Puddlepoison
Puddlepoison — The Encounter
The bloated plague-brute that weeps acid and bottled rot · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Puddlepoison
They say it was a fen-troll that drank from a sorcerer's poisoned well and never stopped swelling. Now the thing called Puddlepoison is more cauldron than creature, its hide a stretched skin over brewing rot, its sores forever weeping a green that kills the grass it touches. Trappers and tinkers found the beast half-dead in its own filth and, rather than slay it, bolted brass pump-cannons to its spine, milking the plague it breeds and aiming the rest at their foes. Where it wallows, wells turn black and cattle bloat and die. It feels little, fears less, and shambles forward through arrows and blades alike, for every wound only bursts another pustule and spreads the contagion wider. The wise burn the ground it has crossed and bury what it leaves, lest the puddle it is named for seep into the next stream and the next village downriver.
Run Puddlepoison in Sixty Seconds
- It is a wall, not a duelist — Puddlepoison shoves into the tightest knot of PCs so its slime taxes every melee swing and its cone catches the most targets.
- Open with the body, hold the breath — lead with Slam and Acid Lash to soften AC, and bank Spew Plague until three or more enemies stand in a 30-ft cone.
- Kill-priority for the DM: the casters — Acid Lash the best armor, Multiattack the squishiest spellcaster, and shrug off the rest with acid/poison resistance.
- When bloodied, lean into the rot — it has no fear; let melee PCs realize every piercing/slashing hit bursts pustules on their own allies standing nearby.
- Three ways to run it — a slow advancing gun-platform that area-denies with plague; a tanky bodyguard for a frail alchemist behind it; or a dying bomb whose Wallow rupture rewards anyone who finishes it in melee.
Puddlepoison
Large monstrosity, neutral evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEWeeping Pustules. The brute's swollen body is wet with toxic slime. A creature that touches Puddlepoison or hits it with a melee attack while within 5 feet takes 4 (1d8) acid damage. When Puddlepoison takes piercing or slashing damage, a pustule bursts: each creature within 5 feet must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or take 4 (1d8) poison damage.
Bottled Rot. Signature. Strapped to its back are alchemical pump-cannons of brewed plague. As a recharge resource, Puddlepoison can vent these (see Spew Plague); the venting can also be triggered by its dying breath (see Reactions).
Actions
Multiattack. Puddlepoison makes two attacks: one with its Slam and one with its Acid Lash, or it uses Spew Plague if available.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) bludgeoning damage plus 4 (1d8) poison damage.
Acid Lash. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) acid damage, and the target's AC is reduced by 1 until the end of its next turn as the acid eats at armor (to a minimum of its unarmored AC).
Spew Plague (Recharge 5-6). Puddlepoison vents its pump-cannons in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 24 (7d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails is also poisoned until the end of its next turn. The sprayed ground becomes difficult terrain coated in slime for 1 minute.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Wallow. Reaction (when reduced to 0 hit points): The brute's gut ruptures. Each creature within 10 feet must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 14 (4d6) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success.
A mountain of toxic, lime-green flesh studded with weeping sores, Puddlepoison lumbers behind a slab of riveted scrap armor while a rack of brass pump-cannons hisses over its shoulders. Its tusked, skull-grinning face leers above a belly so swollen it leaves a glistening trail of acid and bone wherever it drags.
Puddlepoison, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESealed Bile (signature). Puddlepoison's pustules are stoppered with wax. While bound to an ally, it has resistance to poison damage and its slime never harms its allies — only enemies that grapple or strike it in melee take the 1d6 acid splash.
Actions
Gnashing Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or take 3 (1d6) poison damage.
Reactions
Cover the Retreat. When an ally within 10 feet is hit by an attack, Puddlepoison belches a stinking cloud; the attacker must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution save or have disadvantage on its next attack before the start of Puddlepoison's next turn.
A smaller, leashed cousin of the great brute, its sores plugged with tar so it can stand among allies without melting them — a walking poison-battery the party points at the enemy.
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 wallowing into the front line so its Weeping Pustules punish every melee swing, then Acid Lash the best-armored PC to chew their AC. Save Spew Plague for when two or more PCs cluster within the cone. Pair it with a goblin warband or a cultist alchemist who hides behind its bulk.
Shove forward into the cluster and lead with Spew Plague the moment three or more PCs are in the cone, then Multiattack the squishiest caster. Make ranged attackers think twice — every piercing/slashing hit bursts pustules on whoever stands near it. Kill-priority for the party is to drop it at range; reward that by reminding them Wallow goes off when it dies.
Run it as a contagion-engine in a lair or among lesser blight-spawn, never alone — a high-tier party out-acts a lone brute. Pre-spray chokepoints with Spew Plague to deny the melee line, then anchor the field while minions flank. Pair it with a bigger threat (a plague-priest or fen-hag) that herds the party into its cone.
Put Puddlepoison 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 Puddlepoison?
Puddlepoison is built at CR 6 (Tier 2, levels 5-10): AC 15, 138 HP, +7 to hit, save DC 15. Scaled stat blocks for Tier 1 (~CR 2) and Tier 3 (~CR 11) are provided so you can drop it into a level 1-4 or 11-15 party without rebuilding it.
Can Puddlepoison be a companion or ally?
The brute itself is a hazard, but a smaller leashed cousin — Blightmaw, Bound (AC 13, 82 HP) — works as a companion or summoned ally. Its sores are wax-sealed so it won't melt the party, and it can belch a stinking cloud to spoil an enemy's attack on an ally.
Is Puddlepoison a solo boss?
No. It is a durable area-denial add-on, not a centerpiece — it lacks legendary actions, so a full party will out-act it alone. Field it alongside a smarter commander (a plague-priest or alchemist) or amid lesser blight-spawn so its plague cone and pustules actually matter.
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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