Galura
Galura — The Encounter
Burning Eagle-King of the Sky, devourer of serpents · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Galura
In the old songs of the islands, Galura is the eagle that the sun forgot to extinguish, a guardian set against the great serpents that coil beneath the world. Born when lightning struck the first mountain ash, it carries fire in every feather and screams a warning that scatters storms. Hunters of the highlands swear it descends only to snatch a python from the rocks or to shield a village from a coiling flood-snake, never to harm the honest. Its enemies are the things that crawl and swallow whole, and against them its wrath is total: it dives in a sheet of flame, clutches the serpent in its talons, and carries it screaming into the clouds to be dropped upon the peaks. To see Galura cross the sun is an omen that something monstrous has stirred below and that the sky has answered. Offerings of feathers and first-caught fish are left on cliff shrines to keep its favor and its fire turned outward.
Run Galura in Sixty Seconds
- Keep it airborne Galura lives at 30-80 ft. up. If players force it to land or grapple it down, half its threat evaporates, so reward them for bringing nets, webs, or hold person.
- Open with Searing Dive on the most clustered cell of the party for a guaranteed 8d6 line of fire, then settle into beak-and-talons on whoever you grappled.
- Kill-priority is the back line use Talons to grapple the caster or archer, fly off, and drop them, splitting the party's focus fire.
- When bloodied stop trading blows: use Skyward Lunge on every melee hit to retreat, circle, and wait for Searing Dive to recharge.
- Three ways to run it (1) lone sky-skirmisher harassing a dungeon courtyard, (2) the sworn eagle-foe sent to kill a serpent boss the party also wants dead, (3) a guardian that turns hostile only if the party threatens its cliff shrine.
Galura
Large celestial, neutral good
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINESunlit Plumage. Signature. Galura's feathers blaze like embers. The first time on each of its turns that it ends a Dive or takes the Dash action, it sheds searing motes: each creature within 5 ft. of where it ends the move takes 7 (2d6) fire damage. Its wings shed bright light in a 20-ft. radius and dim light for another 20 ft.
Serpent-Bane. Galura has advantage on attack rolls against creatures of the reptile or serpent kind (snakes, naga, dragons, yuan-ti, and the like), and ignores the first 10 points of any such creature's damage resistances.
Skyborne Reflexes. Galura has advantage on Dexterity saving throws against effects it can see while it is flying.
Actions
Multiattack. Galura makes three attacks: one with its Beak and two with its Talons.
Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage.
Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4+4) slashing damage, and if the target is Large or smaller it is grappled (escape DC 15). Galura can carry one grappled creature while flying but can grapple only one creature at a time.
Searing Dive (Recharge 5-6). Galura flies up to 60 ft. in a straight line, beating down a wave of fire. Each creature in a 30-ft.-long, 10-ft.-wide line makes a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 28 (8d6) fire damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Skyward Lunge. Reaction: When a creature Galura can see hits it with a melee attack, Galura flies up to half its speed without provoking an opportunity attack from that creature.
A towering eagle-being rises from a pillar of flame, molten feathers fanned in a wingspan that swallows the sky, talons hooked for catching serpents. Its plumage burns ember-gold and violet, half bird of prey, half wrathful god of the open air.
Galura, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEUpdraft Ally (signature). While within 30 ft. of Galura, Galura gains a flying speed of 50 ft. and adds 1d6 fire damage to its first hit each turn.
Actions
Raking Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6+3) slashing damage.
Reactions
Cover the Dive. Reaction: When Galura uses Searing Dive, Galura may move up to its speed toward an enemy in the line, drawing opportunity attacks away from Galura.
A lesser fire-eagle that wheels in Galura's wake, half its size and twice as eager, mirroring every dive.
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 the air and use Searing Dive on the most clustered pair, then snatch the squishiest caster with Talons and lift them out of reach. Kill-priority is anyone with ranged fire control; it shrugs off flame. Pair it with a ground brute so it can stay airborne and harass.
Stay 30+ ft. up and only descend to grapple-and-drop the back line, recharging Searing Dive over knots of melee. When bloodied, lean on Skyward Lunge to peel off after every melee hit and reset the dive. This is the air-superiority piece, pair it with a serpent or hydra-style flagship boss it is sworn to slay.
Treat it as a hit-and-run flank threat beside a bigger boss: dive, line-burn the cluster, grab the controller and drop them from 60 ft. Kill-priority remains casters who can ground it (web, grease, hold). Never let it land, it gives up its whole identity once pinned.
Put Galura 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 Galura?
Galura is built at CR 6 (2,300 XP) in its native Tier 2 form: AC 16, 123 HP, +7 to hit, save DC 15. The Tier 1 and Tier 3 columns rescale the same creature to roughly CR 2 and CR 11 so you can drop it into a level 1-4 or 11-15 party without rebuilding it.
Can Galura be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a neutral-good celestial that hunts serpents, Galura makes a natural patron or temporary ally, especially against reptilian or draconic threats it is sworn to destroy. For a player-side flyer use the bound companion Talonward, Bound (AC 14, 74 HP), or run Galura itself as a high-impact guest ally for one or two fights.
Is Galura solo-boss material?
Not as printed. With no legendary actions it works best as an add-on air-superiority piece beside a flagship boss, ideally a great serpent or hydra it is destined to fight. For a true solo finale, give it legendary actions (a free Talons, a Wing-Beat that knocks fliers prone) and drop its sheet one band so the action economy stays fair.
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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