Sylphirax
horned reaver hewing with twin barbed blades
Sylphirax — The Encounter
horned reaver hewing with twin barbed blades · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Sylphirax
Sylphirax is a front-rank butcher of the Dreadblood Maulers, one of the twin-blade reavers that pick a single victim and refuse to let go. The Lesser Key describes such dead as the relentless slain, spirits whose whole remaining will is bent on the kill before them. It does not flank or feint; it wades in, locks both barbed blades on one defender, and tears until the body drops, then turns its dead-eyed attention to the next. The warband uses reavers like Sylphirax to grind down a line's strongest, trusting that single-minded savagery to break whatever the swarm cannot simply overwhelm.
Run Sylphirax in Sixty Seconds
- Lock on one target then land both barbed blades for Twin-Blade Rend.
- Kill-priority is your pick then it hews the chosen victim until they drop.
- When they flee then Press the Kill keeps it stuck to the same foe.
- It's a wall, not solo then keep it elbow to elbow with other reavers.
Sylphirax
Medium undead, chaotic evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINETwin-Blade Rend. If both of Sylphirax's blade attacks hit the same creature in one turn, that creature also takes 7 (2d6) slashing damage as the barbs tear free.
Undead Fortitude. If damage reduces Sylphirax 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. Sylphirax makes two barbed-blade attacks.
Barbed Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) slashing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Press the Kill (Bonus Action). Sylphirax moves up to 10 ft. toward a creature it damaged this turn without provoking opportunity attacks from that creature.
A horned, sinew-corded reaver that locks onto one foe and hews with both barbed blades until nothing is left to cut.
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.
Point Sylphirax at one target and keep it there; landing both blades adds the rend. Use Press the Kill to stick to a retreating PC. Keep it shoulder to shoulder with other reavers.
Open on the toughest melee defender and swing both blades into the same body for Twin-Blade Rend. When bloodied it gets single-minded: stay locked on its chosen victim and Press the Kill if they back off. Fights in the reaver wall, never alone.
Three ways to run it: a focus-fire butcher locked on the party's anchor, a wall reaver paired with kin, or a relentless chaser of one fleeing PC. Run it as a warband piece, never the boss.
Put Sylphirax 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 Sylphirax?
Sylphirax is CR 6 at its native Tier 2 (AC 16, 117 HP). Tier 1 (~CR 2) and Tier 3 (~CR 11) blocks are included to match your party.
How does Sylphirax fight alongside the rest of the Dreadblood Maulers?
It is a single-minded front-rank butcher, not a captain. Sylphirax locks onto one defender and hews until they fall while other reavers hold the line. Run it as part of the warband, never alone.
How do players blunt its focus?
Twin-Blade Rend needs both blades on one creature, so spreading its targets, peeling it off with forced movement, or screening its victim denies the bonus damage and slows its grind.
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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