Xylophagus
Xylophagus — The Encounter
Red-Skinned Devourer, the Horned Brute of the Pit · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Xylophagus
The grimoires name the xylophagus among the lesser devourers of the pit, born not from any throne of fire but from the gnashing hunger of the deep places. Its name means "the wood-eater," though it is no eater of timber; the scholars who first scrawled it watched the thing splinter a man's bones as easily as kindling and grind the marrow between its teeth. It wears horns like a beast and the cunning of one too: no schemer, only appetite given shape. Where it walks, it is sent ahead of crueler masters, a hound loosed at the front of the charge to break ranks and feed. Bind salt and cold iron about your camp, for it scorns fire and frost alike and laughs at honest steel. It cannot be reasoned with, only outlasted or out-bled, and even bloodied it grows swifter as it gorges. Strike it down quickly, lest its hunger find your bones next.
Run Xylophagus in Sixty Seconds
- Identity Xylophagus is a Medium fiend brute (CR 6 native) — a marrow-eating shock-trooper, not a boss. Run it as muscle beside a caster or with a pack of its own kind.
- Open with Gore to knock a front-liner prone, then Multiattack the prone target with both Spiked Cudgels for ~32 damage a round.
- Kill-priority It hunts fleeing or low-HP targets — Marrow-Hunger gives it temp HP and +10 speed every time it drops a creature, so don't let it snowball.
- When bloodied Nothing softens; it just keeps coming. Bait its Pit-Spite reaction (a free Gore on whoever melees it) with an expendable hit before your striker dives in.
- Three ways to run it (1) lone brute as a room's big threat at low tier, (2) the bodyguard of a spellcaster, (3) a 2-3 model hunting pack that flanks and breaks ranks.
Xylophagus
Medium fiend (demon), chaotic evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEReckless Onslaught. At the start of its turn, the xylophagus can gain advantage on all its melee weapon attack rolls this turn. If it does, attack rolls against it also have advantage until the start of its next turn.
Marrow-Hunger. Signature. When the xylophagus reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, it gains 10 temporary hit points and its speed increases by 10 feet until the end of its next turn as it gorges on splintered bone.
Actions
Multiattack. The xylophagus makes two Spiked Cudgel attacks.
Spiked Cudgel. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8+4) bludgeoning damage plus 4 (1d8) piercing damage from the jagged spikes.
Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6+4) piercing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be pushed 10 feet away and knocked prone.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Pit-Spite (Reaction). When a creature the xylophagus can see hits it with a melee attack, it can make one Gore attack against that creature.
A slab of red, vein-corded muscle crowned by two great curving horns, the xylophagus stalks forward dual-wielding spike-studded cudgels, its loincloth and scavenged scrap-plate the only thing it deigns to wear into the slaughter.
Xylophagus, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEAsh Cloud (signature). When the cinderling takes fire or radiant damage, it emits a gust of ash; each creature within 5 feet must succeed on a DC 12 Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of its next turn.
Actions
Searing Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4+4) slashing damage plus 3 (1d6) fire damage.
Reactions
Cover the Brute. When an ally within 5 feet is hit by an attack, the cinderling can take half of that damage in its place.
A small, smoldering imp-thing bound to the brute's service, scuttling at its heels and spitting embers to blind those who would flee.
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 with Reckless Onslaught and charge the squishiest caster; the band will tear through low-level PCs fast, so cap it at one and treat it as the room's big threat. If foes cluster, lead with Gore to knock one prone, then Multiattack the prone target. Pair it with a couple of cultists or a summoner rather than running it alone.
Open by Goring the front-liner prone, then Multiattack to pin them down; kill-priority is anyone who tries to flee, since Marrow-Hunger makes a kill speed it up. When bloodied it fights harder, not smarter, so bait its Pit-Spite reaction with a throwaway melee hit before your striker commits. Use it as the muscle beside a spellcaster or a pack of lesser fiends.
At this tier it is a shock-trooper, not a boss; lead it with Reckless Onslaught to drop a PC fast and trigger Marrow-Hunger's speed surge, then chase the next. Run two or three as a hunting pack, or pair them with a bigger threat that holds the party in place while the brutes flank. Kill-priority for the party should be the brute that just scored a kill, before it builds momentum.
Put Xylophagus 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 Xylophagus?
Its home stat block is CR 6 (2,300 XP), tuned for a party of levels 5-10. Scaled tiers are provided for levels 1-4 (around CR 2) and levels 11-15 (around CR 11) — the traits stay identical, only the AC, HP, to-hit, save DC, and damage shift between bands.
Can Xylophagus be a companion or ally?
It is a chaotic, appetite-driven fiend with no loyalty, so it makes a poor willing ally for most parties. If you need an allied version, use the bound Cinderling companion provided here, or reflavor the brute as a leashed pit-fighter held by a stronger master who can command it.
Is Xylophagus a solo boss?
No. It lacks legendary actions and a real action-economy kit, so a four-PC party will out-act it. Use it as an add-on: the muscle beside a flagship caster, a lair guardian, or part of a brute pack. Pair it with a bigger threat rather than fielding it alone against a full party.
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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