Barbarian Lion-Man
Barbarian Lion-Man — The Encounter
Twin-Axe Maneslayer of the High Wilds · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Barbarian Lion-Man
In the grimoires of the mountain reaches he is named among the maned-folk, the beast-kin who walk upright and reckon strength the only law. Sages hold that such lion-men descend from no human stock but from the great cats of the snow line, given speech and rage by some old wilderness power. He keeps no walls and no king; his hall is the windswept crag, his throne a heap of cracked skulls. Hunters who cross his range tell of a roar that travels league upon league before the axes ever fall, of a thing that quickens rather than tires as the wounds open. He hoards no gold, only teeth and antler and the broken arms of those who challenged him. To the herders below he is a curse spoken at the hearth; to his own kind he is the proof that the wild was never tamed, only waiting, and that the oldest claim upon the heights is claw and fang.
Run Barbarian Lion-Man in Sixty Seconds
- Hold his rage until combat opens, then Blood Frenzy as a bonus action — the +2d6, the resistance, and Reckless together turn him from a brute into a wrecking ball.
- Open with a charge at least 20 feet straight in so Pounce knocks the target prone, then spend the bonus action on a bite while they're down.
- Kill-priority is the backline — his 40 ft. speed and Pounce exist to reach the caster or archer; hit the same target twice while raging to force the DC 15 stun.
- When bloodied, fire Bloodied Roar as a reaction to frighten the clustered melee, buying him a free round to chase a softer target.
- Three ways to run him: lone savage who Recklessly trades blows; pack-leader with his Snowmane Cub flanking and tripping; or the rage-engine front for a bigger boss who controls the field.
Barbarian Lion-Man
Medium humanoid (beastfolk), chaotic neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEBlood Frenzy (Recharges after a Short or Long Rest). As a bonus action, the lion-man flies into a roaring rage for 1 minute. While raging, his melee weapon attacks deal an extra 7 (2d6) damage, he has advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws, and he gains resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage. The rage ends early if he ends his turn without having attacked or been damaged since his last turn.
Pounce. If the lion-man moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a battleaxe attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the lion-man can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action.
Reckless. At the start of his turn, the lion-man can gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls during that turn, but attack rolls against him have advantage until the start of his next turn.
Actions
Multiattack. The lion-man makes two battleaxe attacks. If he is raging and both attacks hit the same creature, the target must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be stunned until the end of its next turn.
Battleaxe. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) slashing damage, or 15 (2d10+4) slashing damage if used in two hands when not dual-wielding.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8+4) piercing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Bloodied Roar (1/Day). When the lion-man is first reduced to half his hit points or fewer, he can use his reaction to loose a thunderous roar. Each creature of his choice within 30 feet that can hear him must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of him until the end of its next turn.
A towering leonine wildman, mane matted with snow and old blood, swinging a wide-bladed battleaxe in each fist while tusks jut from a snarling jaw. Bone trophies and frostbitten hides mark him as a chieftain of the high passes.
Barbarian Lion-Man, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEPack Fury (signature). While within 10 feet of the lion-man, the cub deals an extra 4 (1d8) damage with its bite against any creature the lion-man also hit this round.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength save or be knocked prone.
Reactions
Guard the Maneslayer. When a creature within 5 feet hits the lion-man with a melee attack, the cub can move up to its speed toward that creature and make a bite attack against it.
A great pale-furred cub that never strays from its lord's heel, half pet and half weapon, snapping at any who close the distance.
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 charging the squishiest target so Pounce lands them prone, then bite as a bonus action. Trigger Blood Frenzy early since low-tier parties can't burst him down before it pays off. Pair him with a wolf or goblin pack so the prone targets get swarmed.
Rage on turn one, then Pounce the caster or archer and dump both axes into them for the stun rider. Use Reckless freely while raging — the resistance covers the downside, and the doubled chance to hit feeds the same-target stun. Kill-priority is backline; let his Snowmane Cub and any minions tie up the frontline while he reaches past them.
Run him as the rage-engine of a warband, not a solo: he is a frontline blender that punishes clustered melee, so pair him with a bigger threat (a giant or a spellcaster) who controls the field while he pins and stuns. Reckless plus Rage makes him hit reliably; have him chase the healer while allies wall off escape. He folds fast under focused fire, so screen him with minions or a lair full of difficult terrain.
Put Barbarian Lion-Man 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 Barbarian Lion-Man?
He is built at CR 6 (2,300 XP), a Tier 2 threat tuned for level 5-10 parties. The record also gives drop-in Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) stat lines so you can field him at any table — the traits never change, only the numbers.
Can Barbarian Lion-Man be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a wandering beastfolk chieftain he makes a natural temporary ally or hireling for a party heading into the high country, and the included Snowmane Cub companion block lets you run him with a pet at his side. Drop his Reckless trait if a player controls him, or he'll get himself killed fast.
How do I make him a real boss instead of an add-on?
He's designed as a frontline add-on, not a solo centerpiece — a 4-PC party out-acts a single body. To headline him, give him two or three minions of the maned-folk to soak actions, run the fight in difficult terrain that funnels the party into his axes, and lean on Pounce and Bloodied Roar to keep the casters off balance.
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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