Gene
armored great-white duelist fighting with paired cutlasses
Gene — The Encounter
armored great-white duelist fighting with paired cutlasses · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Gene
Where the rest of the reef-corsairs board with brute hunger, Gene boards with form. A great-white were-shark clad in salvaged plate, he learned the blade from a fencing-master he later ate, and he fights with a cutlass in each clawed hand, parrying and riposting before closing with his teeth. He takes a strange pride in clean kills and looks down on the crew's messier members, though he never refuses a share of the blood. Inchan sets Gene against armed officers and trained guards, the foes that would shrug off a wild bite, and trusts the duelist to cut them down with method while the pack handles the rest.
Run Gene in Sixty Seconds
- Pick a duel then lock onto the best-armed defender.
- Flurry of steel then Multiattack lands two cutlasses and a bite.
- Turn the blade then Parry adds 3 AC against one melee hit.
- Smell blood then Blood Frenzy gives advantage on the wounded.
- Free the pack then tie up the martial threat so the sharks swarm casters.
Gene
Medium monstrosity (shapechanger), chaotic evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEBlood Frenzy. Gene has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.
Twin-Blade Flurry. When Gene takes the Attack action with his cutlasses, he can make one additional Cutlass attack as part of that action (already included in Multiattack).
Amphibious. Gene can breathe air and water.
Actions
Multiattack. Gene makes two Cutlass attacks and one Bite attack.
Cutlass. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Parry. Gene adds 3 to his AC against one melee attack that would hit him. To do so, he must see the attacker and be wielding a cutlass.
Gene fights like a swordmaster who happens to be a shark, two cutlasses weaving a steel cage before the jaws snap shut.
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.
Single out the best-armed defender and trade blows, using Parry to weather their swings and Blood Frenzy once they bleed. Finish with the Bite. Pairs off against fighters while the pack handles the rest.
Lock down the party's martial threat: open with the cutlass flurry, Parry their counterattacks, and Bite when Blood Frenzy is online. He duels the dangerous foe so the other sharks can swarm the casters.
Fight as the warband's duelist: peel off and pin the toughest front-liner with relentless cutlass attacks and Parry, freeing the pack to flank. He excels one-on-one but still needs allies to win the field, never solo.
Put Gene 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 Gene?
He is a CR 6 (2,300 XP) Tier 2 elite at his native numbers, with Tier 1 (~CR 2) and Tier 3 (~CR 11) stat lines for scaling.
How does Gene fight alongside the rest of the Pirate Sharks?
He is the warband's duelist. Gene singles out the party's toughest martial fighter and ties them down with cutlass flurries and Parry, letting the rest of the sharks overwhelm the softer targets. He is a specialist, not a solo boss.
How often can Gene use Parry?
Once per round, as a reaction, while he can see the attacker and holds a cutlass. It adds 3 to his AC against that single melee attack.
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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