Zarakesh
Zarakesh — The Encounter
The Flayed Hunger, a winged carrion-fiend of the red waste · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Zarakesh
Where the old grimoires record famine and plague, they whisper of the Flayed Hunger that follows in the wake of ruin. Zarakesh is no proud spirit of the binding-books but a thing of appetite, a carrion-fiend that men of the red waste say is born from the unburied dead of a battlefield left too long under the sun. Its hide is peeled to the bone so that the world may always see what it is: hunger given wings. It descends upon caravans and besieged walls alike, drawn to the stink of the dying, and its very nearness curdles the air into a poison that fells the strong before its talons ever fall. Conjurers who name it in their circles seldom keep it long, for it obeys only as far as the next meal, and it counts the binder among its courses. Banish it and it does not depart so much as withdraw, circling, patient, waiting for the salt of the wards to wash away.
Run Zarakesh in Sixty Seconds
- Stay airborne. Zarakesh fights from the sky — open with a Diving Charge on the back line, knock the target prone, then full Multiattack. A grounded Zarakesh is a dead Zarakesh.
- Mind the stench. Carrion Stench poisons anyone who starts within 10 ft. (DC 14 Con). Clustered parties hand it free poison every round — make melee PCs choose between closing in and staying clean.
- Kill priority: dive on the squishiest isolated target — healer or caster first. The knockdown plus poison can shut a back-liner out of a whole round.
- When bloodied, it stops trading blows and kites: fly up, Wing Buffet anything that closes, and pick off the next weakest target rather than dying in melee.
- Three ways to run it: (1) skirmishing harrier that never lands; (2) ambush diver bursting from a smoke-choked battlefield; (3) a summoner's leashed hound that turns on its master when the killing stops.
Zarakesh
Large fiend (demon), chaotic evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINECarrion Stench. The fiend exudes the reek of a charnel pit. Any creature that starts its turn within 10 feet of the fiend must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the start of its next turn. On a success, the creature is immune to this fiend's Carrion Stench for 24 hours.
Diving Charge. If the fiend flies at least 20 feet straight toward a target and then hits it with a Talon attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 9 (2d8) slashing damage and must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Actions
Multiattack. The fiend makes two Talon attacks and one Bite attack.
Talon. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d10 + 4) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or take 7 (2d6) poison damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Wing Buffet (Reaction). When a creature the fiend can see ends its movement within 5 feet of it, the fiend can beat its wings, forcing that creature to make a DC 14 Strength saving throw. On a failure, the creature is pushed 10 feet away and the fiend can fly up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
A flayed red horror of exposed ribs and skull-bare jaw, wings of stretched membrane spread wide above a clawed, taloned frame that crouches over a smoldering pit of bone and flame.
Zarakesh, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEReek of the Pit (signature). Once per short rest, the companion exhales its charnel stench in a 15-foot cone. Each creature there must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the end of its next turn.
Actions
Talon. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.
Reactions
Snatch and Climb. When an ally within 5 feet is hit by a melee attack, the companion may fly up to 15 feet and make a Talon attack against the attacker, provoking no opportunity attacks.
Half-tamed by a binder's blood-oath, it tolerates a master only so long as the killing does not stop.
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, then dive on the softest target and try to knock it prone with Diving Charge. Keep the party clustered so Carrion Stench poisons multiple PCs at once. At this tier pair it with a flock of swarming bats or cultists, not as a solo threat.
Open by diving on the back-line caster or healer for the prone-knockdown, then full Multiattack. Kill priority is the squishiest target it can isolate; use Wing Buffet to peel off melee bruisers and reposition. Pair it with a bigger flagship fiend or a summoner so the party can't focus it down freely.
Run it as a lieutenant: dive, knock prone, and harry the line while minions hold the front. Keep it airborne and use Wing Buffet to deny grapples and reach. Do not field it solo at this tier; pair it with a bigger threat or stage it in a lair full of lesser fiends.
Put Zarakesh 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 Zarakesh?
Zarakesh is built at CR 6 (2,300 XP) as its native Tier 2 form, a strong elite striker for a party of levels 5-10. The traits and actions stay identical across all three tiers — only AC, HP, to-hit, save DC, and damage shift to fit Tier 1 (levels 1-4) or Tier 3 (levels 11-15).
Can Zarakesh be a companion or ally?
Yes. The companion sheet, Zarakesh, Bound, is a scaled-down version (AC 15, 76 HP) suited to a binder, warlock, or summoner who has chained it by blood-oath. It flies, harries, and reeks like the full fiend, but the flavor warns it tolerates a master only while the killing continues.
Is Zarakesh a boss monster or an add-on?
An add-on. It lacks a legendary action kit, so a four-PC party will out-act it if it stands alone. Run it as a lieutenant or skirmisher alongside a flagship boss, a summoner, or a lair of lesser fiends rather than 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
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