Reef Shark 5e: Small Sharks That Hunt in Packs

The reef shark is a CR 1/2 Medium Beast with AC 12, 22 hit points, a 40-foot swim speed (30 in 2024), blindsight to 30 feet and one bite that deals about 7 piercing damage. It is the smallest of the three SRD sharks, and the only one with Pack Tactics: it attacks with Advantage whenever another shark is next to its target. One reef shark is a nuisance. Four of them circling a swimmer are a real threat to a level 1 or 2 party. The 2024 version is nearly identical: slower in the water, a bit more damage per bite, and a 5-foot walking speed.

Table of Contents

• •Reef Shark Stat Block (2014)
• •The Reef Shark in the 2024 Rules
• •How Reef Sharks Fight
• •How Many Reef Sharks for a Low-Level Party?
• •How Players Beat Reef Sharks
• •Reef Sharks as Wild Shape Forms
• •Reef Shark Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Reef Shark Stat Block (2014)

The SRD 5.1 reef shark:

The SRD describes reef sharks as 6 to 10 feet long, living in shallow waters and coral reefs and hunting in small packs. The numbers that matter: a +4 bite for 6 (1d8 + 2), Pack Tactics, and blindsight 30 feet, which lets it find targets in murky water, at night or through an Invisibility spell, as long as they're within 30 feet. It has no walking speed and can breathe only underwater, so it can't leave the water at all.

The Reef Shark in the 2024 Rules

The SRD 5.2.1 reef shark keeps the CR, AC, hit points and Pack Tactics.

The changes are small. The 10 feet of lost swim speed matter most in a chase: a 2024 reef shark at swim 30 can't outpace a character with a 30-foot swim speed, while a 2014 one can.

How Reef Sharks Fight

Two on one. Pack Tactics needs only one other shark within 5 feet of the target, so two sharks on the same swimmer both attack with Advantage. Against AC 14 a +4 bite hits on a 10 (55%); with Advantage that rises to about 80%. Four sharks paired on two swimmers deal about 21 damage a round with 2014 bites (6.5 average each) and about 22 with 2024 bites (7 each).

Go after the swimmer, not the boat. A reef shark can't reach anyone on deck. It waits for someone in the water: the character who fell overboard, the one diving for the wreck, the one wading across the reef at low tide. Sharks surround that character and ignore the rest.

The water helps them. Characters without a swim speed fight underwater at a penalty. In 2014, melee weapon attacks have Disadvantage unless the weapon is a dagger, javelin, shortsword, spear or trident; in 2024, unless the weapon deals piercing damage. Ranged weapon attacks underwater have Disadvantage even in normal range in both editions (2014 exempts crossbows, nets and thrown weapons like javelins), and automatically miss beyond it.

Run when hurt. A reef shark is an animal. Below half its hit points (11 or less), have it peel away. Whether the rest of the school follows is a good moment to show the party that the fight is turning.

How Many Reef Sharks for a Low-Level Party?

Four characters, 2024 SRD budget:

The 2014 column follows the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines in our encounter calculator. Its group multiplier doubles the XP of 3 to 6 creatures, which is why reef shark schools rate Deadly there.

Both systems assume a fair fight. Underwater, it isn't one. If the party has no swim speed and no piercing weapons, treat the encounter as a step harder than the table says.

How Players Beat Reef Sharks

• •Stay out of the water, or stay in a boat. A reef shark has no way to attack someone who isn't in the water.
• •Bring piercing weapons. Spears, tridents, daggers and shortswords avoid the underwater melee penalty in both editions; in 2024, any piercing weapon does.
• •Break up the pack. Pack Tactics needs an ally within 5 feet of the target. Two characters back to back, or one character in a narrow gap in the reef, can make it hard for two sharks to share a target.
• •Kill one fast. At 22 hit points, a reef shark dies to two good hits. Every shark removed takes away another shark's Advantage.
• •Spells that work underwater. Anything that isn't fire works normally; fire damage is resisted by anything underwater. Area spells that hit a whole school, like Thunderwave (2d8 thunder, Constitution save +1), are efficient.

Reef Sharks as Wild Shape Forms

A reef shark is CR 1/2 with only a swim speed, so a druid can take its shape from level 4 in both editions: the 2014 Beast Shapes table allows CR 1/2 with no flying speed at 4th level, and the 2024 table allows CR 1/2 and no Fly Speed at level 4. Remember that it can breathe only underwater. A druid who wild shapes into a reef shark on land, or who swims into an air pocket, has to hold its breath (2 minutes with the shark's Constitution 13) and then starts suffocating. It is a great shape for scouting reefs and wrecks with blindsight, and a bad one for anything above the surface.

Reef Shark Encounter Ideas

The pearl beds. Pearl divers work a lagoon where four reef sharks have started showing up every afternoon. Someone has been chumming the water upstream to keep rival divers away. Catching them is easy. Proving it to the diving guild is harder.

Low tide. The only route between two islands is a reef walk that floods at high tide. The party mistimes it. Now they're wading chest-deep with the water rising, and three reef sharks have come in with the tide.

The wreck's cargo. A sunken ship holds something the party needs. The hold is full of reef sharks feeding on what spilled from the barrels, and blindsight means they'll find the divers before the divers find the cargo.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a reef shark in 5e?

The reef shark is CR 1/2 (100 XP) in both editions, with AC 12 and 22 hit points.

What is the difference between a reef shark and a hunter shark?

The reef shark is a Medium CR 1/2 pack hunter with Pack Tactics and a 1d8 + 2 bite. The hunter shark is a Large CR 2 loner with 45 hit points, a +6 bite for about 13 to 14 damage, and Blood Frenzy (Advantage against targets that are missing hit points). The giant shark is a Huge CR 5 shark.

Can a druid wild shape into a reef shark?

Yes, from druid level 4 in both the 2014 and 2024 rules, since it is CR 1/2 and has no fly speed. While in shark form, the druid can breathe only underwater.

Can reef sharks leave the water?

No. Reef sharks can breathe only underwater. The 2014 reef shark has a walking speed of 0; the 2024 version has 5 feet, but still can't breathe out of water.

Do reef sharks have Blood Frenzy?

No. Reef sharks have Pack Tactics instead. The hunter shark and giant shark have Blood Frenzy in 2014 (Advantage on melee attacks against creatures missing hit points); in 2024 the same effect is written into their Bite.

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.