Gabriel
Gabriel — The Encounter
Winged herald who raises the banner and the blade · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Gabriel
Gabriel comes not as a slayer but as an announcer, and that is what makes him terrible. Where his banner rises, the wavering hold their ground and the broken refuse to fall; whole companies have rallied around a single beat of his wings. He keeps to high places before a battle, surveying the field with eyes that read intention as plainly as movement, then descends in one long radiant glide to mark the moment a war turns. The longsword is mercy more than malice, a clean stroke offered to those past saving, but the standard is his true weapon, sweeping low to scour the wicked with kindled light. Mortals who have stood near him speak less of fear than of an unbearable clarity, as though every excuse they carried had been quietly set down. He answers prayers spoken honestly and ignores those spoken to flatter him, and he never lingers once his message is delivered to the field.
Run Gabriel in Sixty Seconds
- The banner is the threat, not the blade. Raised Standard hands every nearby ally fear-immunity and a free save from death; the party should make killing or grappling Gabriel their priority before they grind down his backup.
- Open from the air. Lead with the banner-spear's 10-ft. reach to knock a key target prone, then sword that prone target on the same turn for advantage.
- When enemies cluster, Lower the Banner. The 15-ft. radiant burst punishes bunching, but remind yourself it drops the protective aura until his next turn, so weigh damage against the buff.
- When bloodied, go aggressive. Lean on Lower the Banner each round and use Heralded Step to harass the party's striker, trading the aura for tempo.
- Three ways to run him: rally-anchor (stay back, keep the standard up, let allies fight), skirmishing herald (fly in, prone-and-sword one target, fly out), or radiant battering ram (dive a cluster, burst, repeat) when bloodied.
Gabriel
Medium celestial (angel), lawful good
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEAngelic Weapons. Gabriel's weapon attacks are magical. When he hits with any weapon, the weapon deals an extra 2d8 radiant damage (included below).
Magic Resistance. Gabriel has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Raised Standard. Signature. While Gabriel holds his banner aloft, every friendly creature within 30 ft. of him has advantage on saving throws against being frightened, and the first time each such creature is reduced to 0 hit points it instead drops to 1 hit point. This benefit ends until the start of his next turn if he uses the Lower the Banner bonus action.
Actions
Multiattack. Gabriel makes two attacks: one with his longsword and one with his banner-spear.
Longsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d8+4 plus 2d8 radiant) slashing and radiant damage.
Banner-Spear. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (1d8+4 plus 2d8 radiant) piercing and radiant damage, and a target of size Large or smaller must succeed on a DC 15 Strength save or be knocked prone.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Lower the Banner (Bonus Action). Gabriel sweeps the standard in a radiant arc. Each enemy within 15 ft. of him must make a DC 15 Constitution save, taking 13 (3d8) radiant damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. Using this ends Raised Standard until the start of his next turn.
Heralded Step (Reaction). When a creature Gabriel can see within 30 ft. is hit by an attack, he can fly up to his speed toward that creature without provoking opportunity attacks; if he ends adjacent to the attacker, that attacker has disadvantage on its next attack before the end of its turn.
A bare-chested angelic warrior cast in pale resin, wings flared wide as he plants on a wind-scoured crag, longsword reversed in one fist and a fluttering war-banner raised high in the other.
Gabriel, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEBanner-Bearer (signature). While Gabriel carries the lesser standard, allies within 20 ft. of it gain a +1 bonus to saving throws against being charmed or frightened.
Actions
Radiant Glaive. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (1d10+3 plus 1d8 radiant) slashing and radiant damage.
Reactions
Interpose. When an ally within 5 ft. is hit by an attack, Gabriel takes half the damage in their place and plants the standard, granting that ally advantage on its next save.
A junior herald who shadows Gabriel into the field, more shield than spear, keeping the colors flying when the archangel must move.
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 from the air with the banner-spear to knock a front-liner prone, then sword the same target while it is down. If foes cluster, Lower the Banner before they spread out. Pair Gabriel with a bigger celestial or a cleader figure; he is the morale piece, not the kill.
Stay aloft and keep Raised Standard up so allies shrug off fear and survive one killing blow. Open on the squishiest caster with the prone-pushing spear, then Multiattack. When three or more enemies bunch, drop in and use Lower the Banner. Kill-priority for the party: break the standard's aura by forcing him to choose damage over defense.
Lead a flight of lesser angels: keep the banner raised so the whole host plays up a tier, and reserve Heralded Step to body-block the party's hardest hitter. Open with the spear, Multiattack the marked target, and only Lower the Banner when the radiant burst clearly outvalues the aura. Pairs best beneath a solo celestial boss as the force-multiplier.
Put Gabriel 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 Gabriel?
Natively CR 6 (Tier 2, ~2,300 XP) as a winged celestial herald built for levels 5-10. The card also gives drop-in CR 2 and CR 11 versions so you can field him from levels 1 through 15 without rebuilding the block.
Can Gabriel be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a lawful good angel he makes a natural party patron or NPC ally, and his Raised Standard aura is a strong support tool. If you want a smaller helper, use the bundled companion Lumen, Bound (AC 15, 68 HP), a junior banner-bearer who shields and rallies rather than strikes.
Does the banner aura help my players or work against them?
It works for whichever side Gabriel fights on. As an enemy, the standard keeps his allies from breaking, so smart parties target him first. As an ally, the same aura protects your players from fear and from their first killing blow each fight.
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
Played Gabriel at your table? Log in with your Obsidian Tavern account to leave a balance note, a war story, or a file issue — the sharpest reports get the block revised.
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