Zervos
siege-maul breaker of the troll warband
Zervos — The Encounter
siege-maul breaker of the troll warband · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Zervos
Zervos is the War Trolls' wall-breaker, the one the warband points at gates and shield walls alike. The grimoires of the marches describe him as a battering ram that thinks: he loads his shoulders with a pack of spare iron heads and stone, and where he swings, mortar and bone alike turn to dust. The other trolls keep him at the center of the charge, for his maul opens the path they all pour through. He fights without cunning and without fear, because nothing he meets has ever stayed dead long enough to teach him caution. Only flame and acid hold the dust down.
Run Zervos in Sixty Seconds
- Fire or acid then his regeneration switches off — the only reliable kill.
- Don't cluster then Ground Slam can't flatten half the party at once.
- He's hit you then no reactions for you until your next turn — no Shield, no opportunity attack.
- Stay off walls and doors then Siege Strength can't double-tap your cover into rubble.
- Keep the trolls around him then he plays as a warband breacher, never a lone boss.
Zervos
Large giant (troll), chaotic evil
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINERegeneration. Zervos 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. Zervos dies only if it starts its turn with 0 hit points and doesn't regenerate.
Siege Strength. Zervos deals double damage to objects and structures. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by its maul is hurled 10 ft. away by the impact.
Concussive Blow. When Zervos hits a creature with its maul, that creature can't take reactions until the start of its next turn.
Actions
Multiattack. Zervos makes two maul attacks, or one maul attack and one Ground Slam.
War-Maul. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (3d8+6) bludgeoning damage.
Ground Slam. Zervos smashes the maul into the earth. Each creature within 10 ft. must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw, taking 17 (3d8+4) bludgeoning damage and falling prone on a failure, or half damage and remaining standing on a success.
A hulking troll drags a riveted siege-maul, its free hand reaching to seize the wall it means to break.
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 lone smasher fronting a troll mob. Zervos hammers the nearest defender and uses Ground Slam when two PCs cluster, knocking them flat for the rest of the warband.
He is the warband's breach-maker. Open gaps with Ground Slam, then maul the prone targets while the lighter trolls swarm in. Concussive Blow shuts down reaction-based defenders.
Run him as the warband's siege engine, not a solo. Lead with Ground Slam into a cluster, knock everyone prone, then alternate maul and slam. Keep him centered in the troll line; acid or fire is the only thing that stops the regeneration.
Put Zervos 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 Zervos?
Natively CR 11 (7,200 XP) at Tier 3. Use the tier table to drop him to CR 2 or CR 6 for lower-level groups.
How does Zervos fight alongside the rest of the War Trolls?
He is the warband's siege-maul. Zervos opens breaches in walls and formations with Ground Slam, knocking defenders prone so the rest of the trolls flood through the gap he makes.
Is Zervos a solo boss?
No. He has no legendary actions and is built as heavy rank-and-file. Run him at the heart of the War Trolls charge as their wall-breaker.
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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