Apophis
Apophis — The Encounter
The Devourer of the Sun, world-serpent of unending night · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Apophis
Before the gods raised the sun-barque, there was Apophis, the uncreated dark that coils beneath the river of the world. Each night, as Ra's vessel descends into the underworld, the serpent rises to devour it whole, and only the spears of the dead hold back eternal eclipse. It is not a beast but an absence given scale and tooth: where its shadow falls, light forgets to shine, water turns to bile, and the names carved into stone unmake themselves. The priests who first bound it sealed its coils within a temple now sunk beneath the sand, ringing its prison with obelisks of warding script. Yet the serpent does not sleep. It listens. When the last lamp of a dynasty gutters and faith grows thin, the wards crack, the columns topple, and Apophis surges upward through the floor of the sanctuary, jaws already wide for the swallowing of the morning that will never come.
Run Apophis in Sixty Seconds
- Eclipse first Switch off the lights the moment combat starts: within 30 ft. magical light dims and nonmagical light dies, and anyone who starts there risks disadvantage on their next attack (DC 16 Wis).
- Open with Multiattack Bite + Tail Slam on one target grapples it (escape DC 17); now you have advantage and it's restrained, set up for Coil and Crush.
- Kill-priority Grab and crush the healer or controller. Use Swallowing Dark (reaction) to eat their first spell of 3rd level or lower.
- When bloodied (103 HP) Lean on legendary actions: Devouring Gloom every round to blind the front line, Lashing Tail to keep ranged heroes prone and away.
- Three ways to run it As written it's an eclipse-aura solo boss; drop the aura and it's a brutal grappler; add temple cultists and it's a set-piece siege of the sunken sanctuary.
Apophis
Gargantuan fiend (yugoloth), neutral evil
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINEEclipse Aura. Magical light within 30 feet of Apophis is suppressed to dim light, and nonmagical light is snuffed out. A creature that starts its turn within this gloom and can see Apophis must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on its next attack roll, as the serpent's coils seem to swallow the sun.
Constrictor's Coils. When Apophis is grappling a creature, it has advantage on attack rolls against that creature, and the creature is restrained until the grapple ends.
Actions
Multiattack. Apophis makes one Bite attack and one Tail Slam attack. If both hit the same creature, that creature is grappled (escape DC 17).
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (3d10+7) piercing damage plus 9 (2d8) poison damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the end of its next turn.
Tail Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8+7) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Swallowing Dark (Reaction). When a creature Apophis can see casts a spell of 3rd level or lower within 30 feet, Apophis can force that creature to make a DC 16 Charisma saving throw. On a failure, the spell fails and has no effect, drowned in the serpent's gloom.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Lashing Tail. Apophis makes one Tail Slam attack.
Coil and Crush (Costs 2 Actions). Each creature grappled by Apophis takes 14 (4d6) bludgeoning damage as the coils tighten.
Devouring Gloom (Costs 2 Actions). Apophis sweeps its shadow across the field. Each creature in a 30-foot cone must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or take 13 (3d8) necrotic damage and be blinded until the end of its next turn.
Reared high over the shattered obelisks of a drowned temple, the world-serpent's horned skull blots out the heavens, its endless coils swallowing the ruins of Egypt whole.
Apophis, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESun-Ward (signature). Apophis and friendly creatures within 10 feet ignore Apophis's Eclipse Aura and have advantage on saving throws against being blinded.
Actions
Storm Spear. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d10+6) piercing damage plus 9 (2d8) lightning damage.
Reactions
Wardens' Counterstrike. When an ally within 5 feet is hit by the serpent's Bite, Apophis makes one Storm Spear attack against Apophis.
A jackal-masked guardian of the sunken temple, sworn to hold the line until dawn returns, hurling spears of caged lightning down the serpent's gullet.
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.
Run this as a temple-guardian young serpent. Open with a Bite to grapple the frailest hero, then drag them away from the party. Kill-priority: whoever carries light or healing; pair it with skeletal cultists so it never fights alone.
A proper coiled menace. Open by Tail-Slamming the cluster to scatter and knock prone, then Bite-grapple the spellcaster so concentration breaks. When bloodied, retreat into burrow and re-emerge behind the squishiest target. Pair with one or two cultist priests for ranged support.
The full Devourer, a solo boss. Open with Multiattack to grapple and Coil-and-Crush the tank, using legendary Lashing Tail to keep ranged heroes prone. Hold Swallowing Dark for the enemy's first big spell. When bloodied, spend Devouring Gloom every round to blind the line and pick off isolated casters.
Put Apophis 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 Apophis?
Its home stat block is CR 11 (7,200 XP), a Tier 3 solo boss with legendary actions and a reaction. The tiers array also gives scaled-down CR ~2 and CR ~6 versions so you can field it at lower levels.
Can Apophis be a companion or ally?
Not really: Apophis is the uncreated dark that devours the sun, a neutral evil world-serpent built to be the centerpiece adversary. Its bound warden Sutekh, the Storm-Spear Warden, is the allied piece players can fight alongside.
How do I keep a solo boss from dying in one round?
Use the Eclipse Aura to blunt the alpha strike, hold Swallowing Dark for the party's biggest spell, and spread your grapples so the martials must choose between freeing a friend and dealing damage. Legendary actions between turns keep the pressure constant.
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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