Skarde
long-axe reaper of the frost-bound dead host
Skarde — The Encounter
long-axe reaper of the frost-bound dead host · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Skarde
Skarde holds the second rank of the White Runners, where his long axe rakes across the gap that faster blades like Torsten leave open. The dead do not need to draw breath, so his sweeps come without pause, hooking shields aside and pinning the living so the swifter runners can finish them. Skalds who survived the frost-host tell of a tall, lean shape that never quite reaches you yet never lets you flee, its blade always one stride longer than your own. Where Skarde walks, the snow is swept clean in a wide pale arc, and the slower dead crowd into the space he has opened.
Run Skarde in Sixty Seconds
- Kill priority then plant Skarde where his 10-foot reach covers the warband's advance lane.
- Open with reach then hit to strip a target's reactions before your runners pile in.
- If a foe flees then Hooking Sweep punishes them the instant they leave his reach.
- When bloodied then hold position and keep sweeping; never abandon the line to chase.
Skarde
Medium undead, lawful evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEReaping Reach. Skarde's long axe has 10-foot reach. When he hits a Large or smaller creature with it, that creature can't take reactions until the end of its next turn.
Pack Hunter. Skarde has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of his allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Actions
Multiattack. Skarde makes two Long Axe attacks.
Long Axe. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) slashing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Hooking Sweep (Reaction). When a creature Skarde can see moves out of his reach, he can make one Long Axe attack against it.
A reach of frost-pitted steel sweeps the snow ahead of the host, dragging the living into the pack's jaws.
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.
Run Skarde as a reach controller behind the front dead. Stand at 10 feet, deny reactions on a hit, and let the swift runners pile in. He never advances alone; he holds the lane the warband fights through.
Keep Skarde a stride behind the lead runners, sweeping foes that try to disengage with Hooking Sweep. Lock down anyone with a key reaction, then call packmates onto that pinned target for Pack Hunter advantage. When bloodied, hold the line and reach, do not chase.
In a full warband, Skarde is the anchor that pins fleeing prey for the flight. Park him on a chokepoint, sweep every disengage, and let faster dead reap what he holds. He fights as part of the host, never as a lone reaper.
Put Skarde 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 Skarde?
Skarde is CR 6 at his native Tier 2 (about 2,300 XP). Use the tier table to run him near CR 2 for Tier 1 or about CR 11 for Tier 3; his traits never change, only AC, HP, to-hit, DC, and damage scale.
How does Skarde fight alongside the rest of the White Runners?
He works the second rank, using his long axe to pin and disarm foes so swifter dead like Torsten and Leif can finish them. Pack Hunter rewards keeping allies adjacent to whatever he has hooked.
Is Skarde a boss?
No. He is a rank-and-file reach elite, not solo_capable. He shines as a controller in a warband and should never be run as a solo threat.
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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