Fereydun
Fereydun — The Encounter
Dual-bladed hero-king who cast down the serpent-tyrant · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Fereydun
When the serpent-shouldered tyrant Zahhak ruled, his twin snakes fed nightly on the brains of youths, and the land withered under his thousand-year cruelty. From the line he could not extinguish rose Fereydun, raised in hiding and tutored by the patient until his arm could break a tyrant. He took up the ox-headed mace and two keen blades, marched on the usurper's hall, and cast Zahhak down, binding him in chains beneath the mountain rather than granting the mercy of death. To this hero-king the people credit the dividing of the world among his sons and the long peace that followed. He is remembered not for slaughter but for restraint: the man who could have slain a monster and chose instead to chain it, so the lesson of its fall might endure. Where he leaps, broken steel marks the graves of tyrants.
Run Fereydun in Sixty Seconds
- Open big. Lead with Sundering Leap into the tightest cluster: 4d8 plus prone resets the whole melee line in your favor.
- Kill-priority. He is a caster-hunter. Send all three scimitar attacks at the lowest-AC back-line target, not the tank.
- Bait the swing. Hero's Riposte and disadvantaged opportunity attacks mean melee bullies bleed for engaging him. Want him hit in melee.
- When bloodied. If Sundering Leap is charged, leap free of the scrum to reset and re-target; if not, riposte-fish from a wall.
- Three ways to run him. Lone duelist miniboss; champion beside a flagship boss; or tyrant-slayer set against a large fiend/dragon to fire Tyrant's Bane.
Fereydun
Medium humanoid (human), lawful good
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINETyrant's Bane. (Signature.) Fereydun was forged to topple a serpent-king. He has advantage on saving throws against being frightened, charmed, or poisoned, and his first weapon attack each turn against a creature that is a Large or larger fiend, dragon, or monstrosity deals an extra 9 (2d8) damage.
Twin-Blade Mastery. While wielding a scimitar in each hand, Fereydun adds his ability modifier to the damage of his off-hand attack, and opportunity attacks against him are made with disadvantage.
Actions
Multiattack. Fereydun makes three scimitar attacks.
Scimitar. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) slashing damage.
Sundering Leap (Recharge 5-6). Fereydun springs up to 20 feet and crashes down among his foes. Each creature within 5 feet of his landing point must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 18 (4d8) slashing damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails is also knocked prone.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Hero's Riposte. When a creature within 5 feet of Fereydun misses him with a melee attack, he can use his reaction to make one scimitar attack against it.
A lean, long-haired king in articulated plate vaults from a shattered cairn of broken swords, a curved scimitar flashing in each fist as he descends upon the fallen.
Fereydun, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESmith's Standard (signature). Allied creatures within 20 feet of Fereydun have advantage on saving throws against being frightened. While Fereydun can see Fereydun, both add 2 to their AC against the first attack each round.
Actions
Forge Hammer. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength save or be knocked prone.
Reactions
Raise the Banner. When an ally within 20 feet would be reduced to 0 hit points, Fereydun can use his reaction to grant them 7 (2d6) temporary hit points.
The blacksmith who tore his leather apron from his arm and raised it on a spear as the first banner of revolt against the tyrant.
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 Sundering Leap into the densest cluster to scatter and prone the line, then carve the squishiest caster with Multiattack. Kill-priority: whoever can heal or buff the enemy. At this tier he is a fearsome miniboss; pair him with Kaveh and a few skirmishers.
Lead with Sundering Leap when two or more PCs bunch, then full Multiattack on the back-line. Bait melee so Hero's Riposte and Twin-Blade Mastery punish swings. He is the champion piece, not the centerpiece: pair him with a bigger flagship threat and let him hunt casters while the boss anchors the front.
Use Sundering Leap on recharge to keep enemies prone and disrupted, opening with Tyrant's Bane against the largest enemy monster for the burst rider. Focus three-attack Multiattack on the lowest-AC target each round. Best run as the elite blade beside a legendary boss who controls the field.
Put Fereydun 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 Fereydun?
His native build is CR 6 (2,300 XP), tuned for a Tier 2 party of levels 5-10. The record includes scaled lines for Tier 1 (levels 1-4) as a fearsome miniboss and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) as an elite blade beside a legendary boss.
Can Fereydun be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a lawful-good hero-king he makes a natural patron, rescuer, or temporary ally. Drop his to-hit and damage one tier and let him hold a flank, or run him as a named NPC champion who joins the party against a shared tyrant.
Is he meant to fight alone?
No. He has no legendary actions, so he is an add-on champion rather than a solo centerpiece. Pair him with a bigger flagship threat and let his Twin-Blade Mastery and Hero's Riposte make him the duelist who punishes anyone who closes in.
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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