Cernunnos
Cernunnos — The Encounter
Antlered Lord of Wild Things, who commands beast and bough · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Cernunnos
Of the horned ones whose names predate the carved word, Cernunnos is the eldest and least tame. The old peoples named him the Lord between the seasons, who sits the turning year as a man sits a chair, with the torc of sovereignty about his throat and the antlers of the stag rising from his brow. Where he walks, the wood listens: the boar that fears no spear and the wildcat that owns the night come to his hand as dogs come to a shepherd. He is no slayer by nature, but he is the law of the greenwood made flesh, and the greenwood does not forgive trespass. Hunters who took more than their portion found their snares grown over with thorn, their trails closed, their fires drowned. He carries the leaf-crowned staff by which the sap rises and falls, and at its lifting the deep places answer. To bind him is to bind the spring itself, and the spring, in the end, will not be bound.
Run Cernunnos in Sixty Seconds
- Fire is the off switch. Verdant Renewal heals him 15 a round on natural ground but dies the instant he takes fire damage. If the party has no fire, he is a brick wall; if they do, make them choose between burning him and burning his vines.
- Open with Call of the Greenwood. Drop it on the clustered back line turn one to restrain casters and archers, then walk the boss into melee while they are stuck.
- Knock down, then gore. Antlered Staff prones, the wildcat and boar get bonus damage on prone targets, and Antler Strike legendary actions punish anyone still on the floor. Build your whole round around forcing prone.
- When bloodied, vanish into the green. Use Stride the Wild to slip into foliage without provoking, heal up, and make them come to you across root-choked difficult terrain.
- Three ways to run him: grove-guardian wall (lean on the heal, no time pressure), mobile skirmisher (Stride and beasts, kite the party), or full legendary boss at tier 3 with the pack summoned around him.
Cernunnos
Large celestial, neutral
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINELord of the Wild Hunt. Cernunnos is never alone in a green place. Beasts within 60 feet that he can see have advantage on saving throws while they can see him, and he treats any beast as a willing creature for spells. His sacred wildcat and boar (the companion) start the encounter beside him.
Verdant Renewal. At the start of each of his turns, if Cernunnos is touching natural ground or living growth, he regains 15 hit points. This trait does not function if he took fire damage since his last turn.
Magic Resistance. Cernunnos has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Actions
Multiattack. Cernunnos makes two attacks: one with his Antlered Staff and one with his Goring Charge, or he casts a spell and makes one Antlered Staff attack.
Antlered Staff. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (4d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone as grasping roots erupt around it.
Goring Charge. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (3d8 + 5) piercing damage. If Cernunnos moved at least 15 feet straight toward the target, it takes an extra 9 (2d8) piercing damage and must make a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be pushed 10 feet away.
Call of the Greenwood (Recharge 5-6). Cernunnos sounds the wild call. Each creature of his choice within 30 feet must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, a creature takes 33 (6d10) thunder damage and is restrained by binding vines until the end of its next turn; on a success it takes half damage and is not restrained. Beasts and plants automatically succeed.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Beast Speech. As a bonus action, Cernunnos commands one allied beast he can see within 60 feet to use its reaction to move up to its speed and make one attack.
Thornward. When a creature within 5 feet hits Cernunnos with a melee attack, he can use his reaction to lash it with antler and bramble, dealing 9 (2d8) piercing damage to the attacker.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Stride the Wild. Cernunnos moves up to half his speed without provoking opportunity attacks. If he ends this movement in foliage or difficult terrain, he gains advantage on his next attack.
Antler Strike. Cernunnos makes one Goring Charge attack.
Summon the Pack (Costs 2 Actions). Cernunnos calls a beast bound to the wild. One ally beast within 60 feet immediately takes its full turn, or grasping roots sprout in a 10-foot square he can see within 60 feet, making that square difficult terrain until the end of his next turn.
An antlered lord crowned in living horn stands upon a riven stump, leaf-wound staff raised, while a watchful wildcat and a wild boar keep the old paths at his feet.
Cernunnos, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESacred Pair (signature). The wildcat and boar act on the same initiative as a single companion. While both beasts are alive, each has advantage on attack rolls against a creature within 5 feet of the other.
Actions
Rend and Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (3d6 + 3) slashing or piercing damage. If this attack hits a prone or restrained target, it deals an extra 4 (1d8) damage.
Reactions
Guard the Lord. When a creature it can see attacks Cernunnos while within 5 feet of either beast, the pair can impose disadvantage on that attack roll.
The wildcat and the wild boar at the lord's feet are not pets but oaths in fur and tusk, and they spend themselves gladly to keep the old crown standing.
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 sounding Call of the Greenwood into the cluster, then let the wildcat and boar pin a flank while Cernunnos hangs back behind difficult terrain. Kill-priority is whoever carries fire, since fire shuts off his Verdant Renewal. Pair him as the surprise capstone of a forest crawl rather than the first thing a level-2 party meets.
Lead with Goring Charge to knock a frontliner prone, then have the beasts pile on the prone target for their bonus damage. When bloodied, retreat into foliage with Stride the Wild and use Verdant Renewal to outlast burst damage. He pairs naturally with fey or beast-themed minions; run him as a defender of a sacred grove the party is raiding.
Open with Call of the Greenwood to restrain the back line, then alternate Antlered Staff knockdowns with Antler Strike legendary actions on the prone. Spend legendary actions on Summon the Pack to keep beasts acting and the field choked with roots. Kill-priority is anyone wielding fire; protect that one trait with terrain and the boss snowballs. Genuine solo boss with legendary actions and a self-heal.
Put Cernunnos 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 Cernunnos?
Natively CR 11 (XP 7,200), tuned as a tier-3 solo boss for parties of level 11-15. Because he has legendary actions, a reaction lash, and a self-heal, his sheet sits one band below where a horde-style adversary would land at the same threat, so he plays up against four-to-five heroes. Scaled stat blocks for tiers 1 and 2 are included for lower-level forest encounters.
Can Cernunnos be a companion or ally?
Cernunnos himself is a deity-scale patron rather than a follower, but his sacred wildcat and boar make an excellent bound companion (AC 13, 52 HP) for a druid, ranger, or beast-warden hero. The pair fights as one, guards its master, and gains advantage when flanking together, mirroring the boss's own Lord of the Wild Hunt theme on a player-friendly scale.
How do I make the fight harder or easier?
Easier: fight him away from living ground so Verdant Renewal never triggers, and let the party bring torches. Harder: stage the battle in a dense sacred grove so every square is difficult terrain, add two ordinary beasts the party must clear before they can pressure him, and spend his legendary actions aggressively on Summon the Pack to keep the board crowded.
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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