Quipper 5e: The Single Fish, Blood Frenzy and the 2024 Piranha

A quipper is a CR 0 Tiny Beast, a carnivorous fish with AC 13, 1 hit point, a 40-foot swim speed and a +5 bite that deals exactly 1 piercing damage. What makes it dangerous is Blood Frenzy: advantage on melee attacks against any creature missing even one hit point. The 2024 rules rename it the Piranha and fold that advantage into the bite. Big feeding frenzies use the swarm of quippers; this page covers the single fish, for small numbers, familiars and Polymorph.

Table of Contents

• •Quipper Stat Block (2014)
• •The Piranha in the 2024 Rules
• •How Quippers Fight
• •Running a Quipper Encounter
• •How Players Beat Quippers
• •Quipper Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Quipper Stat Block (2014)

Water Breathing means it breathes only underwater, and it has no land speed, so a quipper tossed onto a riverbank is helpless. The SRD 5.1 text puts them in any aquatic environment, including cold underground lakes.

The Piranha in the 2024 Rules

Same fish; the 2024 one can flop 5 feet on land.

How Quippers Fight

Each bite deals 1 damage, so the threat is numbers plus the first wound. Against AC 15, a +5 bite hits on a 10 or higher (55%). Once the target is hurt, advantage raises that to about 80% (1 − 0.45²).

Six quippers against an unhurt swimmer land about 3 bites. After the first point of damage, the same six land about 5 a round until the swimmer gets out. Run them as a school that converges on whoever is bleeding.

Running a Quipper Encounter

At 10 XP each, quippers barely dent a budget. Ten quippers (100 XP) are half the 2024 Low budget for four level 1 characters (200), so still Low. The 2014 guidelines in our encounter calculator multiply groups of 7 to 10 by 2.5, so eight quippers (80 XP) count as 200: Medium for four level 1 characters.

Use them as a hazard layered onto another fight, like a giant crocodile in the same pool. Past about eight fish, switch to the swarm stat block.

Using a Quipper as a Familiar or Polymorph Form

• •Find Familiar: the 2014 spell lists "fish (quipper)" by name; the 2024 spell allows any CR 0 Beast, so the Piranha qualifies. A familiar can't attack, but 60-foot darkvision makes it a good scout for flooded tunnels.
• •Wild Shape: a 2014 druid can't take swim-speed forms until 4th level. The 2024 Beast Shapes table only bars fly speeds before level 8, so a level 2 druid can become a piranha.
• •Polymorph on an enemy: a CR 0 fish is a legal form for any target and can't breathe on dry land. It's a disable, not a kill: the 2014 target reverts when the form drops to 0 hit points, and the 2024 spell ends when its 1 Temporary Hit Point is gone.

How Players Beat Quippers

• •Heal before wading in. A character at full HP denies Blood Frenzy until the first bite lands.
• •Fight from the bank. Quippers can't follow anyone out of the water.
• •Area damage. Thunderwave deals 2d8; half of the minimum roll is still 1, so every quipper in the cube dies, save or not.
• •Bring piercing weapons. In both editions, a character without a swim speed has disadvantage on melee weapon attacks underwater unless it uses a dagger, javelin, shortsword, spear or trident (2014) or any piercing weapon (2024).

Quipper Encounter Ideas

The ferryman's toll. Halfway across a slow river the ferry's rope line snaps, and the party has to swim the last 60 feet. A dozen quippers live under the landing, and one character is still bleeding from the fight that started the trip.

The cistern key. The key the party needs lies at the bottom of a 15-foot cistern circled by five quippers. Whoever goes in first has a few safe rounds; the clock starts at the first bite.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a quipper in 5e?

A quipper is CR 0 and worth 10 XP. The 2024 Piranha has the same CR and XP.

How does Blood Frenzy work?

The quipper has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points. One point of damage from any source is enough to switch it on.

Can a quipper be a familiar?

Yes. The 2014 Find Familiar lists the quipper as its fish option, and the 2024 spell allows any CR 0 Beast, including the Piranha.

What's the difference between a quipper and a swarm of quippers?

A quipper is one CR 0 fish with 1 hit point. The 2014 swarm of quippers is a single CR 1 creature with 28 hit points, resistance to bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage, and Bites for 14 (4d6) against a creature in its space. Use single fish for a handful and the swarm for a feeding frenzy.

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.