Bard
Bard — The Encounter
Plumed minstrel whose lute strings dance a grinning puppet · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Bard
They call him the Stringed Fool, and he wanders the fair-roads with a lute slung across his chest and a puppet that should not move on its own. By day his songs charm coin from purses and laughter from grim taverns; by dusk, when the crowd has thinned, the marionette's painted grin sharpens and the hook-blades on its strings begin to sway in time with his playing. Old wives swear the puppet is no carving at all but a thing he bound into wood with a borrowed melody, condemned to dance until the song ends. He fights as he performs: a flourish of mockery to break a foe's nerve, a dissonant chord to scatter their wits, and always the marionette darting in low to open a throat while every eye is fixed on the player. Those who heckle him are seldom seen to leave the square.
Run Bard in Sixty Seconds
- He is a controller, not a brawler — his job is to break the party's focus, not trade blows. Keep him at range and let the marionette do the dirty work.
- Open with Discordant Aura plus a control spell — drop hypnotic pattern or fear on a clustered party turn one, then mock the survivor to spoil its attack.
- Kill-priority is the puppet — destroying the marionette deals him 10 psychic and strips his advantage, so a smart party smashes the strings before chasing the minstrel.
- When bloodied, he re-strings the marionette (once per fight, +36 HP to it) and retreats behind it, leaning on charm person and suggestion to turn a PC against their own.
- Three ways to run him: charming-rogue trickster who flees if cornered, sinister puppeteer who fights to the last string, or stage-villain who monologues mid-fight — his Charisma 19 sells all three.
Bard
Medium humanoid (human), neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEStringbound Puppet. The minstrel is tethered by ropes to a grinning marionette (his companion) and may direct it as part of his own turn. While the marionette is within 60 feet, the minstrel has advantage on Charisma (Performance) checks and the puppet acts on the minstrel's initiative. If the puppet is destroyed, the minstrel takes 10 (3d6) psychic damage as the strings snap back.
Discordant Aura. Each creature of the minstrel's choice that starts its turn within 10 feet and can hear him must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the start of its next turn.
Spellcasting. The minstrel is a 7th-level spellcaster (spell save DC 14, +6 to hit with spell attacks). He knows: cantrips — vicious mockery, minor illusion, mending; 1st — charm person, dissonant whispers, healing word; 2nd — suggestion, shatter; 3rd — hypnotic pattern, fear.
Actions
Multiattack. The minstrel makes two attacks with his hook-blade, or casts one spell and makes one hook-blade attack.
Hook-Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6+3) slashing damage.
Vicious Mockery (Cantrip). Ranged Spell Attack: the minstrel hurls an insult woven with magic at one creature within 60 ft. that can hear him. The target must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or take 9 (2d8) psychic damage and have disadvantage on its next attack roll before the end of its next turn.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Mocking Flourish (Reaction). When a creature the minstrel can see within 30 ft. misses an attack against an ally, the minstrel grants that ally 9 (2d8) temporary hit points.
A wandering minstrel in a broad plumed hat strums a worn lute while a grinning jester-marionette dangles from a cross of ropes and twitching scythe-hooks, jerking to life with every chord he plays.
Bard, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINECut the Strings (signature). When reduced to 0 hit points, the marionette collapses into a heap of timber and rope; the minstrel may spend his bonus action on a later turn to re-string it, restoring it to 36 hit points once per encounter.
Actions
Scythe-Hook. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6+3) slashing damage, and the target's speed is reduced by 10 ft. until the end of its next turn as a hook snags it.
Reactions
Puppet Interpose. When the minstrel within 10 ft. is hit by an attack, the marionette lurches in front of him; the minstrel takes no damage and the marionette takes the hit instead.
A child-sized jester of carved wood with crossed eyes and a stitched grin, suspended from a cross-bar of ropes and curved hook-blades that twitch whenever its master plays.
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 with vicious mockery on the party's heaviest hitter to spoil its first swing, then keep the marionette between him and the front line. If foes cluster, lead with the puppet's hooked reach to peel a flanker off, and keep the minstrel back lobbing cantrips. Pair him with brutes — he is a debuffer, not a duelist.
Open with hypnotic pattern or fear into a clustered party, then send the marionette to carve up whoever shrugs it off. Kill-priority is the puppet — destroying it staggers him — so reward a party that ignores the minstrel to smash the strings first. Run him with a melee captain or a pack of minions; he buffs and controls while they kill.
Lead with fear, then layer dissonant whispers to peel a key PC out of formation while the marionette flanks. Hold Mocking Flourish to negate a finishing blow. He shines amid a lair of charmed thralls or beside a bigger threat — never alone; treat him as the conductor who makes the rest of the fight hit harder.
Put Bard 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 Bard?
Natively CR 6 (Tier 2, ~levels 5–10): AC 15, 120 HP, +6 to hit, save DC 14. The sheet scales down to a CR 2-ish skirmisher for Tier 1 and up to a CR 11-ish controller for Tier 3 — same traits and tactics, only the numbers move.
Can Bard be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a friendly NPC he is a superb support — healing word, Mocking Flourish temp HP, and a debuffing aura that hampers enemy attacks. The Grinning Marionette tags along as a reach skirmisher and bodyguard, interposing itself to soak hits meant for its master.
Is Bard a good solo boss?
No — he is built as an add-on, not a centerpiece. He lacks legendary actions and folds under focused fire, so a four-PC party will out-act him alone. Run him as the brains beside a melee captain, charmed thralls, or a heavier flagship threat and let him conduct the encounter.
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
Played Bard at your table? Log in with your Obsidian Tavern account to leave a balance note, a war story, or a file issue — the sharpest reports get the block revised.
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