Bandit

Medium humanoid (any race), any non-lawful alignment

Armor Class
12
leather armor
Hit Points
11
2d8 + 2
Speed
30 ft.
  • STR 0
  • DEX +1
  • CON +1
  • INT 0
  • WIS 0
  • CHA 0
Senses
passive Perception 10
Languages
any one language (usually Common)
Challenge 1/8 25 XP · Proficiency +2

Actions

Scimitar

Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d6 + 1) slashing damage.

Light Crossbow

Ranged Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, range 80/320 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d8 + 1) piercing damage.

How to run it

Bandits are people, and that is the whole point of them. They can be talked to, bribed, frightened and bargained with, and a bandit encounter that resolves without a fight is usually the better scene.

In combat they are unremarkable. Light crossbows from range, scimitars when closed, and a strong preference for not dying. Bandits who are losing surrender or run, and a DM who plays them to the death has thrown away the only interesting thing about them.

Building the encounter

Six to eight for a party of four at level 1 or 2, and they scale predictably. They are the standard against which other low-level humanoids are measured.

Road ambushes, toll bridges, and camps are the obvious settings. What makes them memorable is a leader with a demand rather than a plan to kill: bandits who want the cargo, not the party, produce a scene rather than a slog.

What to pair it with

A bandit captain gives them a spine. A thug or two gives the front line some weight. Both are worth adding, because a bandit gang that folds at the first casualty is a very short encounter.

A single caster hidden among them changes the shape entirely, and players rarely expect it from a group they have written off as ordinary.

Reskins

The most reskinnable stat block in the SRD, because it is simply an armed person of no particular training. Town guards, mercenaries, cultists, sailors, rival adventurers' hirelings, a press gang.

Alignment is deliberately open on this one. The stat block does not say what they want, and that is what makes it useful.

Commonly played wrong

The light crossbow is a two-handed weapon with the loading property, so a bandit cannot fire it and also hold a scimitar ready. Tracking that costs nothing and makes their behaviour more sensible: crossbows at range, blades once closed.

Bandits have no darkvision. In an unlit room they are at a real disadvantage, and parties with darkvision should get the benefit of it.

Compared to others at this CR

At CR 1/8 the bandit is the baseline. Eleven hit points, AC 12, an ordinary attack, no special abilities at all.

The kobold at the same rating is worse in isolation and better in numbers. That is the choice at this tier: bandits are predictable and scale linearly, kobolds are weak and scale sharply. Pick based on how many you intend to field.

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