Scout NPC Stat Block 5e: Longbows, Keen Senses and the 2024 Scout

This is the Scout NPC stat block, the hunter, guide or lookout you put on a ridge, not a ranger or rogue player character. The scout is CR 1/2 with AC 13, 16 hit points and two longbow shots a turn at +4 for 6 damage each, out to 150 feet without penalty. In the 2014 rules it also has Keen Hearing and Sight, which makes it very hard to sneak past. The 2024 Scout drops that trait but lets it mix a sword strike and a bow shot in the same turn.

Table of Contents

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

Scout Stat Block (2014)

The SRD 5.1 scout can be any race and any alignment, so it covers a royal forester, a bounty hunter and a bandit lookout with the same numbers.

The skills tell you its job: Perception +5, Stealth +6, Survival +5, Nature +4. Keen Hearing and Sight gives it advantage on Perception checks that use hearing or sight, and under the passive-check rule (advantage adds 5) that puts its effective passive Perception at 20, not the 15 printed in the block, whenever the check relies on hearing or sight (which covers almost every sneak attempt). A party member with Stealth +3 needs a roll of about 17 or better to slip past one. That's the trait to remember when the party tries to sneak into a camp with a scout on watch.

In a fight, the 2014 scout picks either two melee attacks or two ranged attacks. It's a sniper with a backup sword.

The Scout in the 2024 Rules

The 2024 scout is a worse sentry and a slightly more flexible fighter. It can stab an adjacent enemy and then shoot someone else, but a longbow shot made within 5 feet of an enemy who can see it has Disadvantage, so the mixed turn only pays off after it steps away or the attacker is incapacitated.

How Scouts Fight

Shoot from 150 feet. Against AC 15, a +4 shot hits on 11 or better (50%). Two shots average 6 damage a round. That's low, but at 150 feet a character with a 30-foot speed needs three turns of Dash to reach the scout. Three scouts on a hillside put about 18 damage a round into a party crossing an open field, and the party spends that time running instead of attacking.

Fall back. Like any creature, a scout can shoot and move 30 feet in the same turn, so it can keep backing away while firing both arrows. What it lacks is a rogue's Cunning Action: it can't Dash or Disengage as a bonus action, so once a melee character reaches it, leaving costs an opportunity attack or its whole action. Past 150 feet its shots take Disadvantage (long range runs to 600). Retreating scouts pull the party into the next ambush.

Hide before the fight, not during. Stealth +6 is for the approach. A scout that opens from hiding gets Advantage on its first shot. In the 2024 rules, hiding needs a DC 15 Stealth check (the scout makes it on a 9 or higher, 60%) and Heavy Obscurement or Three-Quarters Cover. In 2014, its Stealth is compared to the party's passive Perception.

Report back. A scout's real job is to see the party first and tell someone. If it escapes, the next fight starts with the enemy prepared. That threat often matters more than its arrows.

Running a Scout Encounter

Scouts are 100 XP each. For four level 2 characters, using the 2024 XP budget (400 / 600 / 800):

The 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines (used by our encounter calculator) are stricter: four scouts are 400 XP × 2 = 800, Deadly for four level 2 characters (exactly the 800 threshold). Distance is what makes that number real. Four scouts on open ground at 150 feet play like that number. Four scouts in thick forest at 30 feet play like a much easier fight, because the party reaches them in one move.

Scouts work best as the ranged half of a mixed group. Put a thug or two in front and the scouts behind cover. Need names and motives for the hunting party? The NPC generator can produce them quickly.

How Players Beat Scouts

• •Close the distance under cover. Move from tree to rock so the scouts never get a clean line. Cover adds +2 or +5 AC.
• •Hit their 16 hit points. Most level 2 spells and two weapon hits drop a scout. They have no resistances or special defenses.
• •Target Wisdom. A scout's saves are all +0 to +2, with Wisdom at +1. Hold Person works, since it's a Humanoid in both editions, and a paralyzed archer is out of the fight.
• •Stop the runner. If the plot depends on the scout not reaching its camp, assign one fast character or a familiar to chase it.
• •Blind it. Darkness or fog removes its line of sight. A scout without a target has nothing to do.

Scout Encounter Ideas

The tracker. A bounty hunter scout has been hired to bring in one party member. She follows them for two days, shooting only when they cross open ground, then disappears. Catching her means outthinking a Survival +5 tracker on her own terrain.

The guide who lies. The party hires a scout to lead them through a swamp. She's honest about the path but is reporting their numbers to a bandit captain at every stop. A sharp Insight check on day two gives it away.

Watchtower. A ruined tower overlooks the only pass. Two scouts sit at the top with 600 feet of view. The party needs to get through at night, in a storm, or with a distraction.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a scout in 5e?

The scout is CR 1/2 (100 XP) in both the 2014 and 2024 rules, with AC 13 and 16 hit points.

Is the scout NPC the same as a ranger?

No. The scout is a monster stat block for an NPC hunter or lookout. It has no ranger or rogue class features, no spells and no Cunning Action, just good senses, Stealth and two attacks.

What does Keen Hearing and Sight do?

It gives the 2014 scout advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing or sight. By the passive-check rule, advantage adds 5, so its effective passive Perception is 20. The 2024 scout doesn't have this trait.

How far can a scout shoot?

Its longbow has a range of 150/600 feet. It attacks normally out to 150 feet and with disadvantage out to 600.

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.