Dokkaebi
Dokkaebi — The Encounter
Horned goblin of the mountain dark, bearer of the wish-club · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Dokkaebi
In the old mountain tales of the eastern kingdoms, the dokkaebi are not ghosts but goblins born of discarded things — a broom left to rot, a bloodied rake, a forgotten pestle — quickened into mischief by long years of human use. They haunt the passes and bridges by night, fond of wrestling, riddles, and uproarious song, and a traveller who bests one in a wager may be rewarded with gold; a traveller who cheats one will find that gold turned to dead leaves by dawn. Each carries a bangmangi, a magic club that conjures whatever its bearer names, though the treasures it makes are as fickle as their maker's temper. They are dangerous chiefly to the rude and the greedy, for a dokkaebi punishes insult with bruises and a sound dunking far more often than with death. Iron and honesty are said to drive them off; courtesy and a shared drink will make a fast, if exhausting, friend.
Run Dokkaebi in Sixty Seconds
- It is a trickster, not a killer — the dokkaebi wants to bruise, dunk, and humiliate. If your table is in the mood for it, honor Goblin's Bargain: a won riddle or arm-wrestle can end the fight without blood.
- Open with the Magic Mallet on your party's biggest threat to hand them disadvantage, then Multiattack to knock the front line prone before they steady.
- Kill-priority is the controller — protect your dokkaebi's mischief by tripping the wizard or cleric first; let the martials swing at illusory coins.
- Lean on Goblin's Slip — every missed melee lets it skitter 10 ft. free, so play it darting and never let it get pinned in a corner.
- Three ways to run it: as a comic speed-bump that flees when beaten, as a flanking skirmisher screening a bigger boss, or as a wager-giving NPC that turns ally if the party plays fair.
Dokkaebi
Medium fey, chaotic neutral
CR 2 · 450 XP · GUIDELINEGoblin's Bargain. The dokkaebi is a creature of mischief and wagers, not malice. Once per day it may challenge a foe to a riddle or feat of strength as a bonus action; if the target accepts and the dokkaebi judges itself bested, it withdraws rather than fight on.
Magic Mallet. Signature. The dokkaebi carries the bangmangi, a knotted club that conjures small treasures from nothing. As a bonus action it strikes the ground and wills forth a coin-shower, a sudden mist, or a tangling cord: one creature within 15 ft. must succeed on a DC 12 Charisma saving throw or be distracted (disadvantage on its next attack roll) as it grasps at illusory riches.
Actions
Multiattack. The dokkaebi makes two attacks: one with its Spiked Club and one with its Horns.
Spiked Club. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d8 + 3) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Horns. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) piercing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Goblin's Slip. When a creature the dokkaebi can see misses it with a melee attack, the dokkaebi may move up to 10 ft. without provoking opportunity attacks, cackling as it goes.
A squat, broad-shouldered goblin in a woven kasa and padded coat, one fist closed around a knotted wish-club, a crown of horns sprouting from its leering brow.
Dokkaebi, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEConjured Bounty (signature). Once per short rest, the wish-club may summon a single mundane object worth up to 25 gp (rope, lantern, blanket, a meal) that lingers until the next dawn.
Actions
Cudgel. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 2) bludgeoning damage.
Reactions
Mist Trick. When an ally within 10 ft. is hit by an attack, the bangmangi conjures a puff of fog; the attacker rerolls the damage and takes the lower total.
The knotted club seems to chuckle when shaken, leaking the smell of rain and copper coins.
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 the Magic Mallet to distract your party's heaviest hitter, then wade in with club and horns to knock a target prone. Kill-priority is irrelevant — it fights to humiliate, not slay, and Goblin's Slip keeps it skittering out of reach. Pair a pack of 3-4 with a bigger threat such as a mountain ogre; alone they are a rowdy speed-bump, not a boss.
Scaled up these become an elite goblin honor-guard. Open Mallet on the cleric or controller, then Multiattack the front line to scatter it with prone knocks. Use them as the X-piece skirmishers around a giant or oni flagship — they screen, trip, and harass while the big threat lands the real damage.
At high tiers a dokkaebi champion is a tricksy lieutenant, not a centerpiece. Lead with Mallet to strip a key foe's accuracy, then Multiattack to lock down their best melee with prone. Run two or three flanking a true boss; their job is to deny positioning and waste the party's saves, never to out-trade the flagship.
Put Dokkaebi 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 Dokkaebi?
At its native first tier the Dokkaebi is CR 2 (450 XP): AC 14, 52 HP, +5 to hit, save DC 12. The tiers table scales it to roughly CR 6 and CR 11 for levels 5-10 and 11-15, with identical traits and only the numbers moving.
Can Dokkaebi be a companion or ally?
Yes. The dokkaebi is fey, not fiend, and chaotic neutral — a party that bests it fairly or shares a drink can win a loud, loyal, exhausting friend. Its bound wish-club, Bangmangi, is provided as a companion sidekick that conjures mundane bounty and screens allies with mist.
What folklore is the Dokkaebi from?
It comes from Korean mythology — goblins born from discarded, well-used objects, fond of wrestling, riddles, and song, who carry a magic club (bangmangi) that conjures treasure. They punish rudeness and greed far more readily than they kill, and iron or simple honesty drives them off.
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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