Brown bear
Large beast · Challenge 1
For four level 1 characters, 1 brown bear is a Moderate fight under the 2024 rules.
How many brown bears for a party of four?
The most brown bears that fit each difficulty. A dash means even one is too many.
| Level | 2024 rules (XP budget) | 2014 rules (stays below…) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Low | Moderate | High | Medium | Hard | Deadly | |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | – | 1 | 1 |
| 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 2 |
| 3 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| 4 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 10 | 15 | 22 | 4 | 6 | 8 |
| 6 | 12 | 20 | 28 | 5 | 7 | 10 |
| 7 | 15 | 26 | 34 | 6 | 8 | 11 |
Mixed party or different size? Use the encounter builder; it handles any combination.
Questions
What CR is a brown bear in 5e?
A brown bear is challenge rating 1, worth 200 XP. It is a large beast with an armor class of 11 and 34 hit points on average.
How many brown bears should I use against a level 1 party?
For four level 1 characters under the 2024 rules: up to 1 for a Low encounter, 1 for Moderate and 2 for High.
Is a brown bear a good fight for level 3 characters?
Yes. Four level 3 characters can face up to 4 for a Moderate fight or 8 for a High one (2024 rules).
Monsters of similar challenge
Giant toad
CR 1 · Large beast · 200 XP
Giant eagle
CR 1 · Large beast · 200 XP
Giant spider
CR 1 · Large beast · 200 XP
Dire wolf
CR 1 · Large beast · 200 XP
Bugbear
CR 1 · Medium humanoid · 200 XP
Ghoul
CR 1 · Medium undead · 200 XP
Statistics from the System Reference Document 5.1. Full stat block: see the SRD or your rulebook.