Boar Musician
war-drummer whose beat drives the boar-host's charge
Boar Musician — The Encounter
war-drummer whose beat drives the boar-host's charge · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Boar Musician
The Musician carries no true weapon but the drum, and the drum is worth a dozen axes. Its cadence is the nervous system of the Army of Caledonian Boar; by beat alone it wheels a flank, calls the charge, and steadies troops who would otherwise break. Old boar-hosts say a warband dies the moment its drum goes silent, so the Musician marches deep in the ranks, ringed by Fighters and Defenders who understand that keeping the beat alive keeps them alive. Enemies who grasp this hunt the drummer first; enemies who do not learn why the boarfolk never seem to tire, never seem to fear, and always seem to arrive one heartbeat faster than they should.
Run Boar Musician in Sixty Seconds
- Free repositioning every turn War-Drum Cadence slides one ally 10 ft. with no opportunity attacks.
- The whole warband resists fear while it can hear the drum.
- Rallying Roll on recharge hands out 2d6 temp HP and a free attack to every ally in 30 ft.
- Quickening Beat as a bonus gives an ally +10 ft. speed to close the charge.
- Protect it or lose the buffs so it hides behind Defenders and only swings a beater if cornered.
Boar Musician
Medium humanoid (boarfolk), neutral
CR 2 · 450 XP · GUIDELINEWar-Drum Cadence. At the start of each of the Musician's turns, one allied boarfolk within 30 feet that can hear the drum may immediately move up to 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks.
Steadying Beat. Allied boarfolk within 30 feet that can hear the Musician have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Actions
Multiattack. The Musician makes one Drum-Beater attack and may use Rallying Roll (if available).
Drum-Beater. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage.
Rallying Roll (Recharge 5-6). The Musician beats a driving march. Each allied boarfolk within 30 feet that can hear it gains 7 (2d6) temporary hit points and may make one weapon attack as a reaction.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Quickening Beat (Bonus). One allied boarfolk within 30 feet may add 10 feet to its speed until the end of its next turn.
A boarfolk hunches over a rope-bound war drum, beaters raised, hammering the pulse the whole host marches and kills to.
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.
Keep it in the second rank behind bodies. Every turn its cadence shuffles an ally into position for free; save Rallying Roll for when the warband is bloodied to hand out temp HP and free attacks. It fights only if cornered.
The force multiplier of a boar warband. Ring it with Fighters and Defenders. Use Quickening Beat to speed the charge and Rallying Roll to reset a faltering line. Kill-priority for the party should be the drummer, so make them work through the bodyguard.
Run it as the conductor of the full host, buried in the ranks. Its beat keeps Berserkers and Barbarians arriving faster and unafraid. Never send it forward alone; without the warband around it, the drum is just a target.
Put Boar Musician 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 Boar Musician?
At its native Tier 1 it is CR 2 (450 XP). Scale the AC, HP, to-hit, and save DC to the Tier 2 or Tier 3 line to match a stronger warband.
How does Boar Musician fight alongside the rest of the Army of Caledonian Boar?
It is the warband's conductor. Its drum repositions allies, wards off fear, and grants free attacks and temp HP, so it stays buried in the ranks behind Defenders while the rest of the host does the killing.
Should the party target the Boar Musician first?
Yes, and the boar-host knows it. Silence the drum and the warband loses its free movement, fear immunity, and rally, but the Musician marches deep behind bodyguards, so reaching it is the real challenge.
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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