Gilthorin
winged blade-lord of the Visarian court, sword raised in challenge
Gilthorin — The Encounter
winged blade-lord of the Visarian court, sword raised in challenge · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Gilthorin
Gilthorin keeps the old Visarian duelling rites, when wings still meant rank and a raised blade meant a name worth taking. He flies the vanguard of the noble warband, marking the proudest enemy champion and stooping upon them so the rest of the court may watch the kill. Among the Visarian Nobles he is no warlord but a herald of violence, the first sword sent to open a battle in the grand style. His decadent peers wager rings and titles on how cleanly he strikes; he has never disappointed them, and grows crueller for the applause.
Run Gilthorin in Sixty Seconds
- Kill priority then ignore minions and dive the party's strongest melee or caster.
- Open with a dive then a 20-ft straight approach adds 2d8 to the first hit.
- When bloodied then Wing Surge out of reach and re-dive next turn rather than trade blows.
- Fly high then make grounded foes waste turns chasing or shooting at disadvantage.
Gilthorin
Medium humanoid (elf), lawful evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEDive Attack. If Gilthorin flies at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with the greatsword on the same turn, the attack deals an extra 9 (2d8) slashing damage.
Noble Bearing. Gilthorin has advantage on saving throws against being frightened, and allied Visarian Nobles within 10 feet share that advantage.
Actions
Multiattack. Gilthorin makes two greatsword attacks.
Greatsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) slashing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Wing Surge (Bonus Action). Gilthorin flies up to half his speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
He drops from the high vaults of the court with his greatsword overhead and a snarl on his pale lips, daring lesser folk to look up.
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 in, swing twice, retreat skyward on a bonus action. Stay airborne so melee parties can't pin him. He fights as a vanguard, never alone.
Open with a 20-ft dive onto the loudest enemy for the bonus 2d8, then Wing Surge away each round to dive again. Keep him paired with the warband's shield-bearers below.
Run him with the full Visarian flight: he and the other winged nobles take turns diving so someone is always falling on the party. Never have him solo; he is a skirmisher, not a boss.
Put Gilthorin 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 Gilthorin?
He is built as CR 6 at his native Tier 2 (AC 16, 120 HP). Scale him to Tier 1 (~CR 2) or Tier 3 (~CR 11) using the tier table.
How does Gilthorin fight alongside the rest of the Visarian Nobles?
He is the flight's opening duelist: he dives the proudest enemy while the grounded nobles lock the line, then loops back up for another stoop. Run him with allies, not solo.
Is Gilthorin a boss?
No. He is an aerial elite skirmisher (solo_capable=false). Use him as part of the noble warband, ideally beside the other winged members.
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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