Ah Puch
Ah Puch — The Encounter
Winged death-king who reaps the breath from the living · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Ah Puch
In the ninth and lowest layer of the underworld, where no light has ever fallen, the death-king holds his rotting court. Mortals once named him lord of the screech owl, of the howling night, of the rot that creeps through grain and gut alike. Where he passes, harvests blacken and the newborn cease to breathe. He does not hunt the living from hunger but from custom, for every soul is a tithe owed to his throne, and he keeps meticulous account. His gilded armor is no vanity: it is the accumulated tribute of fallen kings, melted and reforged across uncounted centuries. The sickle he carries is the same blade with which the first reaper cut the first harvest, and he wields it now upon necks rather than wheat. Owls roost in the eaves of his bone-cairn and announce each name he is about to collect. To meet his gaze is to feel one's own death scheduled, dated, and filed away among the countless others he has so patiently gathered.
Run Ah Puch in Sixty Seconds
- Aura first Aura of Decay ticks 2d6 necrotic at the start of HIS turn on everyone within 10 ft. Announce it before he acts so nobody forgets they are bleeding just by standing close.
- Open with Mark for Death tag the squishiest PC, then full-attack into the expanded crit range. A crit Death Sickle also shuts off their healing until his next turn.
- Feed the reaper every death within 30 ft heals him 10 and buffs his next hit by 2d8 necrotic. Kill-priority for the party is reversed onto him: do NOT let your own downed allies or his adds die near him.
- When bloodied he stops trading and starts harvesting, chaining Wail of the Grave (Recharge 5-6) cones and gliding away on Death Glide to reset. Force him to land or he kites the cone forever.
- Three ways to run him grim executioner (dives lone targets, Mark + crit-fish), aerial terror (stays flying, Wings of Dust + Wail, never melees), or attrition god (camps the aura, lets decay and adds do the work).
Ah Puch
Large fiend (devil), neutral evil
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINEAura of Decay. At the start of each of Ah Puch's turns, each creature within 10 feet of him takes 7 (2d6) necrotic damage. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by this aura dies, and its corpse rots to bone in an instant.
Magic Resistance. Ah Puch has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Reaper's Harvest. Signature. Whenever a creature within 30 feet of Ah Puch dies, he regains 10 hit points and his next melee attack before the end of his next turn deals an extra 9 (2d8) necrotic damage. He revels in each death, and the more that fall, the stronger he grows.
Actions
Multiattack. Ah Puch makes two attacks with his Death Sickle, or one with his Death Sickle and one with his Talons.
Death Sickle. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 5) slashing damage plus 9 (2d8) necrotic damage. On a critical hit, the target cannot regain hit points until the start of Ah Puch's next turn.
Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) slashing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Wail of the Grave (Recharge 5-6). Ah Puch unleashes a soul-rending wail in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw, taking 36 (8d8) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails is also frightened of Ah Puch until the end of its next turn.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Death Glide. Reaction (when a creature within 5 feet hits Ah Puch with a melee attack): Ah Puch beats his wings and flies up to half his fly speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Talon Strike. Ah Puch makes one Talons attack.
Wings of Dust (Costs 2 Actions). Ah Puch beats his wings. Each creature within 10 feet must succeed on a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw or take 9 (2d8) bludgeoning damage and be knocked prone. He can then fly up to half his fly speed.
Mark for Death (Costs 2 Actions). Ah Puch points his sickle at one creature he can see within 60 feet. Until the end of his next turn, that creature has disadvantage on death saving throws and Ah Puch's attacks against it score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20.
A towering death-king sheathed in gilded plate, vast feathered wings spread wide, a curved sickle in one fist and a blue sash trailing like a river of souls, he stands triumphant upon a cairn of human skulls.
Ah Puch, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEOmen of the Screech (signature). When Ah Puch screeches as a bonus action, one creature it can see within 30 feet must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on its next attack roll, frozen by the certainty of its own death.
Actions
Spectral Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) slashing damage plus 4 (1d8) necrotic damage.
Reactions
Carrion Warning. Reaction (when an ally within 30 feet is targeted by an attack): Ah Puch shrieks, and the attacker must reroll the attack, using the lower result.
A ragged owl of grave-mist and bone, ever circling its master, calling out the names of the soon-to-die.
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 by gliding in and reaping the weakest target, then let the decay aura grind the front line. If the party clusters, save Wail of the Grave for the cone. Kill-priority is healers; nothing should be allowed to undo his necrotic toll.
Lead with Wail of the Grave to soften a clustered party, then dive on the lowest-HP PC to trigger Reaper's Harvest and heal himself. Use Death Glide to escape melee and reset his cone. Pair him with skeletal adds so deaths keep feeding his harvest.
He is the flagship boss: open with Mark for Death on the squishiest PC, then full-attack to cash in crits. Spend legendary actions on Wings of Dust to prone the melee and stay airborne. When bloodied he chains Wail recharges and farms every death for healing, so kill-priority is anything keeping downed allies alive.
Put Ah Puch 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 Ah Puch?
Ah Puch is built as a CR 11 solo boss (7,200 XP) at his native Tier 3. Because he has legendary actions and a strong reaction, his sheet is dropped one band so he plays up against an 11th-15th level party. Tier 1 and Tier 2 versions are provided for lower tables; the traits and actions are identical, only the numbers scale down.
Can Ah Puch be a companion or ally?
Not realistically as a player ally; he is a centerpiece death-god boss and treats every living thing as a tithe owed to his throne. If you need a death-aligned ally instead, use his bound owl-wraith Xibal as a sinister patron's gift or a temporary summoned guardian.
How do I keep the fight from snowballing in his favor?
Control the death economy. Reaper's Harvest heals him and buffs his attacks every time something dies within 30 feet, so stabilize downed allies, pull his minions away before they drop, and burst him below bloodied fast. Spreading out denies his Aura of Decay and his Wail cone, while a flyer or ranged team prevents him from kiting with Death Glide and Wings of Dust.
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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