Hel
Hel — The Encounter
Half-Living Queen of the Misty Realm of the Dead · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Hel
She is the daughter born of a giant and a binding-fated trickster, cast down to rule the misty land beneath the roots of the world where go all who die of sickness and old age rather than glory. Half her body is the bloom of living flesh; the other half is the grey of the long-buried, and so she is queen of neither side wholly and both. None who pass her gates depart, for her hall sets a table heaped with hunger, her bed is named Sick-Bed, and her threshold Stumbling-Block. When the mother-goddess wept to ransom a slain shining son, it was this cold queen who set the price: let every thing in the world weep for him, and he may return. One creature would not weep, and so the bright one stayed below. She keeps her bargains to the letter and forgives nothing, for she is owed every death that is not earned in battle, and she always collects.
Run Hel in Sixty Seconds
- She is a true solo boss. Hel has legendary actions and regenerates atop her skull dais, so run her alone or with only Garmr; a full second war-band will overwhelm the party.
- Open big. Lead with Tide of the Dead while the party is bunched in the entry line, restraining the front rank, then double Grave-Touch the squishiest striker.
- Kill-priority is the healer. Grave-Touch reduces hit point maximums until a long rest, so anyone trying to undo that damage is your first target.
- Mind the skull mound. Throne of Skulls heals her 10/turn while she stands on the dais; smart parties will lure her off it or destroy the corpses, and you should make them work for it.
- When bloodied, flip her to the dead side. Half-Dead Queen lets her survive one would-be killing blow per long rest; spring it to deny a clean finish, then counter with Tide of the Dead. Three ways to run her: a slow attrition siege from the dais, a mobile chase using Reclaim the Fallen, or a gatekeeper duo with Garmr cutting off escape.
Hel
Medium undead, neutral evil
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINEHalf-Dead Queen. Hel's body is living flesh on one side and a withered corpse on the other. The first time each turn she takes damage, she chooses living or dead: while living, she has advantage on Constitution checks; while dead, attacks against her that would reduce her below 1 hp instead leave her at 1 hp and she gains immunity to that instance. This signature trait can save her once per long rest while dead.
Throne of Skulls. While Hel stands within 10 ft. of a mound of the dead, fallen creature, or her skull dais, she regains 10 hit points at the start of each of her turns (none if she has 0 hp).
Actions
Multiattack. Hel makes two Grave-Touch attacks, or makes one Grave-Touch attack and uses Tide of the Dead.
Grave-Touch. Melee Spell Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 27 (5d8 + 5) necrotic damage, and the target's hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken until it finishes a long rest. The target dies if this reduces its hit point maximum to 0.
Tide of the Dead (Recharge 5-6). Hel sweeps her hand and a serpentine flood of cold souls pours out in a 60-foot line that is 10 feet wide. Each creature in the line must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking 36 (8d8) cold damage and 18 (4d8) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails is also restrained until the end of its next turn as grasping dead hands hold it.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Mist of Niflheim (Reaction). When a creature Hel can see within 60 ft. drops to 0 hit points, she absorbs its passing spirit and gains 15 temporary hit points.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Cold Word. Hel speaks a syllable of the dead. One creature within 30 ft. must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or take 9 (2d8) necrotic damage and have its speed halved until the end of its next turn.
Grasp of the Grave (Costs 2 Actions). Withered hands erupt beneath a point Hel can see within 60 ft. Each creature within 10 ft. of that point must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be restrained until the end of its next turn.
Reclaim the Fallen (Costs 2 Actions). Hel moves up to her speed without provoking opportunity attacks and regains 10 hit points if she ends this movement within 10 ft. of a corpse.
A regal, spike-crowned queen, living flesh on one side and corpse-grey on the other, stands atop a heaped cairn of skulls while a serpentine torrent of cold red souls coils from her outstretched hand. Her fur-collared robes drag the chill of a realm where the unheroic dead drift forever.
Hel, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEBlood-Caked Watcher (signature). Hel has advantage on attacks against any creature that has moved toward an exit or doorway this turn, and cannot be surprised.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d8 + 4) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Reactions
Bay the Doomed. When a creature within 30 ft. of Hel drops to 0 hit points, Hel howls; each enemy within 30 ft. must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of Hel until the end of its next turn.
A blood-matted hound the size of a bull guards the gate to the realm of the dead, baying at any soul that dares turn back toward the living world.
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 Tide of the Dead down the party's marching line, then Grave-Touch the lowest-HP caster. Stay on or beside the skull dais so Throne of Skulls heals her each turn. At this scale she is a campaign-capping boss; give the party a way to break the corpse mound and shut off her regen.
Lead with Grave-Touch to drop a target's max HP, then save Tide of the Dead for when two or more cluster. Kill-priority is healers, since her necrotic max-reduction punishes slow recovery. Use Reclaim the Fallen to keep her near corpses and topped up; pair her with Garmr to pin the exits.
Open with Tide of the Dead (line) to restrain the front rank, then double Grave-Touch the most fragile striker. Spend legendary actions on Cold Word and Grasp of the Grave to lock down melee while she stays on the skull mound. When bloodied, flip Half-Dead Queen to the dead side and dare them to finish her; she will survive the killing blow once. She solos a party at this tier; Garmr is optional pressure.
Put Hel 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 Hel?
Hel is built at CR 11 (7,200 XP) on her native Tier 3 sheet. Because she has legendary actions and regeneration she is solo_capable, so her sheet is dropped one band from a raw CR 13 centerpiece to keep a single party of four to five level 11-15 characters challenged but not crushed. Scaled stat lines for Tier 1 and Tier 2 are provided for lower-level capstone fights.
Can Hel be a companion or ally?
Not as a player ally; she is the queen of the unheroic dead who collects every non-glorious death and forgives nothing, which makes her a patron or terrifying quest-giver at best. If you need a death-aligned ally at the table, use her gate-hound Garmr (AC 14, 117 HP) as a bound companion instead, or run Hel as the bargaining adversary the party must negotiate a soul back from.
Why does Hel have two different bodies?
In the source myth she is described as half living flesh and half corpse, queen of neither realm wholly. The Half-Dead Queen trait captures this: each turn she chooses to lean living (advantage on Constitution checks) or dead (survive one killing blow per long rest). It is her signature, and telegraphing the flip gives players a clear tell to react to.
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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