Shub-Niggurath
Shub-Niggurath — The Encounter
The Black Goat of the Woods with a Thousand Young · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Shub-Niggurath
Whispered of only in the forbidden margins of the Necronomicon, the Black Goat of the Woods is the dark fecundity of the cosmos given monstrous shape. It does not walk so much as well up from the earth, a churning column of birthing mouths and questing tendrils that hymn an obscene, fertile madness. Cultists who keep its rites in moonless clearings call it mother and master in the same breath, for from its thousand young spill the lesser horrors that gnaw at the edges of sane lands. To stand in its presence is to feel one's thoughts unspool: the mind grasps at meanings never meant for waking creatures and finds only the cold, indifferent hunger of the void. It cares nothing for worship or sacrifice; it merely propagates, endlessly, mindlessly, across the gulfs between stars. Those who survive an encounter rarely remember it whole. They recall only the smell of wet bark and afterbirth, the sound of many small things being born, and a single thought, not their own, pressing against the inside of the skull.
Run Shub-Niggurath in Sixty Seconds
- It is a solo boss with a kit. Three legendary actions per round (extra Tentacle, Disgorge Spawn, Whispers from Beyond) plus the Lashing Recoil reaction let it out-act a four-PC party. Run it as the climax, not a speed bump.
- Open by spawning, then grapple. Birth a Spawnling on turn one, then Tentacle the lowest-AC striker to restrain them and set up Engulfing Maw next round.
- Kill-priority for the party is a trap. Killing Spawnlings strips the boss's save advantage but bursting young deal acid and it births more each turn; players must decide whether to clear adds or focus the mother.
- When bloodied, flood the board. Keep three Spawnlings alive for advantage on saves and use Disgorge Spawn legendary actions to screen the boss behind a wall of mouths.
- Three ways to run it: a lone earth-rooted horror at a cult shrine; the heart of a clearing lair with worshipers; or paired with a smaller Mythos add (a Mi-Go pack) as the final wave.
Shub-Niggurath
Huge aberration, chaotic evil
CR 10 · 5,900 XP · GUIDELINESpawn of the Thousand Young. Signature. The Black Goat is wreathed in a forest of birthing mouths and lashing tendrils. At the start of each of its turns, it births a Spawnling (use the companion's stats) in an unoccupied space within 10 feet, to a maximum of three Spawnlings at once. While at least one Spawnling is alive, the Black Goat has advantage on saving throws.
Maddening Presence. A creature that starts its turn within 30 feet of the Black Goat and can see it must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or take 7 (2d6) psychic damage and have disadvantage on its next attack roll. On a success, it is immune to this trait for 24 hours.
Actions
Multiattack. The Black Goat makes three Tentacle attacks. It can replace one attack with Engulfing Maw if a target is grappled.
Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d6 + 6) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 16) if it is Large or smaller. Until the grapple ends, the target is restrained.
Engulfing Maw. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature grappled by the Black Goat. Hit: 21 (4d6 + 6) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) acid damage as a hidden mouth closes over it.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Lashing Recoil. Reaction. When a creature the Black Goat can see hits it with an attack or casts a spell within 15 feet, the Black Goat whips a tendril at the attacker: the creature must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or take 11 (2d10) bludgeoning damage and be pushed 10 feet away.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Tentacle. The Black Goat makes one Tentacle attack.
Disgorge Spawn (Costs 2 Actions). The Black Goat immediately uses Spawn of the Thousand Young, ignoring the once-per-turn limit, and the new Spawnling can move up to its speed.
Whispers from Beyond (Costs 2 Actions). The Black Goat unleashes a wave of alien thought. Each creature within 30 feet must make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw, taking 18 (4d8) psychic damage on a failure, or half as much on a success.
A swaying pillar of horned, fibrous tendrils erupts from a beast's gaping maw, ringed by crystalline spurs of bone-pale matter that breach the soil where the Black Goat takes root.
Shub-Niggurath, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEBoiling Multiplication (signature). When a Shub-Niggurath dies, each creature within 5 feet must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 5 (2d4) acid damage as it bursts.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6 + 2) piercing damage.
Reactions
Shield the Mother. When the Black Goat within 5 feet is hit by an attack, the Shub-Niggurath can lunge into the path, taking the damage instead and reducing it by 5 (1d8).
A half-formed thing of mouths and groping limbs, vomited fresh from the parent's flank and already starving.
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 birthing a Spawnling, then grab the squishiest PC with a Tentacle and drag them toward the maw. If the party clusters, hit Whispers from Beyond on initiative count 20. Kill-priority: the lone Spawnling first, then keep distance from the grappling reach.
Lead with Maddening Presence pressure and spawn every turn to build a wall of bodies between the party and itself. Engulf a grappled striker, then spend legendary actions on extra Tentacles. When bloodied, Disgorge Spawn back-to-back to flood the field and screen the boss.
This is a true centerpiece solo: open by spawning, grapple a melee PC, and Engulf on Multiattack. Punish every caster with Lashing Recoil and burn legendary actions on Whispers from Beyond against clustered parties. When bloodied, keep three Spawnlings alive for save advantage and Disgorge to reset the screen; the PCs must choose between killing young or the unkillable mother.
Put Shub-Niggurath 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 Shub-Niggurath?
Its home tier is Tier 3 (levels 11-15), built around CR 10 (5,900 XP). Because it is solo_capable with a full legendary-action kit and a punishing reaction, its sheet sits one band below raw Tier 3 numbers so it plays up to challenge a full party. Drop-in stat lines for Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 2 (levels 5-10) are provided in the tiers block.
Can Shub-Niggurath be a companion or ally?
The Black Goat itself never serves anyone, but its Birthed Spawnling makes a thematic bound companion (AC 13, 22 HP) that bites, bursts on death for acid damage, and can throw itself in front of its mother. Use it as a cultist's summoned minion or a corrupted familiar.
Is it solo-ready or does it need minions?
Solo-ready. The spawn trait, three legendary actions, and Lashing Recoil reaction give it the action economy to anchor an encounter alone. That said, it shines hardest in its lair, where it self-generates Spawnlings to screen itself and pressure the party from multiple angles.
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
Played Shub-Niggurath at your table? Log in with your Obsidian Tavern account to leave a balance note, a war story, or a file issue — the sharpest reports get the block revised.
Log in to comment