Nighthowler
Nighthowler — The Encounter
The Screaming Dark That Hunts Between Lamps · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Nighthowler
Among the night-things that crawled out of the ruin of Sodom, the howler is the one the survivors will not name aloud, for it is said to hear its own title spoken from any distance and come. It does not roar so much as scream a hole in the air, and where that cry lands the soul rings like a struck bell. By day it folds itself into shadow and the cracks of fallen masonry; by night it runs the streets between the dead lamps, faster than a horse and quieter than guilt. It does not feed as beasts feed. It harvests the moment of terror, the heartbeat before the end, and leaves the body whole and unmarked save for the red ribbons its claws draw. Wise watchmen keep braziers burning in a ring and never, ever let the last flame gutter, for the howler waits at the lip of the dark for that single breath of true night.
Run Nighthowler in Sixty Seconds
- Lights first. Shroud of Night gives it disadvantage to be hit and bonus-action Hide in dim light or dark, so the whole fight hinges on light. Burn a torch in its face or it is nearly untouchable.
- Open with Pounce. Move 20+ feet, claw, force a DC 15 Strength save to knock the target prone, then bonus-action rake. It wants the lone caster or healer on the ground turn one.
- Kill-priority is the healer. Rending Claw stops hit-point regain until its next turn, so it shuts off your cleric while it works. Drop the howler before it isolates your support.
- Mind the Howl. Recharge 5-6, 30-foot psychic burst, DC 15 Con or 22 damage, and fail by 5+ means incapacitated. Spread out; never bunch up within 30 feet.
- Three ways to run it: the patient stalker that strikes from dark and vanishes; the screaming opener that softens a clustered party with the Howl; or the pack assassin diving healers while a bigger threat holds the line.
Nighthowler
Medium fiend (demon), chaotic evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEShroud of Night. While the nighthowler is in dim light or darkness, attack rolls against it have disadvantage and it can take the Hide action as a bonus action. Bright light suppresses this trait until the start of its next turn.
Pounce. If the nighthowler moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a Rending Claw attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the nighthowler can make one bite-rake attack against it as a bonus action.
Actions
Multiattack. The nighthowler makes two Rending Claw attacks.
Rending Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) slashing damage, and the target can't regain hit points until the start of the nighthowler's next turn.
Killing Howl (Recharge 5-6). The nighthowler looses a scream of carved silence. Each creature of its choice within 30 feet that can hear it must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails by 5 or more is also incapacitated until the end of its next turn as the cry rings in its skull.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Slip the Light. When a creature the nighthowler can see ends its turn within 5 feet of it, the nighthowler can move up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks, provided it ends that movement in dim light or darkness.
A lithe, lacquer-black horror sheathed in violet-veined carapace, its masked face split by a perpetual silent scream and its long fingers tipped in bleeding-red claws. It lunges across rubble on clawed feet, one hand splayed wide like a spider made of knives.
Nighthowler, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINELampbearer (signature). Nighthowler sheds bright light in a 20-foot radius and dim light for an additional 20 feet. While within this bright light, allies have advantage on saving throws against being frightened or incapacitated.
Actions
Searing Brand. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) fire damage.
Reactions
Flare. When a creature within 20 feet would be hidden or in darkness, Nighthowler can flood the area with light, ending that creature's concealment until the start of its next turn.
A scarred lantern-warden who has hunted the howler since it took her village, her brazier-staff never allowed to dim.
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.
Keep it in shadow and let it pounce a lone caster, knocking them prone for a free rake. At low tier the Killing Howl alone can break a party, so telegraph it. Pair it with a couple of skirmisher minions and keep the fight in dim light.
Open from darkness with a Pounce on the squishiest PC, then Multiattack to lock down healing. Save Killing Howl for when the party clusters, ideally before they spread out. When bloodied it uses Slip the Light to break line of sight and re-Hide; do not let it run as a solo, pit it alongside a bigger lair threat or a pack.
Run it as the fast assassin in a larger nocturnal warband, peeling off healers while the heavy threat anchors the front. Lead with Killing Howl on a clustered party, then dive the incapacitated target. It pairs with a lair of darkness-shrouding hazards, never fight it alone at this tier.
Put Nighthowler 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 Nighthowler?
Its home build is CR 6 (2,300 XP), a Tier 2 challenge for levels 5-10. The stat block also scales to a CR ~2 Tier 1 version and a CR ~11 Tier 3 version; the traits stay identical and only the numbers move.
Can Nighthowler be a companion or ally?
Not as itself, it is a chaotic-evil predator. The encounter ships an ally instead: Cinderwatch, Bound, a lantern-warden whose light suppresses the howler's shadow tricks and shields allies from fear and incapacitation.
Is the Nighthowler meant to fight a party solo?
No. It has no legendary actions and is built as an add-on assassin, deadly when it can isolate a target but easily out-acted by four PCs alone. Field it with minions, a lair of darkness, or alongside a larger 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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