Lovelace
beak-masked duelist and raven-herald of the Grim Flock
Lovelace — The Encounter
beak-masked duelist and raven-herald of the Grim Flock · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Lovelace
The Grim Flock take the carrion-bird as their sigil, and Lovelace is among their finest blades. Behind the long beaked mask of an old plague-doctor, none know the face; the warband swears Lovelace donned it the night the murder first gathered over a fever-struck city and never removed it since. Where the Flock descends on a road or a sickhouse, Lovelace darts at the edges, the overlong rapier reaching past shields to open throats, the buckler answering every counterstroke. It fights only as one feather of a wing, never alone, drawing strength from the cawing press of its kin. Survivors recall the red glint behind the beak and the dry rasp of laughter as the Flock lifts away.
Run Lovelace in Sixty Seconds
- Reach trumps the front line then remember the overlong rapier hits at 10 ft. and threatens 10 ft. on opportunity attacks.
- Never alone then keep an ally within 30 ft. so Flock Footwork adds 1d6 and grants bonus-action Disengage.
- Open at range then fire the flintlock first, but it costs an action to reload, so it is one shot then blade.
- Parry the big hit then spend Buckler Parry's reaction for +2 AC, and Disengage free if the attack misses.
- Kill-priority then send Lovelace at squishy backline targets, not the tank.
Lovelace
Medium humanoid (any race), neutral evil
CR 2 · 450 XP · GUIDELINEPlague-Mask Ward. Lovelace has advantage on saving throws against being poisoned and against disease, and treats the bladed end of its overlong rapier as having reach 10 ft. for the purpose of opportunity attacks.
Flock Footwork. Signature trait. While at least one ally of the Grim Flock is within 30 feet, Lovelace's melee attacks deal an extra 3 (1d6) piercing damage, and it can Disengage as a bonus action.
Actions
Multiattack. Lovelace makes two attacks: one with its overlong rapier and one with its flintlock pistol (if loaded), or two with its rapier.
Overlong Rapier. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage.
Flintlock Pistol. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 30/90 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d10 + 3) piercing damage. Reloading the pistol requires an action.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Buckler Parry. Reaction, when hit by a melee attack: Lovelace adds 2 to its AC against that attack, raising its ornate buckler. If this causes the attack to miss, Lovelace may Disengage as part of the same reaction.
A beaked, hooded figure springs from cover, an absurdly long rapier flashing overhead while a buckler turns aside the answering blow.
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.
Open from cover with the flintlock, then close so the 10-ft. rapier strikes past the party's front line at a soft target. Keep an ally within 30 ft. so Flock Footwork is live, and Disengage on the bonus action to flit between threats. Run Lovelace as a skirmisher in the warband, never as a lone duelist.
Same beak-and-blade dance, scaled up: pistol-open, reach-strike, Disengage, repeat. Buckler Parry shrugs off the first big melee hit, so let casters spend their reactions before committing. Lovelace harries flanks while the heavier Flock members anchor the center.
A blur of feather and steel that the party cannot pin down: it reaches past shields, parries the riposte, and is gone. Fight Lovelace as the cutting edge of a full flight, focusing whoever the warband marks. It is not a boss; if isolated it should flee back to its kin.
Put Lovelace 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 Lovelace?
Natively CR 2 (450 XP) as a Tier 1 skirmisher: AC 14, 52 HP, +5 to hit, save DC 13. Scale to the Tier 2 or Tier 3 lines for higher-level tables; the traits and actions stay identical, only the numbers move.
How does Lovelace fight alongside the rest of the Grim Flock?
As a darting duelist on the warband's edge. Flock Footwork only triggers with kin within 30 ft., so Lovelace stays close to the murder, reaches past their shields with its long rapier, and Disengages to the next soft target. Isolate it and it loses its bite and should retreat to the flight.
Is Lovelace meant to be a solo boss?
No. Lovelace is rank-and-file elite, not a champion, and is most dangerous as one blade among the Grim Flock. Run it in a pack; if cornered alone it should flee rather than make a heroic last stand.
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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