SERETH
SERETH — The Encounter
Hooded herald of the Yellow Sign, marked for higher purpose · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is SERETH
Where the Rubeus are mere zealots, the Sereth have been answered. The Yellow Sign no longer merely rides upon their banners—it has reached into them and begun the slow work of remaking, granting station within the cult's hidden order and a fragment of a will that is not their own. Beneath the tattered cowl, the face is said to be unfinished, as though the wearer were a half-written page in a play not yet performed. A Sereth speaks little and need not; a single murmured line of the forbidden drama buckles the knees of the faithful and the foe alike. They marshal the Rubeus to the front and the brutes to the breach, lifting their flame-crowned staves over the gathered congregation so that all may glimpse the sign and despair. To slay a Sereth is to silence one mouth—but the words it carried have already taken root in those who heard them, and the play goes on without its herald.
Run SERETH in Sixty Seconds
- What it is A robed Yellow Sign herald: a Tier 2 (CR 6) spellcaster and minion-commander. It is an add-on lieutenant, not a solo boss—always field it with cultists.
- Open with Maddening Whisper into the tightest cluster of PCs to spread fear and psychic damage, then settle into Eldritch Burst at range.
- Kill-priority Burn the lowest-AC striker or whoever can remove the frightened condition (bard, paladin) first; a feared party can't gang the herald.
- When bloodied Lean on Veil of Tatters every time it's hit—resist the damage and teleport 15 ft. behind the meat shields, then keep feeding allies free reaction attacks.
- Three ways to run it (1) Pure caster artillery behind a Rubeus wall; (2) buff-battery commander spending bonus actions to make minions strike; (3) skirmishing herald that whisper-and-blinks, never letting melee pin it down.
SERETH
Medium aberration, neutral evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEYellow Sign Authority. Signature. Sereth has been reshaped by the Yellow Sign to command lesser devotees. Allied cultists and corrupted creatures within 30 feet that can see Sereth have advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened, and once per turn Sereth can use a bonus action to direct one such ally to make one weapon attack as a reaction.
Sign-Touched Mind. When a creature Sereth can see within 30 feet makes an attack roll against it, Sereth can choose to read the attacker's intent: it has advantage on the saving throw it next makes before the end of its next turn.
Actions
Multiattack. Sereth makes two attacks: one with its sign-staff and one casting of Eldritch Burst, or it uses Maddening Whisper (recharge 5–6).
Sign-Staff. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage plus 9 (2d8) psychic damage.
Eldritch Burst. Ranged Spell Attack: +7 to hit, range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (4d6 + 4) fire damage that burns with yellow flame and ignores resistance to fire.
Maddening Whisper (Recharge 5–6). Sereth murmurs a phrase of the King in Yellow. Each creature of its choice within 30 feet that can hear it must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, a creature takes 18 (4d8) psychic damage and is frightened until the end of its next turn; on a success, it takes half damage and isn't frightened.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Veil of Tatters (Reaction). When Sereth is hit by an attack, it can fold its ragged yellow robes inward, gaining resistance to that attack's damage and teleporting up to 15 feet to an unoccupied space it can see.
A tall figure swathed head to foot in flowing, fraying yellow robes, its face lost in the shadow of a deep cowl, leaning on a long staff crowned with a crackling burst of yellow-red eldritch fire and trailing a censer's chain.
SERETH, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINECarried Words (signature). While within 30 feet of its master, SERETH has advantage on saving throws against being frightened, and once per turn deals an extra 4 (1d8) psychic damage when it hits a creature that is frightened.
Actions
Ragged Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) slashing damage.
Reactions
Interpose. When its master is hit by an attack and SERETH is within 5 feet, SERETH takes the damage instead.
A lurching servitor stitched from cult robes and bone, mouthing scraps of its master's whispered verse.
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 at range with Eldritch Burst on the squishiest caster, then hang behind a Rubeus screen. If the party clusters, lead with Maddening Whisper to scatter them with fear. Pair it with melee cultists—Sereth wants bodies between itself and the front.
Open with Maddening Whisper into the tightest knot of PCs, then Eldritch Burst the lowest-AC striker each turn. Kill-priority: drop whoever can break the fright (paladin/bard) first. Use Veil of Tatters to peel off melee, and Yellow Sign Authority to feed your Rubeus extra reaction attacks—never run Sereth alone, run it as the brain of the warband.
Set it up as the herald in a lair or as lieutenant beside a bigger threat (Ser Karthos, a corrupted brute, or an avatar of the Sign). Open Maddening Whisper, then alpha the most mobile PC with Eldritch Burst. Direct minions every round via Yellow Sign Authority and teleport away with Veil of Tatters—pair it with a heavier boss, it is not a solo capstone.
Put SERETH 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 SERETH?
SERETH is built at CR 6 (Tier 2, about character levels 5–10): AC 15, 114 HP, +7 to hit, save DC 15. Scaled stat lines for Tier 1 (~CR 2) and Tier 3 (~CR 11) are provided so you can drop it into any party—the traits and actions stay identical, only the numbers move.
Can SERETH be a companion or ally?
As written it's an adversary—a cult lieutenant—but the spite of the Yellow Sign cuts both ways. A defector or a hero who survives the sign's touch could carry Sereth's robes as an ally NPC: keep Eldritch Burst and Maddening Whisper, and let Yellow Sign Authority instead steady the PARTY's morale against fear.
Is SERETH a solo boss?
No. SERETH has no legendary actions and only one defensive reaction, so a four-PC party will out-act it in a one-on-one fight. Run it as the commanding brain of a warband—paired with Rubeus zealots, corrupted brutes, or a heavier champion like Ser Karthos—where its minion-buffing kit shines.
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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