Goblin Bannerman
Goblin Bannerman — The Encounter
Standard-bearer whose totem turns cowards into a tide · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Goblin Bannerman
A goblin mob is a fragile thing: ferocious while it is winning, a stampede the instant it is not. The bannerman exists to delay that second moment. Chosen less for courage than for a loud throat and a steady grip, it hoists the warren's totem — a haft strung with looted chain, bone charms, and the burnished skull of some enemy worth bragging about — and screams the war-cant until the whole horde screams back. So long as the colors stay up, even the most craven cutter will hold the line one heartbeat longer than its instincts allow, and a single heartbeat is often the whole battle. Veteran adventurers learn the lesson the hard way and then never forget it: the goblin to kill first is rarely the biggest. It is the one waving the stick. Drop the banner and the tide that was about to drown you simply turns and runs.
Run Goblin Bannerman in Sixty Seconds
- Aura first — the whole point is Rally the Warren; every goblin near the banner hits harder and ignores fear.
- Open by planting the standard mid-pack and staying behind the line, jabbing with its 10-ft reach.
- Kill-priority (for the players): drop the bannerman early and the goblin morale collapses with it.
- When bloodied it backpedals with Nimble Escape to keep the colors flying from safety.
- Three ways to run it: the linchpin of a goblin warband, a captured totem the party must seize, or a morale anchor paired with a bigger boss.
Goblin Bannerman
Small humanoid (goblinoid), neutral evil
CR 1 · 200 XP · GUIDELINERally the Warren. Signature. While the bannerman is conscious and holding its standard aloft, friendly goblinoids within 30 feet that can see the banner have advantage on saving throws against being frightened and add 1d4 to their melee damage rolls.
Nimble Escape. The bannerman can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of its turns.
Actions
Multiattack. The bannerman makes two attacks with its spiked standard.
Spiked Standard. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8+1) piercing damage and the target must succeed on a DC 12 Strength save or be pushed 5 feet.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Wave the Colors. When a friendly goblinoid within 30 feet is reduced to 0 hit points, the bannerman can use its reaction to let that creature instead drop to 1 hit point. It can do this once per short rest.
A goblin half-hidden behind a towering standard — a chained, spiked totem topped with a polished skull-orb — jabbing the long haft like a spear while the rabble surges around it.
Goblin Bannerman, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEColor Guard (signature). While within 5 feet of the bannerman, Goblin Bannerman imposes disadvantage on the first attack made against the bannerman each round.
Actions
Scimitar. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6+3) slashing damage.
Reactions
Body Block. When the bannerman would be hit by an attack, Goblin Bannerman can swap places and take the hit instead if it is within 5 feet.
A stout goblin sworn to keep the standard upright even if every other goblin has already fled.
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 it behind the goblin front line so its Rally aura buffs the whole mob, then keep it alive. If the party clusters, jab with the reach standard and shove. Kill-priority for the PARTY is the bannerman — it pairs with any goblin pack to make them far deadlier.
Same role at scale: an anchor that hands a small army advantage on fear saves and bonus damage. Keep it ringed by minions. Pair it with a bigger threat; it is a force-multiplier, never a solo act.
Field it as the warlord's standard in a lair fight, propping up swarms of minions. Never run it alone — it has no real offense. Pair it with a flagship boss and let the aura do the work.
Put Goblin Bannerman 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 Goblin Bannerman?
Its native build is CR 1 (200 XP), a Tier 1 support unit. The sheet also lists Tier 2 and Tier 3 numbers so the same standard-bearer scales into higher-level goblin armies.
Can Goblin Bannerman be a companion or ally?
Yes — its Rally aura makes it a superb ally for any allied goblin or minion force, buffing morale and damage. It also comes with its own bound companion, Drub, the color guard.
Is it a solo boss?
No. It has almost no offense; its value is entirely the aura. Always run it inside a goblin pack or behind a heavier flagship threat, never on its own.
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.
Technical Specifications
32mm, 75mm
STL, Pre-supported STL
Standard or ABS-like resin, 0.05mm layer height
Yes — ready to print, optimized supports included
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