Jólakötturinn
Jólakötturinn — The Encounter
The Yule Cat that devours the ill-clothed · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Jólakötturinn
In the long Icelandic dark, when the lamps gutter and the snow walls the doors, the goodwives drive their households to the loom. New wool must be spun, new garments cut and stitched before the longest night, for whosoever wears nothing new by Yule belongs to the Cat. Jólakötturinn comes silent as falling frost, vast as a cottage, and it knows by scent the idle and the unloved who earned no fresh cloth. It does not maul for sport. It hunts the ill-clad with terrible purpose, snatching them whole from the threshold while their kin sleep. Mothers have terrified children into industry with its name for centuries, and yet old crofters swear the great prints in the morning snow are no fable. Offer it a stitched garment and it may pad away unsatisfied. Offer it nothing, and the morning will find one less mouth at the table.
Run Jólakötturinn in Sixty Seconds
- What it is a Huge folklore predator that hunts the ill-clothed — Pounce to knock prone, then bite-grapple-drag. Native CR 6, an add-on, not a solo boss.
- Open charge the squishiest target with Pounce; if they wear no armor or cloak, Yuletide Hunger gives advantage plus 2d8 extra — pick that target first.
- Kill-priority whoever is unarmored or cloakless. The cat's whole kit punishes them; armored frontliners barely register to it.
- When bloodied it grapples the easiest meal and drags it 50 ft. away from the party, isolating the kill — make rescuers chase through the snow.
- Three ways to run it (1) lone terror stalking a snowbound homestead, (2) the punishing capstone of a Yule-monster pack, or (3) a riddle-monster that pads away if the party offers it a freshly made garment.
Jólakötturinn
Huge monstrosity, neutral evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEKeen Smell. The cat has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Pounce. If the cat moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a claw attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the cat can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action.
Yuletide Hunger. Signature. Jólakötturinn hunts those who go without new garments through the long night. Against a creature wearing no armor and no cloak, cape, or other worn outer garment, the cat's bite deals an extra 9 (2d8) piercing damage, and it has advantage on attack rolls made against that creature.
Actions
Multiattack. The cat makes one bite attack and two claw attacks.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) piercing damage. If the target is a Medium or smaller creature, it is grappled (escape DC 15). Until this grapple ends, the cat can't bite another target.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) slashing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Swallowing Bite. The cat makes one bite attack against a creature it is grappling.
A house-sized cat of bristling black fur and pale predatory eyes prowls over a snowbound croft, its endless tail curling above a peasant who cowers in the doorway. The diorama freezes the instant the Yule Cat marks its meal.
Jólakötturinn, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEHunter of the Idle (signature). Once per turn, when the cat hits a creature that is wearing no worn outer garment, it deals an extra 7 (2d6) piercing damage to that target.
Actions
Rending Maw. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage, and a Medium or smaller target is grappled (escape DC 14).
Reactions
Cat's Warning. When an ally the cat can see within 30 feet is attacked, the cat snarls; the ally gains a +2 bonus to AC against that attack.
Bound by a stitched offering, the great cat suffers a single companion to walk at its flank through the snow, sparing them its hunger.
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 a Pounce charge to flatten the squishiest target, then bite to grapple and drag it off. Kill-priority is anyone in light or no armor — Yuletide Hunger turns them into easy prey. At this tier it is a terrifying centerpiece for a small party; back it with snow hazards rather than more bodies.
Open by pouncing the unarmored or cloakless PC for the Yuletide Hunger bonus, knock it prone, then bite to grapple and Swallowing Bite as a bonus action. Spread the two long-reach claws across clustered foes. Pair it with Yule-night minions (frost-touched wolves, a Krampus, or grasping snow) — it hunts best when the party is split chasing it through the drifts.
Run it as the apex predator of a wintry lair: pounce, grapple, and drag victims into the dark while lesser horrors harry the rest. Focus the unclad target relentlessly with advantage. It is not a solo threat at this level — pair it with a bigger flagship boss or a full Yule-monster pack so the party can't simply out-action one cat.
Put Jólakötturinn 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 Jólakötturinn?
Its native build is CR 6 (2,300 XP), a Tier 2 threat for parties of levels 5-10. Stat blocks for Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) are provided so you can drop it into any table by adjusting AC, HP, to-hit, and save DC to the listed bands.
Can Jólakötturinn be a companion or ally?
Yes — see the bound companion block. If the party offers it a freshly stitched garment or earns its grudging tolerance, the Yule Cat will suffer one ally to walk at its flank, hunting the idle alongside them with its Hunter of the Idle bite and a protective snarl.
Why does it care what the party is wearing?
In Icelandic folklore the Yule Cat devours anyone who received no new clothes before Christmas. Mechanically that becomes Yuletide Hunger: against a creature wearing no armor and no cloak or outer garment, the cat gains advantage and extra bite damage. Cloaks, capes, and fresh-made cloth genuinely matter at the table.
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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