Apsara
Apsara — The Encounter
Celestial dancer whose every step bends mortal will · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Apsara
Born of the churning of the cosmic ocean, the apsaras are the dancers of the gods, sent down to courts and hermitages to delight the worthy and undo the proud. This one keeps a shrine of her own, the offering urn at her feet brimming with the prayers of suitors she will never answer. Sages who sought to master their passions have been broken by a single glance from such a one; kings have surrendered crowns to keep her dancing one night more. She fights only when cornered, and even then she does not strike so much as enthrall, turning blade-bearers into worshippers who fall on one another rather than touch her. The wise leave their tribute at the dais edge and depart without looking back. Those who linger discover that paradise, once tasted, is a cage of one's own longing, and that the apsara dances on long after the dreamer has forgotten his own name.
Run Apsara in Sixty Seconds
- She is control, not damage. Hold the line that the apsara wins fights by making PCs attack each other and waste turns, not by dealing HP. Run her as a debuff engine.
- Open with the dance. The aura is passive and always on, so the first creature into 30 ft. should already be rolling a Wisdom save before it can act.
- Save Beguiling Whisper for clusters. Fire it the moment two or more foes are bunched within 30 ft. for the charm-plus-damage swing, then Whirl Away to safety.
- When bloodied, she dances harder. She stops attacking entirely and spends every turn on Beguiling Whisper and Whirl Away, kiting while charmed PCs do her fighting.
- Three ways to run her: (1) snare-and-flee skirmisher who softens a party before the boss; (2) a moral test guarding a shrine, beatable without a blow if PCs leave tribute; (3) the lure of an ambush, dancing in the open while asura warriors close the trap.
Apsara
Medium celestial, chaotic good
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEDance of the Heavens. While the apsara is dancing (it dances unless prone, restrained, or incapacitated), any creature that starts its turn within 30 ft. and can see her must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom save or be charmed until the start of its next turn. A creature that fails by 5 or more is instead incapacitated by rapt fascination. A charmed creature can't take reactions and has disadvantage on attacks against creatures other than the apsara.
Graceful Evasion. When the apsara is subjected to an effect that allows a Dexterity save for half damage, she takes no damage on a success and half on a failure.
Magic Resistance. The apsara has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Actions
Multiattack. The apsara makes two Veil Lash attacks, or makes one Veil Lash attack and uses Beguiling Whisper (if available).
Veil Lash. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (4d6+4) radiant damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom save or be unable to take reactions until the end of its next turn.
Beguiling Whisper (Recharge 5-6). The apsara sings a verse of paradise. Each creature of her choice within 30 ft. that can hear her must make a DC 15 Wisdom save. On a failure, a creature takes 22 (5d8) psychic damage and is charmed for 1 minute (repeat save at end of each of its turns). On a success, it takes half damage and isn't charmed.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Whirl Away. Bonus Action. The apsara moves up to half her speed without provoking opportunity attacks, twirling out of reach in a swirl of veils.
Beauty's Defense. Reaction, when a creature the apsara can see attacks her. She forces the attacker to make a DC 15 Wisdom save; on a failure the attack misses as the foe falters, transfixed.
Caught mid-pirouette, veil cascading like falling water, jeweled girdle and anklets glinting, the apsara dances upon a lotus-carved dais beside an offering urn. Her beauty is a weapon and a snare both.
Apsara, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEHarmonize (signature). While within 30 ft. of the apsara (adversary) or an allied dancer, Apsara grants that ally +1 to its save DCs and advantage on Performance-based contests.
Actions
Resonant Chord. Ranged Spell Attack: +6 to hit, range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6+4) thunder damage, and the target has disadvantage on its next save against being charmed.
Reactions
Lulling Strum. When an ally within 30 ft. is hit, Apsara plays a softening note, reducing the damage by 1d8 and granting the ally advantage on its next save.
A mortal musician so besotted he followed the apsara out of the world. He plays for her endlessly, his veena weaving her snares into a trap that closes around any who approach.
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 Beguiling Whisper to charm the loudest fighter into wandering off, then dance among them so the rest waste turns on Dexterity saves. Kill-priority: don't expect kills, she neutralizes. Pair her with a brute who punishes the charmed and distracted.
Open mid-dance so the first PC into range eats a Wisdom save before acting. Drop Beguiling Whisper when 2+ foes cluster, then Whirl Away to keep her 30-ft. aura over the most dangerous bodies. She is the control piece; pair her with melee adds (asura warriors, a naga) who carve up the charmed.
Lead with the dance aura up; high-level martials will save often, so target casters first with Beguiling Whisper to drain concentration. Kill-priority for the party should be HER (she enables everything), so make them pay with Beauty's Defense each turn. Pair with a flagship boss whose damage she keeps the party from interrupting.
Put Apsara 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 Apsara?
Her home build is CR 6 (2,300 XP), tuned for tiers 5-10. The record also gives a CR ~2 tier-1 version and a CR ~11 tier-3 version with identical traits and only the numbers shifted.
Can Apsara be a companion or ally?
Yes, beautifully. As a chaotic-good celestial she makes a willing ally or quest-giver, and her aura and Beguiling Whisper turn enemy ranks against themselves. Her own companion, Mohan the veena-player, can also join a party as support.
Is the apsara solo-capable as a boss?
No. She has no legendary actions and almost no burst damage, so a party will simply focus her down. Use her as a control add-on beside a real damage-dealing threat rather than a lone 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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