Roc 5e: Stats, Talon Grabs and the Long Drop

A roc is a CR 11 Gargantuan bird with AC 15, 248 hit points and a 120-foot fly speed. It attacks at +13 with a beak that hits for 27 or 28 and talons that deal 23 and grab the target, holding it Restrained. The real threat is what happens next: the roc flies straight up and lets go, and falling damage can reach 20d6. The 2024 roc makes this a one-turn routine with Swoop, a bonus action that climbs 60 feet without provoking opportunity attacks and drops the grabbed creature. It can grab anything Huge or smaller, horses and elephants included.

Table of Contents

• •Roc Stat Block (2014)
• •The Roc in the 2024 Rules
• •How Rocs Fight
• •Carrying Huge Creatures
• •Running a Roc Encounter
• •How Players Beat a Roc
• •Roc Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Roc Stat Block (2014)

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

Each turn the 2014 roc makes one beak attack (reach 10 feet, 27 piercing) and one talons attack (reach 5 feet, 23 slashing). A talon hit grapples the target (escape DC 19) and restrains it, and the roc can't use its talons on anyone else until it lets go. The talons have no size limit in the 2014 text.

Keen Sight gives it advantage on sight-based Perception checks. That adds 5 to its passive Perception of 14 for anything it can see, so it spots most characters long before they're in bow range.

The Roc in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 roc (SRD 5.2.1) keeps the same AC, hit points, speeds, ability scores and CR.

What changes at the table:

• •It hits harder when it doesn't grab. Two beaks deal 56 if both land, against 50 for the 2014 beak and talons.
• •Swoop adds height and safety to the drop. A 2014 roc can already grab, climb and let go in one turn if it didn't move to reach its target. Swoop adds 60 more feet of climb on top of its normal movement and doesn't provoke Opportunity Attacks.
• •Weaker Constitution and Charisma saves. The 2024 roc loses proficiency in both, so Charisma-save spells like Banishment get much better against it.
• •It acts early. Initiative +8 means it often goes before the party.

How Rocs Fight

Against AC 18, a +13 attack hits on a 5 or higher, 80% of the time. Against a Restrained target it has Advantage, and that rises to 96%.

The 2014 grab, climb and drop.

1. •Turn 1. The roc lands next to its target and attacks: beak and talons. If the talons hit, the target is grappled and restrained. A Medium creature is two or more sizes smaller than a Gargantuan roc, so carrying it doesn't halve the roc's speed. If the roc used no movement to reach the target, it can now fly 120 feet straight up.
2. •The drop. The 2014 rules let a grappler release its target whenever it likes, no action required. A character dropped from 120 feet takes 12d6 bludgeoning, 42 on average, and lands prone.
3. •Or hold on. If it climbs another 120 feet on its next turn and attacks the restrained character with Advantage on the way, the fall reaches the 20d6 cap (200 feet or more): 70 on average.

The 2024 one-turn drop. Swoop makes this fast:

1. •The roc uses its Multiattack: one Beak and one Talons.
2. •If the Talons hit, it flies 120 feet straight up with its normal movement, then uses Swoop to fly another 60 feet and drop the creature.
3. •A 180-foot fall is 18d6, 63 on average.

That's most of a level 11 character's hit points in one turn. Swoop recharges on a 5 or 6, so after the first drop the roc usually goes back to two beak attacks (about 45 damage a round against AC 18) until it recharges.

Who to grab. The roc is Intelligence 3. It grabs whatever is closest and biggest, which works in the party's favor: the armored fighter with the most hit points is the most likely to survive the fall. If you want a nastier roc, have it go for whoever is standing in the open.

Stay airborne. The roc's walking speed is 20 feet. On the ground it's slow and easy to surround, and it has no ranged attack. It should land only to grab, then go back up.

Carrying Huge Creatures

The talons let a 2024 roc grab a Huge creature, so a roc can carry off an elephant or a mammoth. Size changes how fast it climbs.

• •2014 rules: a creature moving a grappled target has its speed halved unless the target is two or more sizes smaller. Large and smaller creatures don't slow the Gargantuan roc. A Huge creature halves its fly speed to 60 feet. The 2014 talons have no size limit, so in principle a 2014 roc could grab another Gargantuan creature, also at half speed.
• •2024 rules: moving a Grappled creature costs 1 extra foot for every foot moved, unless the creature is Tiny or two or more sizes smaller. A Huge creature costs double, so 120 feet of flying lifts it 60 feet. Swoop says "up to half its Fly Speed" (60 feet). The stricter reading applies the same extra cost to Swoop's movement, so a Huge creature goes up only 30 feet more. The text doesn't settle it, so decide before the session.

The practical result: a roc can lift a Huge creature about 90 feet in one turn (2024) and drop it for 9d6. It's a good way to show players a roc's size before it ever touches them. Open the encounter with it carrying off a mammoth from a herd.

Running a Roc Encounter

A roc is worth 7,200 XP. With the 2024 SRD budget for four characters:

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines, which our encounter calculator uses, rate one roc as Hard for four level 9 characters (thresholds 2,200 / 4,400 / 6,400 / 9,600) and Medium at level 11.

The XP understates the danger in open terrain. On a mountain ridge or a ship's deck, the drop does more damage than the roc's attacks. Under a forest canopy or in a canyon too narrow for a 20-by-20-foot creature, it's a much easier fight.

How Players Beat a Roc

• •Fight where it can't fit. A Gargantuan creature takes up a 20-by-20-foot space. Dense trees, cave mouths, narrow gorges and buildings keep it out. It can't grab what it can't reach.
• •Plan for the fall. Feather Fall is a reaction with a 60-foot range. A caster on the ground can't help a character dropped from 180 feet, because the fall starts out of range. The falling character needs to cast it themselves, or have a caster flying close by. Falling into water helps too: in the 2024 rules a DC 15 Strength (Athletics) or Dexterity (Acrobatics) check halves the damage.
• •Don't escape at altitude. Breaking free (DC 19 Athletics or Acrobatics) while 100 feet up just starts the fall yourself. Hit the roc instead: a grappled creature has no penalty attacking its grappler, though Restrained gives it Disadvantage.
• •Target its weak saves. Intelligence is −4 in both editions. In 2024, Charisma is −1 and Constitution is +5, both without proficiency. Banishment is strong against a 2024 roc. Dominate Monster works because it's a Monstrosity, not a Beast, so beast-only spells like Dominate Beast don't apply.
• •Ready attacks for the landing. The roc has to come down to grab. Readied attacks and spells on "when it lands" hit before it can take anyone up.

Roc Encounter Ideas

The rigging. A merchant ship is three days out when a roc starts taking sailors from the rigging. The deck offers no cover from above, and anyone dropped lands in the sea (2024: a DC 15 check halves the damage) or, worse, on the deck. The captain wants the party to kill it. The crew wants to throw the cargo of fresh-salted meat overboard as a decoy.

The egg contract. A wealthy collector wants a roc egg from a nest on a 300-foot crag. Climbing takes three hours. The roc hunts for about two. The party has to plan the theft around its flight schedule, and get an egg the size of a barrel down a cliff, before it comes back.

The mammoth herd. A herd of mammoths is being picked off one by one, carried away into the mountains. The herd's tribe of hunters believes a god is punishing them. The party sees the next one taken: a 126-hit-point mammoth carried off like a lamb. Then the roc comes back for something smaller.

Loreify can record the session so the recap gets every grab, drop and last-second Feather Fall right.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a roc in 5e?

A roc is CR 11 and worth 7,200 XP in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It has AC 15, 248 hit points and a 120-foot fly speed.

How big is a roc in 5e?

It's Gargantuan, the largest size category, and takes up a 20-by-20-foot space on the battle map. It can grab and carry creatures up to Huge size in the 2024 rules.

Can a roc carry an elephant?

Yes. An elephant is Huge, and the 2024 roc's talons grapple Huge or smaller creatures. Carrying a Huge creature halves the roc's effective speed, so it climbs about 60 feet a turn with its normal movement.

How much falling damage does a roc drop do?

1d6 bludgeoning damage per 10 feet fallen, up to 20d6. A 2024 roc that climbs 120 feet and then Swoops 60 more drops a Medium creature 180 feet, for 18d6 (63 on average).

Can you ride a roc?

The SRD's mounted combat rules let any willing creature at least one size larger than its rider serve as a mount, so nothing in the rules stops it. A roc has Intelligence 3 and no training to accept riders, so it would be an independent mount at best. How a party gets one to cooperate is up to the DM.

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.