Sukula
open-armed flame-collared death-caster of the Death Reapers
Sukula — The Encounter
open-armed flame-collared death-caster of the Death Reapers · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Sukula
Sukula is the Death Reapers' caller, the conduit through which the warband's harvest is gathered and spent. It carries no scythe; its work is the binding word and the open hand that drinks a loosed soul before it can rise. World-lore of the soul-harvest tells of the callers of the dead, robed figures who stand at the heart of the muster and grow stronger with every death around them. Within the Flock, Sukula holds the rear, restraining the living with spectral hands so the reapers can do their cutting, and feeding on each soul they free. Those who have faced the warband say the caller never tires while its kin keep killing, and that its strength is the measure of how many have already fallen.
Run Sukula in Sixty Seconds
- Kill the caller first: Harvest-Caller heals it 2d8 every time anything dies near it, so a grind feeds it.
- Grasp of the Grave restrains a PC (DC 15 Wis) so the reapers can pile on; it recharges on a 5-6.
- Drain Touch lowers your max HP until a long rest, so don't let it touch you in melee.
- Undead Fortitude can save it at 1 HP; radiant damage or a crit denies it.
Sukula
Medium undead, lawful evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEHarvest-Caller. When a creature within 30 ft. of Sukula drops to 0 HP, Sukula regains 9 (2d8) HP as it draws in the loosed soul. It can benefit only once per turn.
Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces Sukula to 0 HP, it makes a Con save (DC 5 + the damage taken) unless the damage is radiant or from a critical hit; on a success it drops to 1 HP instead.
Actions
Multiattack. Sukula uses Drain Touch twice, or uses Drain Touch once and Withering Bolt once.
Drain Touch. Melee Spell Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6+4) necrotic damage, and the target's hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken until it finishes a long rest.
Withering Bolt. Ranged Spell Attack: +7 to hit, range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d8+3) necrotic damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Grasp of the Grave (Bonus Action, Recharge 5-6). Sukula points at a creature it can see within 30 ft.; that creature must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom save or be restrained by spectral hands until the end of Sukula's next turn.
An open-armed death-caster, shoulders wreathed in cold flame, that drinks the souls its warband frees and pins the living for the harvest.
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.
Run Sukula as a lone death-caster behind cover. It opens with Grasp of the Grave to pin a PC, then plinks with Withering Bolt. Rush it; it is brittle in melee if you reach it.
Fight as the Flock's caller from the rear: open with Grasp of the Grave (DC 15 Wis) to restrain the party's anchor so the reapers can cut, then Withering Bolt the support. Every ally it lets the warband kill heals it via Harvest-Caller. Protect it; it does not melee by choice.
Use Sukula as the heart of a full warband: it restrains heroes for the reapers and feeds on each death within 30 ft. Several callers can lock down the whole front line. It anchors the warband's magic, never duels alone.
Put Sukula 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 Sukula?
Native CR 6 (Tier 2). Use the tiers table to scale toward CR 2 or CR 11.
How does Sukula fight alongside the rest of the Death Reapers?
It is the warband's caller and conduit. It hangs back, restrains the living so the reapers can cut, and drinks each freed soul to heal. Its power grows with every death the Flock causes.
Why is it so hard to wear down?
Harvest-Caller heals it whenever a creature dies within 30 ft., so a slow fight near downed allies or its own kin actively restores it. Burst it down or pull it away from the dying.
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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