Pesadelo
blade-armed lunging slasher of the Sons of Nightmare
Pesadelo — The Encounter
blade-armed lunging slasher of the Sons of Nightmare · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Pesadelo
Pesadelo is the reaper of the Sons of Nightmare, the blade-armed slasher whose forearms have grown into hooked scythes of bone. Portuguese night-lore names the pesadelo that presses on the chest and will not lift; this son turns that weight into reach, lunging across a battlefield to harvest whoever stands at its edge. It fights in long, sweeping arcs, striking from ten feet and stepping away before a riposte can land, leaving wounds that keep bleeding after it has gone. The flock uses it to skirmish and to flank, peeling off targets from the line while the brutes hold the center. Where Pesadelo passes, the ground keeps its red mark long after.
Run Pesadelo in Sixty Seconds
- 10-ft. reach blades then it slashes past your front line into the casters behind.
- Reaping Lunge then after a 15-ft. move it crits on 19-20 and inflicts a 7 necrotic bleed (DC 14 Con).
- Two Bone-Blades then 14 slashing each from arm's length keeps its damage high.
- Quick Step escapes then it Dashes or Disengages as a bonus action after reaping.
- Pin it to stop the dance then grapples or difficult terrain deny the lunge that powers its crits.
Pesadelo
Medium fiend (nightmare), chaotic evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEReaping Lunge. When Pesadelo moves at least 15 feet in a straight line and hits with a Bone-Blade this turn, the strike scores a critical on a roll of 19-20 and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution save or bleed, taking 7 (2d6) necrotic damage at the start of its next turn (signature).
Nightmare-Born. Pesadelo is immune to being frightened and to magic that would put it to sleep.
Actions
Multiattack. Pesadelo makes two Bone-Blade attacks.
Bone-Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) slashing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Quick Step (Bonus Action). Pesadelo takes the Dash or Disengage action.
Both forearms ending in bone scythes, it whirls in on a lunging stride and reaps two arcs before stepping clear.
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.
Lunge in for a reaping crit on a flanked target, then Quick Step out of reach. Use the 10-ft. blades to strike past the front line. Skirmish for the warband; do not get pinned alone.
Dash 15 ft. and open with Reaping Lunge for an expanded crit range and a bleed, then sweep both blades and Quick Step clear. Reach past Hunllef's line to slash the casters behind. Flank with the flock.
Lunge across the field each round, stack bleeds on the back rank, and step away from retaliation. Be the warband's reaping skirmisher, hitting where the brutes pin; never stand toe-to-toe solo.
Put Pesadelo 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 Pesadelo?
Pesadelo is CR 6 (2,300 XP) at its native Tier 2, with Tier 1 and Tier 3 statlines included for scaling.
How does Pesadelo fight alongside the rest of the Sons of Nightmare?
It is the warband's reaping skirmisher, lunging past the brutes' front line to slash and bleed the back rank, then stepping clear while Hunllef and Incubo hold attention.
Is Pesadelo a boss I can run solo?
No. It has no legendary kit and depends on the flock to fix targets; run it as a hit-and-step flanker beside its kin.
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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