Azrael
Azrael — The Encounter
Angel of Death who reaps the unwilling soul · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Azrael
Of the fallen host named in the old registers, Azrael alone keeps no quarrel with Heaven nor Hell, for his office stands above both. He is the Angel of Death, the appointed reaper who comes when the appointed hour comes, and not one breath sooner. His scythe is inscribed along its curve with the true names of every soul yet owed to him, and it is said the writing grows of its own accord. He does not hunger, does not hate, and cannot be bribed, threatened, or charmed from his work; he simply arrives, names you, and reaps. Mortals who glimpse him describe a stillness that falls over the field, as though the air itself were already mourning. The chained graves that surround his throne are not trophies but ledgers, each skull a debt collected. To bargain with Azrael is to bargain with the closing of a door. The wisest do not flee him. They merely ask, politely, for one more day, and are most often refused.
Run Azrael in Sixty Seconds
- Solo boss Azrael wants legendary actions every round—three between turns. Save Reap for whoever is already bloodied; that triggers his advantage and temp-HP loop.
- Open with Sever the Thread (DC 17 Con, 36 necrotic) on the lowest-HP caster. If it kills, Reaper's Mark recharges and he immediately snowballs.
- Kill-priority the healer. Azrael's whole engine is turning kills into temp HP and advantage, so denying healing lets him grind the party down one mark at a time.
- When bloodied lean on Pall of Death and Toll the Bell—make the party fail saves and stay frightened so they can't gang up to burst him.
- Three ways to run it (1) lone reaper, all legendary pressure; (2) add the Mourner companion to tank for him; (3) drop him into a graveyard with skeleton adds so deaths feed his Reaper's Mark.
Azrael
Large celestial (angel), lawful neutral
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINEReaper's Mark. Signature. When Azrael reduces a creature to 0 hit points, or when a creature within 30 feet dies, Azrael gains 10 temporary hit points and his scythe sheds dim radiant light until the start of his next turn. The first attack he makes against a creature already below half its hit point maximum is made with advantage.
Magic Weapons. Azrael's weapon attacks are magical.
Angelic Resolve. Azrael has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Actions
Multiattack. Azrael makes two attacks: one with his Soul Scythe and one with his Reaping Staff. He can replace one attack with a use of Sever the Thread (recharge 5–6).
Soul Scythe. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) slashing damage plus 9 (2d8) necrotic damage.
Reaping Staff. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Sever the Thread (Recharge 5–6). Azrael lashes a strand of fate at one creature he can see within 60 feet. The target must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking 36 (8d8) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. If this damage reduces the target to 0 hit points, the target dies and Azrael recharges Reaper's Mark immediately.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Pall of Death (Reaction). When a creature Azrael can see within 30 feet rolls a successful saving throw against necrotic or radiant damage, Azrael can force it to reroll and use the lower result.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Reap. Azrael makes one Soul Scythe attack.
Deathward Step (Costs 1 Action). Azrael flies up to half his speed without provoking opportunity attacks. If he ends this movement within 5 feet of a creature below half its hit points, that creature has disadvantage on its next saving throw before the start of Azrael's next turn.
Toll the Bell (Costs 2 Actions). Each creature of Azrael's choice within 30 feet must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or take 13 (3d8) necrotic damage and be frightened of him until the end of its next turn.
A towering robed reaper crowned with a horned, skull-faced helm, his jagged wings flared like a black halo as he stands amid chained tombstones and heaped skulls, scythe and staff crossed before him.
Azrael, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEGrave Tether (signature). While within 30 feet of Azrael, the Azrael has advantage on saving throws and cannot be frightened. When it drops to 0 hit points within that range, Azrael may sacrifice 10 of his hit points to instead leave it at 1.
Actions
Chained Censer. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8 + 3) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
Reactions
Shroud the Fallen. When an ally within 10 feet takes radiant or necrotic damage, the Azrael can halve that damage, taking the reduced amount itself instead.
A veiled acolyte wreathed in chains and grave-smoke, it tends the tombs and bleeds its own life to keep its master's grim procession moving.
Guideline numbers — formula-tuned and read from the miniature's design, not yet table-proven. Tell us how it ran in the comments.
How It Fights — by Tier
Same creature, scaled threat. The traits never change; only the numbers move.
Open with Sever the Thread on the squishiest caster, then wade in and Multiattack the bloodied. Keep Pall of Death ready to deny a clutch save. Pair him with skeleton or zombie adds so the party must split attention while he reaps stragglers.
Lead with the scythe on anyone already below half (advantage via Reaper's Mark), feeding his temp HP loop. Fly between targets to spread Reaping Staff knockdowns. Kill-priority is the party's healer; once Azrael starts cashing kills he snowballs fast.
Run him solo as a boss: open with Sever the Thread, Multiattack the front-liner, then spend legendary actions on Reap and Toll the Bell to fear-lock the casters. Use Deathward Step to dive a low target and strip its save before finishing it. He thrives when the party is already wounded—pressure them to retreat into Pall of Death range.
Put Azrael on the table
Download the presupported STL and run the fight tonight — the model, and the encounter that comes with it.
Get the STL on MyMiniFactory →Clay Cyanide Companion Rules v1
How a bound creature acts
- A companion acts on its owner's initiative, immediately after the owner.
- It uses the Companion block above — roughly ×0.6 HP and damage, no recharge abilities, and at most one reaction trait.
- It moves freely; it takes its Action only while its owner is conscious.
- At 0 HP a companion is broken, not dead — restored on a long rest unless your table rules otherwise.
Original Clay Cyanide material © Clay Cyanide LLC — explicitly not the non-SRD official sidekick rules.
Questions, Asked at the Table
What CR is Azrael?
Natively CR 11 (Tier 3, 11th–15th level) as a solo-capable boss with legendary actions. Use the Tier 1 (CR ~2) or Tier 2 (CR ~6) lines on the sheet to scale him down for lower-level parties without changing his traits.
Can Azrael be a companion or ally?
He is built as an adversary boss, but as the impartial Angel of Death he makes a striking patron or temporary ally—he'll fight beside heroes only when a death is owed to him too. If you want a follower at the table, use the bound Mourner companion instead.
How do I keep his death-snowball from getting out of hand?
Reaper's Mark and Sever the Thread reward Azrael for picking off the wounded, so give the party a clear way to disengage or stabilize allies. Spreading damage and avoiding leaving anyone below half near him blunts both his advantage and his temp-HP loop.
Tell Us How It Ran
This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 ("SRD 5.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.
Clay Cyanide Miniatures is not affiliated with, endorsed, sponsored, or specifically approved by Wizards of the Coast LLC. This content is compatible with the fifth edition of the world's most popular fantasy roleplaying game. Companion rules, lore, names, and original mechanics © Clay Cyanide LLC.
Technical Specifications
32mm, 75mm
STL, Pre-supported STL
Standard or ABS-like resin, 0.05mm layer height
Yes — ready to print, optimized supports included
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