Hunting Horror
Hunting Horror — The Encounter
Winged serpent of the outer dark, sent to hunt · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Hunting Horror
It is not born; it is sent. The grimoires of the deep cult speak of a thing that dwells where no star has ever shone, summoned only into the lightless hours and dismissed by the touch of the sun. Cthulhu's lesser kin and the servants of darker patrons whistle a name into the void, and the Hunting Horror unfolds from nowhere upon ribbed wings to seek that name across mountain and sea. It does not tire, does not lose the scent, does not turn aside. Those who have seen it survive only because dawn broke and unmade it before the coils closed. Scholars who trace such matters warn that the creature carries no malice of its own, which is worse: it is appetite given purpose, a hound shaped of the outer dark. Where its eggs lie clustered and pale, another waits to be whistled into the world.
Run Hunting Horror in Sixty Seconds
- It's an air threat fly 60 ft. with reach 15 ft. tentacles — keep it honest by forcing it to land or by readying ranged attacks; it has disadvantage and burns in sunlight.
- Open from above dive in, Bite + Tentacles on one target to grapple, then fly straight up — splitting the party is the whole gameplan.
- Kill-priority protect whoever it lifts and shield your daylight/radiant source; 10 radiant a turn in sun plus disadvantage is its hard counter.
- When bloodied it drops the grapple and kites — bites and retreats out of reach, using Coiling Strike on anyone who chases.
- Three ways to run it a relentless tracker that found the party's marked quarry; a summoned hound guarding a cultist; or a clutch-of-eggs lair encounter where killing one wakes the next.
Hunting Horror
Large aberration, chaotic evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINESunlight Hypersensitivity. The horror takes 10 radiant damage when it starts its turn in sunlight. While in sunlight, it has disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks.
Sent to Hunt. Signature. The horror is conjured to pursue one named quarry. It always knows the direction and distance to a creature it has damaged in the last 24 hours, ignoring all cover and obscurement. It has advantage on attack rolls against a creature it has already bitten this combat.
Actions
Multiattack. The horror makes one Bite attack and one Tentacles attack. If both hit the same target, the target is grappled (escape DC 14) and the horror can fly while carrying it.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8+4) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) cold damage.
Tentacles. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 10 feet toward the horror.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Coiling Strike. When a creature the horror can see moves out of its reach, the horror can use its reaction to make one Tentacles attack against that creature.
A scaled serpent-thing the length of three men, its head smothered in writhing feelers, beating broad ribbed wings as twin tentacle-tails lash the air above a bed of pale, swollen eggs.
Hunting Horror, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEPack Scent (signature). While within 30 feet of its bound ally, the whelp has advantage on attack rolls against any creature that ally damaged this turn.
Actions
Rending Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage.
Reactions
Veer Aside. When hit by an attack, the whelp can halve the damage taken by folding its wings and rolling with the blow.
A half-grown horror, wings still thin and translucent, that hunts at its parent's flank and shares the same merciless scent.
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 the air with a dive Bite, then use Tentacles to drag a soft caster off the back line. Kill-priority: whoever can produce daylight or radiant damage. Pair it with a cultist who summoned it so the party has someone to interrupt.
Open by grappling the marked quarry with Bite+Tentacles and flying straight up to split the party. Use Coiling Strike to punish anyone who steps away. Kill-priority: the carried PC, then any source of sunlight. When bloodied it stops grappling and uses flight to kite, biting and retreating. Pair with a flagship summoner or a clutch of eggs as a lair hazard.
Run it as the hunting arm of a bigger threat, not alone. Open with an aerial grapple-and-lift on the marked quarry; Coiling Strike walls off escape. Kill-priority: light-makers, then the grappled ally. Pair it with its summoner and a brood of whelps so the action economy holds against a high-tier party.
Put Hunting Horror 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 Hunting Horror?
Its home tier is CR 6 (2,300 XP) for level 5-10 parties: AC 16, 123 HP, +7 to hit, save DC 14. Scaled stat blocks are provided for level 1-4 (~CR 2) and level 11-15 (~CR 11) so you can drop it into any tier without re-mathing the encounter.
Can Hunting Horror be a companion or ally?
Not as a true companion — it's a conjured predator with no loyalty of its own. The bundled Lesser Whelp, Bound (AC 14, 74 HP) is the allied option: a half-grown horror that hunts at a patron's flank, with Pack Scent and a damage-shrugging reaction. Use the whelp as a summoned hunting beast or a cultist's familiar.
Is the Hunting Horror a solo boss?
No. It's a fast, terrifying add-on, not a centerpiece — it lacks legendary actions, so a four-player party will out-act it alone. Run it alongside its summoner, a brood of whelps, or as the airborne enforcer for a bigger flagship threat.
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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