Basajaun
Basajaun — The Encounter
Red-maned wild man and warden of the deep wood · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Basajaun
In the high beech-woods of the Basque country dwells the Basajaun, the Lord of the Forest, a shaggy giant grown over with hair the color of autumn leaves. Shepherds tell that he watches their flocks from the treeline, and that when a storm or a wolf draws near, his bellow rolls down the slopes as a warning. He taught the first farmers the working of iron and the milling of grain, and in return asks only that the wood be left whole and its creatures unharmed. Fearsome to behold, he is no enemy to honest folk; he is a friend who shares his secrets and shields the helpless. But cross him by felling his sacred trees or hunting the beasts under his care, and the gentle warden becomes a thunderous wall of muscle and fury that no axeman walks away from. Leave gifts of bread and milk at the forest's edge, and he may yet leave you a blessing.
Run Basajaun in Sixty Seconds
- Frame him right: the basajaun is a gentle forest warden turned berserk, not a mindless ogre. He attacks only those who threaten the wood or its creatures. Use that to seed a moral choice into the fight.
- Open with the club: lead with the Great Club on a clustered target to knock it prone (DC 15 Str), then claw a second. Prone melee against him hits, so it punishes the front line that bunches up.
- Kill-priority: he gets advantage near beasts and triggers Warden's Wrath on a kill or crit, sprinting free of opportunity attacks. Drop his bear early or you face a buffed, mobile bruiser.
- When bloodied: lean on Guardian's Bulwark and Warden's Wrath, body-blocking for allies and bellowing across the field. He fights hardest defending something, so give him a creature to protect.
- Three ways to run him: woodland bodyguard beside a fey/druid boss; a tragic guardian the party can talk down or appease with offerings; or a raging wall of fur if they desecrated his grove first.
Basajaun
Large giant, neutral good
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEForest Stride. The basajaun ignores difficult terrain made of plants, undergrowth, or roots, and has advantage on Stealth checks made while in a wooded area.
Warden's Wrath. Signature. The basajaun is a sworn protector of the wild. While within 30 feet of a beast or plant creature, the basajaun has advantage on melee attack rolls. The first time each turn it reduces a creature to 0 hit points or scores a critical hit, it lets out a thunderous bellow and may immediately move up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Actions
Multiattack. The basajaun makes two attacks: one with its great club and one with its claw.
Great Club. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and if the target is Large or smaller it must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d6 + 5) slashing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Guardian's Bulwark. Reaction. When a beast, plant creature, or willing ally the basajaun can see within 10 feet is hit by an attack, the basajaun steps into the blow. The attack instead targets the basajaun, which resolves the hit against itself.
A towering wild man cloaked in his own russet mane, draped in woven oak leaves and clutching a knotted club, the basajaun plants his clawed feet over root and moss as if rooted there himself.
Basajaun, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEPack Sense (signature). Basajaun, a great forest bear bound to the warden, has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell and cannot be surprised while it can hear.
Actions
Maul. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) slashing damage.
Reactions
Shield the Warden. Reaction. When the basajaun is hit by a melee attack within 5 feet, Basajaun rears up; the attacker must succeed on a DC 13 Strength save or be pushed 5 feet away and the attack deals half damage.
A shaggy black bear that pads at the wild man's heel, sharing his wariness and his temper.
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 charging the squishiest backliner and trying to knock it prone with the club. If a beast ally is near him, he fights with advantage, so keep his pet alive or kill it first. Pair him with a hag or druid boss who commands the woods.
Open by closing 40 ft. and clubbing a clustered target prone, then claw a second. Kill-priority is anyone chopping trees or harming his bear, which sends him into Warden's Wrath. He is a heavy add-on, not a solo: pair him with a fey/druid boss and let him body-block for the caster.
Open by wading into the melee line, knocking prone, and using Guardian's Bulwark to eat hits meant for his master. Focus whoever has fire or an axe. Run him as the bruising bodyguard beside a high-tier fey or primal flagship.
Put Basajaun 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 Basajaun?
He is built at CR 6 (2,300 XP), a Tier 2 encounter for levels 5-10. Scale him with the tier table: CR ~2 for levels 1-4 or CR ~11 for levels 11-15. The traits and actions stay identical; only AC, HP, to-hit, save DC, and damage shift between bands.
Can Basajaun be a companion or ally?
Yes, and lore-wise he is the obvious friendly NPC. As a wild-man warden he aids honest folk in need, so he makes a strong temporary ally if the party respects the forest, leaves offerings, or helps his bound bear Mendi. Run him at the native CR 6 block when he fights at the party's side.
Is Basajaun a boss on his own?
No. He is solo_capable=false: a heavy melee add-on with no legendary actions. Use him as the muscle beside a flagship boss such as a fey, hag, or primal druid, where his body-blocking reaction and Warden's Wrath buff shine. Alone, a balanced party will simply focus him down.
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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