Gubbar
Gubbar — The Encounter
Crowned Mother of the Still Waters and Lily Marsh · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Gubbar
In the highland marshes the old folk leave honey-water and lily petals at the reed-line, for they say the still pools belong to Gubbar, the Crowned Mother who walked up out of the first flood. Her staff is the bent reed that parted the waters; her crown is woven of the marsh itself, ever green, ever wet. She is no destroyer but a keeper, and the marsh is her body: foul the water and she rises grey-eyed, and the same pools that nursed your cattle will close over your head like a hand. Healers swear that a mother who bathes a fevered child at the lily-pad before dawn and speaks Gubbar's name will find the fever drawn down into the dark water by morning. Soldiers who drain her wetlands for war seldom come home, for the marsh remembers, and Gubbar's mercy is for those who kneel and ask, not those who take.
Run Gubbar in Sixty Seconds
- She is a support piece. Gubbar is an add-on, not a solo. Field her beside a frontline brute or boss; on her own she stalls into a slow attrition slog.
- Open with control. Lead with Drowning Grasp on the party's biggest melee threat to restrain it in the shallows, or entangle if they cluster at the water's edge.
- Kill-priority: her. While she lives she heals, wards, and pulls allies upright with Brimming Wellspring and Mother's Ward, so a smart party should focus her down before the brute beside her.
- When bloodied, she Tide-Steps to fresh water every turn and turtles behind Mother's Ward; deny her water with fire, terrain, or grappling onto dry land to strip Tide-Step and Living Marsh.
- Three ways to run her: marsh-guardian healer behind an aquatic boss; lone shrine-keeper the party must appease rather than slay; or grey-eyed wrathful flood-mother defending drained wetlands.
Gubbar
Medium celestial, neutral good
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINELiving Marsh. Difficult terrain made of water, mud, or plants does not cost Gubbar extra movement, and she can move across and stand on liquid surfaces as if they were solid ground. She has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks while in a marsh, pond, or shallow water.
Brimming Wellspring. (signature) Gubbar is wreathed in surging water that answers her will. The first time on each of her turns that a creature she can see within 30 feet is reduced to 0 hit points, or that she casts a healing spell, water erupts from her staff: each creature of her choice within 15 feet regains 5 hit points and is no longer poisoned. Her own pooled vitality also lets her end one effect on herself that is causing her to be blinded, deafened, or restrained at the start of each of her turns.
Innate Spellcasting. Gubbar's spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 15, +7 to hit with spell attacks). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components. At will: druidcraft, poison spray, shape water (control water cantrip-style ripple). 3/day each: cure wounds, entangle, lesser restoration. 1/day each: conjure animals (water creatures), sleet storm, water walk.
Actions
Multiattack. Gubbar makes two attacks with her Coiled Staff, or makes one Coiled Staff attack and casts a cantrip.
Coiled Staff. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6+4) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) cold damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 10 feet toward Gubbar.
Drowning Grasp (Recharge 5-6). Water surges up around a creature Gubbar can see within 60 feet. The target must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) cold damage and being restrained until the end of its next turn on a failure, or half as much damage and not restrained on a success. A creature already in or adjacent to water has disadvantage on this save.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Tide-Step. Bonus Action. If Gubbar is within 5 feet of a body of water, she sinks into it and rises from any other water she can see within 60 feet, leaving difficult-terrain ripples in the space she left.
Mother's Ward. Reaction, when an ally Gubbar can see within 30 feet takes damage, she may halve that damage by drawing a curtain of water before them.
A crowned marsh-mother stands serene on a pad of lilies, gilded staff in hand as living water pours endlessly from her hem into the pond beneath her bare feet.
Gubbar, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEAmphibious (signature). The drake can breathe air and water, and ignores difficult terrain caused by water or plants.
Actions
Tail Lash. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6+2) bludgeoning damage, and a Medium or smaller target is knocked prone if it is standing in or on water.
Reactions
Spray Veil. When a creature within 10 feet makes a ranged attack against the drake's bound ally, the drake spits a veil of mist, imposing disadvantage on the attack.
A jewel-scaled drake that suns itself on the broad lilypads at Gubbar's feet and slips beneath the surface the instant her marsh is threatened.
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 entangle on the clustered party, then plink with poison spray from across the pond using Living Marsh to stay in cover. Kill-priority is whoever is draining or fouling her water. Pair her with a bigger marsh threat; alone at this tier she is a slow attrition fight, not a centerpiece.
Open by dropping Drowning Grasp on the melee bruiser so the front line stays restrained in the shallows, then Coiled Staff drag and Tide-Step out of reach. If the party clusters at the water's edge, lead with entangle. She is a support/control add-on: give her a frontline brute or beast and she'll heal it, ward it, and reposition forever, so kill her first if the party can reach her.
Open with sleet storm over the field, then Drowning Grasp + Coiled Staff to lock down the highest-damage PC. Use Mother's Ward and Brimming Wellspring to keep a flagship boss standing through focused fire. She is the healer/controller anchor of an aquatic warband, not the kill-target; force her out of water with terrain to neuter Tide-Step.
Put Gubbar 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 Gubbar?
Her native build is CR 6 (T2, ~2,300 XP) as a marsh healer-controller. Scale her down to roughly CR 2 for levels 1-4 or up to roughly CR 11 for levels 11-15 using the tier table; traits stay the same, only the numbers move.
Can Gubbar be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a neutral-good keeper of the still waters she makes an excellent patron or guardian ally, healing and warding the party as long as they protect her marsh; betray or foul her water and that same mercy turns to a drowning wrath.
Is Gubbar a solo boss?
No. She is solo_capable=false: a support and control add-on with no legendary actions. Pair her with a flagship brute, drake, or aquatic boss she can heal and ward, and let that partner soak the spotlight while she keeps it alive.
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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