Blood Frenzy. The swarm has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.
Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature's space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny quipper. The swarm can't regain hit points or gain temporary hit points.
Water Breathing. The swarm can breathe only underwater.
Actions
Bites. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 0 ft., one creature in the swarm's space. Hit: 14 (4d6) piercing damage, or 7 (2d6) piercing damage if the swarm has half of its hit points or fewer.
How many swarms of quippers for a fight?
A swarm of quippers is worth 200 XP. Using the 2024 encounter budgets (SRD 5.2), this is how many swarms of quippers 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
1st
1
1
2
2nd
2
3
4
3rd
3
4
8
4th
5
7
10
5th
10
12+
12+
6th
12
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 swarm of quippers compares at CR 1
Against the 24 other challenge 1 monsters in the SRD 5.1, the swarm of quippers has more hit points than 15 of them, which makes it tougher than most at its CR. See every CR 1 monster.
Statistic
Swarm of Quippers
CR 1 average
Armor Class
13
12.9
Hit points
28
28
Best attack bonus
+5
+4
2024 stat block: Swarm of Piranhas
The 2024 Monster Manual revised the swarm of quippers, and the SRD 5.2 carries the new stat block. What changed:
It’s called the Swarm of Piranhas in the 2024 rules.
Swarm. The swarm can occupy another creature’s space and vice versa, and the swarm can move through any opening large enough for a Tiny piranha. The swarm can’t regain Hit Points or gain Temporary Hit Points.
Water Breathing. The swarm can breathe only underwater.
Actions
Bites. Melee Attack Roll: +5 (with Advantage if the target doesn’t have all its Hit Points), reach 5 ft. Hit: 8 (2d4 + 3) Piercing damage, or 5 (1d4 + 3) Piercing damage if the swarm is Bloodied.
