1st Guardian: Treant
1st Guardian: Treant — The Encounter
The first oak to wake, warden of the elder wood · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is 1st Guardian: Treant
First of all things that learned to walk, this guardian was the seed-oak the old grove sank its will into when the axes came. Folklore across a dozen woodlands speaks of the eldest tree that woke and never slept again, a warden grown wise and slow and terrible in defense of what cannot flee. Three crowns rise from its shoulders, each a separate season of memory, and the face graven in its trunk remembers every traveler who passed beneath its boughs in kindness or in greed. It does not hunt. It does not wander far from the heart-glade it was rooted to protect. But when flame or steel or trespass disturbs the deep wood, it tears free of the earth, lifts slabs of its own splintered heartwood, and walks. Those it judges innocent it ushers gently from the trees. Those it judges otherwise it grinds into the loam, that they might at last feed something green.
Run 1st Guardian: Treant in Sixty Seconds
- Hold, don't chase. The treant is a wall, not a hunter: its speed is 30 and it wants to stay put. Anchor it in a chokepoint and make the party come to it.
- Rooted Vigil is the whole trick. If it hasn't moved, the first hit each round turns it resistant to ALL damage (but speed 0). Stand still on purpose to soak burst turns; move only to reposition or chase a fleeing caster.
- Kill-priority: fire. It resists bludgeoning/piercing but has no fire defense. The instant a PC pulls a torch, fire spell, or oil flask, that's your Splintering Guard / rock target.
- When bloodied (104 HP), go mobile. Drop the rooted stance, wade into the casters, and Multiattack to knock the prone — trading resistance for pressure.
- Three ways to run it: (1) Grove warden — patient, defensive, only attacks trespassers; (2) Siege engine — Siege Monster trait, smashing a barricade or gate; (3) Heartwood juggernaut — wades forward swinging, daring melee to trigger Splintering Guard.
1st Guardian: Treant
Large plant, chaotic good
CR 9 · 5,000 XP · GUIDELINEFalse Appearance. While the guardian remains motionless, it is indistinguishable from a normal tree.
Siege Monster. The guardian deals double damage to objects and structures.
Rooted Vigil. Signature. When the guardian is hit by an attack while it has not moved since its last turn, its ironbark hardens: it has resistance to all damage until the start of its next turn, but its speed becomes 0. The hardening ends early if the guardian chooses to move.
Actions
Multiattack. The guardian makes two slam attacks.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 23 (3d10 + 6) bludgeoning damage. If the target is a Large or smaller creature, it must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Rock. Ranged Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, range 60/180 ft., one target. Hit: 28 (4d10 + 6) bludgeoning damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Splintering Guard (Reaction). When a creature within 5 ft. of the guardian hits it with a melee attack, the guardian may make one slam attack against that creature.
A weathered oaken titan crowned with three living canopies, its bark face fixed in an ancient scowl, hauling splintered slabs of heartwood like twin maces above rooted, trunk-thick legs.
1st Guardian: Treant, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEEntangling Roots (signature). As a bonus action, the warden causes the ground within 15 ft. of it to sprout grasping roots until the start of its next turn. That area is difficult terrain, and a creature that enters it for the first time on a turn must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be restrained until the warden's next turn.
Actions
Branch Lash. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d10 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
Reactions
Shielding Bark. When an allied creature the warden can see within 10 ft. takes damage, the warden interposes a limb, reducing that damage by 7 (2d6).
A younger oak-spirit shaped from a fallen branch of the elder, loyal to whoever roused it, slower of speech but quick to root an enemy in place.
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 hurling a rock at the squishiest caster, then plant in a chokepoint and let melee come to it. If clustered, slam to knock two prone, then mop up. Pair it with a hag or druid that hides behind its bulk.
Lead with a thrown rock to soften ranged threats, then hold ground and trigger Rooted Vigil so frontliners waste turns on a damage-resistant wall. Kill-priority any fire source first. Run it as the muscle beside a fey caster or grove druid.
Stand it in a chokepoint of the heart-glade and let Rooted Vigil + Splintering Guard punish anyone who closes; Multiattack the heaviest hitter to knock it prone. Hurl rocks at casters while immobile. It is an add-on bruiser, not a solo: pair it with a flying or spellcasting threat so the party can't simply kite it, and use lair terrain (difficult ground, restricted sightlines) to slow approach.
Put 1st Guardian: Treant 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 1st Guardian: Treant?
Its home tier is Tier 3 (levels 11-15) at CR 9, roughly 5,000 XP: AC 18, 207 HP, +9 to hit, save DC 16. The block also scales down to Tier 1 and Tier 2 with identical traits and only the numbers reduced, so you can drop it into a lower-level table without rewriting anything.
Can 1st Guardian: Treant be a companion or ally?
Yes. As an ally it is a defensive anchor — park it in a doorway or bridge and let Rooted Vigil make it a near-unkillable wall while the party fights around it. The included Sapling Warden, Bound is a lighter companion version (AC 15, 124 HP) that restrains enemies with Entangling Roots and shields allies with its bark.
Is the Treant a solo boss?
No — it's an add-on, not a centerpiece. It hits hard and tanks well, but a single slow bruiser with one reaction gets out-actioned by a four-PC party. Pair it with a spellcaster, a flying threat, or a grove of saplings so the encounter has answers the treant alone can't provide.
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.
The Legend
In Your Campaign
Encounter Design: 1st Guardian: Treant works as a mid-to-high tier encounter that rewards tactical thinking. Place it in terrain that plays to its strengths — restricted sightlines, difficult ground, or vertical elements that force the party to adapt.
Campaign Hooks: A bounty that experienced adventurers refuse. Territorial expansion forcing 1st Guardian: Treant into populated areas. A wizard who thinks they can control it. They can't.
Technical Specifications
32mm, 75mm
STL, Pre-supported STL
Standard or ABS-like resin, 0.05mm layer height
Yes — ready to print, optimized supports included
From the Same Collection
Frequently Asked Questions
What scale is the 1st Guardian: Treant miniature available in?
1st Guardian: Treant is available in 32mm (tabletop standard) and 75mm (display/collector scale). Both scale files are included with presupported and unsupported STL options.
Is the 1st Guardian: Treant STL file presupported?
Yes. Every Clay Cyanide miniature includes presupported STL files optimized for resin printing at 0.05mm layer height, plus unsupported files for custom support placement.
Can I use 1st Guardian: Treant in my D&D or tabletop RPG campaign?
Absolutely. 1st Guardian: Treant is designed for tabletop gaming at 32mm scale, fitting standard grid-based combat systems. The dynamic pose and detailed sculpt create memorable encounters and character moments.
Played 1st Guardian: Treant at your table? Log in with your Obsidian Tavern account to leave a balance note, a war story, or a file issue — the sharpest reports get the block revised.
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