Giant Cobra
Giant Cobra — The Encounter
Armored Coil of the Venom Pit, Hood Raised to Strike · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Giant Cobra
The grimoires of the southern deserts name this beast the Crowned Coil, born where venom seeps into the bones of older serpents and hardens their hides into living plate. It is no mere snake but a thing grown past natural measure, its scales fused into a spiked carapace that turns aside spears and arrows alike. Hunters who have tracked it speak of a stillness before the strike: the great hood lifts, swells, and holds motionless, and in that pause a careless quarry mistakes the creature for stone. Then the head falls like a dropped portcullis. Those who survive the bite seldom outlive the venom, for it does not merely sicken; it clouds the eyes and stills the limbs. The Coil prefers ruined cisterns, sunken temples, and the broken aqueducts where warmth lingers, coiling in the dark to wait. Whole caravans have vanished within sight of water, the wells they sought already claimed and guarded by a sentinel that does not sleep.
Run Giant Cobra in Sixty Seconds
- Hold, do not chase. Reared Hood and the venom bonus only work on a turn it has not moved, so plant it on a chokepoint and make the party come to it.
- Open with Venom Spray when the party is clustered, or open with a full-power bite if only one target is in reach; then settle into the coil.
- Kill-priority: the grappled PC. Once Constrict pins someone, pile bites on them while Coil Recoil bites anyone who steps adjacent to free them.
- When bloodied, stop spreading attacks and dump everything into the restrained target to drop it before the party can break the grapple.
- Three ways to run it: a still sentinel coiled on a well or shrine; a charmer's bound serpent that strikes when its keeper is hit; or one of several giant snakes flanking a flagship boss.
Giant Cobra
Large beast, unaligned
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEReared Hood. While the cobra has not moved this turn, its bite attacks deal an extra 9 (2d8) poison damage and it makes the saving throw of its Venom Spray with advantage on the attack. Rearing high to strike down is its preferred stance.
Serpentine Agility. The cobra does not provoke opportunity attacks when it moves out of an enemy's reach, slithering through the gap before a blade can fall.
Actions
Multiattack. The cobra makes one Bite attack and one Constrict attack, or it uses Venom Spray.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or take 18 (4d8) poison damage and be poisoned until the end of its next turn.
Constrict. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 14). Until the grapple ends the target is restrained and the cobra cannot constrict another creature.
Venom Spray (Recharge 5-6). The cobra spits venom in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 31 (7d8) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails is also blinded until the end of its next turn.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Coil Recoil. When a creature the cobra can see ends its turn within 5 feet, the cobra can use its reaction to make one Bite attack against that creature.
A serpent the length of a war-galley's mast rears from its own coiled bulk, the armored plates of its hood flared wide and bristling with bone spikes. Its jaws hinge open to bare paired fangs the size of cavalry sabers.
Giant Cobra, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESentinel Stillness (signature). While the Coil has not moved since the start of its last turn, it has advantage on Stealth checks and the first creature to enter its reach has disadvantage on saves against its venom until the end of that creature's turn.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8+3) piercing damage, and the target makes a DC 13 Constitution save or takes 9 (2d8) poison damage and is poisoned until the end of its next turn.
Reactions
Strike From the Coil. When an ally within 10 feet is hit by a melee attack, the Coil can make a Bite attack against the attacker if it is within reach.
Bound by a snake-charmer's pact, the Coil rests draped about its keeper's shoulders, hood folded, eyes half-lidded, waiting for the word that lifts it into striking height.
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 cover with Reared Hood active so the first bite lands at full venom. Constrict the squishiest front-line PC to pin them in melee, then save Venom Spray for when two or more cluster to heal a downed ally. Pair it with a charmer-cultist or a pack of smaller snakes; it is a guardian add-on, not a lone threat.
Lead with Venom Spray into a clustered party, then close and Constrict whoever failed the save to keep them blinded and restrained. Kill-priority is the grappled target; concentrate bites there while Coil Recoil punishes anyone who steps adjacent. Best run guarding a well or shrine alongside a lair full of difficult terrain so it never has to chase.
At this tier run it as a lair guardian beside a bigger threat, not solo. Hold position to keep Reared Hood and Coil Recoil online, spray the moment three or more bunch up, and Constrict the party's controller to break concentration. It excels when minions or a flagship boss force the party into its strike range; let melee come to the coil.
Put Giant Cobra 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 Giant Cobra?
Its home tier is CR 6 (2,300 XP), tuned for a party of levels 5-10: AC 16, 127 HP, +7 to hit, save DC 14. Stat lines for tiers 1 (CR ~2) and 3 (CR ~11) are provided so you can drop the same creature into a lower- or higher-level table without rebuilding it.
Can Giant Cobra be a companion or ally?
Yes. The companion block, The Crowned Coil, Bound, gives a snake-charmer or beast-handler a guardian serpent with about 76 HP that strikes from stillness and lashes out when its keeper is struck. It is built as an ally NPC, not a player race or class option.
How do I keep the cobra from feeling like a single sack of HP?
Lean on its stance. Because Reared Hood and the full venom bonus require it to stay put, the fight becomes a battle over positioning rather than a slugfest. Use difficult terrain or a tight lair so the party must enter its reach, and let Coil Recoil and the grapple turn every approach into a gamble.
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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