Vladimir
horned warlord-patriarch who marshals the deathless line
Vladimir — The Encounter
horned warlord-patriarch who marshals the deathless line · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Vladimir
Eldest of the standing Methuselan war-council, Vladimir wears the layered plate of a man who has died his armor in a dozen sieges and walked out of all of them. He commands not by speeches but by the simple fact of his survival; the younger champions of the line dress his orders in their own blood. Flanked always by the warband's heaviest muscle, he fights to anchor the centre and let his deathless kin wheel around him. Folk of the old valleys speak of him as the grey banner under which the long-lived gather, and say that so long as Vladimir stands, the line does not break.
Run Vladimir in Sixty Seconds
- Anchor the centre then keep allies within 30 ft. so Warlord's Command and Hold the Line stay live.
- Open with the maul then prone the deadliest melee threat before it can swing.
- Hit, then point then his strike lets a chosen kinsman make a free attack on the same target.
- When an ally falls then drop them to 1 HP with Hold the Line instead of losing them.
Vladimir
Medium humanoid (human), lawful neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINECenturies of War. Vladimir has advantage on saving throws against being frightened, and he cannot be surprised while at least one ally is within 30 feet.
Warlord's Command (signature). When Vladimir hits with a melee attack, one ally he can see within 30 feet may use its reaction to make one weapon attack against the same target.
Actions
Multiattack. Vladimir makes two melee attacks.
Clawed Gauntlet. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6+4) slashing damage.
Spiked Maul. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8+4) bludgeoning damage, and a Large or smaller target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength save or fall prone.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Hold the Line (reaction). When an ally within 30 feet is reduced to 0 hit points, Vladimir lets that ally drop to 1 hit point instead (once per turn).
A horned, plate-clad patriarch who has buried every rival he ever raised a blade against, and means to bury a few more.
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.
Keep Vladimir front-and-centre and trigger Warlord's Command off his first hit so a second Methuselan piles on. Open with the maul to knock the biggest threat prone. Treat him as the anchor the rest of the warband rallies behind, never a lone duelist.
Wade into the thickest melee, prone a key foe with the maul, then spend Warlord's Command to chain an ally's attack into the opening. Hold the Line keeps a falling kinsman in the fight. Run him as the spine of the warband, surrounded by Methuselan blades.
Same kit, bigger numbers. Lead the deathless line as a wall: prone the enemy champion, chain attacks through Warlord's Command, and refuse to let allies drop. He fights as the heart of the formation, not out front alone.
Put Vladimir 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 Vladimir?
Vladimir is CR 6 at his native Tier 2 (2,300 XP). Scale his AC, HP, to-hit and save DC to the listed Tier 1 or Tier 3 bands to match your table.
How does Vladimir fight alongside the rest of the Methuselans?
He is the formation's anchor. Warlord's Command turns his hits into free attacks for nearby Methuselan champions, and Hold the Line keeps them standing, so he is strongest surrounded by the warband, never dueling alone.
Is Vladimir a solo boss?
No. He is an elite commander with no legendary actions; run him at the head of a Methuselan warband rather than as a lone fight.
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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