Serpentarius
armored line-breaker with twin jagged glaives
Serpentarius — The Encounter
armored line-breaker with twin jagged glaives · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Serpentarius
Serpentarius is the armored anchor of the Dreadblood Maulers' battle line, one of the plated reavers that hold ground while the lighter killers swarm past. The Lesser Key tells of the slain who refuse to fall a second time, encased in stolen iron and given polearms to keep the living from ever closing. It does not chase; it plants itself, threatens everything within a long stride, and grinds down whoever tries to push through. The warband forms around reavers like Serpentarius, using them as the immovable wall against which fleeing villagers and rallying militia alike are broken.
Run Serpentarius in Sixty Seconds
- Plant the wall then threaten everything within 10 feet with the reach glaives.
- Punish the approach then Brace strikes anyone who steps into reach.
- When bloodied then dig in and hold so the swarm rolls past.
- It's an anchor, not solo then form the warband's line around it.
Serpentarius
Medium undead, chaotic evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEBristling Reach. Serpentarius's twin jagged glaives let it threaten foes within 10 ft.; opportunity attacks against it from beyond 5 ft. are made with disadvantage.
Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces Serpentarius to 0 hit points, it makes a Constitution save (DC 5 + the damage taken, radiant or a critical hit auto-fails). On a success, it drops to 1 hit point instead.
Actions
Multiattack. Serpentarius makes two glaive attacks.
Jagged Glaive. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6+5) slashing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Brace (Reaction). When a creature enters Serpentarius's reach, it can make one glaive attack against that creature.
A heavily plated reaver that anchors the swarm's wall, twin reach-glaives keeping the living at spear's length while they bleed.
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 Serpentarius in a chokepoint and let its 10-ft. reach punish anyone approaching. It should never advance past the line. Pair it with faster reavers that flow around it.
Open by bracing a doorway or breach; Brace lets it strike anyone who steps into reach. When bloodied it digs in rather than retreats, holding the wall so the swarm can roll past. Anchors the warband, never fights solo.
Three ways to run it: a gate-holder no one can squeeze past, a reach-wall pinning the party in a kill-zone, or a paired front with another armored reaver. It is the wall, never the boss.
Put Serpentarius 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 Serpentarius?
Serpentarius is CR 6 at its native Tier 2 (AC 17, 123 HP). Tier 1 (~CR 2) and Tier 3 (~CR 11) blocks are included to fit your party.
How does Serpentarius fight alongside the rest of the Dreadblood Maulers?
It is the warband's armored anchor, not a captain. Serpentarius holds chokepoints with its reach glaives while lighter reavers swarm past it. Run it as the immovable wall, never alone.
How do players get past its reach?
Approaching grants it a Brace attack and opportunity strikes within 10 ft., so use ranged attacks, forced movement, or flanking from a direction the swarm doesn't cover.
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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