The Grinch
The Grinch — The Encounter
The Covetous Hairy Spirit That Steals the Midwinter Feast · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is The Grinch
Among the hairy midwinter spirits that prowl the longest nights, none is so consumed by spite as the Covetous One the highlanders simply call the Grinch. Folk who keep the old reckonings warn that on the darkest eve it descends from the frozen heights, drawn down by the warmth of lit hearths and the laughter of those who feast in plenty. Where festival lamps burn brightest, it slinks through shuttered eaves on silent claws to strip a household bare: the roast from the spit, the gifts from the bough, even the green tree itself, all crammed into a sack that never seems to fill. It does not kill for hunger but for the bitter joy of leaving others as empty as itself. Wise families leave a portion of the feast at the threshold, for a sated spirit may pass on and a slighted one will linger, watching the dark windows, counting every blessing it intends to carry away before dawn.
Run The Grinch in Sixty Seconds
- What it is: a hit-and-run fey thief, not a stand-and-fight brute. Its whole game is robbing the party and refusing to be pinned down.
- Open from hiding: Snowbound Cunning lets it Hide as a bonus action in snow or clutter. Lead with a Stolen Bludgeon to knock a target prone, then claw.
- Kill-priority: it goes for casters and anyone carrying obvious treasure. Covetous Grasp steals a weapon or focus and gives the victim disadvantage attacking it.
- When bloodied: it stops trading blows. Snatch one final prize, then Grinch's Getaway every round to disengage for free and make the party chase through the snow.
- Three ways to run it: (1) lone burglar harrying a snowed-in town, (2) ambush duo with the Glaring Snowman, (3) the sticky-fingered skirmisher in a larger midwinter horde.
The Grinch
Medium fey, chaotic evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINESnowbound Cunning. The Grinch can take the Hide action as a bonus action and has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made in snow, dim light, or a cluttered space.
Covetous Grasp. Signature. When the Grinch hits a creature with a melee attack, it can attempt to snatch one unsecured object the target is holding or wearing (a held weapon, a worn pack, a loose item). The target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength or Dexterity saving throw (its choice) or the Grinch takes the object and stows it in its bottomless sack. While the Grinch holds a creature's prized object, that creature has disadvantage on attack rolls against it (the spite of seeing its treasure carried off).
Actions
Multiattack. The Grinch makes two attacks: one with its Raking Claws and one with its Stolen Bludgeon.
Raking Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) slashing damage.
Stolen Bludgeon. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) bludgeoning damage, and a creature of Medium or smaller must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Grinch's Getaway. Reaction. When a creature the Grinch can see ends its turn within 5 feet of it, the Grinch can move up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks, clutching its sack of loot to its chest.
A hunched, shaggy spirit creeps from the dark on clawed feet, a stolen evergreen and a bulging sack of gifts slung over one shoulder, its lipless grin fixed in pure covetous spite.
The Grinch, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEFrozen Sentinel (signature). While motionless, the Snowman is indistinguishable from an ordinary mound of snow (DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) to discern). The first attack it makes on a creature that has not detected it is made with advantage.
Actions
Icy Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8+3) bludgeoning plus 4 (1d8) cold damage, and the target's speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of its next turn.
Reactions
Crumbling Guard. When an ally within 5 feet is hit by an attack, the Snowman can interpose its bulk, reducing the damage by 1d10 as packed snow shatters off its frame.
A squat, top-hatted figure of dirty snow that waits with a coal-eyed glare until trespassers draw near, then lurches awake with a groan of grinding ice.
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 hiding with a Stolen Bludgeon to knock a low-level PC prone, then claw and back off with Grinch's Getaway. Use Covetous Grasp to steal the party's best weapon early, then play keep-away. Pair it with the Glaring Snowman as a starter ambush near a snowed-in village.
Open from hiding (Snowbound Cunning) and Multiattack the squishiest spellcaster, using Covetous Grasp to rob a focus or holy symbol and impose disadvantage on its attacks. When bloodied, snatch one last prize and use Grinch's Getaway every round to peel away and force the party to chase. Kill-priority is whoever tries to recover stolen loot; pair it with the Glaring Snowman or a pack of lesser cold fey.
Run it as the hit-and-run thief inside a larger Yuletide horde, not alone. Open by stealing a key magic item with Covetous Grasp, then bludgeon to prone and use Grinch's Getaway to stay out of melee. Pair it with a bigger threat (an armored midwinter giant or Krampus-style flagellant) so the party must split attention between the brute and the spirit running off with their gear.
Put The Grinch 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 The Grinch?
Its home stat block is CR 6 (Tier 2, levels 5-10): AC 16, 127 HP, +7 to hit, save DC 14. Scaled tactics for Tier 1 (CR ~2) and Tier 3 (CR ~11) are provided so you can drop it into any party without rebuilding it.
Can The Grinch be a companion or ally?
Not as written, it is a spiteful thief that exists to rob and harass. If a party strikes a bargain with it, treat it as a fickle scout that will steal from the very people it serves the moment a better prize appears. The bound Glaring Snowman is the diorama's natural companion piece instead.
Is The Grinch a boss, or an add-on?
An add-on skirmisher. It has no legendary actions and only a single self-preserving reaction, so a four-PC party will out-act it in a straight fight. It shines as the disruptive thief beside a heavier midwinter threat or paired with the Glaring Snowman, not as a solo centerpiece.
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 The Grinch 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