Ali-Baba
Ali-Baba — The Encounter
The Woodcutter Who Knew the Forty Thieves' Word · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Ali-Baba
In the bazaars they tell of a poor woodcutter who, hiding in the high rocks, overheard forty robbers utter a word that split a cliff like a curtain. When they had gone he spoke it himself: "Open, Sesame," and the stone drew back upon gold heaped to the ceiling, lamps, silks, and coined treasure beyond a sultan's dreaming. He carried away only what his beasts could bear, yet the thieves marked his theft, and what followed was a long duel of cunning, scalded oil, and a clever servant-girl's dance. So Ali-Baba is no warrior born but a survivor sharpened by greed and terror into something quick and deadly: he fights only to reach the door, the chest, the next shadow. Speak no secret words aloud where he might be listening, for he forgets nothing he has heard once, and the cleverest lock in the world means nothing to a man who knows its true name.
Run Ali-Baba in Sixty Seconds
- Hold his action until you can hit someone alone or from hiding — the advantage rider on the scimitar (+2d6) is his real damage, so always set up that first strike.
- Open from stealth on the back line: Multiattack the controller or healer, then Thief's Step (bonus action Disengage/Hide) so melee can't pin him.
- Kill-priority is squishies, never the front tank — he is a skirmisher who wins by outlasting and relocating, not by standing in the fight.
- When bloodied, speak Open Sesame to slam a sealed way shut between him and the party, then break line of sight and snipe with thrown daggers.
- Three ways to run him: (1) vault-guardian who opens and closes doors to split the party, (2) roof-running assassin diving on casters, (3) a lieutenant beside a roc or djinn who punishes anyone who turns their back.
Ali-Baba
Medium humanoid (human), chaotic good
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEOpen Sesame. Ali-Baba knows a single secret word of binding. As an action he may speak it at a barred door, locked chest, or magically sealed cache within 30 feet; the seal opens for him and for any creature he chooses. He may also speak it to close a way he has opened, trapping pursuers behind stone.
Treasure Sense. Ali-Baba has advantage on Intelligence (Investigation) checks to find hidden compartments, coin, and gemstones within 60 feet, and always knows the direction of the largest hoard he can sense.
Evasion. When 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. Ali-Baba makes two attacks: one with his scimitar and one with his hidden dagger, or two thrown daggers.
Scimitar. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6 + 4) slashing damage. If Ali-Baba had advantage on the attack, the target takes an extra 7 (2d6) damage.
Hidden Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Thief's Step (Bonus Action). Ali-Baba takes the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action. While obscured by treasure, smoke, or a crowd, he may Hide even while observed.
Slip the Blade (Reaction). When a creature he can see hits him with an attack, Ali-Baba adds 3 to his AC against that attack, potentially causing it to miss; on a miss he may immediately move 10 feet without provoking opportunity attacks.
Caught mid-leap from a treasure-mounded vault beneath a horseshoe arch, scimitar flashing overhead and a dagger riding his hip, a turbaned thief who learned the one word that opens any door.
Ali-Baba, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEDance of Daggers (signature). Once per turn, when Ali-Baba hits a creature that is within 5 feet of an ally, she deals an extra 10 (3d6) damage. She may move through enemy spaces as difficult terrain while dancing.
Actions
Hidden Dagger. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 4) piercing damage.
Reactions
Scalding Oil. When a hostile creature ends its turn within 10 feet of a jar she has prepared, Ali-Baba may hurl boiling oil: the target makes a DC 14 Dexterity save, taking 11 (2d10) fire damage on a failure, or half as much on a success.
The household girl who counted the thieves, marked their doors, and ended their schemes with oil and a dancer's blade.
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.
Open by speaking Open Sesame to break the party's line of escape or open the loot you're guarding, then stab and Thief's Step away each round. Keep him at the edge of the fight; if cornered he dies fast at this scale. Pair him with skeleton warriors or thieves so he can dart between their bodies and Hide.
Open from stealth on the squishiest target for advantage and the bonus scimitar dice, then Thief's Step out of reach. Kill-priority is the party's controller; he wants the back line, not the wall. Use Slip the Blade to shrug the one big hit per round, and pair him with a heavier flagship (a roc, a djinn, a one-eyed centaur) so he punishes anyone who ignores him.
Run him as the elusive lieutenant beside a true boss: he never trades blows, he opens vaults, springs traps with Open Sesame, and bleeds the casters. Lead with a stealthed advantage strike, then Thief's Step and Hide among lair clutter every turn. He is a slippery add-on, not a solo; let the bigger threat hold the room while he assassinates and escapes.
Put Ali-Baba 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 Ali-Baba?
His home stat block is CR 6 (2,300 XP), a Tier 2 skirmisher built for parties of 5th to 10th level. Tier 1 and Tier 3 variants are provided to drop him into a level 1-4 or 11-15 game with the same tricks and rescaled numbers.
Can Ali-Baba be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a chaotic-good folk hero he makes an excellent rogue ally or quest-giver — use his trait Open Sesame and Treasure Sense to unlock plot vaults, and bring Morgiana along as a second blade. As an adversary he is a thief and rival treasure-hunter, never a true villain.
Is Ali-Baba a solo boss?
No. He has no legendary actions and only one defensive reaction, so a full party will out-act him quickly. He shines as an add-on or lieutenant paired with a flagship threat such as a roc, djinn, or lamassu, darting in to strike and vanishing before he can be cornered.
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.
Technical Specifications
32mm, 75mm
STL, Pre-supported STL
Standard or ABS-like resin, 0.05mm layer height
Yes — ready to print, optimized supports included
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