Ethereaper
Ethereaper — The Encounter
Bladed harvester that strides the half-real veil · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Ethereaper
Among the harvest-fiends catalogued by hunters of the drowned cities, the ethereaper is named for the manner of its killing: it walks the thin membrane between the living world and the realm of departed souls, never wholly present until its blades have already found you. Folklore of the ruined places holds that such reapers were once executioners bound to a fallen and burning city, condemned after its destruction to gather the dead who try to flee the veil. The curved tendril-scythes are said to be extensions of the creature's own severed soul, which is why their edges glow with the same red light that smolders in its eyes. A killing made by an ethereaper is reckoned twice-fatal, for the wound does not merely end a life but thins it, and those it has struck and survived report dreams of a grey and endless field they were almost made to reap forever.
Run Ethereaper in Sixty Seconds
- Veilstep is the whole fight — out of bright light, attacks against it have disadvantage. Make the party spend a turn on Faerie Fire, see invisible, daylight, or herding it into a torch before they connect.
- Open by going for the back line — it has 40 ft. speed and 15-ft. reach; lunge past the front, double Soul Scythe a caster, then leave with no opportunity attack.
- Kill-priority: the squishiest caster. Two hits on one target add 2d6 necrotic, and Death-Whisper lowers max HP — focus fire ends a PC fast.
- When bloodied, kite with Reaping Riposte — back off so enemies must move toward it, then punish each one that closes within 15 ft. with a free scythe.
- Three ways to run it: a lone veil-stalking assassin (ambush, then flee); a duelist guarding a bigger boss; or a pack with wraithlings and skeletons where its reach lets it strike over the front line.
Ethereaper
Medium fiend, lawful evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEVeilstep. The ethereaper exists half within an unseen world. While it is not in bright light, attack rolls against it have disadvantage unless the attacker can see invisible creatures. If it takes damage from a source that did not have disadvantage, this trait is suppressed until the end of its next turn.
Reaper's Reach. Its arm-blades extend on living tendrils. Its melee attacks have reach 15 ft., and it does not provoke opportunity attacks when it moves out of a target's reach after hitting that target this turn.
Actions
Multiattack. The ethereaper makes two Soul Scythe attacks. If both hit the same target, the target takes an extra 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
Soul Scythe. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
Death-Whisper (Recharge 5-6). The ethereaper exhales a chill of severed souls in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails has its hit point maximum reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken until it finishes a long rest.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Reaping Riposte (Reaction). When a creature the ethereaper can see ends its movement within 15 feet of it, the ethereaper makes one Soul Scythe attack against that creature.
A lithe, blade-armored stalker sheathed in night-dark plate, twin scythe-tendrils unfurling from its shoulders, their inner edges seething with red light as it glides between the seen world and the one beyond.
Ethereaper, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEVeil-Tethered (signature). While within 30 feet of the creature it serves, the wraithling has resistance to all damage from attacks made by creatures it can see.
Actions
Spectral Talon. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 4) necrotic damage.
Reactions
Interpose. When an ally the wraithling can see within 10 feet is hit by an attack, the wraithling can take half of that damage instead.
A lesser harvested soul, kept on a short tether of red light, flitting at its master's heel to shield the killing edge.
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 from shadow with Reaping Riposte range and a single Soul Scythe; the necrotic rider makes one solid hit scary at this tier. Save Death-Whisper for two or more clustered PCs. Pair it with skeletons or cultists so the party cannot just dogpile it.
Open by darting to a back-line caster, double Soul Scythe (the both-hit bonus deletes squishy targets), then slide away free via Reaper's Reach. Use Veilstep to punish ranged-only parties and force them into the light. Hold Death-Whisper for the moment three PCs bunch to revive a downed ally.
Run it as a flanking assassin in a lair of veiled corridors, not alone; Reaping Riposte plus Reaper's Reach lets it carve a path to the healer while minions pin the front. Pair it with a bigger fiend or undead lord so a tier-3 party cannot simply out-action it. Kill-priority is whoever can grant truesight or see invisible, which strips Veilstep.
Put Ethereaper 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 Ethereaper?
Its home build is CR 6 (2,300 XP), tuned for a party of levels 5-10. The same kit is provided dialed down to roughly CR 2 for tiers 1-4 and up to roughly CR 11 for tiers 11-15 — only the numbers change, the traits and actions stay identical.
Can Ethereaper be a companion or ally?
It is built as an adversary, but a bound or redeemed ethereaper can serve a death-touched character as a veil-walking bodyguard. Use the included Wraithling, Bound companion as the lighter, allied version, or run the full block as a temporary summoned guardian under DM discretion.
How do I beat its Veilstep defense?
Veilstep only works while it is not in bright light, so any reliable light source, the see invisibility or faerie fire spells, truesight, or simply landing one solid hit (which suppresses the trait until the end of its next turn) all turn it from near-untouchable into a normal CR 6 striker.
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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