Manuellus Oraros
Manuellus Oraros — The Encounter
Crowned Judge of the Cities of the Plain, shackler of the damned · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Manuellus Oraros
In the grimoires of the doomed cities, Manuellus Oraros is named the Crowned Judge of the Plain, a magistrate of Sodom and Gomorrah who sold his office to the powers below and never relinquished it. They say he stood in the high temple as fire fell, raising his halo of golden spikes and pronouncing every citizen guilty so that none might be spared. The shackles at his wrists are the chains he once locked upon debtors and dissenters; now they reach of their own accord for any soul that flees its sentence. He does not fight so much as preside, dragging the living before him to read out their crimes in a voice of brimstone. The flayed dead beneath his feet are his proof and his pleasure. To bargain with him is to confess; to flee is to be found in contempt. He offers mercy only to those who will denounce another in their place.
Run Manuellus Oraros in Sixty Seconds
- Hold his shackles open. Verdict of the Damned fires every time someone drops to 0 or dies within 30 ft. — so a single down can chain-restrain another PC. Keep healing people off 0 to choke the trait.
- Open by chaining the bruiser. Binding Chain grapples on a hit; once a target is grappled or restrained it saves at disadvantage against Sentence of Brimstone — set up the combo, then nuke the cluster.
- Kill-priority: free the chained. A grappled or restrained ally is a soft target for his AoE. Freedom of movement, misty step, or a strong Athletics check shuts down his whole engine.
- When bloodied, he presides harder. Lean on Cast Down to re-prone escapees and stack Verdict restraints; he wants the party pinned in his AoE, not trading blows.
- Three ways to run him: temple-trial set-piece (PCs are 'on trial,' minions as bailiffs); ambush-judge who shackles a straggler from the back line; or pair him with a bigger fiend as the lieutenant who locks the party in place for the boss.
Manuellus Oraros
Medium fiend (devil), lawful evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEVerdict of the Damned. When Manuellus reduces a creature to 0 hit points, or one dies within 30 feet of him, a spectral golden shackle clamps onto a creature he can see within 30 feet. That creature must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be restrained until the end of its next turn as the chain drags it toward judgment.
Radiant Halo of Lies. The spiked sun-crown sheds dim light in a 15-foot radius. Any creature that targets Manuellus with an attack while it can see this light has disadvantage on the attack roll unless it first succeeds on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw at the start of its turn (the halo dazzles the unfaithful).
Magic Resistance. Manuellus has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Actions
Multiattack. Manuellus makes two attacks: one with Binding Chain and one with Searing Decree, or he casts a spell in place of one attack.
Binding Chain. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d8+3) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 15) as a golden shackle coils around it.
Searing Decree. Ranged Spell Attack: +8 to hit, range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (4d8+5) fire damage as a blistering pronouncement of guilt sears the target.
Sentence of Brimstone (Recharge 5-6). Manuellus calls down judgment in a 20-foot-radius sphere centered on a point within 60 feet. Each creature there must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 28 (8d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. Creatures already restrained or grappled by Manuellus have disadvantage on the save.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Cast Down (Reaction). When a creature Manuellus can see within 30 feet stands up from prone or breaks free of a grapple or restraint, he can use his reaction to force it to make a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
A crowned tyrant-priest looms in white-and-crimson vestments, a halo of golden spikes blazing behind him and shackles of judgment hanging from each wrist; at his feet sprawl the flayed bodies of those he has already condemned.
Manuellus Oraros, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEChain Warden (signature). While within 10 feet of an ally, Manuellus Oraros imposes disadvantage on the first attack roll each turn made against that ally, interposing its barbed chains.
Actions
Barbed Chain. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) slashing damage, and a Medium or smaller target is pulled 5 feet toward Manuellus Oraros.
Reactions
Drag to Judgment. When a creature within 10 feet hits an ally, Manuellus Oraros can make a contested Strength (Athletics) check to pull that creature 5 feet, away from the ally and toward itself.
A lesser chained enforcer that hauls the condemned before its master, never letting a prisoner stray from the dock.
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 Searing Decree on the squishiest caster, then close to Binding Chain a front-liner so Sentence of Brimstone lands with disadvantage. Use Verdict of the Damned to lock down a fleeing PC. Pair him with a screen of cultists so the party can't simply dogpile the priest.
Home tier. Open by chaining the melee bruiser, then drop Sentence of Brimstone on the cluster around him for disadvantaged saves. Halo of Lies blunts focus-fire, so make the party split up to pick him off. Run him as a lair centerpiece with minions, not alone; pair him with a bigger fiend or a wave of damned to soak the action economy.
Kill-priority is whoever can break the shackles (high-STR or freedom of movement) — judge them first with Searing Decree. Chain, then Brimstone, then Cast Down anyone who escapes the grapple. Pair him with a larger flagship threat or a full court of bound enforcers; he is the executioner, not the whole tribunal.
Put Manuellus Oraros 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 Manuellus Oraros?
He is built at CR 6 (2,300 XP) at his native Tier 2, tuned for a level 5-10 party. Stat blocks for Tier 1 (~CR 2) and Tier 3 (~CR 11) are provided so you can scale him to your table without changing his traits or tactics.
Can Manuellus Oraros be a companion or ally?
As a lawful-evil tyrant-priest he makes a poor party member, but his bound enforcer Verecitor is provided as a companion stat block (AC 14, 76 HP) if a PC enthralls or inherits one of his chained servants. Manuellus himself is best run as an adversary or a temporary patron who always demands a price.
Is Manuellus a boss I can run solo?
No — he is an add-on faction leader, not a solo centerpiece. He has no legendary actions, so a four-PC party will out-act him. Field him with minions, in his lair, or as the lieutenant to a larger flagship threat that benefits from his shackling and crowd control.
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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