Goran
great-axe reaver of the troll warband
Goran — The Encounter
great-axe reaver of the troll warband · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Goran
Goran is the War Trolls' headsman, the one sent where the enemy stands thickest. He fights with a single enormous axe and the patient cruelty of a creature that knows wounds mean nothing to it. The keep-grimoires record him cleaving through a shield wall and simply walking back through the gap he made, his ribs already knitting shut. He does not feint or maneuver; he reaps. Alongside the warband he is the wedge that splits a formation so the lighter trolls can flood the breach. Steel only annoys him. Fire and acid are the only mercies the dead will find.
Run Goran in Sixty Seconds
- Bring fire or acid then his regeneration stays off and the axe-troll finally dies.
- Watch the kill-chain then a dropped PC lets Goran Reaping-Swing into the next victim.
- He gets worse hurt then below half HP every axe swing adds 2d6.
- Don't bunch up then Shoulder Ram can't bowl multiple PCs into the dirt.
- Keep him surrounded by trolls then he reads as a warband wedge, not a lone boss.
Goran
Large giant (troll), chaotic evil
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINERegeneration. Goran regains 15 hit points at the start of its turn. If it takes acid or fire damage, this trait doesn't function at the start of its next turn. Goran dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn't regenerate.
Reaping Swing. Goran's great-axe carries through. When he reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, he can immediately move up to 5 ft. and make one axe attack against a different creature within reach.
Bloodied Frenzy. While at or below half its hit points, Goran's axe attacks deal an extra 7 (2d6) slashing damage.
Actions
Multiattack. Goran makes two great-axe attacks.
Great-Axe. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 20 (3d8+6) slashing damage.
Shoulder Ram. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d6+6) bludgeoning damage, and a Large or smaller target must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be pushed 10 ft. and knocked prone.
A heavily armored troll hefts a broad two-handed war-axe, daring the line to hold.
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.
A single heavy hitter at the front of a small troll mob. Goran swings at whoever stands in the choke point and uses Shoulder Ram to knock a PC prone for the rest of the warband.
Goran is the warband's breacher. He hews the front-liner, and Reaping Swing lets him roll into the next target on a kill. Keep him shoulder-to-shoulder with other trolls so they share the regeneration pressure.
Run him as the warband's anvil-splitter, never alone. He dives the heaviest armor, ramps damage once Bloodied, and chains Reaping Swings through a clustered party. Acid or fire is the party's only off switch for his regeneration.
Put Goran 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 Goran?
Natively CR 11 (7,200 XP) at Tier 3. Drop him to CR 2 or CR 6 with the tier table to suit lower-level parties.
How does Goran fight alongside the rest of the War Trolls?
He is the breaching wedge. Goran cleaves into the densest part of the line so the rest of the warband can flood the gap he opens, and his Reaping Swing rewards the party for clumping up.
Can Goran be run as a solo boss?
No. He has no legendary actions or punishing reaction and is built as rank-and-file muscle. Field him with the warband as their front-line reaper.
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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