Longma
Longma — The Encounter
Winged dragon-horse of the Yellow River, herald of sages · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Longma
The longma is no beast of burden but an omen made flesh, a dragon-horse said to rise from the Yellow River when a just and learned ruler walks the land. Sages of old wrote that it carried upon its flanks the spiral diagrams from which the first scholars read the order of heaven, and that its hoofprints never marred the soil they touched. It runs upon water without sinking and across open air as though it were a paved road, breathing not destruction but a cleansing fire that burns curses from the cursed and leaves the worthy unscorched. Those who hunt it find only mist; those who serve heaven find it waiting, saddled and patient. To ride a longma is to be measured. It suffers tyrants to fall from its back and bears the humble across rivers no boat could cross. Where it gallops, fear loosens its grip, and frightened soldiers stand a little straighter for having glimpsed it pass.
Run Longma in Sixty Seconds
- Hold the high ground The longma wants the air. Start it flying and open with Cleansing Breath (7d8 fire, DC 15 Dex) on the most clustered cluster of PCs, then stay 80 ft. up between dives.
- Open with the cone, then dive After breathing, swoop in, Bite the front-liner and Hooves the nearest caster to knock them prone, then Dash away as a bonus action so nobody pins it.
- Kill-priority It targets whoever can ground or root it (casters with hold/web/grease) and the lowest-HP PC it can trample prone for the party to gang up on.
- When bloodied Auspicious Presence flips from anti-fear to an attack-advantage buff for nearby allies, so keep minions hugging the longma and let them swing with the edge.
- Three ways to run it A noble mount that only fights to defend a rider; a roaming omen-beast that tests the party's worth before aiding them; or a flagship dragon's airborne escort that screens and tramples while the boss does the killing.
Longma
Large dragon, lawful good
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINETireless Galloper. The longma can Dash as a bonus action, and difficult terrain costs it no extra movement. It can run across water, mist, or open sky as though it were solid ground.
Auspicious Presence. Allies within 15 feet of the longma have advantage on saving throws against being frightened. When the longma is reduced to half its hit points or fewer, this aura instead grants those allies advantage on the next attack roll they make before the start of the longma's next turn.
Actions
Multiattack. The longma makes one Bite attack and one Hooves attack, or it uses Cleansing Breath if available.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8+4) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) fire damage.
Hooves. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d10+4) bludgeoning damage, and a target that is Large or smaller must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Cleansing Breath (Recharge 5-6). The longma exhales radiant fire in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 31 (7d8) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. The fire ignores resistance to fire and sears away one ongoing curse, disease, or poison effect on any creature it does not harm.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Sky-Surge. When a creature the longma can see ends its turn within 20 feet, the longma can move up to half its flying speed without provoking opportunity attacks. If it ends adjacent to that creature, it makes one Hooves attack.
A scale-plated steed the size of a warhorse, crowned with a horned dragon's head and unfurling a span of leathery wings, the longma steps from the river-mist as if the water itself had set hoof to stone.
Longma, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEHeaven-Road Stride (signature). While you ride the longma, it can move across water, mist, and open sky as solid ground, and it ignores difficult terrain. Once per turn it may Dash as a bonus action.
Actions
Hooves. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) bludgeoning damage, and a Large or smaller target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength save or fall prone.
Reactions
Wardenof the Just. When an ally within 10 feet fails a save against being frightened, the longma's auspicious presence lets them reroll; they must use the new result.
It answers a rider of true heart, lowering its horned head so the worthy may mount, and carries them over flood and chasm alike.
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 Cleansing Breath on a clustered party, then dive and trample the weakest melee fighter prone with Hooves. Use Tireless Galloper to stay mobile and out of reach of slow PCs. Pair it as a mounted herald alongside a tougher dragon or warlord rather than fighting alone.
Lead with a flyover Cleansing Breath to soften a grouped party, then land beside the squishiest caster and knock them prone with Hooves so allies pile on. Kill-priority: enemy controllers who could ground it. When bloodied, its aura flips to buff allied attacks, so keep minions close. Best run as a flagship boss's mount or with a pack of dragonblood minions.
Stay airborne and use Sky-Surge to punish ranged PCs who think they're safe, opening fights with Cleansing Breath on the tightest cluster. Trample isolated PCs prone, then breathe again on recharge. It is an add-on, not a solo: pair it with a bigger draconic threat or a lair full of dragonblood knights so its mobility aura and trample buy the boss tempo.
Put Longma 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 Longma?
Its native build is CR 6 (Tier 2, levels 5-10): AC 16, 127 HP, +7 to hit, save DC 15. Scale it down to roughly CR 2 for Tier 1 or up to about CR 11 for Tier 3 using the tier table; the traits and actions stay identical and only the numbers move.
Can Longma be a companion or ally?
Yes. The companion block 'Longma, Bound' (AC 16, 76 HP) makes it a noble flying mount: it carries a worthy rider over water, mist, and open sky, Dashes as a bonus action, tramples foes prone, and shields nearby allies from fear. It bonds only with a rider of true heart and will throw a tyrant from its back.
Is Longma a good solo boss?
No. It has no legendary actions, so a four-PC party will out-act it. Run it as an add-on: the airborne mount or escort of a larger dragon, or alongside dragonblood minions whose attacks its bloodied aura buffs. Its strength is mobility and battlefield control, not soaking a whole party's turns alone.
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 Longma 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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