Cain
sun-crowned first-marked sorcerer riding the great serpent
Cain — The Encounter
sun-crowned first-marked sorcerer riding the great serpent · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Cain
They name him Cain after the first to spill kindred blood, and the brand of that crime is said to glow upon his brow like a stolen sun. The Seeds of the Serpent are the scattered descendants of the cursed line, fallen warriors who took the old serpent's bargain in exchange for scaled hides and long years. Cain alone keeps the great wyrm coiled beneath him, feeding it the weak and the faithless. Where he plants his blade, the warband gathers; where he points, they kill. Grimoires warn that to face Cain is to face the whole brood at once, for the serpent watches through his marked eyes and answers his every whisper with venom.
Run Cain in Sixty Seconds
- He is the only solo boss here then every other Seed is a screen for him - kill the brood and he loses his shield.
- Serpent's Ward then near the wyrm he has advantage on magic saves, so peel him away from it.
- Mark of the First Slayer then any damage on the field feeds him 5 temp HP each turn - burst, don't chip.
- Legendary actions then expect a lash or a Cull between the party's turns; the serpent fights on his initiative.
- Serpent's Recoil then he teleports back to the wyrm when hit - hem in the serpent to trap him.
Cain
Medium humanoid (cultist), neutral evil
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINESerpent's Ward. Cain has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects while within 30 feet of his bound serpent.
Innate Spellcasting. Cain's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 16, +9 to hit). He can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components: at will - fire bolt, ray of frost; 3/day each - lightning bolt, fear; 1/day each - cone of cold, hold monster.
Mark of the First Slayer. The first time each turn a creature Cain can see takes damage, he gains 5 temporary hit points.
Actions
Multiattack. Cain makes two attacks with his Blighted Blade, or casts one spell and makes one Blighted Blade attack.
Blighted Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) slashing damage plus 9 (2d8) necrotic damage.
Withering Bolt. Ranged Spell Attack: +9 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 27 (6d8) necrotic damage, and the target can't regain hit points until the end of Cain's next turn.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Serpent's Recoil (Reaction). When Cain takes damage, he can teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space he can see beside his serpent.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Cantrip. Cain casts a cantrip.
Lash of the Serpent (Costs 2 Actions). The bound serpent strikes: one creature within 15 feet of Cain takes 14 (2d8 + 5) piercing damage and must succeed on a DC 16 Strength save or be knocked prone.
Cull the Weak (Costs 2 Actions). Cain points at a creature within 60 feet that is below half its hit points; it must make a DC 16 Constitution save, taking 18 (4d8) necrotic damage on a failure, or half as much on a success.
A sun-crowned sorcerer stands upon the coils of a great horned serpent, blade driven into the rubble of a ruined altar. He is the first marked of his bloodline, and the warband bows to his shadow.
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 at range with Withering Bolt on the strongest hero, then let the serpent's lash break their line. Keep the warband between Cain and the party; he is the head, the brood is the body.
Lead the brood from the serpent's coils, spending legendary actions to lash anyone who closes. Teleport beside the serpent whenever bloodied and let cultists screen for you.
Run him as the warband's brain: open with Withering Bolt, spend legendary actions on Lash and Cull the Weak, and recoil to the serpent each time he is struck. He fights flanked by his Seeds, never truly alone.
Put Cain 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 Cain?
Natively CR 11 (Tier 3, 7,200 XP). Scale him to CR 2 or CR 6 with the tier table for lower-level parties; he is the warband's one true boss.
How does Cain fight alongside the rest of the Seeds of the Serpent?
He is the head of the brood. The serpent-warriors screen and flank for him while he casts from the coils of the great wyrm, spending legendary actions to lash and cull anyone who breaks through.
Is the great serpent a separate stat block?
No - it is folded into Cain's kit as his legendary Lash and his recoil. Treat it as terrain and threat tied to him, not its own creature.
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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