Deer
Medium Beast · · CR 0
- Beast
- Medium
- Tier 1
As a medium beast (unaligned), Deer carries CR 0. Common in forest and grassland environments. Sourced from Monster Manual (5e 2014) and Monster Manual (5.5e 2024).
Stat Block
- Challenge Rating
- 0
- Type
- Beast
- Size
- Medium
- Alignment
- —
- Speed
- —
- Habitats
- Forest, Grassland
- Sources
- Monster Manual (5e 2014), Monster Manual (5.5e 2024)
Ecology
Deer browse forest edges, meadows, and grasslands at dawn and dusk. Diet is leaves, shoots, fruit, fungi, and bark in winter. Females (does) lead matriarchal herds; males (bucks) are solitary or form bachelor groups outside rut. They are prey for nearly everything: wolves, bears, leopards, owlbears, displacer beasts, dragons. A healthy deer population indicates a healthy predator population — and vice versa.
Behaviour
Skittish, alert, fast. Deer scent humans from 200 feet downwind and bolt. Bucks during rut are dangerously aggressive, charging with antlers. They communicate by tail-flag, snort, and bark. Druids consider the deer a creature of liminal spaces — neither truly tame nor truly wild — and dryads sometimes shape-take into them.
Origin
In the High Forest and Cormanthor, white deer are sacred to Mielikki. To kill one without the goddess's leave brings ill luck for a year. The legendary **Stag of Aglarond** — an enormous white buck — is said to be a manifestation of Mielikki herself, witnessed during the Year of the Striking Hawk. Elven hunters carry an antler-piece as a token of forest passage.
Related Monsters
Frequently Asked Questions about Deer
- What is the challenge rating of Deer?
- On the bestiary CR scale, Deer sits at 0. It fits parties just starting out.
- What type of creature is Deer?
- By creature type, Deer is a beast, medium size.
- Where does Deer live?
- Deer is typically encountered in Forest, Grassland.