Zarakoth the Devourer
Zarakoth the Devourer — The Encounter
Crowned eater of souls, the famine that walks in armor · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Zarakoth the Devourer
Mark him in the margins beside the seventy-two: Zarakoth is not of their number, but a hunger that crept up from the lightless deeps to ape their crowns. The grimoires name him the Devourer, for where lesser fiends barter for souls he simply eats them, and the dead in his presence do not pass on but are drunk like wine through the gaping ribs of his cuirass. His horns are said to be the antlers of the first famine, and his glaive a sliver of the void that came before plenty. Where he treads, harvests blacken and wells run dry within a single night; villages that wake to find a ring of bare skulls in their square know the Devourer passed and fed. Conjurers who summon him to feast upon their enemies rarely survive the meal, for to a hunger this old there is no friend, only the next mouthful. He answers to no king and bows to no pact.
Run Zarakoth the Devourer in Sixty Seconds
- Famine engine: every creature that drops within 30 ft. heals Zarakoth 15 and juices his next attacks with +2d6 necrotic, so kill his minions LAST, not first.
- Open with fear, then Stride of the Devourer straight into the back-line caster or healer; his Rending Claw shrinks their hit-point maximum so they can't be topped back up.
- Kill-priority for the party is Zarakoth himself before they thin the adds, because each dropped ally only makes him stronger.
- When bloodied, spend 2 legendary actions on Wail of Famine to block all healing in 20 ft., then drink the first creature that falls.
- Three ways to run him: as a lone Tier-3 boss leaning on legendary actions and Soul Tithe; as a famine-warlord flanked by Vael and cultists; or as a roaming dread that blackens a region, fought across a corpse-littered lair that feeds his Hunger.
Zarakoth the Devourer
Large fiend (demon), chaotic evil
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINEDevouring Hunger. Zarakoth is a famine made flesh. Whenever a creature within 30 feet of him is reduced to 0 hit points, Zarakoth's maw drinks its fleeing essence: he regains 15 hit points and his attacks deal an extra 7 (2d6) necrotic damage until the end of his next turn.
Magic Resistance. Zarakoth has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Innate Casting. Zarakoth casts spells without material components, using Charisma (spell save DC 17). He can cast fireball and fear at will, and blight three times per day.
Actions
Multiattack. Zarakoth makes two attacks with his Famine Glaive, or one Famine Glaive attack and one Rending Claw attack.
Famine Glaive. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (3d8 + 5) slashing damage plus 9 (2d8) necrotic damage.
Rending Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) slashing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or have its hit point maximum reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage it takes from Zarakoth until it finishes a long rest.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Soul Tithe (Reaction). When a creature Zarakoth can see within 30 feet casts a spell or moves out of his reach, he strikes its spirit: the creature takes 11 (2d10) necrotic damage and Zarakoth gains temporary hit points equal to the damage dealt.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Glaive Sweep. Zarakoth makes one Famine Glaive attack.
Wail of Famine (Costs 2 Actions). Each creature within 20 feet of Zarakoth must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or take 16 (3d10) necrotic damage and be unable to regain hit points until the end of Zarakoth's next turn.
Stride of the Devourer. Zarakoth moves up to his speed without provoking opportunity attacks. He may make one Rending Claw attack before or after this move.
A towering horned fiend sheathed in ribbed black plate that splits to bare a glowing skeletal chest, Zarakoth strides on cloven war-greaves with a twisted glaive in one fist and a barbed gauntlet in the other, his cape sweeping over a litter of skulls.
Zarakoth the Devourer, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEShared Hunger (signature). While within 30 feet of the creature it is bound to serve, Vael gains a +2 bonus to attack rolls against any target below half its hit points.
Actions
Barbed Reach. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) necrotic damage.
Reactions
Glutton's Guard. When an ally it can see within 5 feet is hit by an attack, Vael may impose disadvantage on that attack roll by interposing its barbed limbs.
A lean, half-starved herald of the Devourer that drags its barbed limbs through the dust, ever circling the kill.
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 Famine Glaive on the nearest squishy caster, then back away so Soul Tithe punishes the next spell. If two or more heroes cluster, trigger Wail of Famine. Pair him with a single Vael herald and a knot of cultists; do not run him alone against a fresh party.
Lead with fear to scatter the line, then Stride of the Devourer into the healer and Rending Claw to cut their hit-point ceiling. Kill-priority is anyone who can restore hit points. Drop a fireball when three or more bunch up; let dying minions feed Devouring Hunger.
Open with fear, then close and Multiattack the support caster; spend legendary actions on Glaive Sweep and Soul Tithe to tax every movement and spell. When bloodied, Wail of Famine to shut down healing and feed off the first kill. A genuine solo boss with this kit, but he sings best in a corpse-strewn lair where Devouring Hunger never goes hungry.
Put Zarakoth the Devourer 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 Zarakoth the Devourer?
Natively CR 11 (Tier 3, ~levels 11-15): AC 18, 184 HP, +9 to hit, save DC 17. Because his legendary actions and Soul Tithe reaction give him a real action-economy kit, his statline sits one band below his effective threat so a four-hero party still gets a fair fight. Tier 1 and Tier 2 versions are provided for lower tables.
Can Zarakoth be a companion or ally?
Zarakoth himself never serves; to a hunger this old there is only the next mouthful. For a player-side option use the bound herald Vael the Famished (AC 15, 110 HP), who fights alongside a master, sharpens its strikes against wounded foes, and can interpose its barbed limbs to guard an ally.
Is Zarakoth based on a real myth?
He is an original Clay Cyanide fiend rendered through public-domain folklore of famine and devouring spirits and the grimoire tradition of the Lesser Key of Solomon, not tied to any one proprietary cosmology. Reskin him freely as any hunger-demon or void-eater your table needs.
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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