Spike
lean horn-finned were-shark scout who darts from the wreckage
Spike — The Encounter
lean horn-finned were-shark scout who darts from the wreckage · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Spike
Spike is the reef-corsairs' scout, a lean horn-finned were-shark who slips aboard before the rest of the warband and marks where the rich cargo and the soft sailors sleep. He fights like the predator he is: a sudden lunge from the dark, claws and teeth into the unready, then a fade back into the smoke before anyone can answer. Inchan sends him ahead of every raid to silence lookouts and panic the watch, so that by the time the main pack boards, the crew is already scattered and bleeding. Spike keeps to the edges of a fight, picking off stragglers and the wounded the others leave behind.
Run Spike in Sixty Seconds
- Strike first then Ambush Lunge adds advantage and 3d6 on round one.
- Hit and fade then Dart Away disengages or hides every turn.
- Smell blood then Blood Frenzy gives advantage on anything hurt.
- Hunt the soft then prioritize unready casters and stragglers.
- Stay loose then skirmish the flanks while the pack holds the center.
Spike
Medium monstrosity (shapechanger), chaotic evil
CR 5 · 1,800 XP · GUIDELINEBlood Frenzy. Spike has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that doesn't have all its hit points.
Ambush Lunge. On his first turn of combat, Spike has advantage on attack rolls against any creature that hasn't acted yet. If he hits such a creature with a Bite, the target takes an extra 10 (3d6) piercing damage.
Amphibious. Spike can breathe air and water.
Actions
Multiattack. Spike makes one Bite attack and one Claw attack.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d8 + 3) piercing damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8 + 3) slashing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Dart Away. As a bonus action, Spike can take the Disengage or Hide action.
Spike breaks from cover in a blur of fins and claws, hits the soft target before it can react, and vanishes back into the wreckage before the counterswing lands.
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.
Strike from hiding on round one for the Ambush Lunge bonus, hitting an unready caster or archer. Bite-and-claw, then Dart Away to break line of sight. Picks off stragglers for the pack, never stands and fights.
Open the ambush on the squishiest backliner with advantage and the bonus bite damage, then Disengage with Dart Away each turn. Hunt the wounded the bruisers leave. He skirmishes the flanks while the warband holds the center.
Fight as the warband's skirmisher: ambush the most exposed target, fade, and reappear to finish bloodied foes with Blood Frenzy. Stay mobile and never get pinned. He depends on the pack to occupy the front, never solo.
Put Spike 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 Spike?
He is a CR 5 (1,800 XP) Tier 2 skirmisher at his native numbers, with Tier 1 (~CR 2) and Tier 3 (~CR 11) stat lines included for scaling.
How does Spike fight alongside the rest of the Pirate Sharks?
He is the warband's scout and skirmisher. Spike strikes first from hiding, panics the watch, and picks off exposed casters and wounded stragglers while the main pack holds the line. He fades after every strike and relies on allies to occupy the front.
How often does Ambush Lunge apply?
Only on Spike's first turn of combat, against creatures that haven't yet acted, granting advantage and an extra 3d6 on a hit. After that he leans on Dart Away and Blood Frenzy.
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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