Chen Loong
Chen Loong — The Encounter
Antlered lung-sage who reads the river's hidden ledger · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Chen Loong
The loong does not hoard gold; it hoards records. Among the lung-folk of the eastern rivers, Chen Loong is reckoned a keeper of ledgers, a dragon-scholar who memorized the names of every spring and the debts owed between them. Petitioners climb to its terrace to have an oath witnessed or a falsehood weighed, for a word spoken before the lung becomes a thing written and binding. It wears the robe of a magistrate because it is one: not appointed by any throne, but by the long habit of being asked. When floods come, villages send a child with a question rather than a sword, for the lung answers floods the way it answers liars, by reading them until they unwind. Those who come to deceive it leave their lie behind, copied into a scroll the loong will never lose. It strikes only when the record demands it, and then its single judging syllable falls heavier than any blade.
Run Chen Loong in Sixty Seconds
- Hover, do not brawl the lung wants 20-30 ft. of air; melee PCs waste turns chasing it, so make them choose between the boss and the dragon.
- Open with Verdict Word on a cluster the 7d8 psychic cone is the whole reason it is here, and anyone who lied to it this hour saves at disadvantage.
- Kill-priority is the enemy caster Antler Gore plus Talon focuses one squishy target down fast while the cone softens the rest.
- When bloodied back off to range, dump Tide of Ink on the archer who hurt it, and recharge Verdict Word before re-engaging.
- Three ways to run it as a courtroom (it judges before it fights), as flood-control (water terrain + swim 40), or as the boss's wise lieutenant that buffs nothing but punishes liars.
Chen Loong
Medium dragon, lawful neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEScrollbound Memory. The lung keeps a perfect record of every name, debt, and falsehood spoken within 60 feet in the last hour. It has advantage on Insight checks and on saving throws against being charmed or having its memory altered.
Riverbreath Hover. The lung can hover and is never knocked prone by being moved through the air. Difficult terrain made of water or mist costs it no extra movement.
Actions
Multiattack. The lung makes one Antler Gore attack and one Talon attack, or it casts one spell from its actions.
Antler Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d10+3) piercing damage.
Talon. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8+3) slashing damage.
Verdict Word (Recharge 5-6). The lung speaks a single judging syllable. Each creature of its choice within 30 feet must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw, taking 31 (7d8) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature that has lied to the lung in the last hour has disadvantage on this save.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Tide of Ink. Reaction (recharges after a short rest): When the lung is hit by a ranged attack, it whips its scroll, and a sheet of inky water rises. The attack misses, and the attacker is blinded until the end of its next turn.
An erect, antlered river-dragon robed as a sage, one foreclaw pinning an unrolled scroll and the other cradling a sealed case. Its whiskered face is calm, its serpentine tail coiled behind like a question yet to be answered.
Chen Loong, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINELiving Margin (signature). While within 30 feet of the carp, the bonded creature has advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened, as the carp swims a calming ring of dark water around it.
Actions
Ink Spray. Ranged Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, range 20 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6+2) acid damage, and the target's next attack roll has disadvantage.
Reactions
Blotting Veil. When an ally within 10 feet is targeted by an attack, the carp bursts into ink-cloud; the attack is made with disadvantage.
A fat, slow-circling carp the color of wet ink, said to be a draft of the lung's records given fins and patience.
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 hovering out of melee and opening with Verdict Word the moment two or more PCs cluster. Kill-priority is whoever lied to or threatened it first; that target eats the disadvantage. Pair it with a larger river-spirit or warlord boss, this is the lore-keeper piece, not the centerpiece.
Open from hover, Antler Gore the front-liner, then hold Verdict Word for a cluster. If clustered, drop the 7d8 psychic cone and let liars roll at disadvantage. Spend Tide of Ink the first time an archer connects; kill-priority is the party caster. Pairs with a heavier flagship, it is the controller/sage add-on, not a solo threat.
Stay airborne and lead with Verdict Word on the densest knot of PCs, then Multiattack the survivor nearest your flagship. Use Tide of Ink to blind the strongest ranged attacker each round it recharges. Kill-priority is healers; pair it with a bigger boss, it buys the boss tempo, it does not finish the fight alone.
Put Chen Loong 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 Chen Loong?
Chen Loong is CR 6 (2,300 XP) at its native Tier 2, tuned for parties of levels 5-10. Scaled Tier 1 (CR ~2) and Tier 3 (CR ~11) stat lines are provided; the traits and actions never change, only the numbers move.
Can Chen Loong be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a lawful-neutral keeper of records, the lung makes a natural patron, oath-witness, or quest-giver rather than a hireling. Parties who answer its questions honestly may earn its Verdict Word turned on their enemies, or the loan of its Inkwell Carp.
Is Chen Loong a boss or an add-on?
An add-on. With no legendary actions it is built to support a flagship threat, a flood-spirit, a warlord, or an elder dragon, as the controller and lore-keeper. Field it beside a bigger menace and let it police the battlefield while the boss applies pressure.
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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