Nerke, East Mushroom Guardian
Nerke, East Mushroom Guardian — The Encounter
Bark-skinned warden of the eastern fungal grove · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Nerke, East Mushroom Guardian
In the eastern reaches of the great fungal wood dwell the Ashitake folk, mushroom people who tend the rot and growth of the deep grove. Among them Nerke stands as a guardian of the eastern threshold, grown across slow seasons from a single sacred cap until it could walk and reach and rend. It speaks little, for the Ashitake converse in spore and scent rather than words, but it understands the tongues of trespassers well enough to judge their intent. Those who come to gather mushrooms with humble baskets and quiet feet are suffered to pass; those who come with axe and torch to burn the grove for farmland find the air itself turned poison against them. Nerke does not pursue beyond its border. It plants itself like a tree at the grove's edge, drinking strength from the living soil, and so long as the earth beneath it lives it will mend every wound and stand its watch unbroken.
Run Nerke, East Mushroom Guardian in Sixty Seconds
- Plant it, don't chase. Nerke is a warden, not a hunter. Root it at a threshold and let the party walk into the Spore Cloud and Rooted Stance.
- Open with Spore Burst. The 15-ft. cone hits hardest at range one, while the party is still bunched up entering the grove.
- Kill-priority: fire-bearers. Torches and fire damage suppress the Spore Cloud and shut off Regeneration, so it should swing first at whoever carries flame.
- When bloodied, keep it standing on living soil for the 10 HP/turn heal and make the party spend a turn moving it off, or out-damage the regen with fire and acid.
- Three ways to run it: lone grove-warden gating a path, an anchor amid Sporelings and spore terrain, or a slow siege monster the party must lure off its soil to kill.
Nerke, East Mushroom Guardian
Medium plant, neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINESpore Cloud. Signature. Nerke's cap exhales a haze of glowing spores in a 10-ft. radius around it. A creature that enters that space for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the start of its next turn. Bright fire (a torch is not enough) suppresses the cloud for 1 minute.
Regeneration. Nerke regains 10 hit points at the start of its turn if it is in contact with soil or living plants and has at least 1 hit point. Fire or acid damage suppresses this trait until the start of its next turn.
Actions
Multiattack. Nerke makes two Rending Claw attacks.
Rending Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 4) slashing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or take 4 (1d8) poison damage at the start of its next turn as spores root in the wound.
Spore Burst (Recharge 5-6). Nerke releases a thick gout of spores in a 15-ft. cone. Each creature there must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. On a failure the creature is also poisoned until the end of its next turn.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Rooted Stance. Reaction. When a creature Nerke can see within 10 ft. hits it with a melee attack, Nerke roots its feet and lashes back, dealing 7 (2d6) slashing damage to the attacker.
A towering humanoid of woven root and bark, crowned by a broad speckled cap that breathes faint golden spores. Long taloned fingers and a knotted vine sash mark Nerke as a warden, not a wanderer.
Nerke, East Mushroom Guardian, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESpore Trail (signature). When the Nerke, East Mushroom Guardian moves, it can leave a 5-ft. patch of clinging spores in one space it leaves. The first creature to enter that space must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or have its speed halved until the end of its next turn.
Actions
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) slashing damage.
Reactions
Burst on Death. When the Nerke, East Mushroom Guardian drops to 0 hit points, each creature within 5 ft. must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or take 5 (2d4) poison damage.
A knee-high cap-child of the grove, bound to a warden's side, scattering spores as it scurries underfoot.
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 with Spore Burst into the tightest cluster, then plant in a doorway so melee comes to it and triggers Rooted Stance. Kill-priority is anyone carrying fire. Pair it with a fungal lair full of spore patches rather than running it alone.
Wade into the front line so the Spore Cloud blankets the melee, then Multiattack the strongest weapon-user. Hold Spore Burst for two or more clustered PCs. Standing on living soil it heals 10/turn, so make the party choose between burning it (kill its Regeneration) or escaping the cloud.
Run it as the anchor of a fungal warren, surrounded by Sporelings and spore-patch terrain. Open with Spore Burst, then Multiattack to root the front-liners with poison. Kill-priority is fire and lightning casters; pair it with a bigger grove-spirit so the party can't simply burn it down.
Put Nerke, East Mushroom Guardian 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 Nerke?
Nerke is built at CR 6 (2,300 XP) in its native Tier 2 band, a solid mid-level threat. The Tier 1 (CR ~2) and Tier 3 (CR ~11) columns let you drop or raise it for a level 1-4 or level 11-15 party using the same traits and actions.
Can Nerke be a companion or ally?
Yes. Nerke is a natural grove guardian rather than an aggressor, so a druid or fey-friendly party that earns the Ashitake's trust can gain it as a stationary defender. The bound Sporeling makes a lighter, mobile companion if you want something a single player can run.
Is Nerke a boss or an add-on?
An add-on. It has no legendary actions and lacks a full solo action-economy kit, so a four-PC party will out-act it one-on-one. Pair it with a larger grove-spirit or a swarm of Sporelings to make a real encounter.
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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