Aitvaras
Aitvaras — The Encounter
Cock-crested hearth dragon trailing a comet of feathers · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Aitvaras
In the smoke of a Baltic longhouse the aitvaras nests, neither fully bird nor fully drake. By night it slips out as a streak of fire across the sky; by day it coils in the rafters as a tame black rooster, and woe to the cook who insults it. It is a thief that loves its master: into the chimney it drags grain from a neighbor's barn, milk from a stranger's cow, gold from a far lord's chest, and lays the plunder at the hearth of the house it has chosen. Such a house grows fat and lucky, but the bargain is jealous. Spurn the spirit, scour its perch with holy water, or speak of selling it, and the same comet that filled your granary will set your thatch alight. To be rid of one you must give it an impossible task, for it cannot abide leaving work undone, and only then will it crow once and gutter out like a snuffed coal.
Run Aitvaras in Sixty Seconds
- Open with the cone — fire Grain-and-Gold Gift turn one to blind a clustered front line, then it picks off whoever is left squinting.
- Kill-priority — it hunts the back rank: casters, archers, and anyone who can banish, douse fire, or pin a flier go first.
- When bloodied — it abandons grapples, climbs to fly 50 ft., and kites with Searing Crow + Comet Dive sparks rather than trade melee.
- Three ways to run it — hearth-guardian (advantage near its nest, never flees home), greedy thief (snatch-and-grapple to drag a victim off), or comet-skirmisher (dive, blind, burn, repeat).
- Remember it is an add-on — pair the aitvaras with a flagship boss; it is the fire-skirmisher piece, so don't run it solo.
Aitvaras
Medium fey (shapechanger), chaotic neutral
CR 2 · 450 XP · GUIDELINEHearth-Bound. The aitvaras has advantage on attack rolls against any creature within 30 feet of a home, hearth, or hoard it has chosen to nest in, and it cannot be charmed or frightened while there.
Grain-and-Gold Gift. Signature. Once per day, when the aitvaras downs a foe or first enters combat, it vomits a glittering spray of stolen grain and coins in a 15-foot cone. Each creature there must succeed on a DC 12 Dexterity saving throw or be blinded until the end of its next turn as treasure stings its eyes; greedy creatures (the DM's call) have disadvantage.
Actions
Multiattack. The aitvaras makes one Talon attack and one Searing Crow attack.
Talon. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (2d4+1) slashing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 12) if it is Medium or smaller.
Searing Crow. Ranged Spell Attack: +4 to hit, range 30 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d10+2) fire damage as a gout of flame escapes the dragon's crowing beak.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Comet Dive. Bonus Action. The aitvaras flies up to its speed without provoking opportunity attacks, leaving a 5-foot-wide trail of sparks; the next creature to enter that space before the start of its next turn takes 2 (1d4) fire damage.
A serpentine dragon wears the head and blazing comb of a fighting cock, its broad feathered wings flared as a tail of living flame streams behind it like a comet's wake.
Aitvaras, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINELuck-Hoard (signature). While Aitvaras roosts within 30 feet of you, you may add 1d4 to one ability check, attack roll, or saving throw after seeing the d20 (no action required). Once used, it cannot be used again until the next dawn.
Actions
Ember Peck. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6+3) fire damage.
Reactions
Hearth-Warden. When an ally within 10 feet of Aitvaras takes fire damage, the spirit drinks the flame; the ally reduces that damage by 1d6.
A loyal hearth-dragon that hoards luck for the household it adopts, repaying kindness in stolen gold and warm nights.
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 Grain-and-Gold Gift to blind the cluster, then Comet Dive past the line and Searing Crow the back-rank caster. Kill-priority is anyone who can extinguish or banish it; it fights hardest near the home it claimed. Pair it with a bigger threat: it is the harassing fire-skirmisher piece, not a boss.
Run it as a pack flanker beside a true boss: it dives, blinds with the treasure-spray, and burns the squishiest target each round. When bloodied it stops grappling and kites at fly 50 ft., raining Searing Crow. Hold its Comet Dive to cover the boss's escape.
As an elite add to a dragon or hag flight, it screens the leader and punishes anyone who breaks ranged formation. Open with the cone, then alternate Comet Dive and Searing Crow to deny clean lines. Kill-priority: focus whoever douses fire or grounds fliers, since that strips its whole game plan.
Put Aitvaras 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 Aitvaras?
Its native build is CR 2 (450 XP), a Tier 1 add-on skirmisher. Scaled blocks for Tiers 2 and 3 are provided for higher-level flights, but it is not solo_capable — always pair it with a larger boss.
Can Aitvaras be a companion or ally?
Yes. Use the companion block, Žiburys the Coal-Heart (AC 12, 27 HP): a hearth-dragon that hoards luck for its household, granting a once-per-day 1d4 boon, an ember peck, and a reaction that soaks fire damage off an ally.
Why does it ignore charm and fear sometimes?
Its Hearth-Bound trait makes it immune to being charmed or frightened while within 30 feet of the home or hoard it has claimed, and it attacks with advantage there. Lure it away from its nest to strip that edge.
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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