Draktharion
Draktharion — The Encounter
Lava-Blooded War Mount Forged Beneath the Burning Star · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Draktharion
The grimoires of the Heartstar creed name it Draktharion, hatched not from egg but from the cooling slag of a fallen burning star. Its blood never cooled; it runs as liquid fire beneath a hide of fused black scale, so that to wound the beast is to be scalded by its bleeding. Bred and broken to bear a rider, it is less a dragon than a living siege engine, dragged before the walls of doomed cities to gnash through gate and rampart while its lava-veins boil the moats. Where it treads the earth trembles, and lesser drakes scatter from its bellow. It does not hoard gold or riddle with thieves in the dark; it knows only the forward march, the taste of stone, and the heat of its own corrupted heart. Scholars who studied its molten ichor by candlelight write that it cannot die of age, only of cooling — and it has not yet begun to cool.
Run Draktharion in Sixty Seconds
- Wingless siege beast — no flight, burrow 20 ft. and tremorsense 60 ft.; it comes through walls and floors, not over them. Stage the fight where it can charge.
- Open big — first round, Bite the nearest melee, two Claws, then a legendary Cinder Breath into any cluster. Make them spread out immediately.
- Punish the swing — Molten Blood sprays 2d6 fire on every piercing/slashing hit it takes, and Searing Hide answers melee with a tail lash. Melee mobbing it is a damage trade, not a free pile-on.
- When bloodied — it does not retreat; keep it in the scrum so the molten-blood aura cooks the party, and dump both legendary actions on Tremor Stomp to lock down prone PCs.
- Three ways to run it — solo boss (Tier 3 as written), wall-breaker that opens a dungeon room mid-fight, or war mount with Malzyrath casting from behind. Kill-priority for the party is always the rider first.
Draktharion
Huge dragon, chaotic evil
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINEMolten Blood. When the dragon takes piercing or slashing damage, every creature within 5 feet of it must succeed on a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw or take 7 (2d6) fire damage as a spray of glowing ichor erupts from the wound.
Siege Beast. The dragon deals double damage to objects and structures, and ignores difficult terrain caused by rubble or rough ground.
Actions
Multiattack. The dragon makes one Bite attack and two Claw attacks.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 20 (3d8+7) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d8+7) slashing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Searing Hide (Reaction). When a creature within 5 feet hits the dragon with a melee attack, the dragon can lash with its tail. The attacker must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw, taking 11 (2d10) fire damage on a failure, or half as much on a success.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Lashing Tail. The dragon makes one Claw attack.
Tremor Stomp (Costs 2 Actions). The dragon slams the ground. Each creature within 15 feet must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or take 10 (3d6) bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone.
Cinder Breath (Costs 2 Actions). The dragon exhales embers in a 20-foot cone. Each creature there must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw, taking 18 (4d8) fire damage on a failure, or half as much on a success.
A wingless, mountain-shouldered war drake whose cracked black hide glows with the molten blood pulsing beneath, ridden into the breach by a flame-wreathed Emberborn champion.
Draktharion, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEDeath Staff (signature). Draktharion wields a flamecaster's staff. Once per turn when it deals fire damage to a creature, that creature cannot regain hit points until the end of its next turn.
Actions
Ember Bolt. Ranged Spell Attack: +7 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (4d6+3) fire damage.
Reactions
Warding Flame. When an ally within 30 feet is hit by an attack, Draktharion conjures a flame screen, reducing the damage by 10 (3d6).
A floating flamecaster of the creed who rides the war drake's wake, hurling embers and shielding the beast as it grinds through the line.
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 Bite on the closest melee fighter, then Claw whoever drew blood. If the party clusters, save Cinder Breath for a two-target spray. Pair it with a bigger threat or a pack of Emberborn warriors; at this tier it is a terrifying lone monster but should anchor a lair, not roam alone.
Wade into the front line and Multiattack the highest-AC tank to bait melee, letting Molten Blood and Searing Hide punish everyone adjacent. Use Tremor Stomp when three or more PCs bunch up. Run it alongside Malzyrath or a flamecaster who keeps it healthy while it grinds the front.
This is a true centerpiece boss: open by charging the casters, Bite the squishiest, and spend legendary actions on Cinder Breath and Tremor Stomp to keep the party scattered and prone. When bloodied, Molten Blood and Searing Hide make every hit on it a trade, so lean into the melee scrum. Kill-priority is the rider/flamecaster first; deny it the heals and it cools.
Put Draktharion 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 Draktharion?
Draktharion is built at CR 11 (7,200 XP), a Tier 3 (levels 11-15) centerpiece. Because it carries a real legendary kit — Tremor Stomp, Cinder Breath, Lashing Tail, plus the Searing Hide reaction — it is genuinely solo-capable and plays up a CR or two against a four-PC party. Scale it down with the Tier 1 and Tier 2 stat lines for lower-level tables.
Can Draktharion be a companion or ally?
As a Huge wingless war drake it is far too large and willful to be a player companion, but it works beautifully as a faction's living siege engine that the party must either fight or turn against its handlers. Its bound flamecaster, Malzyrath, is the support piece — give it to an allied NPC or use it as the secondary threat that keeps the beast standing.
Does Draktharion fly?
No. It has no wings — it is a ground-bound bruiser with a 40 ft. walking speed, a 20 ft. burrow speed, and tremorsense. Build encounters around it charging, smashing through structures, and erupting up through floors rather than strafing from above.
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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