Chaneque
Chaneque — The Encounter
Feathered guardian of the Aztec wildwood, thief of straying souls · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Chaneque
Among the Pantheon of the Aztecs the chaneque are the small ones of the woodland and water, guardians set to keep the wild places whole. They wear cloaks of feathers and the skulls of forest beasts, and where they walk the undergrowth closes behind them. The grimoires of the old priests warn travelers never to mock the green, for a chaneque will whisper a child's own name from the trees and lead the careless soul away, leaving only a feverish husk that wastes until offerings are made. They are not cruel by nature but jealous of their domain, punishing those who fell sacred trees, foul the springs, or laugh at the spirits. Curanderos counsel that a stolen soul may yet be called home with copal smoke, song, and the speaking of the true name. Rarely do they hunt alone; they cluster about a greater power of the wild, darting in feathered packs to bleed the bold and vanish before reprisal.
Run Chaneque in Sixty Seconds
- Hold for cover — keep the chaneque in dim light or foliage; it Hides as a bonus action and only commits when it can Vanish back out the same round.
- Open with Soul-Snare — burn your reaction to charm and drag the enemy's best controller or healer 10 feet out of position before the melee even starts.
- Kill-priority is whoever pins it — strike grapplers and ranged hunters first with Wild Branch knockdowns; everyone else just gets harassed.
- When bloodied, vanish and reposition — at 22 HP or less, Vanish every turn, snipe with Thorn Spear, and refuse to stand still for focus fire.
- Three ways to run it — solo trickster that abducts a straying PC, a feathered pack that knocks down and scatters a formation, or an add-on screen darting around a bigger Aztec power.
Chaneque
Small fey, chaotic neutral
CR 2 · 450 XP · GUIDELINEForest Step. The chaneque ignores difficult terrain made of plants, mud, or undergrowth, and it can take the Hide action as a bonus action while in dim light or among foliage.
Soul-Snare. Signature. When a creature the chaneque can see ends its turn within 10 feet of it, the chaneque may use its reaction to whisper a luring name. The target must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until the end of its next turn, moving 10 feet toward the chaneque on its turn if able. Folklore holds a stolen soul is dragged into the wild green.
Actions
Multiattack. The chaneque makes two attacks: one with its Thorn Spear and one with its Wild Branch, or two with its Thorn Spear.
Thorn Spear. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6+3) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) poison damage.
Wild Branch. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8+3) bludgeoning damage, and a Medium or smaller target must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Vanish (Bonus Action). The chaneque magically teleports up to 15 feet to an unoccupied space it can see that is in dim light, shadow, or foliage, leaving a scatter of feathers behind.
A knee-high spirit cloaked in layered feathers, its face a beast-skull or carved mask wreathed in antler-like branches, clutching a thorn spear and a small painted shield as wild smoke curls about its feet.
Chaneque, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINETrickster's Feint (signature). Once per turn, when the chaneque hits a creature the opossum-spirit can see, that creature has disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the start of its next turn.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 5 (1d6+2) piercing damage.
Reactions
Play Dead. When reduced to 10 hit points or fewer, the spirit collapses; attacks against it have disadvantage until it next takes a hostile action.
A scruffy opossum-spirit that scuttles at the chaneque's heels, baring its teeth and feigning death to undo bold attackers.
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 from cover: hit a flanker with Wild Branch to knock it prone, then Soul-Snare the party's controller. If clustered, dart in with Multiattack and Vanish back into foliage before they swing. Kill-priority is whoever can pin it down (ranged or grapplers); pair a feathered pack of these with a bigger Aztec power so they snipe and vanish while the flagship presses.
Run it as an elite skirmisher escorting a stronger spirit. Soul-Snare to peel a melee threat away, then Wild Branch knockdown and Multiattack the exposed caster. Vanish each round so they never get a full turn of focus fire; pairs with a Tier 2 flagship that punishes the charmed target.
A pack of these becomes a vanishing hazard around a Tier 3 boss. Lead with Soul-Snare to scatter the formation, focus the squishiest soul, and Vanish to reset positioning. Kill-priority is denying their dim-light cover with daylight or area control; they are the harassment piece, not the threat that ends the fight.
Put Chaneque 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 Chaneque?
At its native Tier 1 the Chaneque is CR 2 (450 XP): AC 14, 45 HP, +5 to hit, save DC 12. The tiers table scales the same traits up to Tier 2 (levels 5-10) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) by moving only the numbers.
Can Chaneque be a companion or ally?
Yes. A placated chaneque makes a fine wilderness guide or fey ally, leading the party through trackless green and snaring foes with its luring whisper. Its bound Tlacuache opossum-spirit adds a trickster's feint and a play-dead reaction for the adversary build.
Is the Chaneque solo-capable?
No. It has no legendary actions and is built as an add-on skirmisher, best run in a feathered pack or as a harassing screen alongside a stronger flagship from the Pantheon of the Aztecs. Use Vanish and Soul-Snare to make it a frustrating support threat rather than a centerpiece boss.
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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