Humbaba
Humbaba — The Encounter
Scale-Hided Terror Set to Guard the Cedar Forest · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Humbaba
Set by the elder gods to ward the great Cedar Forest, Humbaba is no beast but a sentinel woven from terror itself, whose seven cloaks of dread once turned away any who dared the holy grove. Its hide is plated like a serpent's, its face a knot of coiled entrails that no mortal may meet without his courage draining; its breath is fire and its voice the breaking of a flood. Travelers tell that it hears the forest as the forest hears it, that no leaf falls in the cedar shade but Humbaba knows the foot that broke it. It was slain at last by two heroes who came as one, and even then only by treachery of the wind and the favor of a watching sun. Yet grimoires warn that guardians do not truly die where their charge still stands, and the cedars whisper still.
Run Humbaba in Sixty Seconds
- Open with Dread Visage. At the top of round one, frighten the closest two PCs before initiative settles; frightened foes can't approach, so it controls the field for free.
- Kill-priority is the caster. Humbaba is dumb but instinctive—steer both Claws at the lowest-AC spellcaster and use the double-hit knockdown to keep them prone.
- Bank the Roar for clusters. Bellowing Roar is your only AoE—hold it until two or more PCs stand within 20 feet, ideally mid-heal.
- When bloodied, plant your feet. Below 63 HP it stops chasing and guards a chokepoint, forcing the party to come into reach rather than letting them kite it.
- Three ways to run it: lone gatekeeper of a sacred grove (skill-and-fear gauntlet), brute bodyguard beside a caster boss, or a roaming pair with Cedar-Shade flanking from the trees.
Humbaba
Large giant, neutral evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEDread Visage. When a creature that can see Humbaba's snarling face starts its turn within 30 feet of it, Humbaba can force it to make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw if Humbaba isn't incapacitated. On a failure, the creature is frightened until the start of its next turn. A creature that succeeds is immune to this trait for 24 hours.
Forest Guardian. Humbaba ignores difficult terrain made of plants and undergrowth, and has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks while in any forest. It cannot be surprised in a wooded place it has been set to guard.
Actions
Multiattack. Humbaba makes two Claw attacks. If both hit the same target, the target must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d8 + 5) slashing damage.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) piercing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Bellowing Roar (Recharge 5-6). Humbaba unleashes a deafening roar. Each creature within 20 feet must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or take 9 (2d8) thunder damage and be deafened until the end of its next turn; half damage on a success.
A mountain of scaled muscle crowned by a tangled lion's mane, Humbaba rears back one taloned fist while the other reaches to seize, its tusked jaws gaping in a roar that flattens the cedars around it.
Humbaba, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINERooted Vigilance (signature). Humbaba cannot be surprised and has advantage on Perception checks in forest or undergrowth. Allies within 10 feet of it have advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Actions
Rending Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage.
Reactions
Guardian's Interposition. When an ally Humbaba can see within 5 feet is hit by an attack, it can step in and take half the damage in their place.
A lesser sentinel of the grove, half Humbaba's size, that mirrors its master's snarl and never sleeps so long as the cedars stand.
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 Dread Visage to scatter the line, then wade in with Claws on the nearest fighter. Save Bellowing Roar for when the party clusters to heal. Pair it with a bigger flagship boss; alone against four level-3s it is a hard set-piece, not a wipe.
This is the Cedar Forest piece: open with Dread Visage, then Multiattack the squishiest caster and try for the prone knockdown. When clustered, Bellowing Roar then follow up melee. Kill-priority is whoever ignores the frighten; pair it with archers or a controller so it isn't kited.
Run as an elite forest brute beside a flagship spellcaster. Lead with Dread Visage to lock down a flank, Multiattack to prone the front-liner, and Bellowing Roar into any huddle. It lacks ranged answers, so position it to threaten the back rank early before the party can spread out.
Put Humbaba 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 Humbaba?
Native CR 6 (2,300 XP), a Tier-2 threat for parties of levels 5-10. Scale it down to roughly CR 2 for Tier 1 or up to about CR 11 for Tier 3 using the per-tier numbers; the traits and actions stay identical, only AC, HP, to-hit, and the save DC move.
Can Humbaba be a companion or ally?
Not Humbaba itself—it is a hostile guardian set to kill intruders. Use the bound companion Cedar-Shade, a lesser sentinel of the grove, as a controllable ally or warden NPC; its stat block is provided alongside the adversary.
How do I beat the fear lock without a Wisdom-heavy party?
Dread Visage only triggers on creatures that can see Humbaba's face, so heavy obscurement, blindness, or simply fighting from behind cover shuts it off. A single successful save also grants 24-hour immunity, so spread the saves across the party and rush one PC through to break the lock.
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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