragon, Quasit, Skeleton, Sphinx of Wonder, Sprite or Venomous Snake.

In both editions a familiar can't attack on its own, but it acts on its own turn and can take other actions. Pact of the Chain lets you give up one of your attacks when you take the Attack action so the familiar attacks with its reaction. The quasit familiar variant in the 2014 Monster Manual is not in SRD 5.1 and isn't covered here.

Scare is the quasit's best familiar feature. It isn't an attack, so the "familiar can't attack" rule doesn't stop it. Once per day the quasit can try to frighten an enemy within 20 feet on its own turn. In the 2024 rules it can do this without dropping its Invisibility.

Investment of the Chain Master changes the math (2024, warlock level 5+). It gives the familiar a 40-foot Fly or Swim speed, so the quasit can fly without becoming a bat. And when the familiar forces a saving throw it uses your spell save DC. A level 5 warlock with Charisma 18 has DC 15, so Scare goes from DC 10 to DC 15, and a Wisdom +0 target fails 70% of the time instead of 45%. Its Quick Attack lets you command the familiar to take the Attack action as a Bonus Action, so the quasit can Rend every round.

Quasit or imp as a familiar? Take the imp for scouting from the air and for damage. Take the quasit if your party needs enemies to miss more and you plan to use Investment of the Chain Master.

How Many Quasits for Your Party?

A quasit is worth 200 XP. Under the 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1 budget per character, multiplied by four):

Cultists are CR 1/8 (25 XP). The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines, which our encounter difficulty calculator uses, multiply XP by 1.5 for two monsters: two quasits are 600 adjusted XP, a Hard fight for four level 2 characters (Hard 600, Deadly 800).

The XP numbers overstate quasits alone. Five quasits that only poison and frighten won't kill a level 4 party; they'll annoy it. Quasits are best as the second line of a fight: a demon-worshipping cult in front, quasits making the party miss, a dretch or two as meat shields.

How Players Beat Quasits

• •Remove the invisibility. Faerie Fire on a quasit keeps it from benefiting from being invisible and gives attackers Advantage. It still gets a Dexterity save at +3 with Advantage from Magic Resistance.
• •Avoid fire, cold and lightning. All three are resisted in both editions, and poison does nothing. Use radiant, force, thunder, acid or necrotic. Guiding Bolt deals 4d6 radiant (14 on average), which kills a 2014 quasit outright and takes over half of a 2024 one.
• •Bring magic weapons against the 2014 quasit. It resists nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing and slashing. The 2024 quasit doesn't.
• •Shrug off the debuffs. Dwarves resist poison damage and have Advantage on saves against being poisoned in both editions, which helps against the 2014 claw's DC 10 save (the 2024 Rend allows no save). Protection from Evil and Good stops a fiend from frightening the warded creature, which shuts Scare down entirely.
• •Hit its Strength. Strength -3 is its worst save, and Intelligence -2 is next. Magic Resistance gives Advantage against spells either way.
• •Spread out against Scare. Scare's range is 20 feet. A fighter who stays more than 20 feet from wherever the quasit might be (hard when it's invisible) can't be targeted.

Quasit Encounter Ideas

The well that croaks. A village's well water has started making people sick, and at night someone hears a toad in the bucket shaft. It's a quasit in toad form, swimming 40 feet down to a flooded cellar where a cult once kept a summoning circle. It's poisoning the water out of spite while it waits for someone to finish what the cult started.

The scribe's companion. A young scholar at a library keeps a centipede in a jar and seems to know things she shouldn't. The centipede is a quasit, and its master isn't the scholar but the demon it reports to. When the party gets close, it frightens the scholar's protector and slips out through a crack in the shelving.

The cursed caravan. Every night on the road, one of the caravan guards wakes up sick and too scared to stand watch. Two quasits are taking turns: one poisons the night guard's food, the other uses Scare on whoever comes to check. The caravan master is convinced the party is responsible. Catching invisible bats in the dark is the challenge; proving it to the caravan master is the twist.

A minor demon that slips away and resurfaces three sessions later is the kind of detail Loreify's session notes keep for you: the app records the session and tracks the NPCs and monsters the party has met.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a quasit in 5e?

A quasit is CR 1 (200 XP) in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It has AC 13, with 7 hit points in the 2014 rules and 25 in the 2024 rules.

How does a quasit's Scare work?

Once per day, one creature within 20 feet of the quasit makes a DC 10 Wisdom save or becomes Frightened for up to a minute. In the 2014 rules the target repeats the save each turn with Disadvantage while the quasit is in line of sight. In the 2024 rules the target repeats the save normally and succeeds automatically after 1 minute.

Can a quasit be a familiar?

Yes, for a warlock with Pact of the Chain, in both editions. It isn't on the regular Find Familiar list, so wizards and other casters can't choose it with the spell alone.

What is the difference between a quasit and an imp?

A quasit is a chaotic evil demon; an imp is a lawful evil devil. The quasit poisons and frightens targets but deals little damage, walks at 40 feet and must become a bat to fly. The imp flies in its true form, deals more damage with its sting and is better at talking.

What forms can a quasit take?

A bat (speed 10 ft., fly 40 ft.), a centipede (40 ft., climb 40 ft.) or a toad (40 ft., swim 40 ft.). Its statistics don't change apart from speed, and its equipment stays as it is.

Is a quasit immune to fire?

No. A quasit resists fire, cold and lightning damage, and it is immune to poison damage and the Poisoned condition. The imp is the one that's immune to fire.

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.