A Complete Guide To Giant Apes In Dungeons & Dragons 5e

Dungeons and Dragons (often abbreviated to just DnD or D&D) is a role-playing game that allows you to fight a whole slew of fantastical and weird creatures, big and/or small.

You could be fighting vampires in one session, then fighting a Kraken out on the open sea, or dueling with one of the titular dragon kinds that you’ll find in your fantasy world.

With all of those options available to you (and plenty more if you’re happy to homebrew your monster or go third-party), some players might think that fighting just regular old beasts like wolves and bears is a little… well, dull by comparison.

That, however, is a hot take for people that haven’t had a good look through the monster manual (Which is fair. Those sourcebooks aren’t cheap, after all). Because in the top-left corner of page 323 of the monster manual. You’ll find a not-so-little creature listed only as ‘Giant Ape’.

This beastie is a phenomenal tool to have in your arsenal, whether you’re a Game Master (or GM) trying to come up with an interesting plot hook for a campaign or a tricky opponent, or a player looking for a little extra muscle, and have a few high-level spell slots handy.

In this guide, we’re going to show you everything that you could want to know (see also: Warhorse 5e: Everything You Need To Know)about this hairy simian stat block, from its abilities to its potential uses for both players and Game Masters. There’s a lot of ground to cover, so let’s stop monkeying around and get to business!

What Are Giant Apes In DND 5e?

Moving on from that awful pun, there may be some players or fans of DND who have never seen the stat block for a giant ape.

It is only a small profile, and it’s not located in the main book contents, benign relegated to the appendix, where a lot of beastly (and underrated, in our opinion) creatures get relegated.

So it isn’t inconceivable that a person could own the Monster Manual for 5th edition, and never spot the giant ape stat block.

Size

The first thing that will likely grab people’s attention with the Giant Ape is… well, its giant size! Being a huge creature in DnD, Giant Apes occupy the second-largest size category in the game, putting them behind only Gargantuan creatures.

Now, it’s worth pointing out that while Huge-sized creatures are massive, they aren’t as big as some of the most iconic big apes in popular culture. In short, think less King Kong, and more Mighty Joe Young in size, about the size of a large elephant.

Stats

After their size, the second thing you’ll notice, in terms of this short and sweet stat block, is just how tanky Giant Apes are. With a potential amount of 15D12 dice, plus a flat 60hp on top of that, you have a potential health pool that goes well beyond 200hp.

Even the stated 157hp that the Monster Manual gives is no joke and allows for players and GMs some incredibly creative clutch moments and ideas (more on that later).

In terms of their ability scores, Giant Apes have 23 in Strength (for a +6 modifier), 14 in Dexterity (+2), 18 in Constitution (+4), 7 in Intelligence (-2), 12 in Wisdom (+1), and a 7 in Charisma (-2).

They also get a +9 on Athletics skill checks and a +4 on Perception skill checks. This gives you a physically dominating opponent, with some pretty weak mental stats (aside from one).

(Interestingly enough, considering that the baseline for sapience/sentience in DND 5e (see also: What Is The Primal Savagery Cantrip In 5E D&D?)is 5, their 7 ability score in Intelligence technically makes Giant Apes sapient to some extent, able to think and learn for themselves, a fact that a good GM can use to their advantage when coming up with interesting scenarios.)

Attacks & Movement

In terms of attacks, Giant Apes don’t really have too much going for them, in terms of action variety. This isn’t to say that they’re weak, keep in mind.

Its Fist attack has a reach of 10 feet and can deal 3D10 + 6 bludgeoning damage, while its Rock ranged ability has a range of 50 feet (100 with disadvantage) and deals 7d6 + 6 bludgeoning damage.

The multi-attack feature with the Giant Ape’s Fist attack makes for a potentially devastating amount of bludgeoning damage, so don’t think that these big primates can’t deal damage. And of course, that isn’t even mentioning how difficult of a grapple they can have.

But with only bludgeoning damage available to them normally, as well as only two attack action options, you’re not exactly going to find a complicated fight when going up against a Giant Ape in most scenarios.

They don’t even have stats for biting! However, one thing that Giant Apes do have going for them that can make them terrifying for a lower-level player is their maneuverability.

With 40 feet of both walking and climbing speed, these Huge-sized creatures are surprisingly mobile for their size, making them excellent for traversal and getting around a battlefield.

Giant Ape Lore

Now, for many GMs, this section is where trying to work Giant Apes into a setting or story can become pretty tough.

While many creatures in the monster manual will have some extra paragraphs of law so that GMs can find hooks and ways to include them in a game, Giant Apes don’t get anything in the way of lore or extra details like this.

Even dog mounts have a paragraph, for crying out loud! (No hate for those dog mounts, they’re good boys and girls. But it does really expose just how little extra content there is for Giant Apes in this game).

However, while some GMs and players might see that lack of information, and find the little to no direction intimidating, others will see that empty space where their own lore could be, and see the potential for them to fill in the gaps. And there are a lot of gaps with this stat block!

Giant Ape Variety

Now, obviously, in the real world, we don’t just have one kind of ape. Gorillas, Chimpanzees, Orangutans, and Bonobos are all classified as apes, so deciding which one gets the honor of going giant is pretty much at the GM and player’s discretion, and can even help with fleshing out the wider world that your campaign is set in.

Anyone who has seen footage of the different great apes will tell you how differently they can often act from one another, so this allows for a surprisingly large amount of variety for Giant Ape variety in this way.

Giant Ape Locations

This might feel a little redundant at first. After all, seeing as all real apes (humans aside) tend to live in tropical rainforests, it feels like the locations to find Giant Apes are pretty limited. But, as you’ll probably (hopefully) know, this game isn’t in the real world.

It’s the Forgotten Realms, Greyhawk, Exandria, Eberron, or any of the other fantasy worlds and settings you are putting your campaign in. You can have your Giant Apes located anywhere in your world!

The only thing you’ll want to keep in mind (if you want to keep up immersion), is that Giant Apes are often solitary creatures, so sparsely populated locations are a great place to put them. Got a mountain range or a lone mountain that you want to populate?

Some white-furred, yeti-like Giant Apes can help add a noble new element to a setting that you may not expect them in! Got some boreal or temperate woodland that you want to make your players feel uneasy in?

A change of fur coat to a more brown color and a case of mistaken identity as a bear can be a fun change for your party to go up against! Heck, considering that Giant Apes are technically sapient, and can also be summoned, they can even appear in cities under the control of a master.

This can lead to some fascinating extra questions that your party can ask about a town. After all, if the local archmage just happens to have a gorilla as his doorman, you’re going to want to find out more!

For Game Masters

Giant Ape Role Play

A location, a cool-looking beast, and a stat block are only part of the equation. For a GM, you also have the fun (and tough) task of bringing that encounter with the ape to life, both in and out of combat. I know. Role-Playing? In a Role-Playing Game? Unthinkable!

Jokes aside, pretty much any encounter with a monster in a DND battle can be made or broken based on how the GM sells it. Even the biggest and most terrifying of monsters, without a little GM description, can feel as cold and clinical as the number that makes them.

A Giant Ape encounter is the same. You’ve got a wide range of options in front of you when it comes to this part. Is your encounter going to be some giant berserker, roaring and hearing (maybe even felt) long before your party lays eyes on it?

Or is this going to be a scenario where you want to play a Giant Ape that is cautious around newcomers to its territory and tries to avoid direct interactions with them, sneaking around them instead, perhaps?

It might sound crazy, but that relatively high Dexterity modifier makes a Giant Ape surprisingly good at acrobatic and stealth checks, so don’t rule it out of an encounter!

Real-World Influence

If you’re trying to decide on which of these approaches, or others that you might have in mind, could work for your campaign, you can draw inspiration from real-world sources.

And this is where we’re going to see the benefits of outlining the different kinds of Giant Apes that help us out here. Different Giant Apes could easily have completely different ways of approaching them from a role-play perspective.

Gorillas and Orangutans (and Giant Apes based on them in your game) are famously quite shy and reclusive, trying to avoid being spotted or detected. Chimpanzees, meanwhile, are incredibly territorial and aggressive to outsiders by comparison, and lends to a much more frantic type of encounter, especially with that high dexterity and movement speed.

Campaign/Session Ideas

Okay, you have your Giant Ape. You have your stats, some lore on where they are found, and some ideas for how you’re going to role-play them. So, how are you going to work them into a setting or campaign?

Unless you’re planning on just dropping it out of the air (which, you know, is a fair move), you’re probably going to want to justify why exactly your party of players would come up against this creature.

Lost World Exploration

It’s a tale as old as the written word and the silver screen, it seems. Going to far-flung corners of the globe, to find things never before seen by mortal eyes. It’s the premise of The Lost World, King Kong, and countless others.

I mean, we pretty much just described 90% of Dungeons and Dragons, right there! Having a campaign that had your players traveling to a far-off land. Could be in the jungle, could be on a snowy mountain peak.

Just make it far from help and civilization, and make the animals and beasts in this distant land weird and unfamiliar to your party. A Giant Ape encounter sits on that line perfectly.

Just familiar enough to be recognizable, but also weird, strange, and big enough to feel like you’re no longer in a world that is familiar.

If you’re looking to up the stakes, make sure that the way back out of this new and unfamiliar world is difficult, maybe even impossible, without first venturing deeper into this place where creatures like Giant Apes lurk in the dark corners of the world.

Monster Hunting

Similar to the last campaign idea, the idea of being a monster hunter is a popular one that has been played out plenty of times in other media. So giving your players the chance to enjoy their own is sure to be a memorable game!

Have your players been given a mission to try and find rare animal items? Perhaps they’ve been tasked with slaying a beast that has been ravaging the local villages.

A Giant Ape fills this role perfectly, being a nice mid-level challenge for a party to face. It’s tanky enough to take plenty of damage from your player, while also being able to put out some pretty brutal damage too.

Monster Rescue?

Okay. So what if you had the previous setup or mission, but instead of killing a natural creature of the forest, you brought it back to its home instead? Obviously, Giant Apes are big, so they’d probably be coveted as brawn for other, more powerful characters.

Particularly those that can take advantage of that relatively low Intelligence stat. As we mentioned before, perhaps a mage has one under mind control and is using it for its plans.

To be fair, this is a setup that you can use with virtually any creature outside of its natural habitat. Still, all of those elements, from finding the right location to the journey there, can all be great moments for your players to show their creative/thinking skills.

Encounters

So, you’ve justified why you’re meeting a Giant Ape. But how exactly could an encounter go down for a party? How should a GM go about an encounter with one of these big beasties?

Cave Setting

It’s a classic setup, but one that you can’t ignore when it comes to simplicity. A cave is a natural shelter for pretty much anything in the world of Dungeons and Dragons(see also: The Complete Guide To Shatter Spell In Dungeons & Dragons 5E). So why wouldn’t you find a Giant Ape in one too?

Of course, a cave encounter can sometimes run the risk of being a little boring, with just an empty dark cave. Make sure to add plenty of elements into the cave to keep the encounter engaging. Are there any rock pillars or pools for your characters to hide in?

How much elevation can you expect in this cave? Could the cave potentially collapse, given a good or bad enough number of attacks/hits? All of these things keep your encounter from being a simple hack-and-slash adventure and encourage a little extra creative thinking.

Jungle Encounter

This one could be a little tricky to visualize, but it could make for a unique encounter if you’re able to work out an area that is just as tall as it is wide. Jungles are famous for dense vegetation, and being hubs of wildlife, both beautiful and bad.

The same is going to be true for a DND jungle too, if not more so! It’s also true that very different life exists at different levels of a jungle canopy.

So a fantasy jungle, perhaps being bigger and taller than any jungle in the world today, could be equally home to many creatures at different levels. Apes in our world tend to inhabit either the forest floor or lower canopies of trees.

Not only does this make for an interesting change in the battle map, but it also adds a new hazard. Falling out of a high enough tree could easily spell doom for most party members.

And given how strong Giant Apes are, this might just turn them from a tough encounter, into one that could result in a TPK.

That’s both equal parts an exciting, but also risky prospect, especially if you haven’t already made it clear that falling would be dangerous for your party. Still, if you can pull this off, you’ll have an encounter that none of your players will soon forget!

Re-Flavoring/Homebrewing

Of course, the stat block for Giant Ape is there for a reason and is very convenient for newcomer GMs to have handy. However, if you’ve run this beast a few times already, you might start to consider what exactly you can add or change with the base.

• One of the things that we would recommend adding to a Giant Ape homebrew creation would be a Bite attack, that can be used as part of its Multiattack. It doesn’t have to be too strong (6d6 + Dexterity or Strength), but it gives just a little extra damage variety.
• Creating an elemental version of Giant Ape is always a great idea, adding or replacing the ape’s normal damage type with an appropriate replacement.

For Players

Okay, some of you readers might be wondering what this section is even here for. After all, isn’t a Giant Ape just a stat block that a GM can use against you? Well, this is part of the part of this guide where we would like to introduce to you a spell caster’s best friend: The Polymorph Spell.

Polymorphing Player Characters

Polymorph is a 4th-level spell that most full casters will gain access to at level 7, while half casters like Paladins and Rangers will gain the spell at level 13. The description for Polymorph is as follows:

‘This spell transforms a creature that you can see within range into a new form. An unwilling creature must make a Wisdom saving throw to avoid the effects of the spell. The spell does not affect a shape changer, or a creature that is at zero hit points.’

‘The transformation lasts for the duration, or until the target drops to zero hit points or dies. The new form can be any beast whose challenge rating is equal to or less than the target’s (or the target’s level, if it doesn’t have a challenge rating). The target’s in-game statistics, including mental ability scores and hit points, are replaced by the statistics of the chosen beast. It retains its alignment and personality.’

• DnD Beyond Polymorph Spell description

So, this means that a party member playing a caster at a high enough level could turn another player into a Giant Ape (they will be at a high enough level to do this by this point).

Bonuses Of Turning Into An Ape

So, as you can imagine, there are potential quite a few bonuses that a party will appreciate from having the ability to turn into an ape.

• Their large size makes them a massive target on the battlefield, distracting from potentially wounded characters, or casters who are maintaining concentration spells (including the caster of this spell).
• While some creatures will have some kind of resistance to bludgeoning damage, the Multiattack Fist and Rock throwing options will often be able to dish out a decent amount of damage to opponents with no resistance to it.
• The amount of health that a Giant Ape has makes it a brilliant transformation that can take a lot of damage, or even a way of keeping an injured party member in the fight (albeit with a new stat sheet).

Closing Thoughts – Are They Any Good?

In case our tone here hasn’t made it clear already, we obviously have a soft spot for this big beasty!

It plays with a lot of classic imagery from older media, and combines them with a stat build that can be an absolute nightmare for low to medium-level players to deal with, even if it is a little simple with its actions (Just give it a Bite action. It just makes sense, okay?)

Are there perhaps more arguably exciting and iconic creatures out there to use in a game of Dungeons and Dragons? Sure. Dragons are in the title, after all. And pretty much every player and GM will have their own personal favorite monster that they love to throw out there.

However, if you’re looking for a beast encounter that can be surprisingly tough, and can be incredibly tricky to deal with a smart player or GM behind it, you won’t find a creature as versatile as a Giant Ape, especially among the beasts in the Monster Manual.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QQVkK6zYc-A