Puffaddler
Puffaddler — The Encounter
Bloated plague-toad swollen on the venom of a bound trickster · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Puffaddler
The puffaddlers are spawned where the bile of a bound trickster drips eternally upon the wet earth, each drop quickening a tadpole into a thing the size of a war-hog. They swell as they feed, drinking the rot of battlefields and the runoff of poisoned wells until their hides grow taut and translucent with stored venom. The wise know them by the croaking that precedes them through the fens, a sound that curdles milk and sours sleep. A puffaddler does not hunt so much as wallow forward, crushing what it cannot swallow and dissolving the rest in a spew of acrid bile. Killing one is no mercy: the dying beast bursts, and many a poacher who loosed the final arrow has choked to death in the venom-cloud of his own kill. Druids of the marsh count them an omen, for where one puffaddler squats, the trickster's poison has found a new spring from which to seep into the world.
Run Puffaddler in Sixty Seconds
- It bursts when it dies. The first time the puffaddler hits 0 HP, everyone within 10 feet eats 4d10 poison (DC 15 Con, half). Tell melee PCs to step back before the killing blow lands.
- Open by lumbering into the cluster. Walk it into the most packed group, double Slam the front-liner to knock prone, and set up the cone.
- Hold Bile Spew for three or more. The 30-foot cone is your payoff, do not waste it on a single target. Fire when the party bunches.
- Kill-priority: it punishes melee. Spiteful Burst sprays anyone who cuts it, so ranged and casters should soften it while one durable PC holds it in place.
- Three ways to run it: a lone fen-brute wall, the muscle beside a hag or marsh boss, or a brood of two to three swelling together as a venom gauntlet.
Puffaddler
Large monstrosity, chaotic evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEBloated With Bile. Signature. The puffaddler's body is a taut sac of pressurized venom. The first time it drops to 0 hit points, it bursts: each creature within 10 feet must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. The area becomes a 10-foot-radius cloud of toxic mist that is lightly obscured and lasts until the start of the puffaddler's next turn (or 1 minute if it has died), and a creature that starts its turn in the cloud takes 5 (1d10) poison damage.
Lumbering. The puffaddler is slow and ungainly. It cannot take the Dash action, and difficult terrain costs it an extra 5 feet of movement (in addition to the normal cost).
Actions
Multiattack. The puffaddler makes two Slam attacks. If both hit the same target, the target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage plus 9 (2d8) poison damage.
Bile Spew (Recharge 5-6). The puffaddler retches a 30-foot cone of corrosive bile. Each creature in the area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 28 (8d6) 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.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Spiteful Burst. Reaction. When the puffaddler takes piercing or slashing damage from a creature within 5 feet, a jet of venom sprays from the wound. The attacker must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or take 7 (2d6) poison damage.
A grotesque, lime-bright toad-thing swollen near to bursting, its blistered hide weeping venom, fanged maw gaping wide, stubby arms strapped into spiked bracers as it squats atop a midden of cracked skulls.
Puffaddler, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEVenom Glut (signature). Once per short rest, when an ally within 10 feet is hit by an attack, Puffaddler swells and absorbs the blow, reducing the damage by 1d10 and storing it as venom for its next Spit.
Actions
Spit. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 4) poison damage.
Reactions
Slough. Reaction. When Puffaddler takes damage, it can shed a layer of toxic skin, leaving a 5-foot square of caustic slime that is difficult terrain until the end of its next turn.
A hand-reared runt of the brood, kept in a leather sling and fed scraps of poison until it learned to fight beside rather than against its keeper.
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 lumbering into the densest knot of melee and slamming the front-liner prone. Hold Bile Spew until two or more PCs cluster, then loose the cone. Pair it with a marsh-witch or hag who herds the party into its reach; it is a wall and a venom-bomb, not a leader.
Open by wading to the tankiest target and slamming for the prone, then save Bile Spew for a cluster of three or more. Kill-priority for the party is high once it nears death, since it bursts on 0 HP, so warn anyone in melee to back off. Run it as the muscle beside a bigger boss or in a brood of two to three lesser swamp horrors.
Open in melee with a prone-stacking double Slam, then alternate Bile Spew on recharge into the crowd. Lean on Spiteful Burst and the death-burst to punish careless rogues. At this tier it is lair muscle or a brood-mother flanked by smaller spawn, never the centerpiece, so pair it with a bigger threat that controls the field.
Put Puffaddler 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 Puffaddler?
Its home stat block is CR 6 (2,300 XP), tuned for a party of levels 5 to 10. The record also gives down-scaled CR-2-ish numbers for levels 1 to 4 and up-scaled CR-11-ish numbers for levels 11 to 15, with identical traits and only the numbers shifting.
Can Puffaddler be a companion or ally?
A full-grown puffaddler is too dim and toxic to bond with, but the record includes Tadgut, Bound, a hand-reared runt of the brood (AC 13, 82 HP) that spits venom and soaks blows for its keeper, usable as an ally or a beast-master-style companion.
Is the death-burst optional or does it always trigger?
It triggers automatically the first time the puffaddler drops to 0 HP, before it is removed from play. Forgetting it robs the encounter of its signature gotcha, so announce the swelling on the round it nears death so players can choose to disengage.
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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