Axe Beak 5e Creature Guide: Stat Block, Encounter Suggestions and More

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Axe Beak 5e Stat Block

Axe Beak

Large Beast, Unaligned

Armor Class: 11

Hit Points: 19 (3d10 + 3)

Speed: 50 ft.

STR 14 (+2)

DEX 12 (+1)

CON 12 (+1)

INT 2 (-4)

WIS 10 (+0)

CHA 5 (-3)

Senses: Passive Perception 10

Languages —

Challenge: 1/4 (50 XP)

Proficiency Bonus: +2

Actions

Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) slashing damage.

Suggested Encounters for an Axe Beak

• Suggested Party Size: 3-4
• Suggested Level: 4-6

Quick Tactics for an Axe Beak

• Charge
• Attack
• Be a mount

Axe Beaks are simple creatures. If they aren’t being used as mounts, they will use all 2 points of their intelligence to come up with a brilliant plan that works for anything that bothers them:

Run over there and attack it. If it attacks back, attack it again. If it starts to hurt, run away.

That’s it! That’s the plan.

The thing that makes Axe Beaks formidable, however, is their ability to be ridden.

Think of them as a chocobo giant, angrier-than-a-normal ostrich that, if tamed, provides its rider with 50 feet of speed and a decent melee-attack option.

To be fair, they are arguably as good as a horse, mechanically speaking, if you don’t mind a bit of… personality in your mounts.

The Axe Beaks’ angry disposition and general surliness would make it a mount favored by humanoids who can either be incredibly patient or incredibly ill-tempered enough to cow them.

What Is an Axe Beak?

Axe Beaks are ill-tempered Large beasts with a 1/4 CR and a simple melee attack. They can be used as mounts or found in the wild. In either case, they will definitely attack you given the chance.

Fighting an Axe Beak

If you are unfortunate enough to find yourself on the business end of an Axe Beak’s ire, there are some things you’ll want to know.

First, make sure you don’t run away. It is faster than you, it will chase you, it will catch you, and it will nose-bop you in the worst way.

Get behind your shield (meat or otherwise), and attack or distract.

Second, the Axe Beak is fairly dumb. You might be able to lead it off with a well-timed illusion or at least distract it enough that it will attack the floating derpy face you manifest right next to you.

Third, the Axe Beak is not very perceptive. You could probably stealth right by one if you have the chance. With a passive perception of 10, it would take a fairly low roll for your average sneak to fail at what they do.

Using the Axe Beak as a Mount

This is where the Axe Beak prevails, I believe. As a mount, it is only slightly slower than a Riding Horse (50 feet to the Horse’s 60 feet).

It is much hardier, however, with one additional Hit Die and a slightly higher Armor Class.

The attack difference between an Axe Beak and a Riding horse falls into the Horse’s favor. The riding horse has a +5 to hit compared to Axe Beak’s +4, and the riding horse does 2d4+3 (that’s a range of 5-11) compared to the Axe Beak’s 1d8+2 (with a range of 3-10).

With numbers that close, you could pick either beast and do just as well. What finally throws the lever in favor of the Axe Beak, however, is that extra hit die. There is nothing worse than riding your horse into battle and having it get killed underneath you.

Improving the Axe Beak

If you wanted to make not just a memorable Axe Beak encounter like the offerings we have above but instead a memorable Axe Beak itself, consider improving the Axe Beak along physical and magical lines.

For example, if you want to make a Huge sized Axe Beak, give it a +4 to Strength, lower the AC down to 10, and give it an extra 12 HP. Improve its attack to 2d8+4 damage with a +6 to hit, and let it be ridden by an Ogre or Half-Ogre. That will make your players shake a little bit when they roll initiative!

But if you wanted to improve it magically, then consider making Axe Beak variants that are either native to or have been exposed to different planes and their magics.

To accomplish this, add the ability to cast Hellish Rebuke with a recharge of 5-6, but change the damage type from fire to a damage type more aligned with your chosen planar magic. In addition, give the Axe Beak resistance to that damage and increase the CR to ½.

Make It Weird!

The Axe Beak is a simple beast you can throw at your players if they need to chew through some monsters at lower levels, but with a little bit of thought and effort, these angry birds can make or break your players’ night.

Happy adventuring!