Soulshiver
Soulshiver — The Encounter
Armored terror of the doomed cities, harvester of fled souls · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Soulshiver
Where the doomed cities burned, the wicked who tried to flee found the gates barred by a thing of armor and razor-vine. The grimoires name it Soulshiver, sent to ensure no condemned spirit slipped its sentence. It is not a warrior but a warden of damnation: its four lashing talons do not merely kill, they catch the soul mid-flight and fold it shivering into the dark of its plate. Those it slays do not pass on, do not answer the priest's calling, do not rest; they wait, locked within the harvester, until the harvester itself is broken. It hunts with a cold patience, herding the fearful into corners before the killing flurry, and it feels neither the chill of the grave nor the flame that made it. Cut the tendrils and you spare the dead; let it feed, and you bury them twice.
Run Soulshiver in Sixty Seconds
- Reach first Its tendrils hit at 10 ft. and opportunity attacks against it have disadvantage while a tendril stands, so it fights from outside the front line and punishes the back row.
- Open on the soft target It dives the lowest-HP caster or rogue; if it drops them, Soulshiver heals it 10 and the body can't be raised until the horror dies.
- Kill-priority is the dying It seeks anyone already near 0 to seize the soul. Stabilize downed allies fast, or kill the Soulshiver to free everyone it has taken.
- When bloodied It leans on Shiver-Step to kite and saves Reaping Lash for clustered foes; spread out and deny it the 10-ft. cone.
- Three ways to run it Lone stalker harrying the party between rooms; paired escort guarding a flagship boss; or a pack warden herding the fearful into a corner for the lash.
Soulshiver
Medium fiend (devil), lawful evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINESoulshiver. When this creature reduces a humanoid to 0 hit points with a melee attack, it tears the fleeing soul loose. The creature regains 10 hit points, and the slain humanoid cannot be restored to life by any means short of true resurrection or a wish until the Soulshiver is destroyed.
Whip Stance. The four bladed tendrils give the Soulshiver reach. Opportunity attacks against it are made at disadvantage while it has at least one tendril intact.
Actions
Multiattack. The Soulshiver makes three Soul-Blade attacks.
Soul-Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8+3) slashing damage plus 4 (1d8) necrotic damage.
Reaping Lash (Recharge 5-6). The Soulshiver whirls all four tendrils. Each creature within 10 ft. must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) slashing damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by this attack triggers Soulshiver.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Shiver-Step. Reaction When a creature within 10 ft. ends its movement, the Soulshiver may move up to 15 ft. without provoking opportunity attacks, repositioning to keep its prey within reach.
A lean horror sheathed in fitted black-and-blue plate, its crested helm split by a single burning red slit. Four whip-thin tendrils unfurl from its shoulders, each tipped in a glowing crimson talon that drinks the soul as it cuts.
Soulshiver, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESoul Debt (signature). Once per long rest, when an ally within 30 ft. drops to 0 hit points, the Bound seizes their fading spirit and lashes out: the killer takes 13 (3d8) necrotic damage and the ally is stabilized.
Actions
Soul-Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d8+2) slashing damage plus 4 (1d8) necrotic damage.
Reactions
Shiver-Step. When a creature within 10 ft. ends its movement, the Bound moves up to 15 ft. without provoking opportunity attacks.
Sworn to a single keeper rather than to damnation, the Bound turns its harvesting lashes outward, guarding the one soul it is forbidden to take.
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 from reach so the front line can't punish it, then peel off toward the squishiest target with Shiver-Step. Save Reaping Lash for when two or more PCs bunch up. Run it as a stalker harrying a bigger threat, not alone.
Open on the lowest-HP caster or rogue and try to drop them so Soulshiver fires and the corpse can't be raised mid-fight. Whip Stance + Shiver-Step let it kite the tanks; lash the cluster when Reaping Lash is up. Pair it with minions or a flagship boss so the party can't simply focus it down.
Use it as an elite executioner inside a lair or alongside a larger threat, never solo. Hunt the dropped-and-dying: kill-priority is anyone already below half so Soulshiver locks the soul. Bait melee in, then Reaping Lash the knot and Shiver-Step out of the counterswing.
Put Soulshiver 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 Soulshiver?
Its home tier is CR 6 (Tier 2, levels 5-10): AC 16, 123 HP, +7 to hit, save DC 15. The Tier 1 and Tier 3 columns rescale the same kit to roughly CR 2 and CR 11 for levels 1-4 and 11-15.
Can Soulshiver be a companion or ally?
Yes. The companion sidebar, Soulshiver, Bound, is a sworn warden (AC 16, 74 HP) that uses its Soul Debt to punish whoever drops its protected ally and stabilize the fallen, rather than harvesting souls for damnation.
Is Soulshiver a solo boss?
No. It has a punishing kit but no legendary actions, so a four-PC party will out-act it alone. Run it as an elite striker beside minions, a lair, or a bigger flagship adversary.
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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