Meowride
Meowride — The Encounter
The Whiskered Coach That Runs Between Waking and Dream · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Meowride
Folk of the hedge-roads tell of the Whiskered Coach, a great drowsy cat that wears a traveler's hat and carries a lit cabin upon its back. It is said to appear at the boundary places where the waking world thins toward dream: the last lamp of a village, a footbridge over still water, the moment between one breath of sleep and the next. Those it judges weary or lost it permits to climb inside, and it bears them swift and soft to wherever they most needed to go, asking only warmth and a kind word for the road. It cannot be ridden by force; cruelty makes it bolt, and the cruel are left to walk. Some claim the small shapes glimpsed at its windows are not passengers at all but the dreams of those still sleeping, gathered up and ferried home. It hunts only mice and unkindness, and purrs in a register that loosens fear from the chest.
Run Meowride in Sixty Seconds
- What it is a Huge living coach-cat: fast, evasive, carries riders, and never wants to stand and slug it out.
- Open with a Dash-in Pounce to knock the squishiest enemy prone, then Bite them while they are down.
- Kill-priority it values its passengers over the kill, so threaten the howdah riders to burn its Cradle the Fallen reaction and pin it in place.
- When bloodied it stops trading and starts fleeing: Bounding Step to Disengage every turn and run for a boundary place; chase it or it escapes.
- Three ways to run it a runaway hazard the party must board and calm; a guardian steed that ferries them to safety; or an enemy's getaway mount that whisks the villain out of reach.
Meowride
Huge fey, chaotic neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINELiving Coach. Meowride's hollow back is fitted with a railed howdah that holds up to four Small or Medium passengers. A creature riding inside has half cover and may climb in or out as part of its own movement when the cat is within 5 feet. Meowride is never charmed or frightened while it carries a willing passenger.
Featherfall Gait. Meowride ignores difficult terrain, can run across mud, water, and the open backs of crowds without sinking, and takes no damage from falling 30 feet or less. When it Dashes it does not provoke opportunity attacks.
Lantern Eyes. Signature. Meowride's wide lamp-bright eyes pierce gloom and glamour. It has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight, automatically detects invisible creatures within 30 feet, and the first time each turn it begins its move within 30 feet of a hidden or invisible creature, that creature is revealed (its location no longer benefits from being unseen until the start of Meowride's next turn).
Actions
Multiattack. Meowride makes one Bite attack and one Pounce attack.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d8 + 4) piercing damage.
Pounce. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and if the target is Large or smaller it must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone as Meowride bowls past it.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Bounding Step (Bonus Action). Meowride takes the Dash or Disengage action.
Cradle the Fallen (Reaction). When a passenger riding in the howdah would be hit by an attack, Meowride lurches to shield them; the rider gains a +3 bonus to AC against that attack. If the attack still hits, Meowride may take the damage in the rider's place.
A house-sized cat in a battered top hat trots upon a planked crossing, its glassed flank glowing with lantern light and the small faces of passengers peering from its windows.
Meowride, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEFaithful Steed (signature). Meowride accepts up to four riders in its howdah and never flees while a rider remains aboard. While mounted on or riding within it, allies have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8 + 3) piercing damage.
Reactions
Cradle the Fallen. When a rider in the howdah is hit by an attack, that rider gains a +3 bonus to AC against it; if the attack still hits, Meowride may take the damage instead.
Won over with a saucer of cream and a soft word, the great coach-cat adopts a band of travelers and will not abandon them while one still rides between its windows.
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 by Dashing into the middle of the party, then Pounce to bowl over the frontline and scatter them prone. Use Bounding Step to Disengage and reposition every round so it never trades full attacks standing still. It is not a solo threat at this tier; run it as a runaway hazard or steed contested by a darker driver.
Open with a charging Pounce on a squishy caster to knock them prone, then Bite the prone target. Kill-priority: it will protect its passengers over winning, so threaten the howdah to bait Cradle the Fallen and waste its reaction. Keep it mobile with Bounding Step; pair it with a rider-villain or pack of skirmishers who exploit the prone it leaves behind.
A fast harrier that runs interference rather than a centerpiece. Use Lantern Eyes to strip stealth and invisibility from the party's flankers, then Pounce-and-Bite to keep one target prone while bigger threats capitalize. With minions or a lair, it ferries enemy casters out of reach each round; pair it with a heavier boss and let Meowride control the board, not carry the fight.
Put Meowride 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 Meowride?
Meowride is built at CR 6 (2,300 XP) in its native Tier 2 form, a fast Huge fey skirmisher for parties of levels 5-10. Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) stat lines are provided; the traits are identical and only the numbers shift.
Can Meowride be a companion or ally?
Yes. The companion block 'Meowride, Bound' gives it AC 14, 76 HP, a Bite, the Faithful Steed trait, and the Cradle the Fallen reaction, so it serves as a four-seat living coach that shields its riders and never flees while one remains aboard. Win it over with kindness, never force.
Is Meowride a solo boss?
No. It carries no legendary actions and only a defensive reaction, so a four-player party will out-act it. Run it as a mobile harrier, a hazard, or a getaway mount, and pair it with a heavier flagship threat or a pack of minions to make it sing.
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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