Haldor Stormrider
Haldor Stormrider — The Encounter
Horn-helmed berserker who rides the north wind's fury · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Haldor Stormrider
They say Haldor was a jarl's huscarl who would not kneel when the thunder-cursed blight crept down from Loki's poisoned springs. Where other men fled the lightning, he climbed the headland and dared the sky to strike him, and the sky obliged - and did not kill him. Now the storm lives under his skin. He fights stripped to the waist so the gale can find him, the horned helm his only armor and his only pride, his weapons earthed in him like iron rods so that every blow he lands carries a fragment of the thunder he swallowed. Skalds name him Stormrider because he does not chase the gale; he runs ahead of it, and the rain catches up only after the screaming stops. He takes no land and holds no hall. He goes where the fighting is loudest, plants his feet, and bellows until the clouds gather - a mortal man wearing weather like a war-cloak.
Run Haldor Stormrider in Sixty Seconds
- Rage round one. Always open by raging - it grants the lightning damage on every hit and the nonmagical-damage resistance that keeps him on his feet. No rage means a much softer fight.
- Charge the soft targets. Use Riding the Gale to plow through the front line and slam a caster prone in his wake; that one move opens a lane and starts the lightning ticking.
- Kill-priority: concentration. Thunderstep's deafen and his raw damage are aimed at healers and casters - drop their spells before turning on the tanks.
- When bloodied, go all-in. Stack Reckless with Defy the Blow: he eats less, his crits land harder, and a foiled hit zaps the attacker. He is meant to die swinging, fast and loud.
- Three ways to run him: as a lone champion menacing a low-tier party; as the mobile disruptor beside a slower flagship boss; or as a raid-leader fronting a pack of berserker minions who follow his charge.
Haldor Stormrider
Medium humanoid (human), chaotic neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEStorm-Born Rage. At the start of his turn Haldor can enter a rage for 1 minute (no action). While raging he has advantage on Strength checks and saves, resistance to nonmagical bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage, and his weapon hits crackle with the storm (see Multiattack).
Reckless. At the start of his turn, Haldor can gain advantage on all melee weapon attack rolls during that turn, but attack rolls against him have advantage until his next turn.
Riding the Gale. Signature. When Haldor moves, he can stride through any space occupied by a creature of his size or smaller as if it were difficult terrain; the first such creature he passes each turn takes 7 (2d6) lightning damage and must succeed on a DC 15 Strength save or be knocked prone in his wake.
Actions
Multiattack. Haldor makes two melee attacks. While raging, each hit deals an extra 4 (1d8) lightning damage (already included below).
Storm Axe. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d8 + 4 slashing plus 1d8 lightning) damage, or 19 (2d10 + 4 slashing plus 1d8 lightning) if wielded in two hands.
Riven Throw. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d6 + 4 piercing plus 1d8 lightning) damage, and on a hit Haldor can immediately Dash toward the target as part of the same action.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Thunderstep (Bonus Action). While raging, Haldor moves up to half his speed without provoking opportunity attacks. The first creature he ends adjacent to hears a thunderclap and must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution save or be deafened until the end of its next turn.
Defy the Blow (Reaction). When Haldor takes damage while raging, he can roar and reduce that damage by 9 (2d6 + 2). If this reduces the damage to 0, the attacker takes 5 (1d10) lightning damage.
A bare-chested giant of a man in a black horned helm, beard bound in a single thick braid, both arms thrown skyward as twin weapons drink the lightning. Fur, leather, and old knotwork gird his hips; the storm answers his shout.
Haldor Stormrider, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEPack Fury (signature). Haldor Stormrider has advantage on attack rolls against any creature within 5 ft. of an ally that isn't incapacitated.
Actions
Crackling Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) lightning, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength save or be knocked prone.
Reactions
Lunge to the Whistle. When Haldor is hit by an attack, Haldor Stormrider can move up to its speed toward the attacker and make a Crackling Bite against it if it ends within reach.
A storm-grey wolfhound that runs at Haldor's heel, its hackles standing on end and snapping with static before every charge.
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 by raging and charging the squishiest caster with Riding the Gale, knocking it prone on the way in. If foes cluster, line up a Riven Throw then Dash through the lot. Pair him with a bigger threat - he is the bruiser piece, not the brain; let an ogre or warlord anchor while Haldor flanks.
Rage turn one, go Reckless, and bull straight for the back line - Riding the Gale prones a blocker and the lightning chips the crowd. Kill-priority is enemy healers and casters; use Thunderstep to deafen them out of concentration. He shines beside a tougher flagship boss as the disruptor that the party can't ignore but can't easily pin down.
Lead with a Riven Throw to teleport-Dash into the cluster, rage, then Reckless every turn and let Defy the Blow turn incoming spikes into lightning splashback. Target concentration casters relentlessly with the deafen rider. Run him as the fast skirmisher beside a slower legendary anchor so the party is split two ways.
Put Haldor Stormrider 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 Haldor Stormrider?
His home stat block is CR 6 (2,300 XP), tuned for a party of levels 5-10. Scaled tiers are provided for levels 1-4 and levels 11-15; the traits and tactics stay identical, only the numbers shift.
Can Haldor Stormrider be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a chaotic-neutral storm-touched mercenary he makes a vivid hireling or rival-turned-ally - run him with reduced damage as a tank-buster the party borrows, and bring Skoll, Storm-Hound along as his bonded mount-hound.
Is Haldor solo-capable as a boss?
No. He has no legendary actions, so a full party will action-economy him quickly. He is an add-on built to pair with a bigger flagship threat - the fast disruptor that punishes the back line while the centerpiece holds the front.
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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