Izanami
Izanami — The Encounter
Mother of Gods, Mistress of the Land of the Dead · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Izanami
She who once shaped the islands of the world now reigns beneath them. In the days of making, Izanami stood beside her husband Izanagi and birthed the land, the seas, and the host of gods — until the fire-child tore her life from her in the bearing. Descending into the shadowed country of Yomi, she ate of its hearth and could never again walk among the living. When her grieving husband sought her there and recoiled at her ruined form, she swore in her shame to drag a thousand of the living down to death each day. Now she presides over the realm of rot, beautiful and terrible, her decree a daily quota of souls. Those who venture to her tideline shrines find her courteous, even sorrowful — and utterly without mercy, for she is bound to the count she swore. To meet her gaze is to feel the cold patience of the grave that waits for all who breathe.
Run Izanami in Sixty Seconds
- She is solo. Izanami is a boss with legendary actions — drop her into one room as the climax, no other big threats needed. Her sheet already plays up a tier or two.
- Open with reach and fear. Lead with fear on the clustered casters, then Spectral Blades from 15 ft. so she strikes before melee can close. Save Withering Decree for the first turn three or more PCs bunch up.
- Kill-priority is healing. Her whole engine is attrition: Rot of the Underworld and Curse of Decay shrink hit point maximums permanently, and her cone stops hit point regain. Target whoever heals; she wins if the party can't out-heal the rot.
- When bloodied, fall back to the shrine. Use Drifting Step to disengage onto the rock, hover out of melee, and Withering Decree the approach. Force them to wade through the grave-mist to reach her.
- Three ways to run her. Sorrowful judge (she warns them once, then carries out the decree), relentless quota-keeper (she fights to drag exactly her toll of souls below), or grieving monster (cruelty born of shame — she takes no joy in it).
Izanami
Large undead (deity), neutral evil
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINERot of the Underworld. Signature. Izanami carries the corruption of the realm of the dead within her body. A creature that hits her with a melee attack within 5 ft. takes 7 (2d6) necrotic damage. The first time a creature ends its turn within 10 ft. of her each round, it must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or have its hit point maximum reduced by 7 (2d6) until it finishes a long rest. A creature reduced to 0 maximum hit points this way dies.
Magic Resistance. Izanami has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Innate Spellcasting. Izanami's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 17). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components: at will — chill touch, inflict wounds; 3/day each — blight, fear; 1/day each — circle of death, contagion.
Actions
Multiattack. Izanami makes two attacks with her Spectral Blades, or casts a spell and makes one Spectral Blades attack.
Spectral Blades. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 5) slashing damage plus 13 (3d8) necrotic damage.
Withering Decree (Recharge 5–6). Izanami pronounces a death sentence in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking 36 (8d8) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails is also cursed until the end of Izanami's next turn and can't regain hit points.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Veil of the Dead (Reaction). When a creature Izanami can see hits her with an attack, she wreathes herself in grave-mist and imposes disadvantage on that attack roll. If the attack still hits, the attacker takes 9 (2d8) necrotic damage.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Drifting Step. Izanami moves up to her speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Spectral Blade. Izanami makes one Spectral Blades attack.
Curse of Decay (Costs 2 Actions). Izanami targets one creature she can see within 60 ft. The target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or have its hit point maximum reduced by 11 (2d10) until it finishes a long rest and gain no benefit from healing until the start of Izanami's next turn.
A serene, halo-crowned matron in funerary silks rises from the tidewashed rock, her back unfurling into a fan of pale spectral blades like the bones of a drowned god. The living approach her shrine as mourners — and leave as the dead.
Izanami, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINERelentless Pursuit (signature). The Izanami (hag of Yomi) ignores difficult terrain and can't be slowed below its full speed by any nonmagical effect. It always knows the direction to the nearest living creature within 120 ft.
Actions
Raking Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) slashing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
Reactions
Hunter's Lunge. When a creature within 10 ft. tries to move away, the Izanami moves up to half its speed toward that creature without provoking opportunity attacks.
A withered crone-fury of the underworld, sent ahead to run down the fleeing before their mistress arrives to claim them.
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 drifting in and casting fear at the party's clustered casters, then carve with Spectral Blades. Withering Decree is your finisher — hold it for when three or more bunch up. She is a terror at this tier; run her as a single-fight set piece, not a wave.
Stay airborne and hover over the rock, forcing melee to come to her so Rot of the Underworld grinds their hit point maximums down. Kill-priority is the healer — Withering Decree shuts off their regain. Lead with Veil of the Dead reactions to blunt the burst rounds.
Run her solo: legendary actions let her Drifting Step out of melee and Curse of Decay the lowest-HP PC every round. Open with circle of death if they cluster, otherwise inflict wounds on the front-liner. Spend reactions on Veil; spend legendaries on Curse to outpace healing. When bloodied, retreat to the shrine and Withering Decree the chokepoint.
Put Izanami 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 Izanami?
Her native sheet is CR 11 (7,200 XP), tuned for tier-3 parties (levels 11–15). Because she is solo_capable with legendary actions and reactions, she already plays up one to two CR, so a single Izanami is a full climactic encounter for a party of four — no supporting monsters required. Scaled-down tier-1 and tier-2 sheets are provided for lower-level tables.
Can Izanami be a companion or ally?
Not directly — she is a death deity bound by her own oath to claim the living, and she makes a far better adversary than ally. The diorama instead pairs her with the Shikome, Bound: a hag-fury of the underworld she sends ahead to run down fleeing prey. Use the Shikome as a fast skirmisher tied to her, or repurpose it as a stand-alone hunter.
Is Izanami based on real mythology?
Yes. Izanami-no-Mikoto is a primordial creator goddess of Japanese Shinto myth who, with her husband Izanagi, birthed the islands and gods of the world. After dying in childbirth she became ruler of Yomi, the land of the dead, vowing to take a thousand lives a day — public-domain folklore that grounds her here as a sorrowful, implacable deity of decay.
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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