Artio
Artio — The Encounter
Celtic bear-goddess clad in knotwork plate, mountain made of fury · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Artio
Where the deep pine wood meets the high stone, the folk leave honey and the first cut of the kill, for they know whose country it is. Artio is the bear-mother of the old Helvetii, goddess of the wild's plenty and its teeth alike. She walks the spring slopes as a flame-haired warrior, sword bare, counting the cubs born to her dens; and when the hunters come greedy, or the warband rides too far into her trees, she sheds the woman's shape and rises a great bear armored in her own dignity, shoulders plated in knotwork no smith hammered. She does not rage without cause. She is the season that gives and the season that takes, and to wrong her hearth is to learn there is no line between them. Offer her bread and she blesses the hive; raise a blade to her kind and the last sound you hear is grief wearing the voice of thunder.
Run Artio in Sixty Seconds
- Hold a beat Artio is not bloodthirsty by default. If the party offers tribute or retreats, she may let them go; only spilled blood in her wood makes this a fight to the end.
- Open with Honeyed Roar when three or more PCs bunch up at the start; the 6d8 thunder plus push instantly de-clusters them and sets the tone.
- Kill-priority is the backline use Stride and legendary moves to reach casters; her prone-on-Claw and Wild Bellow shut down concentration and big swings.
- When bloodied (69 HP) she fights with grief, not fear (immune to frightened). Lean on Mother's Vengeance and Recharge the Roar to swing the tide.
- Three ways to run her a wronged guardian who can be talked down, a flagship solo boss with the War-Maiden aspect as a second body, or a wilderness ambush that opens with the Roar from cover.
Artio
Large celestial (shapechanger), neutral good
CR 8 · 3,900 XP · GUIDELINEGoddess of the Wild (signature). Artio is a divine shapechanger who walks as both warrior-maiden and great bear. While in bear form, she has advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws, and her melee attacks score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20. Beasts within 30 feet of her will not willingly attack her and treat her as a trusted ally.
Keen Smell. Artio has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Sanctified Hide. Artio has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Actions
Multiattack. Artio makes three attacks: one with her Bite and two with her Claws. She can replace one Claw with Honeyed Roar (recharge 5-6).
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+5) piercing damage.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6+5) slashing damage. On a hit against a creature, that creature must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Honeyed Roar (Recharge 5-6). Artio looses a roar that is grief and warning at once. Each creature of her choice within 30 feet must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) thunder damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails is also pushed 10 feet away from her.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Mother's Vengeance (Reaction). When an ally Artio can see within 30 feet is reduced to 0 hit points, Artio makes one Bite attack against the creature that felled them with advantage.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Stride. Artio moves up to her speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Rending Swipe (Costs 2 Actions). Artio makes one Claw attack against each creature within 5 feet of her.
Wild Bellow. Artio targets one creature she can see within 30 feet. That creature must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on its next attack roll before the start of Artio's next turn.
A mountain of muscle and rune-graven plate, the great bear rears behind its warrior-maiden aspect, both halves of the same goddess sharing one greatsword and one roar.
Artio, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINETwin-Souled (signature). The maiden and the great bear are one goddess in two forms. While the maiden fights, she gains advantage on saving throws against being frightened or charmed, and a creature she reduces to 0 hit points heals her for 5 hit points.
Actions
Greatsword. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6+5) slashing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength save or be pushed 5 feet.
Reactions
Den-Guard. When an ally within 5 feet is hit by an attack, the maiden adds 3 to that ally's AC against it, potentially turning the hit into a miss.
Flame-haired and unflinching, she fights at the bear's flank with a blade as long as she is tall, the goddess's mortal half made furious.
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 Honeyed Roar to scatter a clustered party, then wade in with Bite and Claw on whoever stands closest. Kill-priority is the loudest backline caster, but she favors knocking front-liners prone to pin them. At this tier drop the legendary actions and run her as a single terrifying beast.
Home tier and a true centerpiece boss: open by closing with Stride, then Multiattack the squishiest target and use Rending Swipe when two or more PCs cluster within 5 feet. Honeyed Roar when she's surrounded or below half. Spend legendary actions to chase fleeing casters and Wild Bellow the hardest-hitting striker.
Scaled up as a tier-3 divine boss with full legendary actions. Open with Stride into the cluster, lead each round with Rending Swipe, and save Honeyed Roar to break a healer's concentration. Mother's Vengeance punishes anyone who drops the War-Maiden aspect; keep the maiden alive to trigger it.
Put Artio 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 Artio?
Natively CR 8 (tier 2, ~3,900 XP) as a flagship solo boss. She scales to a CR 2-feeling threat at tier 1 and a CR 11-feeling divine boss at tier 3 using the numbers in the tiers block; traits and actions stay identical, only the math moves.
Can Artio be a companion or ally?
Yes, in spirit. Her War-Maiden Aspect is built as the companion sheet (AC 16, 82 HP) and can fight alongside the party, or a druid/ranger who honors the wild could earn the great bear's aid for a single battle as a powerful temporary ally.
Is the giant bear or the woman the real creature?
Both are Artio. She is a shapechanging Celtic goddess, and the model captures her mid-transformation: the great armored bear is her primary statted form, while the flame-haired greatsword maiden serves as her companion aspect.
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 Artio 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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