Darvan
Darvan — The Encounter
Tiger-spirit monk whose stillness wakes the stone · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Darvan
In the highland monasteries it is written that Darvan was once a man who sat so long upon a single stone that the stone learned to love him, and the tiger within him learned patience. Now he wears the great red mala of the thousand-breath vigil, each bead a year he spent unmoving while the world forgot his name. Where he kneels to meditate, the earth grows restless and answers his stillness, heaving and cracking as though the buried bones of the mountain wished to rise and bow. Pilgrims swear that to disturb his meditation is to wake the ground itself. He fights as the tiger does: never the aggressor, always the answer, letting an enemy spend their fury against trembling stone before he uncoils in a single devastating flurry. Those who hunt him learn the oldest lesson of the high passes too late: a thing that does not move is not a thing that cannot.
Run Darvan in Sixty Seconds
- Hold, don't chase. Darvan is at his deadliest standing still — keep him planted so Stillness That Wakes the Stone makes the floor difficult terrain and chip-damages anyone who steps in.
- Open with Quaking Step the moment two or more PCs cluster within 10 feet — knock them prone, then Flurry of Blows the downed targets for a brutal opening round.
- Kill-priority is whoever can move him. Shoves, telekinesis, and pulls turn off his aura — protect his footing or punish the mover first.
- When bloodied, he stops holding back: spend every turn Multiattacking the lowest-HP target, using Slow Fall to reset position if knocked away, and re-rooting next turn.
- Three ways to run him: a doorway guardian who denies a corridor; a champion bodyguard beside a fragile caster boss; or an arena duelist who dares the party to come to him.
Darvan
Medium monstrosity (shapechanger), lawful neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEStillness That Wakes the Stone. While Darvan begins his turn standing on the ground and has not moved since his last turn, the earth answers his focus: the ground within 10 feet of him becomes difficult terrain for his enemies, and the first creature to enter that space takes 7 (2d6) bludgeoning damage as the floor heaves. The longer he meditates, the more the ground stirs.
Deflect Missiles. When hit by a ranged weapon attack, Darvan reduces the damage by 1d10 + 5. If he reduces the damage to 0, he may catch the missile.
Actions
Multiattack. Darvan makes three Unarmed Strikes, or two Unarmed Strikes and one use of Quaking Step.
Unarmed Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Quaking Step. Darvan stamps the earth. Each creature within 10 feet must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 14 (4d6) bludgeoning damage and being knocked prone on a failure, or half damage and remaining standing on a success.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Flurry of Blows (Bonus Action). Immediately after taking the Attack action, Darvan makes two additional Unarmed Strikes.
Slow Fall (Reaction). When Darvan falls or is knocked back, he reduces any falling or forced-movement damage by 25 and lands on his feet, ready.
A barrel-chested tiger-spirit in a low meditative crouch, draped in heavy red prayer beads, his striped frame coiled like a spring over trembling earth. He does not strike first; the ground strikes for him.
Darvan, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINERooted Vigil (signature). While Darvan has not moved since its last turn, attack rolls against it have disadvantage, and it adds 2 to its AC.
Actions
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
Reactions
Answer the Stillness. When a creature Darvan can see ends its movement within 5 feet of Darvan, Darvan may make one Slam attack against it.
A boulder-bodied earth elemental drawn up from the trembling ground, bound to Darvan's meditation, that moves only when the moment demands.
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 standing his ground in a doorway or chokepoint so Stillness That Wakes the Stone turns the floor against the party. If they cluster to rush him, lead with Quaking Step to scatter and prone them. Pair him with a couple of lesser brawlers so the party must split attention while he holds the line.
Plant him on solid ground turn one and never move unless forced, keeping the heaving-earth aura live. Open on the clustered front line with Quaking Step, then Flurry of Blows the prone targets; kill-priority is anyone trying to drag him off his stone (forced movement shuts off his aura). Pairs cleanly with a ranged caster boss who benefits from Darvan locking down the melee.
Run him as the immovable anchor of a larger fight: he holds the center while minions or a bigger threat work the flanks. Open Quaking Step into the densest knot, Flurry the survivors, and let the difficult-terrain aura punish anyone who closes. Do not run him as a solo boss; without allies a high-tier party simply walks around the stillness and burns him down.
Put Darvan 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 Darvan?
Darvan is built at CR 6 (2,300 XP) in his native Tier 2 form for a party of levels 5-10. The stat block also provides scaled Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) numbers so you can drop him into any table without rebuilding him.
Can Darvan be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a disciplined, lawful-neutral tiger-spirit monk he makes a natural mentor or sworn protector for a martial party — he holds the line while the heroes maneuver, and his earth-stirring vigil shields a vulnerable ally. He is no mindless beast; treat allegiance as something earned through patience and respect, not bought.
Why doesn't Darvan want to move in a fight?
His signature trait, Stillness That Wakes the Stone, only works while he holds his ground, turning the earth around him into punishing difficult terrain. A smart DM plants him in a chokepoint and lets enemies come to him; a smart party tries to shove, pull, or teleport him off his stone to switch the aura off.
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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