Aries
Aries — The Encounter
Ram-skulled herald of the First Sign, sword grounded · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Aries
First of the twelve and least patient, Aries is the Sign that does not wait. Where the Voren whisper and the Othra tend their slow rites, this herald arrives already moving, its ram skull lowered and its greatsword grounded as both anchor and threat. The lower arms trace warding gestures over kneeling devotees while the upper arms hold the blade that opens every campaign of the wheel. Cultists carve its horned brand at thresholds they mean to defend, for Aries answers any breach of a consecrated site by charging the first intruder it sees. Its wings are not soft; each pinion is edged in cold light that turns aside the blows meant for those it shields. Astronomers who chart the Sign warn that it never holds a line — it presses, it gores, it presses again. To meet Aries is to be told, without words, that the season of beginnings has a guardian, and that the guardian goes first.
Run Aries in Sixty Seconds
- Goes first. Aries has advantage on initiative and on attacks against anything that hasn't acted yet — open the fight by charging the slowest-rolling PC and knocking them prone.
- Charge then carve. Lead each turn with Charge of the Ram (force + prone), then Multiattack the same downed target; prone melee means your radiant greatsword hits even harder.
- Shield the line. Save Warding Plume for the biggest swing aimed at a friendly caster or the Voren — disadvantage on one hit can save the whole formation.
- Kill-priority. Go for anyone the Voren has marked, then the party healer — Aries presses, never trades evenly.
- Three ways to run it. Bodyguard (camp on a fragile ally, Plume every turn), Battering ram (charge, prone, repeat down the line), or Duelist (lock the tankiest PC one-on-one while the boss works).
Aries
Large celestial (zodiac), lawful neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEVanguard of the First Sign. Aries is the opening sign of the wheel and strikes first. It has advantage on initiative rolls, and on the first turn of combat it has advantage on attack rolls against any creature that has not yet acted.
Four-Armed. Aries wields its greatsword in two hands while its lower pair of arms gesture wards, letting it attack and cast in the same turn (see Multiattack).
Magic Weapons. Aries's weapon attacks are magical.
Actions
Multiattack. Aries makes two Zodiac Greatsword attacks. It can replace one attack with Charge of the Ram.
Zodiac Greatsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) radiant damage.
Charge of the Ram. Aries lowers its horned skull and slams forward 15 feet in a straight line. The first creature in its path must make a DC 15 Strength saving throw, taking 14 (4d6) force damage and being knocked prone on a failure, or half as much damage and not knocked prone on a success.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Warding Plume (Reaction). When a creature Aries can see attacks an ally within 10 feet, Aries raises a wing of light; the attacker has disadvantage on that attack roll.
A four-armed, ram-skulled herald wreathed in feathered wings, its greatsword driven point-down into the stone like a war-standard, the Aries sigil burning beneath its hooves.
Aries, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEHerald's Mark (signature). As a bonus action, Aries marks one creature it can see within 30 feet. The next attack an ally makes against that creature before the start of Aries's next turn deals an extra 5 (2d4) radiant damage.
Actions
Sign-Etched Staff. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8+3) bludgeoning damage plus 4 (1d8) radiant damage.
Reactions
Quiet Watcher. When an ally within 10 feet is hit by an attack, Aries can use its reaction to reduce that damage by 1d8.
A robed herald of the Yellow Sign who walks ahead of Aries, marking targets for the blade with murmured words and pointed staff.
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 Charge of the Ram into the closest body to knock a frontliner prone, then greatsword the same target. Kill-priority: anything trying to flank an ally it can shield with Warding Plume. Pair it with a captain or boss — Aries is the wall, not the warlord.
Use Vanguard to win initiative and charge whoever hasn't acted yet, then Multiattack the same target for radiant follow-up. Hold Warding Plume for the heaviest hit aimed at a marked ally. Pair Aries with a flagship caster — it screens the line and forces melee to come through it.
Charge to scatter the front rank, then chew the stunned target with two greatsword swings. Kill-priority: the party healer or anyone the Voren has marked. Slot it beside a tier-3 boss as the bodyguard that never lets melee reach the master.
Put Aries 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 Aries?
Native CR 6 (tier 2): AC 16, 123 HP, +7 to hit, DC 15, dealing about 30-40 damage a round between greatsword and charge. Drop the stat block to the tier-1 column for parties of level 1-4, or scale it up to the tier-3 column for level 11-15.
Can Aries be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a lawful celestial guardian of consecrated ground, Aries makes a striking sworn protector or temple-warden for a paladin or cleric. As an ally it screens the party with Warding Plume and opens fights with its charge — run it as an NPC bodyguard rather than a player-controlled piece.
Is Aries a solo boss?
No. Aries is a flagship-grade ELITE, not a legendary solo — it has no legendary actions and will get action-economy'd by a full party alone. Pair it with a boss (a cult leader or a second Sign) and let Aries be the wall while the master deals the finishing blows.
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
Played Aries at your table? Log in with your Obsidian Tavern account to leave a balance note, a war story, or a file issue — the sharpest reports get the block revised.
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