Kraken
Kraken — The Encounter
The barnacle-crowned drinker of ships, terror of the Greek deep · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Kraken
Among the monsters Greek sailors feared above all storms was the drinker of ships — a thing so old the barnacles upon its hide are themselves a reef. When it rose beneath a hull, oars splintered and men were plucked screaming from the benches before the sea swallowed the rest. Fishermen of the islands say it sleeps in a trench no plumb-line has touched, and that the great whirlpools that drag vessels under are only the wake of it turning in its slumber. To wake it is to invite the storm itself: lightning answers its anger, and the brine boils where it passes. Heroes who survived its embrace spoke of suckers the breadth of shields and a single eye, dim and ancient, that watched them drown without malice or mercy — only the patience of something that has eaten kingdoms and will eat again. Sacrifices were left upon the rocks at the headland, lest the sea remember it was hungry.
Run Kraken in Sixty Seconds
- Hold its action until the party clusters on a deck or pier, then open with Maelstrom Coils dragging everyone toward the beak — water within 30 ft. is now difficult terrain for them, not the kraken.
- Grapple then Fling — tentacles reach 30 ft. and grapple at escape DC 16; immediately Fling a grappled caster 60 ft. into a wall or another PC. Grappled-and-restrained casters can't move and have disadvantage — prioritize them.
- Kill-priority is the rescuer — the PC spending actions to cut allies loose is your biggest threat; bite a swallowed Large-or-smaller hero out of the fight if one is in reach.
- When bloodied (104 HP), spend 3 legendary actions on Ink Cloud, stun the front line, and dive 60 ft. — reset positioning and surface next round outside their reach.
- Three ways to run it: (1) full solo titan at T3 with legendary actions; (2) a surfaced juvenile at T2 as a ship-fight centerpiece; (3) a single rampaging tentacle at T1 menacing a dock — same traits, scaled numbers.
Kraken
Gargantuan monstrosity (titan), chaotic evil
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINEAmphibious. The kraken can breathe air and water.
Siege Monster. The kraken deals double damage to objects and structures — a single ship's hull does not survive its grip.
Maelstrom Coils. Signature. The water within 30 feet of the kraken is difficult terrain for creatures that aren't the kraken. A creature that starts its turn grappled by a tentacle must succeed on a DC 16 Strength save or be dragged 10 feet toward the kraken's beak.
Actions
Multiattack. The kraken makes three tentacle attacks, each of which it can replace with one use of Fling.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 23 (3d12 + 4) piercing damage. If the target is a Large or smaller creature grappled by the kraken, it is swallowed and the grapple ends.
Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 30 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d6 + 8) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 16). Until the grapple ends, the target is restrained. The kraken has ten tentacles, each of which can grapple one target.
Fling. One Large or smaller object held or creature grappled by the kraken is thrown up to 60 feet in a random direction and knocked prone. If a thrown target strikes a solid surface, it takes 9 (3d6) bludgeoning damage. If thrown at another creature, that creature must succeed on a DC 16 Dexterity save or take the same damage and be knocked prone.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Tentacle Attack or Fling. The kraken makes one tentacle attack or uses Fling.
Lightning Storm (Costs 2 Actions). The kraken lashes the sea with stormlight. Each creature within 30 feet must make a DC 16 Dexterity save, taking 14 (4d6) lightning damage on a failure, or half as much on a success.
Ink Cloud (Costs 3 Actions). While underwater, the kraken expels an inky cloud in a 60-foot radius. The cloud is heavily obscured. Each non-kraken creature in the cloud when it appears must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution save or take 16 (3d10) poison damage and be stunned until the end of its next turn. The kraken can then swim up to its speed.
A mountain of barnacle-crusted limbs hauls itself out of the foam, ten suckered tentacles writhing around a beaked maw wide enough to crack a trireme in half.
Kraken, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINETide Warden (signature). An allied creature that starts its turn within 30 feet of Kraken gains a swim speed equal to its walking speed and ignores difficult terrain made of water until the start of its next turn.
Actions
Crushing Tentacle. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 20 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (2d8 + 6) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 15).
Reactions
Dragging Undertow. When a creature within 20 feet hits Kraken with a melee attack, Kraken may pull that creature 10 feet toward it and the creature must succeed on a DC 15 Strength save or be knocked prone.
A lesser spawn of the deep, raised in the kraken's wake to herd prey into its parent's reach.
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.
Run it as a single rampaging tentacle that has breached the dock or hull — not the whole beast. Open by grappling the heaviest-armored hero and dragging them toward the water; kill-priority is anyone trying to cut the party free. Pair it with a bigger threat at higher tables; here the one limb alone is the encounter.
A juvenile or surfaced upper mass. Open with two tentacle grapples on the front line, then Fling a grappled caster into the rest of the party. When bloodied, dive and use Ink Cloud to break contact and reset. Best as the centerpiece of a ship-deck or harbor fight with kuo-toa or sahuagin-style adds feeding it victims.
The full titan — a solo boss with legendary actions, so it can run alone. Open by grappling two PCs and Flinging one into a wall; spend legendary actions on Lightning Storm against clustered melee. Kill-priority is whoever frees grappled allies. When bloodied, Ink Cloud + dive to scatter the party before resurfacing for another round of swallow-and-fling.
Put Kraken 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 Kraken?
Its native tier is 3 (levels 11-15), built around CR 11 with AC 18, 207 HP, +8 to hit and save DC 16. Because it is a genuine solo boss with legendary actions, its sheet is dropped one band from the raw titan ceiling so a party of four can fight it without a TPK. Use the tier-1 or tier-2 lines for lower tables.
Can Kraken be a companion or ally?
The kraken itself is a campaign-ending boss, not an ally — but its bound spawn Brinescourge (AC 16, 124 HP) can serve as a controlled deep-sea companion. Brinescourge grants nearby allies a swim speed with Tide Warden, grapples with its Crushing Tentacle, and drags attackers down with Dragging Undertow.
Is the Kraken solo-capable, and how should I pace the fight?
Yes — with three legendary actions per round it functions as a standalone boss for a tier-3 party. Open with grapples and a Fling, spend legendaries on Lightning Storm while PCs are clustered, and at half HP use Ink Cloud to stun the line and dive before resurfacing. Add sahuagin or sea-spawn at lower tiers if you want more bodies.
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
Played Kraken at your table? Log in with your Obsidian Tavern account to leave a balance note, a war story, or a file issue — the sharpest reports get the block revised.
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