Drathorian
Drathorian — The Encounter
The Bastion of the Emberborn, hammer that holds the line · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Drathorian
Where the shock-troops of the Emberborn break lines, Drathorian is the line. Cast from a clutch bred to discipline rather than fury, he learned early that screaming hordes spend themselves against a wall that will not move. His maul is forged of blooded iron and the tower-shield on his back is dented with the memory of every charge it has turned aside. Veterans say he speaks only twice in a battle: once to give the order to brace, and once to count the dead. He fights with the patience of stone and the heat of his bloodline held in reserve, loosing fire only when the press grows too close to answer with the hammer. To his squad he is a fixed point in chaos; to those who break upon him, he is the last thing their nerve ever does.
Run Drathorian in Sixty Seconds
- He is a wall, not a chaser. Bastion Stance gives him disadvantage to be hit and buffs adjacent allies whenever he stays put, so he wants to plant and hold. Bait him into moving and the whole bubble collapses.
- Open by bracing in a chokepoint. Set him in a doorway, breach, or bridge with allies behind, and let the party come to the hammer.
- Kill-priority: usually him last. He is durable and his real value is the AC bubble and Hold the Line punishment, so smart parties peel his squad first or drag him off the anchor.
- When bloodied, lean on the breath. If melee is pressing close, prioritize Fire Breath on the tightest cluster (DC 15, 6d6) before resuming maul swings.
- Three ways to run him: a sturdy guardian add-on beside a flagship boss, the immovable centerpiece of a shield-wall encounter, or a duel-style bruiser who prone-locks the front-liner while archers plink.
Drathorian
Medium humanoid (dragonborn), lawful neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEBastion Stance. Signature. While Drathorian has not moved on his current turn, attack rolls against him are made with disadvantage, and any ally within 5 feet of him gains a +2 bonus to AC. He is an anchor, not a charger; reward players who lure him into chasing.
Draconic Resilience. Drathorian has advantage on saving throws against being frightened, and the first time each round he would be moved against his will, he may reduce that forced movement to 0 feet.
Actions
Multiattack. Drathorian makes two attacks with his Crushing Maul.
Crushing Maul. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d10 + 4) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Fire Breath (Recharge 5-6). Drathorian exhales fire in a 15-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Hold the Line (Reaction). When a creature Drathorian can see moves out of an ally's reach within 5 feet of him, Drathorian can make one Crushing Maul attack against that creature.
A broad-shouldered dragonborn in patched scale and a draped tabard plants a two-handed maul like a standard, a spiked tower-shield slung across his back. Orange scales catch the light as he settles into an immovable crouch.
Drathorian, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEShield Brother (signature). While Drathorian is within 5 feet of an ally, that ally gains a +1 bonus to AC and saving throws against being knocked prone.
Actions
Spiked Bash. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage, and the target's speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of its next turn.
Reactions
Interpose. When an ally within 5 feet is hit by an attack, Drathorian can take half of that attack's damage in their place.
A younger Emberborn drilled to never leave the wall, Drathorian shadows the bearer's blind side with shield raised and breath held.
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 by planting in a doorway or chokepoint so Bastion Stance turns the fight into a slog. If the party clusters to rush him, save Fire Breath for that cluster. Kill-priority should be him last unless they can pull him off the anchor; pair him with a few light skirmishers who use his +2 AC bubble.
Open braced behind allies; he holds ground while squadmates flank, punishing anyone who tries to slip past with Hold the Line. When clustered melee forms up, Fire Breath them, then resume hammering. Lure him into chasing to strip Bastion Stance, otherwise focus the softer attackers first; he shines beside a flagship caster or a beast that wants a wall to hide behind.
Run him as the linebreaker of a war-band, not alone; he wants minions to protect and a bigger threat to bracket him. Open holding a breach, prone-locking the first charger, and Fire Breath the moment two or more PCs bunch. Pair him with a flying or spellcasting boss so the party can't simply walk around the wall.
Put Drathorian 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 Drathorian?
Drathorian is built at CR 6 (2,300 XP) in his native Tier 2 form, tuned for a party of levels 5-10. The stat block also provides scaled Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) numbers so you can drop him into almost any campaign.
Can Drathorian be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a disciplined bastion he makes an excellent ally guardian or hired wall, and the bound companion Cinderward is provided for parties that want a shield-brother sidekick instead of an adversary.
Is Drathorian a solo boss?
No. He is an add-on anchor, not a centerpiece; he lacks the legendary action economy to fight a full party alone. Run him alongside minions to protect or pair him with a bigger flagship threat.
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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