Zeeba
spiked-club water-stalker who rides the dead beast
Zeeba — The Encounter
spiked-club water-stalker who rides the dead beast · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Zeeba
Zeeba is the patient one, the gator who lies in the murk so long the herons forget he is there. The warband uses him as its trap: he submerges at a crossing while the rest of the Gator Tribe drives prey toward the water, and when the quarry wades in he rises with the long spiked club and the closing jaws. He took the skull that crowns his weapon from a marsh-beast far larger than himself, and wears it as proof that the swamp belongs to whoever is willing to wait beneath it. He kills quietly, then drags the body down so the bog can keep it.
Run Zeeba in Sixty Seconds
- Kill priority then have Zeeba ambush whoever the pack drives toward water; surprise gives him advantage.
- Open with a submerged surprise strike, then bite to grapple.
- While grappling use Drag Under to haul the victim into deep water and start the drowning clock.
- Run him as the warband's submerged trap, never a lone boss.
Zeeba
Medium humanoid (reptilian), chaotic neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEHold Breath. Zeeba can hold his breath for 15 minutes.
Ambusher. Zeeba has advantage on attack rolls against any creature he has surprised, and on Stealth checks made while submerged in water or marsh.
Actions
Multiattack. Zeeba makes two attacks: one with his spiked club and one with his bite.
Spiked Club. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8+4) bludgeoning damage plus 3 (1d6) piercing damage.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 15) if it is Medium or smaller.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Drag Under (Bonus Action). If Zeeba has a creature grappled and is in water, he can move up to his swim speed, pulling the grappled creature with him; the target must hold its breath or begin drowning.
A submerged stalker who erupts from the shallows dragging a great spiked club crowned with a beast's skull.
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.
Use Zeeba as a lone ambusher beside weaker kin. He hides submerged, surprises a lone target, bites to grapple and drags it under. Fights as a warband, never solo.
Lie submerged while the pack herds prey to the water's edge. Surprise-strike with advantage, bite to grapple, then Drag Under to drown the catch. He is the warband's trap, never a solo boss.
Run him as the submerged jaw of a full gator flight. He picks off whoever the pack drives into the shallows, grappling and drowning them. He hunts with the warband, never alone.
Put Zeeba 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 Zeeba?
CR 6 (2,300 XP) at his native Tier 2. Scale to ~CR 2 for Tier 1 or ~CR 11 for Tier 3 using the tier table.
How does Zeeba fight alongside the rest of the Gator Tribe?
He is the submerged trap. While the pack herds prey toward the water, Zeeba erupts to grapple and drown isolated targets. He is an ambush rank-and-file killer, not a solo boss.
What does Drag Under do?
If Zeeba is in water and has a creature grappled, he can swim away pulling it along; the victim must hold its breath or start drowning, turning the marsh itself into a weapon.
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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