Wolpertinger — The Antlered Hare of Bavaria
The hunter swore the trophy was a fake. Then something with antlers scratched at the inn’s shutters from outside. Beneath the threshold lay three drops of blood and a pheasant feather caught in the wood. By morning, two rival households were accusing each other of poaching on the forest boundary.
In Bavarian storytelling, a wolpertinger is an impossible composite animal: usually a hare with antlers, wings and sometimes fangs or the tail of another beast. Every village can describe a different variety. Many supposed specimens are deliberately fabricated hunting trophies, a regional tradition of practical jokes; that makes a real winged, antlered creature wonderfully troublesome in a fantasy campaign.
The Wolpertinger is not simply the American Jackalope under another name. Their traditions overlap, but the rabbit-antlered jackalope is associated with North American tall tales, whereas the Wolpertinger belongs to Bavarian and southern German forest humour. Pathfinder imagines it as a fierce Tiny flying predator that hunts in packs. The edition tabs below retain that approach without making every wolpertinger an implausibly powerful CR 4 monster.
Wolpertinger: Quick Guide for Players and GMs
In one sentence: A wolpertinger is a winged, antlered Bavarian hare that looks like an obvious hunting-lodge joke—until a territorial pack begins attacking animals and frightening travellers.
| Best use at the table | A strange woodland encounter, an investigation into a fake trophy, or a dangerous pack defending its den. |
|---|---|
| What players notice | Antler scratches low on bark, feathers mixed with rabbit fur, and startled birds taking flight from a hedge. |
| What it wants | Food, cover and space for its young. A pack protects a nesting area; it does not attack out of abstract malice. |
| Ways around a fight | Back away from the den, separate livestock from the forest path, or negotiate with the hunters causing the disturbance. |
| Rules at a glance | D&D 2024 and 2014: CR ½; Pathfinder 1e: CR 1; D&D 3.5e: CR 1. Use one edition, not all four. |
Run the encounter in three beats
- Let them notice: Show fresh feathers, low antler scratches and a suspiciously elaborate hunting trophy before the animal appears.
- Let them choose: The party can investigate the fake specimen, follow the tracks, protect livestock or leave the nest alone.
- Make the outcome matter: Saving the pack, moving the path or exposing the hunter settles a local dispute; simply killing the beast may make one household an enemy.
Wolpertinger Stat Blocks — Four Editions
Choose one rules edition before play. Pathfinder 1e is the published wolpertinger from Shards of Sin; the other three versions are original, edition-native conversions. No American Jackalope statistics have been relabelled as a Bavarian Wolpertinger.
Wolpertinger — D&D 2024
Tiny Monstrosity, Unaligned · CR 1/2 (100 XP; PB +2) · Original conversion
AC 14 (quick reflexes); Initiative +3 (13); HP 17 (5d4 + 5); Speed 40 ft., Fly 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 (−2) | 16 (+3) | 12 (+1) | 4 (−3) | 14 (+2) | 8 (−1) |
Skills Perception +4, Stealth +7; Senses Darkvision 60 ft., Passive Perception 14; Languages —; Habitat Forest, Hill; Treasure none.
Traits
Keen Hearing. The wolpertinger has Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks relying on hearing.
Brush Skirmisher. Opportunity Attacks against the wolpertinger have Disadvantage while it is in light natural cover, such as thick scrub or low branches.
Actions
Bite. Melee Attack Roll: +5, reach 5 ft. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) Piercing damage. The target also takes 2 (1d4) damage at the start of its next turn unless it regains Hit Points or a creature uses an action to make a DC 11 Wisdom (Medicine) check and stop the bleeding.
Gore. Melee Attack Roll: +5, reach 5 ft. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) Piercing damage; 3 (1d6) extra Piercing damage if the wolpertinger moved at least 15 feet straight toward the target first.
Bonus Actions
Sudden Bound. The wolpertinger takes the Disengage or Hide action.
Original D&D 2024 creature; not the separately published EN World Jackalope. A small pack changes encounter difficulty substantially.
Wolpertinger — D&D 2014
Tiny monstrosity, unaligned · Challenge 1/2 (100 XP) · Original conversion
Armor Class 14 (natural agility); Hit Points 17 (5d4 + 5); Speed 40 ft., fly 30 ft.
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 6 (−2) | 16 (+3) | 12 (+1) | 4 (−3) | 14 (+2) | 8 (−1) |
Skills Perception +4, Stealth +7; Senses darkvision 60 ft., passive Perception 14; Languages —.
Traits
Keen Hearing. Advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing.
Brush Skirmisher. Opportunity attacks against the wolpertinger have disadvantage while it is in natural light cover such as low branches or thick shrubs.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage. The creature takes an additional 2 (1d4) damage at the beginning of its next turn unless it regains hit points or an adjacent creature uses an action to succeed on a DC 11 Wisdom (Medicine) check to bind the wound.
Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 5 (1d4 + 3) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) if it moved at least 15 feet in a straight line toward the target before the attack.
Bonus Actions
Sudden Bound. The wolpertinger can take the Disengage or Hide action.
Original 2014 fifth-edition homebrew. It does not reproduce the existing third-party CR 4 Jackalope design.
Wolpertinger — Pathfinder 1e
CR 1 · XP 400 · N Tiny magical beast · Published Pathfinder Adventure Path #61: Shards of Sin (2012)
Init +2; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision; Perception +5.
Defense
AC 14, touch 14, flat-footed 12 (+2 Dex, +2 size); hp 15 (2d10+4); Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1.
Offense
Speed 40 ft., fly 40 ft. (average); Melee bite +6 (1d3−1 plus bleed 1d4), gore +6 (1d3−1); Space 2½ ft.; Reach 0 ft.; Special Attacks bleed (1d4).
Statistics
Str 9, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 4, Wis 13, Cha 6; Base Atk +2; CMB +2; CMD 11 (15 vs. trip); Feats Weapon Finesse; Skills Fly +6, Perception +5, Stealth +14.
Ecology
Environment temperate forests or hills; Organization solitary, pair, or pack (3–12); Treasure none.
Special Abilities
Bleed (Ex). The wolpertinger’s bite deals 1d4 bleed damage each round as described by Pathfinder’s bleed rules; bleed is generally stopped by magical healing or a DC 15 Heal check. Bleed from multiple wolpertinger bites does not stack unless the GM uses another specific rule.
Pack Behaviour
Small wolpertingers make short, startling flights but prefer low cover and wooded ground. Groups surround intruders and strike in pairs; they are aggressive animals, not diplomatic woodland spirits. A single specimen is CR 1; a group of four is not one CR 1 encounter.
Published Pathfinder 1e game statistics from Wolpertinger (d20PFSRD), originally Paizo’s Pathfinder Adventure Path #61: Shards of Sin, © 2012. Pathfinder’s rules are distinct from the original fifth- and 3.5-edition conversions. The full OGL v1.0a notice appears below.
Wolpertinger — D&D 3.5e
Tiny Magical Beast · Original CR 1 campaign conversion
| Size/Type | Tiny Magical Beast |
|---|---|
| Hit Dice | 2d10+4 (15 hp) |
| Initiative | +2 |
| Speed | 40 ft. (8 squares), fly 40 ft. (average) |
| Armor Class | 14 (+2 size, +2 Dex), touch 14, flat-footed 12 |
| Base Attack/Grapple | +2/−7 |
| Attack | Bite +6 melee (1d3−1 plus wound) or gore +6 melee (1d3−1) |
| Full Attack | Bite +6 melee (1d3−1 plus wound) and gore +1 melee (1d3−1) |
| Space/Reach | 2½ ft./0 ft. |
| Special Attacks | Wounding bite |
| Special Qualities | Darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision |
| Saves | Fort +5, Ref +5, Will +1 |
| Abilities | Str 9, Dex 14, Con 15, Int 4, Wis 13, Cha 6 |
| Skills | Hide +11, Listen +3, Move Silently +2, Spot +3 |
| Feats | Weapon Finesse |
| Environment | Temperate forests, Bavarian foothills and wooded hill country |
| Organization | Solitary, pair, or pack (3–12) |
| Challenge Rating | 1 (original conversion; playtest target) |
| Treasure | None |
| Alignment | Always neutral |
| Advancement | 3–4 HD (Tiny); recalculate CR and attacks |
| Level Adjustment | — |
Combat
Wounding Bite (Ex). When the wolpertinger damages a living creature with its bite, the creature loses 1 hit point at the beginning of each subsequent turn from bleeding. An action and a successful DC 15 Heal check or any magical healing stops this damage. Multiple wounding bites do not stack. This is an original, milder 3.5e mechanic, not Pathfinder’s 1d4 bleed.
Weapon Finesse. The bite uses Dexterity for its attack roll: base attack +2, Dexterity +2, Tiny size +2 = +6. Its normal full attack also includes a secondary gore at +1; a single gore uses +6. The 0-foot reach means the Tiny creature must enter an opponent’s square to attack, potentially provoking an attack of opportunity.
In Play. The creature stays low among roots before lunging into an opponent’s square. It takes advantage of cover to escape after making its bite; its short flight is most useful for surprising prey above a hedge or bypassing a stream. A pack that attacks together should be treated as multiple creatures when assessing encounter difficulty.
Original D&D 3.5e interpretation using 3.5e SRD magical beast rules, not an official D&D 3.5e stat block. Its CR is a campaign design estimate.
What Is Happening Right Now?
A mountain inn has displayed a mounted antlered hare for a generation. The new innkeeper has found fresh droppings beneath the cabinet and hears scratching at the shutter after sunset. A craftsman in the village admits that his grandfather assembled the old trophy from three animals; a local hunting lord insists it proves that the forest belongs to his estate. Meanwhile a living pack has begun defending an abandoned charcoal burner’s hut where its kits are nesting. If the lord’s hunters follow the innkeeper’s directions, they will pass straight through the settlement’s grazing fields.
The party must establish what is fake, what is alive, and who benefits from the claim. They can expose the old deception, relocate the pack, fence the grazing route or attempt to make the disputed trophy a legal boundary marker. The outcome should matter to two families rather than end with a bag of antlers.
Behaviour and Hunting
Living animals: A single wolpertinger is nimble and likely to bolt. A territorial pack is bolder: one darts low to provoke a step while another attacks from a hedge or stump. They can fly, but long pursuit by wing exhausts them; they return to running and bounding through scrub when possible. They shelter in old burrows made by larger creatures rather than carving tunnels with their own antlers.
Clues before combat: Tiny antler gouges beneath a hedge, feathers among hare tracks, a rabbit carcass too large for an ordinary kit to carry, a flock of birds rising at the wrong angle, or a broken wing caught in a snare. Make the risk legible before anyone is surrounded.
Counterplay: Keep a clear path away from the den, protect injured companions from repeated bites, use nets or a roofed shelter to break aerial approaches, and retreat through ground too narrow for the pack to flank. Do not treat its appearance as proof that every decorative specimen in an inn was once alive.
Encounter: The Trophy That Came Home
Approach: A prominent hunting lodge displays a beautifully mounted wolpertinger. At twilight, a frightened stablehand finds the glass case cracked and claims the stuffed animal moved. An actual wolpertinger has entered through a smoke opening and is drawn toward the smell of its nesting territory on the trophy’s old fur.
Choices: Keep the stablehand calm, investigate the stuffing and stitches, or pursue the living animal onto the roof. The sound of a bell from the lodge may draw the rest of the pack. A trap built for a fox can capture the animal without injury; a careless chase can carry the fight into an occupied loft.
Consequences: The hunt’s patron wants a second specimen for his collection, while the villagers need the animals removed from a footpath. Returning the live creature to the forest without a boundary agreement simply postpones the conflict.
Adventure Hooks
The Full-Moon Hunt
An innkeeper offers strangers a sack and a candle, promising a rare forest animal will jump inside only if they remain perfectly silent. The game is meant as a prank, but the noise attracts a genuine pack from a nearby nesting hollow. Discovering the practical joke changes whom the adventurers trust.
The Painted Antlers
A series of taxidermy trophies has been used to hide coded messages between smugglers. One trophy’s antlers are from a genuine magical animal, and the supposed counterfeit-maker has vanished. The investigation must distinguish an elaborate forgery from evidence of a real territorial pack.
A Familiar’s Choice
A young spellcaster hopes to befriend a wolpertinger for companionship. The local hunter’s guild wants to trap the same creature as proof of the species. In Pathfinder 1e, the published Improved Familiar option belongs to a neutral spellcaster of the required level; it is not a general right to claim a wild animal. Other editions require GM-approved companion rules.
Treasure, Aftermath and Campaign Use
The animals themselves carry no treasure. Their dens may contain buttons, shiny buttons from a forester’s coat, stray trinkets or a broken seal taken from a nestling’s food. The campaign reward is more likely a favour from the innkeeper, a resolved boundary claim or the return of a missing pet. For comic adventures, make the prank clever rather than making the adventurers helpless; for a darker woodland scene, give the pack a reason to defend its young.
Wolpertinger Folklore and Historical Context
The Wolpertinger is closely associated with Bavarian practical jokes, hunting-lodge displays and fabricated taxidermy. Versions combine parts of hares, pheasants, deer, squirrels or other creatures, and the ingredients vary from specimen to specimen. Claims about how to catch one are often part of the joke. Older horned-hare imagery exists, but the familiar elaborate mounted hybrids became especially popular with nineteenth-century taxidermists; they should not be portrayed as authenticated medieval zoology.
The American jackalope and Scandinavian skvader are useful comparisons with separate origins. The former concerns a horned rabbit in American tall tales, and the latter is a Swedish winged-hare curiosity. The fantasy bestiary brings these related traditions into play without erasing their regional identities.
Regional connections: Rumours of wolpertingers suit an Alpine inn, a forest warden’s dispute near Bavaria, or a courtly collector seeking an impossible specimen in Munich. The Magical Beasts index and World Bestiary provide other woodland creatures.
Wolpertinger FAQs
What is a wolpertinger?
A wolpertinger is a creature from Bavarian folklore, commonly pictured as a hare with antlers, bird wings and sometimes fangs. Its appearance changes between local tales and fabricated hunting trophies. In a fantasy RPG it can be a real, small, territorial animal.
Is the wolpertinger a real animal?
No verified animal matches the traditional composite descriptions. Mounted wolpertingers are associated with novelty taxidermy and hunters’ tall tales. That contrast between a believable hoax and a living creature is a useful mystery for a party to solve.
Is a wolpertinger the same as a jackalope?
Not quite. The Bavarian wolpertinger often includes wings and other animal features, whereas the American jackalope is best known as an antlered rabbit. The Swedish skvader is another distinct animal-hybrid tradition.
What challenge rating is a wolpertinger?
On this page the original D&D 2024 and 2014 versions are CR ½, Paizo’s Pathfinder 1e wolpertinger is CR 1, and the original D&D 3.5e conversion is CR 1. A pack is a tougher encounter: calculate the encounter using the number of creatures and your chosen edition’s rules.
Where should a party encounter one?
A Bavarian hunting inn, woodland boundary or mountain pasture works well. Give the players antler scratches, feathers and rumours of a false trophy before presenting a real animal. For nearby adventure settings see Bavaria and Munich. For another regional hybrid, compare the skvader.
Sources and Licensing
Pathfinder 1e: The CR 1 statistics and Improved Familiar references originate in Paizo’s Pathfinder Adventure Path #61: Shards of Sin (2012). See Wolpertinger — d20PFSRD for the published rules. These mechanics are used under OGL v1.0a, with the complete licence and Section 15 notice below.
D&D 2024 and 2014: Original interpretations for fifth-edition gameplay. References: SRD 5.2.1 and SRD 5.1, respectively. These are not official D&D creatures or adaptations licensed from the EN World Epic Monsters Jackalope.
D&D 3.5e: Original monster using 3.5e SRD magical beast conventions under OGL v1.0a.
Image attribution: Wolpertinger by Rainer Zenz, available under CC BY-SA 3.0; the original artwork is credited, linked and unaltered.
Open Game Content designation: The Pathfinder 1e published rules and 3.5e game mechanics are Open Game Content as applicable. Original narrative, locations, adventure hooks, artwork and presentation are not designated OGC. Neither Paizo nor Wizards of the Coast endorses this page.
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System Reference Document, 5.0 Copyright 2016, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Mike Mearls, Jeremy Crawford, Chris Perkins, Rodney Thompson, Peter Lee, James Wyatt, Robert J. Schwalb, Bruce R. Cordell, Chris Sims, and Steve Townshend, based on original material by E. Gary Gygax and Dave Arneson.
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