Vulture 5e: Stats, Pack Tactics and Picking at the Fallen

A vulture is a CR 0 Medium beast with AC 10, 5 hit points, a 50-foot fly speed and a +2 beak for 2 (1d4) piercing damage. It has Pack Tactics, like the hyena. On its own it's weak, but it is dangerous to one kind of target: a character at 0 hit points. Every hit on an unconscious character within 5 feet is a critical hit and costs two death saves. The 2024 rules (SRD 5.2.1) keep the stats and drop the Keen Sight and Smell trait.

Table of Contents

• •Vulture Stat Block (2014)
• •The Vulture in the 2024 Rules
• •How Vultures Fight
• •Running a Vulture Encounter
• •How Players Beat Vultures
• •Vulture vs. Giant Vulture
• •Vulture Encounter Ideas
• •Frequently Asked Questions

Vulture Stat Block (2014)

Keen Sight and Smell gives Advantage on Perception checks that use sight or smell, which puts a 2014 vulture's passive Perception at 18 for those senses. A vulture circling at 50 feet notices a wounded traveler, or a party trying to hide a body, well before it lands.

The Vulture in the 2024 Rules

That's the only change. The 2024 vulture is a slightly worse spotter and fights the same.

How Vultures Fight

Against a standing character, vultures are a nuisance. With Pack Tactics against AC 14, each one hits about 70% of the time for 2.5 damage, so four vultures deal about 7 a round. Each has 5 hit points and AC 10, and dies to almost any hit.

Against a character at 0 hit points, they are the most dangerous thing on the field:

• •Attacks against an Unconscious creature have Advantage, so Pack Tactics doesn't even matter.
• •Any hit from within 5 feet is a critical hit. Damage at 0 hit points causes one death saving throw failure, or two if it's a critical hit.
• •Two vultures attacking a downed character with Advantage against AC 14 land at least one hit about 91% of the time. That's two failures from one hit, and three failures kill.

Play vultures patiently. They circle out of reach until something drops, then land on it. Whether a vulture attacks a creature that is still alive is up to you; the stat block doesn't say. Playing them as scavengers that only attack the fallen and the dying (DM ruling, not rules text) makes them frightening without making the fight unfair.

Running a Vulture Encounter

Vultures are worth 10 XP each. Six vultures (60 XP) are a Low encounter for four level 1 characters in the 2024 rules (60 of the 200 XP Low budget). Under the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide guidelines (used by our encounter calculator), six vultures come to 120 adjusted XP (60 × 2), an Easy fight. Check a flock in the calculator.

Those numbers are right for vultures alone. Their real use is as a second wave: add four vultures to a fight against bandits or gnolls, and the first character to drop is in real danger. Tell the players the vultures are circling before the fight starts. It's a fair warning, and it changes how they play.

How Players Beat Vultures

• •Don't leave anyone down. Healing Word as a bonus action from 60 feet away gets a character off the ground before the vultures land. A character with 1 hit point is no longer taking automatic critical hits.
• •Kill them in the air. No resistances, AC 10 and 5 hit points. A ranged attack at +5 hits 80% of the time.
• •Stand over the fallen. Vultures have no Flyby, so a vulture that lands beside a downed ally and then flies off provokes an opportunity attack from anyone standing next to it. Against 5 hit points, that one attack usually ends it.

Vulture vs. Giant Vulture

The giant vulture isn't a bigger version of this bird. It's CR 1, Large, with 22 hit points in 2014 and 25 in 2024, Intelligence 6, a neutral evil alignment and the ability to understand Common. In 2024 it's a Monstrosity, not a Beast, with 60-foot darkvision and necrotic resistance. In 2014 it attacks twice (beak and talons). In 2024 it has a single Gouge that deals 9 damage and poisons the target. A flock of normal vultures led by a giant one is a natural pairing: the giant one fights, the small ones finish.

In the 2024 rules a vulture is also a legal familiar, because Find Familiar allows any CR 0 Beast. It's Medium, bigger than any form the spell names, and flies at 50 feet. A druid can't Wild Shape into one before level 8 in either edition, because of its fly speed.

Vulture Encounter Ideas

The road of bones. A desert road is marked by vultures circling every mile. Each circle sits over a dead traveler, and the last one sits over someone still alive.

After the battle. The party wins a hard fight with two characters down. Five vultures that were circling during the fight drop in the round after the last enemy dies. Now the party has to stabilize two people while chasing off birds.

Frequently Asked Questions

What CR is a vulture in 5e?

CR 0, worth 10 XP, in both editions. It has AC 10, 5 hit points and a 50-foot fly speed.

Do vultures have Pack Tactics?

Yes, in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. A vulture has Advantage on an attack against a creature with at least one of its allies within 5 feet of it, as long as that ally isn't Incapacitated.

What's the difference between a vulture and a giant vulture?

The vulture is CR 0 with 5 hit points and a 1d4 beak. The giant vulture is CR 1 and Large, with 22 (2014) or 25 (2024) hit points, Intelligence 6, and an understanding of Common.

Can a vulture be a familiar?

In the 2024 rules, yes, since Find Familiar allows any CR 0 Beast. The 2014 Find Familiar list doesn't include it.

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.