Mareridt
gape-mawed flying predator of the Sons of Nightmare
Mareridt — The Encounter
gape-mawed flying predator of the Sons of Nightmare · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Mareridt
Mareridt is the snatcher of the Sons of Nightmare, the gape-mawed flyer the flock uses to pluck a hero out of formation and break the party's shape. Norse and Nordic dread-tales name the mare that rides the sleeper and drags them down into the dark; Mareridt does it bodily, hooking prey in its claws and beating skyward while the rest of the warband closes on those left behind. It is no thinker, only appetite with wings, but in a flock that appetite is a tactic: isolate, lift, and let the brutes finish the abandoned. Those it carries off are seldom found, and never whole.
Run Mareridt in Sixty Seconds
- Two claws can grab and fly then Snatch and Soar carries a Medium target 30 ft. up (escape DC 15).
- Bite adds necrotic then 11 piercing and 7 necrotic on top of two 13-slashing claws.
- It isolates targets then protect your casters; a snatched ally fights at disadvantage in the air.
- Fly-By dodges then it stays out of reach of opportunity attacks between dives.
- Knock it down then ranged hits or a grapple end the kidnapping and drop its captive safely-ish.
Mareridt
Large fiend (nightmare), chaotic evil
CR 7 · 2,900 XP · GUIDELINESnatch and Soar. If Mareridt hits a Medium or smaller creature with both claws, it may grapple the target (escape DC 15) and fly up to 30 feet carrying it; the captive has disadvantage on its attacks until it escapes (signature).
Nightmare-Born. Mareridt is immune to being frightened and to magic that would put it to sleep.
Actions
Multiattack. Mareridt makes two Claw attacks and one Bite.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) slashing damage.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Fly-By (Bonus Action). Mareridt flies up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
All wings and gaping teeth, it stoops on a single target, hooks them in both claws, and carries the screaming away.
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.
Dive on an isolated target, claw twice to grapple, and soar away to split them from the party. Drop them near your kin. Hunt the edges of the formation; do not brawl in the middle alone.
Pick the squishiest caster, land both claws for Snatch and Soar, and carry them off while Incubo and Hunllef pin the rest. Bite the captive mid-air, Fly-By to dodge ranged fire. Isolate for the warband.
Rip the party's key support out of the line each round, soar high, and let the flock collapse on those left. Be the Sons' kidnapper, not a stand-up fighter; never trade blows in the scrum solo.
Put Mareridt 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 Mareridt?
Mareridt is CR 7 (2,900 XP) at its native Tier 2, with Tier 1 and Tier 3 statlines provided for scaling.
How does Mareridt fight alongside the rest of the Sons of Nightmare?
It is the flock's snatcher: it lifts an isolated hero out of formation and carries them off so the brutes like Incubo and Hunllef can overwhelm the party that remains.
Is Mareridt a boss I can run solo?
No. It has no legendary kit and feeds on a broken formation; run it with the rest of the Sons so its kidnap tactics actually split the party.
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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