Atlantean Brute 03
Atlantean Brute 03 — The Encounter
Shark-jawed crab-warrior of the drowned deep · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Atlantean Brute 03
When the proud island-realm slid beneath the waves, not all its soldiers drowned cleanly. Some were claimed by the deep and remade in its image, their bones fused with the carapaces of the cold-water crabs that scuttled over their tombs. These are the Atlantean brutes: hulking sentinels who patrol the silted boulevards of the lost city, their shark-jaws snapping at any diver who trespasses upon the gold their masters never spent. The great claw is no weapon they earned but a thing grown over a lifetime of pressure and salt, a vise strong enough to fold a shield in half. They speak only the Primordial tongue of the sea, and only to repeat the last command they were given before the flood took them. They do not tire, they do not surface, and they do not forgive the living for breathing air.
Run Atlantean Brute 03 in Sixty Seconds
- Open with the claw Lead with Crushing Claw on the toughest melee PC to grapple them (escape DC 15), then glaive the same target with advantage every round after.
- Kill-priority is the grapple Tell players plainly: free the grabbed ally or the brute never stops hammering them. A successful escape check resets the fight.
- When bloodied The brute drags its captive toward deep water with Undertow Drag and fights to pull them under, where it has a swim speed and they don't.
- Three ways to run it Solo speed-bump that pins one hero; a pair flanking a chokepoint with the bound Reef-Snapper; or a squad of brutes guarding sunken treasure under a flagship boss.
- Don't forget Amphibious It breathes water, swims 40 ft., and resists cold. Underwater or in the surf it is far deadlier than on dry land, so fight it on its terms when you want a hard scene.
Atlantean Brute 03
Large monstrosity, neutral evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEAmphibious. The brute can breathe air and water equally well.
Vise Claw. The brute's oversized crab claw is a living manacle. When it hits a Large or smaller creature with its Crushing Claw, that target is grappled (escape DC 16). While grappling this way the brute cannot claw another creature, but it has advantage on glaive attacks against the grappled target.
Actions
Multiattack. The brute makes one Tidal Glaive attack and one Crushing Claw attack.
Tidal Glaive. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d10+5) slashing damage.
Crushing Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Undertow Drag. Reaction When a creature the brute is grappling tries to move away, the brute may pull it 10 ft. toward the nearest deep water or pit instead.
A barnacle-crusted hulk: a shark-faced warrior from the waist up, a monstrous armored crab below, dragging a glaive longer than a man down sunken streets.
Atlantean Brute 03, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEPack Shallows (signature). While within 5 ft. of an ally, Atlantean Brute 03 has advantage on attack rolls against any creature that is grappled or prone.
Actions
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) bludgeoning damage.
Reactions
Shell Up. Reaction When hit by an attack, Atlantean Brute 03 folds into its carapace, gaining +3 AC against that attack.
A lesser crab-thing that trails the brute like a hound, finishing whatever its master pins.
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 the Crushing Claw to grapple the squishiest melee threat, then glaive it where it stands. Pair it with a bigger threat or a pack of crab-things so the party can't simply gang the brute. Drag grappled prey toward water to split the formation.
Open by clawing the front-line tank into a grapple, then pin and glaive it with advantage. Kill-priority: free the grappled ally fast or the brute will not let go. Best run alongside ranged minions and a flagship boss while it locks down one PC.
Use it as a grapple-anchor in a larger drowned-city encounter, not as the centerpiece. Open on a caster, claw-grapple, and drag them away from the party with Undertow Drag toward a flooded pit. Pair it with a deeper threat or a lair so the action economy holds.
Put Atlantean Brute 03 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 Atlantean Brute 03?
Its home stat block is CR 6 (2,300 XP), a Tier 2 bruiser for a party of levels 5-10. Scaled versions for Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) are provided in the tier table; the traits and actions stay identical and only the numbers move.
Can Atlantean Brute 03 be a companion or ally?
Yes. Use the bound Reef-Snapper companion block (AC 15, 76 HP) for a player-side or allied crab-thing that finishes off grappled and prone foes. The full brute is built as an adversary, but a tamed or pacted one can join the party at the DM's discretion.
Is this creature good in underwater encounters?
Extremely. It is Amphibious, has a 40 ft. swim speed, resists cold, and its Undertow Drag reaction pulls grappled victims toward deep water where it holds every advantage. Stage it in flooded ruins or the surf to make it shine.
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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