understands commands given in any language but can't speak
Traits
Bound. The shield guardian is magically bound to an amulet. As long as the guardian and its amulet are on the same plane of existence, the amulet's wearer can telepathically call the guardian to travel to it, and the guardian knows the distance and direction to the amulet. If the guardian is within 60 feet of the amulet's wearer, half of any damage the wearer takes (rounded up) is transferred to the guardian.
Regeneration. The shield guardian regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn if it has at least 1 hit. point.
Spell Storing. A spellcaster who wears the shield guardian's amulet can cause the guardian to store one spell of 4th level or lower. To do so, the wearer must cast the spell on the guardian. The spell has no effect but is stored within the guardian. When commanded to do so by the wearer or when a situation arises that was predefined by the spellcaster, the guardian casts the stored spell with any parameters set by the original caster, requiring no components. When the spell is cast or a new spell is stored, any previously stored spell is lost.
Actions
Multiattack. The guardian makes two fist attacks.
Fist. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
Reactions
Shield. When a creature makes an attack against the wearer of the guardian's amulet, the guardian grants a +2 bonus to the wearer's AC if the guardian is within 5 feet of the wearer.
How many shield guardians for a fight?
A shield guardian is worth 2,900 XP. Using the 2024 encounter budgets (SRD 5.2), this is how many shield guardians fit each difficulty for a party of four characters of the same level. A dash means even one would be over the budget.
Party level
Low
Moderate
High
5th
—
1
1
6th
—
1
1
7th
1
1
2
8th
1
2
2
9th
1
2
3
10th
2
3
4
11th
2
4
5
12th
3
5
6
13th
3
5
7
14th
4
6
8
15th
4
7
10
16th
5
8
12+
17th
6
9
12+
18th
6
12
12+
19th
7
12+
12+
20th
8
12+
12+
Budgets add up every monster’s XP, so you can swap some for other creatures of the same total. Try other party sizes and mixes in the encounter calculator.
How the shield guardian compares at CR 7
Against the 5 other challenge 7 monsters in the SRD 5.1, the shield guardian has more hit points than 4 of them, which makes it one of the toughest at its CR. See every CR 7 monster.
Statistic
Shield Guardian
CR 7 average
Armor Class
17
16
Hit points
142
128
Best attack bonus
+7
+8
Shield Guardian 2024 stat block
The 2024 Monster Manual revised the shield guardian, and the SRD 5.2 carries the new stat block. What changed:
Understands commands given in any language but can’t speak
Traits
Bound. The guardian is magically bound to an amulet. While the guardian and its amulet are on the same plane of existence, the amulet’s wearer can telepathically call the guardian to travel to it, and the guardian knows the distance and direction to the amulet. If the guardian is within 60 feet of the amulet’s wearer, half of any damage the wearer takes (round up) is transferred to the guardian.
Regeneration. The guardian regains 10 Hit Points at the start of each of its turns if it has at least 1 Hit Point.
Spell Storing. A spellcaster who wears the guardian’s amulet can cause the guardian to store one spell of level 4 or lower. To do so, the wearer must cast the spell on the guardian while within 5 feet of it. The spell has no effect but is stored within the guardian. Any previously stored spell is lost when a new spell is stored. The guardian can cast the spell stored with any parameters set by the original caster, requiring no spell components and using the caster’s spellcasting ability. The stored spell is then lost.
Actions
Multiattack. The guardian makes two Fist attacks.
Fist. Melee Attack Roll: +7, reach 10 ft. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) Bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) Force damage.
Reactions
Protection. Trigger: An attack roll hits the wearer of the guardian’s amulet while the wearer is within 5 feet of the guardian. Response: The wearer gains a +5 bonus to AC, including against the triggering attack and possibly causing it to miss, until the start of the guardian’s next turn.
