Hello zoologists of all shapes and sizes! Welcome to my spellbook and thank you so much for checking out the 68th episode of our beast series. Today we have another one of the dinos in store for us. We’re looking at the pteranodon. This dino is found under the basic rule set. It has a cr rating of 1 quarter. And it is described as the following.
Description
These flying reptilian cousins to the dinosaurs have no teeth, instead using their sharp beaks to stab prey too large to swallow with one gulp. These flying reptiles have wingspans of 15 to 20 feet and typically dive for small marine prey, though they are opportunists and will attack any creature that appears edible. A pteranodon has no teeth, instead using its sharp beak to stab prey too large to swallow with one gulp.
Pretty cool stuff! Slightly terrifying but you know pretty cool! Now let’s take a quick look at his stats here.
Pteranodon DnD 5E Stat Block
- Type: Medium beast, unaligned
- Armor Class: 13 Natural Armor
- Hit Points: 13 (3d8)
- Speed: 10 ft., fly 60 ft.
So despite having that massive wingspan the pteranodon is considered to be a medium beast that is unaligned. Which is kind of disappointing. But whatever, AC of 13, 13 hit points calculated by rolling 3d8 and a normal speed of 10 feet and a fly speed of 60 feet. So needless to say this is going to be airborne more often than not. Taking a look at his individual stats there.
- STR: 12 (+1)
- DEX: 15 (+2)
- CON: 10 (+0)
- INT: 2 (-4)
- WIS: 9 (-1)
- CHA: 5 (-3)
- Skills: Perception +1
- Senses: Passive Perception 11
- Languages: —
- Challenge: 1/4 (50 XP)
- Flyby: The pteranodon doesn’t provoke an opportunity attack when it flies out of an enemy’s reach.
You’ll see quite strong, lot of dexterity and that’s really about it. They’re not particularly great in any form or fashion outside of that. Under skills they only have a plus-one increase to perception and under senses a passive perception of 11. Thankfully the pteranodon gets access to flyby as well. That is so far as to say, they do not generate opportunity attacks when they fly out of an enemy’s reach which is great. It is arguably one of the best abilities for a flying creature to have. Now let’s take a quick look at its actions.
Actions:
Bite: Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (2d4 + 1) piercing damage.
The pteranodon can perform a bite attack and it is a melee weapon attack. Plus 3 to hit reach of five feet can only target one target and deals 6 piercing damage on a hit. Calculated by rolling 2d4 and adding one. Now i like the flavor of the pteranodon but it stats in my opinion are a little bit lackluster. It’s not egregious in any way shape or form. I just think in terms of deadliness there are significantly better options.
That being said however, it is still cool, it might be more of a world building kind of beast versus a actual encounter or maybe have them as a mount for goblins or something like that some small creature. You can also check out this giant eagle 5e.
Conclusion
That being said, let me know how you would use the pteranodon down beneath in the comment section also mention any thoughts, questions, comments or concerns you have regarding it and what are the flying dinosaurs in d&d? as well. That being said, i hope you all have a great day and as always happy researching.