VOREN
VOREN — The Encounter
The Whispering Herald whose voice unmakes the will · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is VOREN
Where Brute 01 ends lives with the hammer, Voren ends them with a word. He is the herald the cult unveils only once secrecy is no longer required, walking openly at the head of processions and irreversible manifestations. He drags no chain to threaten; the scrape of his coming simply announces that the matter is already decided, and morale fractures before he arrives. Those who hear his whisper most often break and flee before he is even in reach. His armor is ceremonial rather than martial, layered and deliberate, built to carry the weight of presence rather than to turn a blade. Captured initiates report that he speaks their own names back to them in a voice that seems to come from inside the skull, and that the naming is the wounding. If Voren has passed through a region, the cult's open expansion is not coming. It has already begun.
Run VOREN in Sixty Seconds
- He has no weapon. Voren's threat is the whisper, not a blade. Lead with Unmaking Word from range and never march him into melee if you can avoid it.
- Open big. First round, drop Unmaking Word on the party's bravest or highest-Charisma PC, then let Voice of Dread frighten everyone who steps close.
- Kill-priority: the steadiers. Clerics, paladins, and bards who can end fright are the real threat to his plan. Knock them down first and the panic compounds.
- When bloodied, lean defensive. Below half, stay at range, fall back toward allies for Procession Presence, and use Recoiling Whisper to tax every melee attacker that reaches him.
- Three ways to run him: (1) terror herald who opens a fight already won, frightening before swords clash; (2) support caster behind a brute, squeezing the party between fear and force; (3) lair voice in a procession, scattering PCs into minions and hazards.
VOREN
Medium humanoid (cultist), lawful evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEVoice of Dread. Signature. Voren never raises a weapon; his weapon is his whisper. When Voren reduces a creature to 0 hit points, or whenever a creature first ends its turn within 30 feet of him, that creature and each ally within 10 feet of it must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom save or be frightened of Voren until the end of their next turn. Voren can choose to leave any creature unaffected. A frightened creature that hears him speak takes 5 (1d10) psychic damage at the start of its turn.
Procession Presence. Voren has advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and he cannot be frightened. While at least one ally is within 30 feet of him, that ally has advantage on saves to break a charm or fright effect.
Actions
Multiattack. Voren uses Unmaking Word, then makes one Witherhand attack.
Witherhand. Melee Spell Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (4d6 + 4) necrotic damage, and the target's hit point maximum is reduced by that amount until it finishes a long rest.
Unmaking Word. Voren whispers a name only the target hears. One creature he can see within 60 ft. must make a DC 15 Wisdom save, taking 22 (5d6 + 4) psychic damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. A creature reduced to 0 hit points this way falls unconscious and is frightened of Voren when it revives.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Recoiling Whisper. Reaction, when a creature Voren can see within 30 ft. hits him with an attack: the attacker must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom save or be frightened of Voren until the end of its next turn, and a frightened creature has disadvantage on its next attack roll before the start of Voren's next turn.
A gaunt herald in layered green-and-gold ceremonial armor, his face swallowed by a hood and a single cold gleam where eyes should be, one bony hand raised mid-incantation. His cloak is meant to be seen from afar; he is deployed not to erase witnesses but to be witnessed.
VOREN, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEBorrowed Whisper (signature). Once per turn when a creature you can see within 30 ft. fails a saving throw against an ally's effect, Voren whispers its name and it becomes frightened until the end of its next turn (a DC 14 Wisdom save at the end of each of its turns ends the effect).
Actions
Witherhand. Melee Spell Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) necrotic damage.
Reactions
Steadying Word. When an ally within 30 ft. must make a save against being frightened or charmed, Voren grants them advantage on that save.
Bound to a cause not his own, Voren turns his whisper outward, breaking the enemy's nerve instead of yours.
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 Unmaking Word on the party's bravest fighter to seed fright, then let Voice of Dread ripple to their neighbors. Kill-priority is whoever can end the fright (clerics, paladins) so the panic spreads. Pair him with a melee enforcer that punishes the frightened as they flee.
Open with Unmaking Word at range, then Multiattack to whittle a clustered front line while Voice of Dread frightens anyone who closes. Make the cleric or bard your kill-priority so fright sticks; Recoiling Whisper taxes whoever dares to hit him. He is an add-on, not a duel; pair him with a bigger physical threat (a brute enforcer) so the party is squeezed between panic and force.
Run him as the voice of a lair or procession, never alone: Unmaking Word the highest-WILL caster, then let frightened PCs scatter into your minions and hazards. Kill-priority is concentration-casters who could shut his fright down. Pair him with a flagship boss so he disables saves while the boss lands the killing blows.
Put VOREN 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 VOREN?
Voren is built as a Challenge Rating 6 adversary (2,300 XP) at his native Tier 2, tuned for a party of levels 5-10. The record also provides Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) statlines that keep his traits identical and only move the numbers.
Can VOREN be a companion or ally?
Yes. The 'Voren, Bound' companion block turns his whisper outward as a fear-control support: roughly 72 HP, a Witherhand touch, and abilities that frighten enemies and steady your allies instead of breaking your nerve. He is a debuffer, not a frontliner.
Is Voren a spellcaster, and how do I shut him down?
He fights as a whisper-caster, not a melee brute. Counter him by spreading out so Voice of Dread cannot chain through clustered allies, protecting the PCs who can remove the frightened condition, and closing distance fast so he cannot freely land Unmaking Word from range.
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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