4th Guardian: Lady of the Sacred Flame
4th Guardian: Lady of the Sacred Flame — The Encounter
Winged keeper of the undying fire, last of four wardens · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is 4th Guardian: Lady of the Sacred Flame
Where the other three wardens fell to ash or pride, the Lady alone still keeps her post. The grimoires name her the Fourth Guardian, set at the innermost gate of the shrine of the undying fire, and say she was kindled rather than born: a soul of mercy poured into a vessel of everlasting flame and bidden never to leave her watch. Her wings are not feathered but burning, each pinion a tongue of the very fire she guards, and the flame about her waist is the hem of the shrine itself made wearable. Pilgrims who came in good faith remember warmth and a voice like a banked hearth; trespassers remember only light, and pain, and the scent of their own scorched daring. She does not pursue, for to abandon the gate is to fail her whole purpose. She burns, she endures, and so long as she stands the Sacred Flame cannot die.
Run 4th Guardian: Lady of the Sacred Flame in Sixty Seconds
- Stand the gate. She never chases. Plant her on what she guards, let the aura punish anyone who comes to her, and use Wings of Flame to slide back into position.
- Open with Searing Brand. First action, mark the deadliest ranged threat or a hidden rogue at 60 ft.; the dim-light rider stops them re-hiding.
- Kill-priority: quenchers. She is fire-immune, so target whoever brings cold, water, or healing; brand and burn them before they smother her.
- When bloodied, lean in. Drag melee into the 10-ft aura and bank on Undying Ember: the first time she would die she erupts for 6d6 instead.
- Three ways to run her: sanctum gate-warden (default), aura tank that forces the party to spread, or paired guardian beside a bigger flame-lord. Never solo.
4th Guardian: Lady of the Sacred Flame
Medium celestial, lawful neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINESacred Flame Aura. At the start of each of the Lady's turns, each creature within 10 feet of her takes 5 (1d10) fire damage. A creature that ends its turn in the aura takes the same damage.
Illumination. The Lady sheds bright light in a 30-foot radius and dim light for an additional 30 feet. While she is in dim light or darkness she has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks she may otherwise attempt; while alight her radiance reveals invisible creatures within the bright light.
Undying Ember. (signature) The first time the Lady drops to 0 hit points, she instead drops to 1 hit point and erupts: each creature within 15 feet must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) fire damage on a failure or half as much on a success. She can use this trait only once per day.
Actions
Multiattack. The Lady makes two Flaming Touch attacks, or makes one Flaming Touch attack and uses Searing Brand.
Flaming Touch. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) fire damage.
Searing Brand. The Lady hurls a lance of sacred fire at one creature within 60 feet. The target must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 22 (5d8) radiant damage on a failure or half as much on a success. On a failure the target also sheds dim light in a 10-foot radius until the end of the Lady's next turn and cannot benefit from being invisible.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Wings of Flame (Reaction). When a creature the Lady can see ends its movement within 5 feet of her, she may beat her burning wings and fly up to half her speed without provoking opportunity attacks; the triggering creature takes 4 (1d8) fire damage.
A radiant woman armored in living embers, her great phoenix-wings of fire spread wide and a skirt of dancing flame trailing to the floor. She is the fourth and last of the four wardens set to keep the Sacred Flame from ever guttering out.
4th Guardian: Lady of the Sacred Flame, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINETend the Flame (signature). As a bonus action, the 4th Guardian: Lady of the Sacred Flame touches a willing creature within 5 feet; that creature gains 5 (1d4 + 3) temporary hit points and its next weapon attack deals an extra 3 (1d6) fire damage.
Actions
Censer Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) fire damage.
Reactions
Cover the Light. When an ally within 10 feet takes fire damage, the 4th Guardian: Lady of the Sacred Flame can halve that damage, drawing it into the censer instead.
A hooded tender who carries the warden's spare coals in a swinging brass censer, feeding her fire and shielding the faithful from it.
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 Brand on the squishiest caster, then close so the Sacred Flame Aura taxes anyone who melees her. If the party clusters, position so two or more sit in the 10-ft aura. Pair her with a frontline brute so this aura punishes the PCs who pile onto it; she is a guardian, not a lone fight.
Lead with Searing Brand to mark the invisibility-leaner or a lurking rogue, then Multiattack the nearest melee. Kill-priority is anyone who can quench her, so brand and burn healers and water/cold casters first. Keep her on the gate she defends with minions blocking flanks; pair her with a bigger threat so the party cannot simply focus her down. When she drops, Undying Ember catches the cluster that swarmed her.
Run her as the inner-sanctum warden of a fire lair: Searing Brand the backline, Multiattack the front, and let the aura grind anyone who refuses to spread out. Use Wings of Flame to stay centered on the gate she protects. Pair her with a larger flame-lord or summoned elementals; her job is to hold the door and tax the clustered party, not to solo the table.
Put 4th Guardian: Lady of the Sacred Flame 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 4th Guardian: Lady of the Sacred Flame?
Her native build is CR 6 (2,300 XP), tuned for a party of levels 5-10. The record includes scaled CR 2-ish and CR 11-ish stat blocks so you can drop her into level 1-4 or level 11-15 games without rebuilding her kit.
Can 4th Guardian: Lady of the Sacred Flame be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a lawful celestial keeper she makes a natural ward or patron for a flame-faith party. Use the Ember-Sworn companion block if you want a smaller bound ally, or run the Lady herself as an NPC guardian who shields a sacred site rather than an enemy.
Is she a solo boss?
No. She is an add-on guardian with no legendary actions, so a four-player party will out-act her in a one-on-one fight. Pair her with a larger flame-lord, summoned elementals, or lair minions and let her aura and Undying Ember punish a clustered party.
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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