A weasel is a CR 0 Tiny beast with AC 13, 1 hit point, a 30-foot speed, Stealth +5 and a +5 bite that deals 1 piercing damage. It matters to players because it's one of the forms Find Familiar lists by name in both the 2014 and 2024 rules, and in 2014 it has the best Stealth bonus of any form the spell names. The 2024 weasel (SRD 5.2.1) adds 60-foot darkvision, a 30-foot climb speed and Acrobatics +5, but loses the 2014 weasel's Keen Hearing and Smell.
Tiny beast, unaligned
The 2014 weasel is a listener, not a watcher. Keen Hearing and Smell gives it Advantage on Perception checks that use those senses, which adds 5 to its passive score: 18 for anything it could hear or smell. It has no darkvision, so in an unlit cellar it hears everything and sees nothing.
Tiny Beast, Unaligned
| 2014 Weasel | 2024 Weasel | |
|---|---|---|
| AC / HP | 13 / 1 | 13 / 1 |
| Speed | 30 ft. | 30 ft., climb 30 ft. |
| Senses | Passive Perception 13 | Darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 13 |
| Skills | Perception +3, Stealth +5 | Acrobatics +5, Perception +3, Stealth +5 |
| Trait | Keen Hearing and Smell | None |
| Bite | +5, 1 piercing | +5, 1 piercing |
The trade is hearing for sight. A 2024 weasel scouting a dark crypt reports what's there; a 2014 weasel reports that something is breathing in there. The climb speed lets the 2024 weasel go up a shelf, a wall hanging or a rough stone wall, which the 2014 version can't do without a check.
Under Find Familiar, the familiar uses the weasel's statistics but is a Celestial, Fey or Fiend instead of a Beast, and it can't attack. The 2014 spell lets you see through its senses as an action, blinding and deafening you to your own until your next turn. The 2024 spell makes that a Bonus Action with no blinding clause.
Why pick a weasel over the other forms:
The weakness is 1 hit point. Any damage makes it vanish until you cast the spell again, and in 2024 it leaves behind anything it was carrying. Use the weasel before a fight, not during one.
Wild Shape and Polymorph. A weasel is CR 0 with no fly or swim speed, so a druid can take the form at level 2 in both editions. In 2014 the druid has the weasel's 1 hit point, so the form only lasts until the first hit; in 2024 the druid keeps its own hit points and gains temporary hit points equal to its druid level. Polymorph is a different story: a creature turned into a 2024 weasel gets 1 temporary hit point and the spell ends when it's gone, so the weasel is a poor form for an ally and a fragile prison for an enemy.
Badly. The +5 bite is accurate (55% to hit AC 15) but deals exactly 1 damage. A wild weasel bites once and runs. Have it flee from anything bigger than a rat and fight only when cornered in its den.
The one combat use is the druid in weasel form. A 2024 druid at level 2 has 2 temporary hit points plus its own pool, so it can slip past a front line, climb a 30-foot wall in one move and come out of Wild Shape as a Bonus Action on the other side.
A weasel is worth 10 XP. Under the 2024 rules a party of four level 1 characters has a Low budget of 200 XP, so weasels never fill a combat on their own. If you want a fight with weasels in it, use the giant weasel (CR 1/8, 25 XP), a Medium hunter with a +5 bite for 5 damage. Eight giant weasels (200 XP) spend exactly the Low budget for four level 1 characters, and twelve (300 XP) is Moderate. Our encounter calculator gives the 2014 Dungeon Master's Guide reading if you mix normal weasels in.
The better use is the weasel as a messenger or witness. Animal Messenger needs a Tiny beast, and a weasel qualifies in both editions; in 2024 the spell only works on CR 0 Tiny beasts, which the weasel is. A weasel travels about 25 miles per day under that spell, half what a bird manages.
The ledger thief. A merchant's account book goes missing from a locked strongbox room with a 3-inch gap under the door. The thief is a wizard's weasel familiar that carried the pages out one at a time. The clue is a trail of torn paper scraps in the drain.
The ferret racer. At a harvest fair, a gnome runs weasel races on a wooden track and takes bets. One weasel always wins because it's a familiar following its owner's telepathic orders. Exposing him wins the party a grateful crowd and an angry gnome.
The warning. A druid ally has no birds nearby and sends a weasel through Animal Messenger. It arrives a day late, delivering a 25-word warning about an ambush the party has already walked into.
Yes. Find Familiar names the weasel as a form in both the 2014 and 2024 rules. It keeps the weasel's statistics but becomes a Celestial, Fey or Fiend, and it can't attack.
Only in the 2024 rules, which give it 60-foot darkvision. The 2014 weasel has no darkvision but has Advantage on Perception checks that rely on hearing or smell.
CR 0, worth 10 XP in both editions. The giant weasel is CR 1/8 (25 XP).
The weasel is stealthier (Stealth +5 vs +4) and smaller. The cat is faster (40 feet), has 2 hit points and climbs in both editions. In 2014 neither has darkvision; in 2024 both have 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.
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.
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