Keiros
Keiros — The Encounter
Silent tiger-warrior who wakes when a memory is broken · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Keiros
They call him the Cradle's silence given a blade. Keiros was raised among chant-priests who anchor wandering souls, and into him they sealed the memories no living mind was meant to hold. So long as those memories sleep, he is calm to the point of stillness, a sentinel content to let trespassers turn back. But memory is a fragile cradle. When blood is spilled near him, or a binding is broken, the seal cracks and old recollection floods his limbs with the fury of every soul he carries. The blue fire in his gauntlet is resonance made visible, the hum of histories pressing against the present. Warriors who have faced him say the axe is the lesser danger; it is the moment his eyes open fully, when he remembers what he was made to forget, that men do not walk away. He keeps no grudge and seeks no glory. He simply does what the past demands, and then falls silent once more.
Run Keiros in Sixty Seconds
- Hold still, then strike Keiros opens passive and unmoving; treat round one as a feint and have him close on the nearest melee threat with a full greataxe Multiattack.
- Knock the caster down Lead with Resonant Fist on a spellcaster or archer; the DC 15 Con save to avoid prone wrecks ranged action economy and sets up advantage.
- Watch the half-HP spike When bloodied, Broken Memory gives a free reaction axe swing and widens his crit range to 19-20 until his next turn, so don't let the party cluster.
- Kill-priority He has no ranged option; if PCs can kite or wall him off, do that, and burst him before the bloodied crit window opens.
- Three ways to run him Stoic sentinel who only fights when provoked; berserk memory-fury once bloodied; or a chant-priest's bodyguard paired with a bigger boss and minions.
Keiros
Medium humanoid (tigerfolk), lawful neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEBrutal Critical. When Keiros scores a critical hit with a weapon attack, he rolls one additional weapon damage die.
Broken Memory. Signature. The first time each combat that Keiros is reduced to half his hit points or fewer, a sealed memory shatters within him. He immediately makes one greataxe attack as a reaction, and until the end of his next turn his attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.
Actions
Multiattack. Keiros makes two greataxe attacks, or one greataxe attack and one Resonant Fist.
Greataxe. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d12 + 4) slashing damage.
Resonant Fist. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) force damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or be knocked prone as old echoes hammer through it.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Unbroken Stance. Reaction. When a creature Keiros can see hits him with a melee attack, he may add 3 to his AC against that attack, potentially causing it to miss.
A towering tiger-headed warrior sheathed in jade-and-gold plate, an enormous double-bitted axe slung over one shoulder while his other gauntlet glows with cold blue light. He stands utterly still, eyes half-closed, until something long buried is disturbed.
Keiros, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEResonant Anchor (signature). While within 10 feet of Keiros, an ally has advantage on saving throws against being frightened or charmed, steadied by the bound echo's hum.
Actions
Echo Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) force damage.
Reactions
Memory's Recoil. Reaction. When an ally Keiros can see is hit by an attack, Keiros forces the attacker to subtract 1d6 from the damage as a backlash of old pain.
A half-seen revenant tethered to Keiros, flickering like a memory at the edge of waking.
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 stalking the nearest melee fighter and trading hits patiently. When he drops to half HP, Broken Memory triggers a free axe swing, so save healing for after that spike. Pair him with a caster or pack of minions; alone he is just a heavy bruiser a party can gang up on.
Open by wading into the squishiest backline target and using Resonant Fist to knock it prone, then chop with the greataxe. Hold Unbroken Stance to blunt a likely-crit smite. Kill-priority is yours: when Broken Memory fires at half HP, his crit range widens, so push your DPS to drop him fast before the free reaction swing and crit window punish a clustered party.
Run him as a lieutenant beside a larger threat or in a chant-priest's lair, not as the solo boss. Open on the marked PC, knock-prone with Resonant Fist, then full-attack. When bloodied, the free reaction swing plus widened crit range can spike a frontliner, so position him to threaten two PCs at once and let the bigger threat control the field.
Put Keiros 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 Keiros?
His home build is CR 6 (2,300 XP), tuned for a level 5-10 party. Scaled stat lines are provided for Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) so you can drop him into any table.
Can Keiros be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a lawful-neutral warrior bound by resonance rather than loyalty, he makes a natural sworn guardian or bound mercenary once a party earns his cause. Use his block as a powerful NPC ally, dialing his attacks down to the Tier 1 numbers if he would outshine the party.
Why does Keiros get stronger when he's hurt?
His Broken Memory trait represents the sealed memories cracking open. The first time each combat he hits half HP, he makes a free reaction greataxe attack and his crit range widens to 19-20 until his next turn, so plan to burst him through that threshold rather than chipping him slowly.
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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