Canaan
crouching crossbow-venom marksman of the brood
Canaan — The Encounter
crouching crossbow-venom marksman of the brood · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Canaan
Canaan is a marksman of the Seeds of the Serpent, the cursed brood clad in the old wyrm's scales. While the heavier Seeds lock the line, Canaan crouches at range and threads venomed bolts past them into the soft targets behind - the healer, the mage, the one who would turn the fight. The grimoires say its patience is reptilian, that it will hold a bolt nocked for an hour to land it on the throat that matters. It marks prey for the brood and bleeds them before the teeth arrive. Take its sightline and you take its fangs; leave it free and it whittles the party from the back.
Run Canaan in Sixty Seconds
- It targets your back line then venomed bolts skip the tank for the healer - block sightlines or rush it.
- Steady Aim then if it stays put its first shot spikes hard - pressure it so it has to move and lose the bonus.
- Crippling Shot then on a recharge it halves your speed so the brood runs you down - don't get caught in the open.
- Scuttle Back then it kites free of melee each turn - bring ranged answers or cut off its escape lane.
- It is a screened sniper then the front Seeds protect it; break through or flank to reach the shooter.
Canaan
Medium humanoid (serpentfolk), neutral evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEVenom-Tipped Bolts. Canaan's crossbow bolts are coated in serpent venom; his ranged hits deal an extra 7 (2d6) poison damage (included below).
Steady Aim. If Canaan doesn't move on his turn, his first crossbow hit that turn deals an extra 9 (2d8) piercing damage.
Actions
Multiattack. Canaan makes two Heavy Crossbow attacks.
Heavy Crossbow. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, range 100/400 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) poison damage.
Crippling Shot (Recharge 5-6). Canaan fires at one creature within 100 feet. On a hit the target takes 16 (3d8 + 4) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) poison damage and must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution save or have its speed halved until the end of its next turn.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Scuttle Back (Bonus Action). Canaan moves up to half his speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
A crouched serpent-warrior sights down an ornate crossbow, venom glistening on the bolt. It picks off the brood's chosen prey from across the field.
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 Canaan at the rear behind the brood's wall and shoot the party's casters. Use Steady Aim when it can hold position; Scuttle Back when pressed. It marks and bleeds - the front Seeds do the holding.
Park it behind the line for Steady Aim bonus damage and rain venom on the back row. Crippling Shot a fleeing or charging hero to halve their speed so the brood catches them. Reposition with Scuttle Back, never melee.
Run it as the brood's sniper in a warband of Seeds, never alone. It cripples and poisons the party's key pieces while the front Seeds screen it; the threat is the whole brood firing and biting together.
Put Canaan 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 Canaan?
Natively CR 6 (Tier 2, 2,300 XP). Use the tier table to scale it to CR 2 or CR 11 for your party.
How does Canaan fight alongside the rest of the Seeds of the Serpent?
It is the brood's marksman, crouching behind the front Seeds and threading venomed bolts into the party's back line. It cripples and bleeds key targets so the warband can swarm and finish them.
Can Canaan stand alone?
No - it is a screened sniper that depends on the brood to wall off melee. Run it behind a warband of Seeds, not solo.
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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