Dionysus
Dionysus — The Encounter
Vine-Crowned Lord of Wine, Frenzy, and the Loosened Mind · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Dionysus
Of the Vine-Lord it is written that he was twice-born and never wholly tamed, a god who gives the grape and takes the reason. Where he reclines, the air grows thick and sweet, and stern men forget their oaths and laughing men forget their names. He carries no shield, for who would strike the hand that fills the cup? Yet his pine-tipped staff, the thyrsus, drips with more than honey, and those who scorned his rites in the old stories were torn apart by their own mothers, made mad by his blessing. He asks little: a song, a libation, a moment of surrender. To refuse him is to learn that ecstasy and ruin share one altar. The wise pour out their first cup in his name and drink the rest in trembling gratitude, for the god who loosens the mind can also loose it forever.
Run Dionysus in Sixty Seconds
- He is a control boss, not a brawler — his win condition is the party attacking itself. Open every fight with a concentration spell (confusion or hypnotic pattern) before anyone reaches him.
- Cup of Madness is the centerpiece — fire the 30-foot cone the moment two or more PCs cluster; on a failed save they must attack their nearest ally. Recharge it on 5-6 each round.
- Kill-priority for the DM is the party's striker — Charming Toast or charm person on the highest-damage PC turns their best turn against the squishiest ally.
- When bloodied, lean on legendary actions — Sip to claw back hit points, and Maddening Whirl to hit everyone in melee; he should feel impossible to simply burn down.
- Three ways to run him — (1) gleeful host who toasts the party then ruins them, (2) absentee god who lets the Maenad and frenzied thralls fight while he reclines, (3) a test of will where surrender to the revel is a real, tempting out.
Dionysus
Medium celestial, chaotic neutral
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINEIntoxicating Presence. Signature. At the start of each of Dionysus's turns, every creature of his choice within 30 feet that can see or hear him must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throne or have disadvantage on the next attack roll, ability check, or saving throw it makes before the start of his next turn, its head swimming with phantom wine.
Ecstatic Vigor. Dionysus has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects, and he ignores the effects of being poisoned.
Innate Spellcasting. Dionysus's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 17). He can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components: at will — charm person, entangle; 3/day each — confusion, hypnotic pattern; 1/day — insect plague (a swarming vine-bloom of bees and grapes).
Actions
Multiattack. Dionysus makes two Thyrsus Strikes, or he casts a spell and makes one Thyrsus Strike.
Thyrsus Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8+5) bludgeoning damage plus 9 (2d8) poison damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throne or be poisoned until the end of its next turn.
Cup of Madness (Recharge 5-6). Dionysus raises his goblet and a wave of ecstatic frenzy washes out in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throne. On a failure, a creature takes 27 (6d8) psychic damage and is driven into a frenzy until the end of its next turn — it must use its action to make a melee attack against the nearest creature it can reach (chosen randomly if more than one). On a success, it takes half damage and is not frenzied.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Reveler's Step. Bonus Action. Dionysus moves up to his speed without provoking opportunity attacks, leaving a trail of writhing vines; the first creature to enter that trailed space before his next turn must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throne or be restrained until the end of its turn.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Sip. Dionysus drinks from his goblet and regains 10 (3d6) hit points.
Charming Toast. Dionysus targets one creature he can see within 30 feet. It must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throne or be charmed by him until the end of his next turn.
Maddening Whirl (Costs 2 Actions). Dionysus makes one Thyrsus Strike against each creature within 10 feet of him, his thyrsus spinning in a drunken dance.
A wine-crowned god reclines upon an ivory dais between two vine-throttled columns, goblet lifted in lazy invitation, a brimming ewer at his side. His ease is the ease of a power that has never once needed to hurry.
Dionysus, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEFrenzied Devotion (signature). Dionysus is immune to the charmed and frightened conditions and cannot be reduced below 1 hit point while Dionysus is within 30 feet of her, snapping back to her feet in laughing rapture.
Actions
Thyrsus and Nails. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6+4) slashing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throne or be poisoned until the end of its next turn.
Reactions
Ecstatic Lunge. When a creature within 5 feet of the Maenad is reduced to 0 hit points, she may immediately move up to 15 feet and make one Thyrsus and Nails attack.
Ivy-wreathed and barefoot, she dances at the god's side with eyes rolled white, feeling neither wound nor fear so long as her lord looks on.
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 Cup of Madness to scatter a clustered party into friendly fire, then pick off a charmed straggler with Thyrsus Strikes. Hold Reveler's Step to peel away from the fighter. He is a frenzy-engine — kill-priority is anyone he charms, before they hit allies.
Lead with hypnotic pattern on the front line, then Cup of Madness on whoever resisted. Sip during legendary actions to outlast burst damage. Make casters the kill-priority — his concentration spells turn the party against itself faster than his staff ever could.
Run him solo: open with confusion on the cluster, then Cup of Madness every recharge to keep the party swinging at each other. Spend legendary actions on Charming Toast to pull the tank off-line and Sip to never quite die. When bloodied, lead with Maddening Whirl to punish anyone who closed in. Kill-priority for players: break his concentration or the fight never ends.
Put Dionysus 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 Dionysus?
Native challenge rating 11 (7,200 XP), tuned for a tier-3 party of levels 11-15. He is solo-capable: legendary actions and a recharge madness-cone let him anchor a climactic encounter alone, so his sheet drops a band from his god-tier menace to stay fair. Scaled stat blocks for tiers 1 and 2 are included.
Can Dionysus be a companion or ally?
Yes, though a god rarely fights beside mortals — more often he grants a boon. Use the Maenad, Wine-Mad companion as a wine-frenzied devotee who fights at the party's side, or treat Dionysus himself as a patron who blesses a willing PC with one casting of confusion per long rest in exchange for revelry and rites.
Is Dionysus a fiend or a demon?
Neither — he is a celestial, a god of wine, ecstasy, and the loosened mind drawn from classical myth. His danger is madness, not malice: he charms, intoxicates, and drives mortals to frenzy rather than slaughtering outright, which makes him a memorable social-and-combat hybrid rather than a damage sponge.
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.
The Legend
In Your Campaign
Source Mythology: Dionysus draws from ancient mythological traditions, bringing legendary power to your tabletop.
Encounter Design: Use Dionysus as a divine patron, a mythic boss encounter, or the centerpiece of a mythology-themed campaign arc. The model's dynamic pose creates immediate dramatic tension at the table.
Campaign Hooks: An ancient temple awakens. A prophecy names Dionysus as either savior or destroyer. A cult seeks to summon or bind this mythological power for mortal purposes.
Technical Specifications
32mm, 75mm
STL, Pre-supported STL
Standard or ABS-like resin, 0.05mm layer height
Yes — ready to print, optimized supports included
From the Same Collection
Frequently Asked Questions
What scale is the Dionysus miniature available in?
Dionysus is available in 32mm (tabletop standard) and 75mm (display/collector scale). Both scale files are included with presupported and unsupported STL options.
Is the Dionysus STL file presupported?
Yes. Every Clay Cyanide miniature includes presupported STL files optimized for resin printing at 0.05mm layer height, plus unsupported files for custom support placement.
Can I use Dionysus in my D&D or tabletop RPG campaign?
Absolutely. Dionysus is designed for tabletop gaming at 32mm scale, fitting standard grid-based combat systems. The dynamic pose and detailed sculpt create memorable encounters and character moments.
Played Dionysus 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.
Log in to comment