Varith
Varith — The Encounter
The Crimson Wyrm-Steed, Ridden Terror of the Burning Sky · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Varith
Bound from the egg to a single rider, the crimson wyrm called Varith was hatched in a furnace-pit and fed on coals until its blood ran molten. Reavers of the burning waste prize such steeds above all war-mounts: a wyrm that climbs the high air on torn membrane wings, folds, and stoops like a falcon of fire onto a marching column below. Its breath blackens stone and its bite seals shut with cautery. Those who have faced Varith in the field speak first of the sound, a long descending shriek, and only afterward of the cone of flame that follows. The rider steers with a goad of hot iron, for the wyrm answers to no spoken word but its keeper's, and grieves like a hound should that keeper fall. Riderless, it turns feral and burns whatever moves, friend or foe, until the sky is empty and the ground is ash.
Run Varith in Sixty Seconds
- Stay airborne. Varith is a flyer with Flyby, so it dives, hits, and climbs out of melee reach every turn. Never let it sit on the ground where the party can gang it.
- Lead with breath. Open with Scorching Breath when two or more PCs are in a 30-ft cone (DC 15, 10d6 fire); otherwise hold it and Multiattack the front-liner.
- Kill-priority is exposed casters. The wyrm and its rider hunt anyone in light armor caught in the open or in the breath cone.
- Punish the counter-swing. Searing Blood deals 1d10 fire to the first melee attacker each turn, so remind players that hitting it back hurts.
- When bloodied, three ways to run it: a feral riderless beast burns everything and flees; a bonded steed dives for its rider's enemies and grieves if the rider falls; a disciplined mount breaks off and circles for the next breath recharge.
Varith
Large dragon, neutral evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEFlyby. The wyrm-steed doesn't provoke opportunity attacks when it flies out of an enemy's reach.
Searing Blood. Signature. Varith's veins run with living flame. The first time each turn a creature within 5 feet hits it with a melee attack, that creature takes 5 (1d10) fire damage as molten ichor sprays from the wound.
Actions
Multiattack. Varith makes one Bite attack and one Claws attack. It can use Scorching Breath in place of its Bite if available.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d10 + 4) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) fire damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.
Scorching Breath (Recharge 5-6). Varith exhales fire in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 35 (10d6) fire damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success.
A long-necked crimson wyrm with tattered, fire-veined wings, fanged maw agape mid-shriek, bearing a lone armored rider lashed to a war-saddle between its shoulders.
Varith, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEWar-Saddle (signature). While its bonded rider is mounted, Varith and the rider share the same initiative and the rider can't be knocked prone by effects that target the wyrm. The rider has half cover from creatures on the ground.
Actions
Stooping Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) fire damage. If Varith moved at least 20 feet straight toward the target this turn, the hit deals an extra 4 (1d8) fire damage.
Reactions
Wing Buffet. When a creature the rider can see ends its turn within 10 feet of Varith on the ground, the wyrm beats its wings; the creature must succeed on a DC 15 Strength save or be pushed 10 feet and knocked prone.
Loyal only to the hand that fed it coals, Varith fights as one beast-and-rider, a diving thunderclap of flame and talon.
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 the air with Scorching Breath on the clustered party, then Flyby past the squishiest caster for a Bite and climb out of reach. Kill-priority is anyone in light armor caught in the cone. At this tier it is a brutal apex threat, so cut Scorching Breath to once per fight and let it flee at half health.
Open with a strafing run: dive, Multiattack the front-liner blocking the casters, then peel off with Flyby so melee can't pin it. Save Scorching Breath for two or more PCs in a cone, and let Searing Blood punish whoever swings back. Pair it with its rider or a ground-bound boss so the party can't focus it down before it lands a second breath.
Run it as cavalry, not a duelist: one wyrm per flank, breath-then-Flyby, never landing while threatened. Kill-priority remains exposed casters in the cone. Pair it with a bigger threat or a flight of lesser drakes so high-tier parties have to split fire between the sky and the ground.
Put Varith 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 Varith?
Varith is built as a CR 6 Large dragon (2,300 XP) at its native Tier 2, a hard mid-game threat for a party of levels 5-10. The stat block also scales down to roughly CR 2 for Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and up to roughly CR 11 for Tier 3 (levels 11-15) using the tier table; the traits and actions stay identical and only the numbers move.
Can Varith be a companion or ally?
Yes. The companion sidebar, Varith, Bound, turns the wyrm into a bonded war-steed for a single rider, with a War-Saddle trait, a diving Stooping Bite, and a Wing Buffet reaction. It is tuned weaker than the adversary block so a PC mount doesn't overshadow the party.
Why isn't Varith a solo boss?
Varith is a mount and a strike-beast, not a legendary centerpiece. It has no legendary actions or lair, so a four-PC party would out-act it on its own. Field it as an add-on alongside its rider or a bigger ground threat rather than as a single-creature finale.
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 Varith 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.
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