Elder Thing
Elder Thing — The Encounter
Star-headed elder of the frozen pre-human aeons · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Elder Thing
Long before the first ape stood upright, the Elder Things descended from the void on membranous wings, settling the frozen wastes when the seas were young. Neither beast nor god, they were makers: builders of cyclopean cities beneath polar ice, sculptors of life itself, and the unwitting parents of much that now crawls the earth. Their star-shaped heads bristle with eyes that see every direction at once, and they speak in piping whistles that no human throat can answer. Where they raise their cities, the angles run wrong and the stars wheel in patterns the mind refuses. They feel neither cruelty nor mercy, only a vast and patient curiosity, and to them a warm-blooded intruder is a specimen to be opened and catalogued. Those few who have wakened a slumbering Elder Thing from its glacial tomb describe not a monster but an intellect, ancient and indifferent, that regards your terror as merely another datum.
Run Elder Thing in Sixty Seconds
- Hold its turn until you've seen the party's plan — Alien Recoil lets it tentacle-slap the first PC who casts a spell or steps within 10 ft., so it punishes whatever they try first.
- Open from the air: Eyestalk Ray the enemy caster, force the INT save, and strip their reactions so no Shield or counterspell saves them.
- Kill-priority is whoever it last tentacled — Aeons of Knowledge adds 2d6 psychic to all its attacks on that target, so it should focus-fire to cash that in.
- When bloodied, lean on legendary actions: Tentacle Strike to keep two PCs grappled, Whistling Glissando before their big hitter swings, Unfold Wings to escape a melee swarm.
- Three ways to run it: cold curious scientist (grapples to 'study,' never finishes anyone), patient solo boss (kites with rays and wings), or lair anchor surrounded by shoggoth-spawn.
Elder Thing
Large aberration, lawful neutral
CR 5 · 1,800 XP · GUIDELINERadial Anatomy. The elder thing's five-fold body has no front or back. It cannot be flanked, and attacks against it gain no advantage from being unseen by it. Once per turn it can make an opportunity attack with disadvantage immunity even against a creature that disengages.
Aeons of Knowledge. Signature. The elder thing has dwelt since before humankind and has dissected a thousand minds. When it hits a creature with a tentacle, it learns one fact the target knows (a password, a fear, a weakness); until the end of the elder thing's next turn, its attacks against that creature deal an extra 7 (2d6) psychic damage as it exploits what it has read.
Actions
Multiattack. The elder thing makes two Tentacle attacks and one Eyestalk Ray attack.
Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8+4) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 15) if it is Large or smaller.
Eyestalk Ray. Ranged Spell Attack: +8 to hit, range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d8+3) psychic damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw or be unable to take reactions until the start of its next turn.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Alien Recoil. Reaction. When a creature the elder thing can see casts a spell or moves within 10 feet of it, the elder thing makes one Tentacle attack against that creature.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Whistling Glissando. The elder thing pipes an alien chord. Each creature within 15 feet must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on its next attack roll or ability check (chosen by the elder thing).
Tentacle Strike. The elder thing makes one Tentacle attack.
Unfold Wings (Costs 2 Actions). The elder thing flies up to its fly speed without provoking opportunity attacks. If it ends this movement adjacent to a creature, that creature must succeed on a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw or take 9 (2d8) slashing damage from the membranous wing-edges.
A barrel-bodied horror crowned by a starfish head of waving cilia and eyestalks, its five radiating limbs splaying into branching tentacles while vast ribbed wings unfurl like dark sails.
Elder Thing, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEProtoplasmic Mass (signature). The spawn is amorphous and can move through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. It has advantage on saving throws against being grappled or restrained.
Actions
Pseudopod. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) bludgeoning damage plus 4 (1d8) acid damage.
Reactions
Engulfing Surge. When a creature within 5 feet hits the elder thing, the spawn flows between them; the attacker must succeed on a DC 14 Strength save or be knocked prone.
A churning hill of black slime studded with momentary eyes, bred by the elder things as a beast of burden and set to guard its sleeping master.
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 the Eyestalk Ray to lock down a caster's reactions, then wade in and grapple the front-liner with tentacles. Use Alien Recoil to punish the first PC who casts a spell. Kill-priority: spellcasters first, since they have the lowest INT save and the ray shuts them off.
Run it as a true solo: open from the air with Eyestalk Ray on the party's caster, then land and grapple the strongest melee PC. Spend legendary actions on Tentacle Strike when bloodied to keep two PCs locked down, and Whistling Glissando before a big enemy turn. Alien Recoil makes spellcasting and approaching it both costly, so it out-actions a four-PC party. Kill-priority: whoever it last hit with a tentacle (Aeons of Knowledge tax).
At high tier run it from its lair, surrounded by shoggoth-spawn and lesser horrors that grapple while it rays from above. Pair it with a bigger threat such as a flying aberration patron; the elder thing is the brain, not the bruiser. Use Unfold Wings to reposition over the back line and Glissando to blunt the party's alpha strike, with minions soaking the front.
Put Elder Thing 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 Elder Thing?
Its home statline is CR 5 (1,800 XP), tuned for a 5th-10th level party as a genuine solo boss thanks to its legendary actions and the Alien Recoil reaction. Scaled versions are provided for tiers 1 (~CR 2) and 3 (~CR 11) so you can drop it into almost any campaign.
Can Elder Thing be a companion or ally?
Not really — it is an ancient, indifferent alien intellect, not a follower. If you need a creature on the party's side, use the bound Shoggoth-Spawn companion (AC 14, 68 HP) provided here, an amorphous protoplasmic guardian that grapples and engulfs while the real elder thing schemes elsewhere.
How do I keep the Elder Thing from being a boring grappler?
Make it think. It is a scientist, not a brute: have it grapple to study, narrate the facts it reads with Aeons of Knowledge, and use Eyestalk Ray and Whistling Glissando to control the battlefield instead of just punching. The horror is its alien indifference, not its damage.
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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