Madame Shawie
Madame Shawie — The Encounter
The Reclining Lady, who never sets foot upon the road · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Madame Shawie
In the river-cities of the turtle-folk monastery's tribute lands, Madame Shawie is a name spoken with a bow and a wince. Heiress to a house grown fat on toll-roads and silk, she long ago decided that the world should come to her, borne on the shoulders of others. Her palanquin is a small kingdom: behind its lacquered shutters she holds court, settles debts, and ruins rivals without raising her voice above a murmur. The bearers who carry her are bound by contract, fear, and a strange devotion, for she rewards loyalty as lavishly as she punishes failure. Folk say her war-fan has opened more throats than any sword, and that her true weapon is the silence after she speaks, when a room realizes it has already obeyed. She is no sorceress, yet men march to ruin at her word, and that is a magic older than any spell.
Run Madame Shawie in Sixty Seconds
- Hold her back. Madame Shawie is never in the front line; she opens from behind her bearers with Withering Decree to frighten the cluster, then dictates the fight by word.
- Kill the bearers first. While she is carried she has +5 AC and bleeds misses onto her bearers. The party cannot touch her until those two go down, so make that the obvious puzzle.
- Lock the reaction. Fan Strike shuts off a target's reactions on a failed save, so lead with it on a rogue or anyone leaning on Uncanny Dodge or opportunity attacks.
- When bloodied, she spends Dismissive Word and Attend Me every round to blunt the party's best die while her bearers wall her off, buying time to flee in state.
- Three ways to run her: a haughty quest-giver who turns on the party, a social boss whose bearers are the real fight, or the calm center of a larger ambush who never lifts a finger herself.
Madame Shawie
Medium humanoid (noble), lawful neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEImperious Presence. While at least one ally is within 30 feet of Madame Shawie, she and those allies have advantage on saving throws against being frightened. An ally that ends its turn within 30 feet of her may move up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks, ushered into position by her unspoken will.
Carried in State. Signature. Madame Shawie is borne aloft in her palanquin and rarely touches the ground. While carried by at least one ally, she has three-quarters cover (+5 AC, +5 to Dexterity saves, already figured into her statistics) and any attack that misses her by 5 or less strikes a bearer instead. If a creature she can see ends its turn within 5 feet of a bearer, she may use a reaction to command that bearer to interpose, granting it resistance to the triggering damage.
Actions
Multiattack. Madame Shawie issues a Withering Decree, then makes one Fan Strike.
Fan Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6+4) slashing damage from a bladed war-fan, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be unable to take reactions until the end of its next turn.
Withering Decree (Recharge 5-6). Madame Shawie speaks a command of contempt. Each enemy of her choice within 30 feet must make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw. On a failure, a creature takes 18 (4d8) psychic damage and is frightened of her until the end of its next turn; on a success, half damage and not frightened.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Dismissive Word (Bonus Action). Madame Shawie points at one creature she can see within 30 feet. That creature must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on the next attack roll or ability check it makes before the start of her next turn.
Attend Me (Reaction). When an ally she can see within 30 feet is hit by an attack, Madame Shawie may command it to brace; the ally gains a +3 bonus to AC against that attack, possibly causing it to miss.
Reclining within a gilded palanquin, a great braided coil crowning her brow, Madame Shawie surveys the road through a curtained window while two liveried bearers strain beneath her weight. She has not walked a public mile in a decade, and considers the very ground beneath her an insult.
Madame Shawie, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEShoulder the Burden (signature). When Madame Shawie within 5 feet would be hit by an attack, the Lead Bearer may step into the blow, taking the damage instead. He has resistance to that damage.
Actions
Carrying-Pole. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d8+2) bludgeoning damage, and a Medium or smaller target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength save or be knocked prone.
Reactions
Brace the Palanquin. When forced movement would push the Lead Bearer, he may halve the distance, keeping his mistress's seat level and steady.
Sun-weathered and silent, he has carried Madame Shawie so long that her commands feel like his own thoughts. He will die on the pole before he lets her chair tip.
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 Withering Decree to frighten a cluster, then hide behind a bearer. Kill-priority is the bearers first; once she is exposed she folds fast. Run her as a haughty quest-giver turned hostile, never alone.
Open with Withering Decree on the bunched-up party, then Dismissive Word the biggest damage dealer before it acts. Keep her carried so misses bleed onto the bearers, and use Attend Me to keep both bearers upright. Drop the bearers to reach her.
Pair her with a bigger threat or her full retinue and lair; she is a controller, not a solo. Open Withering Decree, then alternate Fan Strike (to lock reactions) and Dismissive Word on the party's striker. Her bearers are the wall the party must break before she ever feels a blade.
Put Madame Shawie 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 Madame Shawie?
Her home tier is CR 6 (Tier 2, levels 5-10): AC 15, 120 HP, +6 to hit, save DC 15. Scale her to CR 2 for Tier 1 or about CR 11 for Tier 3 using the tier table; the traits stay identical, only the numbers move.
Can Madame Shawie be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a patron or ally she is a commander, not a brawler: her Imperious Presence steadies nearby allies against fear and lets them reposition freely, and Attend Me can shield a hard-pressed party member. Just remember she will not walk anywhere herself.
Why does she fight from a palanquin instead of the front line?
Carried in State is her whole identity and her best defense. While bearers hold her aloft she gains three-quarters cover and redirects near-misses onto them, so the encounter is built around the party deciding whether to drop the bearers or find an angle on the lady.
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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