Hello zoologists of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 78th episode of our beast series. Today we are here with the humble d&d 5e black bear well not really humble i guess you could really lay some hurting if you wanted to. But the black bear is found in the basic rules and it is considered to be cr1/2 netting you a hefty 100 experience points upon defeating them. Now let’s move on and take a look at their stats.
D&D 5E Black Bear Stats
- Type: Medium beast, unaligned
- Armor Class: 11 (Natural Armor)
- Hit Points: 19 (3d8 + 6)
- Speed: 40 ft., climb 30 ft.
Wizards of the coast considers the black bear 5e to be a medium beast that is unaligned. AC of 11, 19 hit points calculated by rolling 3d8 and adding 6. And a climb speed of 30 feet and a normal speed of 40 which is quite nice. I like the fact that they tied into the bear can climb certainly useful. Now let’s take a look at its actual stats here.
- STR: 15 (+2)
- DEX: 10 (+0)
- CON: 14 (+2)
- INT: 2 (-4)
- WIS: 12 (+1)
- CHA: 7 (-2)
- Skills: Perception +3
- Senses: Passive Perception 13
- Languages: —
- Challenge: 1/2 (100 XP)
I’m honestly kind of disappointed. Seeing as how they can climb i would like to see their dexterity be a little bit higher but outside of that seems to be above on par with most of the other cr one halfs. Plus 2 to strength and plus to con is certainly nice though. Under skill’s you’ll see a perception boost of plus 3 making for a passive perception of 13 as his only real sense. Now let’s move on to its actions.
- Keen Smell: The bear has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Actions
- Multiattack: The bear makes two attacks: one with its bite and one with its claws.
- Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6 + 2) piercing damage.
- Claws: Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (2d4 + 2) slashing damage.
The d&d 5e black bear build gets multi-attack two attacks one bite and one claw per attack action. The bite attack is a melee weapon attack plus four to hit reach of five feet, it can only target one target and deals five piercing damage on a hit. Calculated by rolling one d6 and adding two.
And the claw attack is also a melee weapon attack also plus four to hit also reach of five feet, also one target but the difference is it deals seven slashing damage calculated by rolling 2d4 and adding two. Very cool now before i get into how i’d use the black bear in my games i’d have it be more of a moral conundrum for the party than a standard mob.
For example as the party is traveling from one small village to another in their overarching quest of finding the lost cleric. They stumble across a black bear in the middle of the road what do they do. If they approach it slowly it appears aggressive towards them.
If they decide to attack and kill the black bear they then notice four little bear pups is what i think they’re called, come out from the side of the road. Kind of really humanizing the whole game. At least that’s how i would use them. Also check out this polar bear 5e | brown bear 5e | black pudding 5e | black dragon 5e |
Conclusion
That being said, let me know how you would use the black bear 5e stats in your game comment down beneath. Also be sure to mention any thoughts, questions, comments or concerns you have regarding them. That being said, i hope you all have a great day and as always happy studying my friends.