Aqrabuamelu
Aqrabuamelu — The Encounter
Horned scorpion-warrior who guards the gates of dawn · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Aqrabuamelu
Where the world ends and the sun is born, the aqrabuamelu stand sentinel. Babylonian seers wrote that twin scorpion-men keep the mountain gate of Mashu, through which Shamash the sun god passes each dawn and dusk; their gaze is described as terror and death, yet they bar only the unworthy. When the wanderer Gilgamesh sought the road of the sun, it was such a guardian who weighed his heart and, finding it more god than man, drew back the bolt and let him pass. They do not hunger and cannot be bribed. A vow binds each to a threshold, a gate, a tomb mouth, a bridge over the underworld river, and there it remains until the vow is spent or the place is dust. To trespass without leave is to learn why even kings lowered their eyes at the gates of dawn.
Run Aqrabuamelu in Sixty Seconds
- Hold the gate Aqrabuamelu is a guardian, not a chaser. Plant it on a chokepoint and never let the party walk past untouched; its 10-ft. reach taxes everyone who tries.
- Open with trident, follow with sting First hit pins the front-liner, the sting's DC 14 Con save layers poison damage and the poisoned condition. Lead every round this way.
- Kill-priority is the caster It instinctively guards a threshold or VIP, so swing the trident at whoever tries to reach the back, and burn Pincer Guard to protect your flagship boss.
- When bloodied, go vertical Use Spider Climb to scale a wall or ceiling, break line of sight, then drop back into reach, frustrating ranged punishers.
- Three ways to run it Lone gate-warden, paired with a brood-scorpion as a venom duo, or as bodyguard muscle for a Mystery Babylon boss who casts from safety.
Aqrabuamelu
Large monstrosity, lawful neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEGatewatcher's Resolve. The aqrabuamelu has advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened, and can't be magically forced to abandon a place it is sworn to guard.
Spider Climb. The aqrabuamelu can climb difficult surfaces, including upside down on ceilings, without an ability check.
Actions
Multiattack. The aqrabuamelu makes two attacks: one with its trident and one with its sting.
Trident. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage. The trident has reach 10 ft. or can be thrown 20/60 ft.
Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d10 + 4) piercing damage, and the target must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 18 (4d8) poison damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. On a failed save the target is also poisoned until the end of its next turn.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Pincer Guard. When a creature the aqrabuamelu can see attacks an ally within 5 ft. of it, the aqrabuamelu can use its reaction to impose disadvantage on that attack roll, clamping a pincer across the attacker's line.
A horned warrior's torso rises from a giant armored scorpion, one fist gripping a barbed trident while the segmented tail arches overhead, sting poised to fall.
Aqrabuamelu, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESkitter Swarmwork (signature). While within 10 ft. of the aqrabuamelu, the brood-scorpion's attacks deal an extra 3 (1d6) poison damage, the two hunting as one nest.
Actions
Claws and Sting. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) piercing damage, and the target makes a DC 13 Constitution save or takes 7 (2d6) poison damage.
Reactions
Scuttle Aside. When hit by a melee attack, the brood-scorpion can move up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
A lesser scorpion of the same brood, all chitin and barb, kept close as both guard-dog and venom-bearer.
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 skewering the nearest melee fighter with the trident, then hold the chokepoint so the party can't flow past. When clustered, lash the sting across two adjacent targets to spread poison. Pair it with a bigger Babylonian threat; this is the gate-guard piece, not the boss.
Open with trident on the front-liner, sting the squishiest reachable target to stack poison. Kill-priority is the healer or caster; use Pincer Guard to shield a flagship ally. Best run as the muscle beside a spellcaster boss who hangs back while the aqrabuamelu holds the line.
Open by trident-charging the heaviest armor to pin it at the threshold, then sting the backline as poison softens them. When bloodied, climb walls or ceiling to reset and strike from above. Pair with a true boss; even here it is the bodyguard, dropping anyone who tries to slip past.
Put Aqrabuamelu 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 Aqrabuamelu?
Its home build is CR 6 (2,300 XP) for tier-2 parties (levels 5-10). Tier cards scale it down to roughly CR 2 for levels 1-4 and up to roughly CR 11 for levels 11-15; traits and actions stay identical, only the numbers move.
Can Aqrabuamelu be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a lawful guardian it can be a sworn ally who defends a place or person rather than a wandering follower. The companion block gives you a Smaller Brood-Scorpion (AC 14, 71 HP) that hunts in tandem and shares its venom, ideal if a player tames or bargains with the brood instead of the warden itself.
Is the aqrabuamelu a fiend or a celestial?
Neither, statted from the render it is a Large monstrosity, a scorpion-bodied humanoid sentinel. It is poison-immune and resists fear, but it has no fiendish or celestial defenses, so radiant and fire work normally against it.
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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