Samori
great-axe headsman of the rhino-brute Battle Borta
Samori — The Encounter
great-axe headsman of the rhino-brute Battle Borta · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Samori
Samori swings the heaviest axe in the Battle Borta, and the warband points him wherever foes have clustered too tight. The rhinokin mercenaries prize his overhead arc for the way it ends two lives where lesser brutes manage one; when the press of bodies is densest, Samori wades in and clears it. He is no thinker—he leaves the head-taking to Sundiata and the rallying to Mwanga—but in the grind of a melee his cleaving swings keep the warband's momentum from stalling. Hire the Battle Borta and you hire Samori's reach: a single bad position by your enemy, and his axe takes a column at a stroke.
Run Samori in Sixty Seconds
- He's the reaper then send Samori where foes are packed tight to chain Cleaving Swing.
- Finish low, swing again then drop a wounded target so the free attack rolls into the next body.
- Smash the killable then spend Overhead Smash's -2 only when the extra 2d8 secures a kill.
- Let brutes herd then have Tutu and Shaka bunch the enemy so Samori's arc sweeps several at once.
Samori
Medium humanoid (rhinokin), neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINECleaving Swing. When Samori reduces a creature to 0 hit points with his Great Axe, he can immediately make one melee attack against another creature within reach.
Overhead Smash. Once per turn, when Samori hits with his Great Axe, he can choose to take a -2 penalty to the attack roll; if it still hits, the attack deals an extra 9 (2d8) slashing damage.
Actions
Multiattack. Samori makes two Great Axe attacks.
Great Axe. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8+5) slashing damage.
A broad rhino-brute hauling a great war-axe overhead in a two-handed killing arc.
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.
Hold Samori until enemies bunch up, then send him into the cluster so Cleaving Swing can carry a kill into a second foe. Keep softer brutes behind his reach.
Wade into the thickest knot and Multiattack; finish a low foe so Cleaving Swing rolls into the next body. Save Overhead Smash for a target you can drop outright, keeping the chain of kills—and the warband's momentum—alive.
Run Samori as the warband's reaper of massed foes, never solo. Have Tutu and Shaka pin the line into a tight cluster, then let Samori's cleaving arcs sweep it while Mwanga holds the center.
Put Samori 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 Samori?
Samori is CR 6 (2,300 XP) at his native Tier 2. Rescale AC, HP, to-hit, and DC from the tier table for Tier 1 or Tier 3.
How does Samori fight alongside the rest of the Battle Borta?
He is the warband's cleaver of massed foes—he wades into clusters the other brutes herd together and chains kills with Cleaving Swing, keeping the pack's momentum rolling.
Is Samori a solo boss?
No. He is rank-and-file muscle with no legendary actions; his cleaving payoff depends on packed enemies and supporting brutes. Field him within the warband.
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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