Running a Swarm of Crawling Claws fight this week? Loreify records your session and writes the recap, including every monster, NPC and loot drop your party ran into.
Swarm of Crawling Claws 5e: Stats, Knockdowns and the Turn Undead Problem
A swarm of crawling claws is a CR 3 Medium swarm of Tiny undead from the 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1), with AC 12, 49 hit points and one attack that matters: Swarm of Grasping Hands, +4 to hit with a 5-foot reach for 20 (4d8 + 2) necrotic damage, or 11 (2d8 + 2) while Bloodied. Any Medium or smaller creature it hits is knocked Prone. It resists bludgeoning, piercing and slashing, is immune to necrotic and poison damage, and is immune to eleven conditions, including Incapacitated. There is no 2014 SRD version.
Swarm.The swarm can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny creature. The swarm can’t regain Hit Points or gain Temporary Hit Points.
Actions
Swarm of Grasping Hands.Melee Attack Roll: +4, reach 5 ft. Hit: 20 (4d8 + 2) Necrotic damage, or 11 (2d8 + 2) Necrotic damage if the swarm is Bloodied. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it has the Prone condition.
Stat block from the SRD 5.2.1 (2024 rules) by Wizards of the Coast, licensed under CC-BY-4.0. Check an encounter with this monster in the encounter calculator.
The Swarm trait works like every other swarm's: it can share a creature's space, it can slip through any gap a Tiny creature fits through, and it can't regain hit points or gain temporary hit points. Unlike the 2014 swarms, it doesn't need to be in your space to attack, because Grasping Hands has a 5-foot reach. Bloodied means 24 hit points or fewer, and its damage nearly halves at that point.
It understands Common but can't speak. Someone can give it orders, and the party can hear them.
How a Swarm of Crawling Claws Fights
The knockdown is the real attack. Against AC 16, a +4 attack hits on a 12 or better, 45% of the time, for 9 expected damage. A hit also leaves the target Prone, and an attack roll against a Prone creature has Advantage when the attacker is within 5 feet. Any attack within 5 feet before the target stands up hits about 70% of the time (1 − 0.55²), for 14 expected damage from a second swarm. With two swarms on one character, the second cashes in the first one's knockdown in the same round.
Make standing up expensive. Righting yourself costs half your Speed. A character knocked down every round spends half their movement standing up each turn, and every ally of the swarm that acts in between attacks them with Advantage. Focus one Medium front-liner and keep them there.
Ignore Large creatures. The Prone rider only works on Medium or smaller targets. A druid in a Large beast form or a Large mount takes the necrotic damage but stays up, so the swarm should go around them.
Climb. With a 30-foot climb speed, the swarm can come down a wall onto the back line. Blindsight 30 feet means darkness and the Invisible condition don't stop it from finding someone close.
Running a Swarm of Crawling Claws Encounter
A swarm is worth 700 XP. Our encounter calculator also shows the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines.
The swarm fits levels 3 to 6. Below that, one 20-damage hit is about a level 2 fighter's whole hit point total. A swarm pairs well with a mummy (also CR 3) or a necromancer built from the mage stat block who gives the swarm orders in Common.
How Players Beat a Swarm of Crawling Claws
•Area spells, not weapons. Resistance halves weapon damage, so 49 hit points behave like about 98 against a fighter. Fireball (8d6, average 28) on a failed save takes it straight to Bloodied. Shatter and Thunderwave deal thunder damage it doesn't resist.
•Radiant works, necrotic doesn't.Spirit Guardians deals radiant damage for a good or neutral caster, and necrotic for an evil one, which the swarm ignores. Guiding Bolt is a strong single-target choice.
•Turn Undead half-works. The 2024 Turn Undead imposes the Frightened and Incapacitated conditions, and the swarm is immune to both. The level 5 Sear Undead damage still applies on a failed save. DM ruling, not rules text: whether the "move as far from you as it can" clause still applies is your call. The swarm's Wisdom save is +0.
•No control. It is immune to Charmed, Frightened, Grappled, Paralyzed, Petrified, Poisoned, Prone, Restrained, Stunned, Incapacitated and Exhaustion. Hold, sleep, grapple and trip effects all fail.
•Send the big one. A Large creature can't be knocked Prone by it.
Swarm of Crawling Claws Encounter Ideas
The hand-shrine. A guild of thieves had their right hands taken by a magistrate who kept them in a reliquary. The hands are now a swarm, and they have one purpose: get into the magistrate's study.
Under the floorboards. A haunted townhouse has a hand-width gap under every door. The swarm moves room to room through them while a ghoul waits in the cellar for anyone it knocks down the stairs.
The orders. A cult leader shouts commands in Common across a crypt. The party realizes the swarm obeys him only when one of them answers in his voice and the claws turn on the cultists.
Frequently Asked Questions
What CR is a swarm of crawling claws?
A swarm of crawling claws is CR 3 (700 XP) in the 2024 rules. It has AC 12, 49 hit points and one attack: +4 to hit, 20 (4d8 + 2) necrotic damage, or 11 (2d8 + 2) while Bloodied.
Does a swarm of crawling claws knock you prone?
Yes. If its Swarm of Grasping Hands hits a Medium or smaller creature, that creature has the Prone condition. Attacks against it from within 5 feet then have Advantage.
Can Turn Undead affect a swarm of crawling claws?
Only partly. The swarm is Undead and can be targeted, but it is immune to the Frightened and Incapacitated conditions Turn Undead imposes. Sear Undead's radiant damage still hits it on a failed save.
Is the swarm of crawling claws in the 2014 rules?
Not in the SRD. The swarm of crawling claws stat block comes from SRD 5.2.1, the 2024 rules.
Stat blocks: System Reference Document 5.2.1 (2024), Wizards of the Coast, CC-BY-4.0. Tactics, encounter math and ideas are Loreify's own.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.