Thornshadow
thorn-staff shade-fae who snares prey in living briar
Thornshadow — The Encounter
thorn-staff shade-fae who snares prey in living briar · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Thornshadow
Thornshadow holds the chokepoints for the flight of the Ahlir Faiser, the forest fae who turn their own wood into a snare. Where it plants its thorn-staff, the ground answers with briar that knows friend from foe, dragging trespassers to a halt while the masked casters circle. Those who blunder into a grove and feel the earth tighten around their ankles seldom feel anything else for long. Thornshadow is no warlord, only the warband's gatekeeper, but a flight that fields it chooses exactly where the killing happens.
Run Thornshadow in Sixty Seconds
- Hold the lane then plant Living Briar on the path the party must cross.
- Pin the flanker then save Ensnaring Roots for whoever tries to reach the casters.
- Jab from reach then keep Thorn-Staff at 10 ft. to stay out of melee.
- When bloodied then Retreating Bramble into cover and reset your briar zone.
Thornshadow
Medium fey, neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINELiving Briar (signature). A 10-foot radius around Thornshadow is difficult terrain of grasping thorns. A creature that enters it for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there takes 4 (1d8) piercing damage. Thornshadow and its Ahlir Faiser allies ignore this terrain.
Shade-Cloaked. While in dim light or darkness, Thornshadow has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks and can take the Hide action as a bonus action.
Actions
Multiattack. Thornshadow makes two Thorn-Staff attacks.
Thorn-Staff. Melee Spell Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8+3) piercing damage.
Ensnaring Roots (Recharge 5-6). Thornshadow lashes roots at a creature it can see within 60 ft. The target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength save or be restrained until the end of its next turn; while restrained it takes 7 (2d6) piercing damage at the start of each of its turns.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Retreating Bramble (Bonus). Thornshadow takes the Hide action; if in dim light it may also move 5 ft. without provoking opportunity attacks.
A masked fae who raises living briar wherever it stands and roots intruders for the warband to dismantle.
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.
Plant Thornshadow on a chokepoint so its Living Briar punishes anyone who crosses, and jab with reach. Save Ensnaring Roots for the foe trying to reach the back-line fae. It controls ground, it does not brawl.
Open by anchoring a lane the party must cross, soaking them in briar damage, then lash at 10 ft. Use Ensnaring Roots to pin the foe most eager to flank the casters. When bloodied, Retreating Bramble into cover and reset the briar; Thornshadow shapes the battlefield for the flight and never duels alone.
Same zoning loop at deadlier numbers: plant briar, jab, root, hide, repeat. Pair with two or more strikers who slaughter the restrained targets it pins. It is a controller elite, not a boss.
Put Thornshadow 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 Thornshadow?
Thornshadow is CR 6 at its native Tier 2 (about 104 HP, +5 to hit, DC 14). Use the tier table to scale to CR 2 or CR 11.
How does Thornshadow fight alongside the rest of the Ahlir Faiser?
It is the flight's zone-controller. Thornshadow raises briar to dictate the lanes, roots flankers in place, and lets the melee and caster fae kill the trapped target.
Can Thornshadow anchor an encounter solo?
No. It is a control elite with no legendary actions. Field it with other Ahlir Faiser who exploit the foes it pins.
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.
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