Morlinion
lunging curved-blade assassin of the Visarian court
Morlinion — The Encounter
lunging curved-blade assassin of the Visarian court · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Morlinion
Not every Visarian is born to wings, and the court has always needed quieter hands. Morlinion is the knife behind the throne, the noble who slips along the flank while Gilthorin and Lauremirar make a spectacle of the front. His curved blade is forged for the single deep cut, and he is happiest when an ally has already drawn an enemy's attention so he can step in unseen. The decadent court pretends not to know what he does for them; the rivals who vanish before a feud can ripen know exactly what he is. He kills as a function of the warband, never alone if he can help it.
Run Morlinion in Sixty Seconds
- Kill priority then the most wounded or isolated caster the front line has already engaged.
- Open from a flank then Sudden Strike adds 4d8 when an ally is beside the target.
- When bloodied then Cunning Dash to break line of sight and reset.
- Stay hidden then let the showy nobles soak attention while he works the flanks.
Morlinion
Medium humanoid (elf), neutral evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINESudden Strike (signature). Once per turn, Morlinion deals an extra 18 (4d8) slashing damage to a creature he hits with the scimitar if he has advantage on the attack, or if another enemy of the target is within 5 feet of it.
Evasion. If Morlinion is subjected to an effect that allows a Dexterity save for half damage, he takes no damage on a success and half on a failure.
Actions
Multiattack. Morlinion makes two scimitar attacks.
Scimitar. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d6+4) slashing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Cunning Dash (Bonus Action). Morlinion takes the Dash or Disengage action.
Wingless and quiet among his preening kin, he lets the loud nobles draw the eye while his curved blade finds the spine.
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.
Stay behind a tougher noble, dart in when the target is flanked, land Sudden Strike, then Cunning Dash away. Let the loud members hold attention.
Wait until an allied noble is adjacent to a target, then strike for the 4d8 bonus and Disengage on the bonus action. He is the warband's flanker, not its anchor.
Run him as a roaming assassin within the warband: he picks off whoever the front-line nobles have engaged. He needs allies to set up Sudden Strike, so never solo him.
Put Morlinion 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 Morlinion?
He is built as CR 6 at his native Tier 2 (AC 16, 105 HP). Scale with the tier table for Tier 1 or Tier 3 parties.
How does Morlinion fight alongside the rest of the Visarian Nobles?
He is the court's assassin. The flashy nobles hold attention while he flanks engaged targets and lands Sudden Strike; he relies on allies to set up his big hit.
Is Morlinion a boss?
No. He is a wingless elite skirmisher (solo_capable=false) who works best as the flanking knife of the warband.
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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