RUBEUS
RUBEUS — The Encounter
Hooded zealot of the Yellow Sign, cleaver of intruders · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is RUBEUS
Of the Sign's servants, the Rubeus are its blades. Where the caretakers tend relics and the higher devotees parse omens, these militant zealots stand at the threshold and let nothing pass. They are drawn from the fervent and the desperate, those who took the mark willingly and asked only to be made useful. The wrappings about their faces conceal the early rot the Sign grants its faithful, and the great hooked cleaver they bear is as much an instrument of ritual as of murder. A Rubeus does not parley, does not threaten, does not warn twice. It interrupts the spoken word and the raised voice alike, for a silent intruder is a dead one, and the rites must not be witnessed. Encountered in numbers about a shrine or gathering, they fight without fear of death, certain the Sign will claim and remake whatever falls. Grimoires that name them counsel a simple thing: kill them before they can scream for the others.
Run RUBEUS in Sixty Seconds
- Hold its reaction. Silence the Witness exists to punish the first spell or shout each round - don't waste it on a movement, wait for a caster to start casting.
- Open on noise. A Rubeus goes for whoever is loudest or most exposed: the bard mid-spell, the cleric calling a heal, the rogue who shouted a warning.
- When bloodied, it gets worse. At half HP Fanatical Frenzy gives all its attacks advantage and it stops fearing death - expect it to dive your back line.
- Kill-priority is the Rubeus, not its acolytes. While it lives it keeps interrupting your casters; drop it fast or accept a turn of lost spells.
- Three ways to run it: a lone gate-guard speed bump (T1), a pack of 2-4 around a shrine, or an elite captain screening a bigger cult boss.
RUBEUS
Medium humanoid (cultist), chaotic evil
CR 2 · 450 XP · GUIDELINEFanatical Frenzy. Signature. The Rubeus is immune to the frightened and charmed conditions. While at or below half its hit points, it makes melee weapon attacks with advantage and ignores any effect that would reduce its speed or end its turn early.
Devoted to the Sign. When the Rubeus is reduced to 0 hit points by an attack, it may roll a DC 11 Constitution saving throw; on a success it drops to 1 hit point instead. It can do this only once per day.
Actions
Multiattack. The Rubeus makes two Ritual Cleaver attacks.
Ritual Cleaver. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d10 + 3) slashing damage. On a critical hit, the target also takes 3 (1d6) slashing damage as the jagged edge tears.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Silence the Witness. Reaction. When a creature the Rubeus can see within 5 ft. begins to cast a spell or call for help, the Rubeus makes one Ritual Cleaver attack against it.
A hood and ochre wrappings hide a face already touched by the Sign's corruption, while a broad, jagged cleaver hangs ready to fall on any who stumble onto the cult's rites.
RUBEUS, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEWhispered Litany (signature). Once per turn, when the acolyte finishes chanting, one allied cultist within 30 ft. gains 4 temporary hit points and advantage on its next attack.
Actions
Ritual Dagger. Melee Weapon Attack: +3 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 4 (1d4 + 1) piercing damage plus 2 (1d4) psychic damage.
Reactions
Shield the Faithful. Reaction. When an allied cultist within 15 ft. is hit, the acolyte may take half that damage in its place.
A junior devotee, still soft-spoken, who steadies the Rubeus with murmured scripture and bleeds for the cause before it does.
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 charging the loudest or most exposed PC and use Silence the Witness on the first spellcaster who starts a spell. When the Rubeus drops to half, Fanatical Frenzy turns it reckless, so it dives the squishiest target with advantage. Run these in packs of 2-4 guarding a shrine; kill-priority is the back-rank caster they keep interrupting.
Scale it as an elite shrine-guard captain leading lesser cultists. Lead with the cleaver on whoever advanced furthest, spend the reaction to shut down healing or counterspells, and frenzy into the party when bloodied. Pair it with a bigger threat - a named cult champion - so it screens the boss while minions swarm the flanks.
At this tier the Rubeus is a corrupted exemplar fighting within its master's lair, never alone. Open on the highest-priority caster, use the reaction every round to punish spells and shouts, and frenzy on the bloodied turn to maximize advantage strikes. Field it with minions and a flagship boss so the party must split focus.
Put RUBEUS 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 RUBEUS?
Native CR 2 (450 XP), a Tier 1 frontline threat for levels 1-4. The stat record also gives scaled Tier 2 (levels 5-10) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) lines so you can field it against higher-level parties without rebuilding it.
Can RUBEUS be a companion or ally?
As written it's a hostile cult enforcer, but nothing stops a DM from flipping it - a Rubeus who breaks from the Sign could fight beside the party as a melee bruiser. The included Acolyte of the Sign companion is the easier ready-made ally if you want a supporting NPC.
Is RUBEUS a solo boss?
No. The Rubeus is an add-on threat - a frontline defender meant to fight in numbers or to screen a larger cult champion. It has no legendary actions, so a full party will out-act a single one; use it as a pack or a lieutenant, not a centerpiece.
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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