Lovers
Lovers — The Encounter
Twin dancers of the sixth arcanum, bound by the heart's choice · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Lovers
Drawn from the sixth key of the major arcana, the Lovers are an allegory made manifest, a single soul that walks the world in two bodies. Where folklore speaks of a youth standing between two paths beneath a watching angel, here the choice has already been made, and the pair dance the eternal answer of yes. They appear at weddings and at duels alike, for the card means both harmony and the consequence of every union. To strike one is to wound the other, and to part them is to make them weep blood and silver light. Diviners warn that the Lovers cannot be reasoned out of devotion, only matched in it; they fight as one creature with two grasping hands, weaving enemies into the rhythm of their waltz until foe and friend alike forget why they ever raised a blade. Cut the dance, the old readers say, or be swept up in it.
Run Lovers in Sixty Seconds
- Hold the pair within 30 ft. of each other every round — apart they take psychic damage and lose Dodge, together they shrug off fear and dance untouchable.
- Open with Heartbound Glamour so the nearest attackers swing at disadvantage, then wade into melee and Entwine to strip reactions before anyone disengages.
- Kill-priority for the party: force the two halves more than 30 ft. apart, or focus one — Mirrored Grace and Shared Breath both die when they're split.
- When bloodied, throw Rapturous Step into the tightest cluster every recharge and lean on Mirrored Grace to halve the alpha strike aimed at you.
- Three ways to run it: as a charm-control add-on guarding a boss; as a pacifist duel that ends in calm emotions, not death; or as a tragic chase where parting them is the only win.
Lovers
Medium celestial (fey), neutral good
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINETwo Hearts, One Soul. The Lovers act as a single bound spirit sharing one initiative and one pool of Hit Points. While both halves of the pair stand within 30 feet of each other, the Lovers have advantage on saving throws against being frightened and may take the Dodge action as part of any other action once per turn. If forced apart, each turn they end farther than 30 feet from one another they take 7 (2d6) psychic damage from the ache of separation.
Heartbound Glamour. Signature. A creature that starts its turn within 20 feet of the Lovers and can see them must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until the start of its next turn, swaying toward the dance. A creature charmed this way has disadvantage on attack rolls against either of the Lovers. A creature that succeeds is immune to this trait for 24 hours.
Innate Spellcasting. The Lovers' spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 15). They can innately cast the following SRD spells, requiring no material components: at will — charm person, dancing lights; 3/day each — calm emotions, hold person; 1/day — greater restoration.
Actions
Multiattack. The Lovers make two Entwining Touch attacks.
Entwining Touch. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) radiant damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be unable to take reactions until the end of its next turn, transfixed by the dance.
Rapturous Step (Recharge 5-6). The Lovers spin into a sweeping waltz, lashing every creature of their choice within 15 feet. Each target must make a DC 15 Charisma saving throw, taking 33 (6d10) psychic damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails is also charmed by the Lovers until the end of its next turn.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Mirrored Grace (Reaction). When one of the Lovers is hit by an attack, the other half spins between them; the Lovers halve the damage from that attack.
Two dancers leap mid-step beneath a heart-crowned arch, hands reaching but never quite touching, frozen at the breathless instant of choosing one another. They are the sixth card given flesh: union, devotion, and the terrible weight of decision.
Lovers, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEShared Breath (signature). While Lovers is within 30 feet of her partner, both gain a +1 bonus to AC and saving throws. Lovers can sense the exact direction and condition of her partner at any distance.
Actions
Silken Lash. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) radiant damage, and Lovers can pull the target up to 10 feet toward her into the dance.
Reactions
Take My Hand. When an ally she can see within 30 feet fails a saving throw against being charmed or frightened, Lovers may allow them to reroll, taking the new result.
The second dancer, leaping toward outstretched fingers; severing her from her partner is the only way to break the spell of the pair.
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 Heartbound Glamour to scatter the party's focus, then dance into melee where chargers are forced to hesitate. If foes cluster, save Rapturous Step for the knot. This is an add-on charm piece, not a boss; pair it with a heavier brawler that punishes the transfixed.
Open by closing distance so both halves stay within 30 ft. for Two Hearts, One Soul, then Glamour the front line. Recharge Rapturous Step into the densest cluster. Kill-priority for the party is to split the pair past 30 ft. and bleed them with separation damage; pair the Lovers with a flagship enchanter or fey lord they protect.
Lead with mass Glamour and hold the clustered party with Rapturous Step every recharge while Mirrored Grace blunts burst damage. Keep the pair tight so Dodge and the save bonus stack. Still an add-on: deploy beside a true centerpiece boss and let the Lovers lock the front rank in their waltz.
Put Lovers 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 Lovers?
Natively CR 6 (Tier 2, ~2,300 XP) — a Medium celestial fey enchanter built as an add-on, not a solo boss. The sheet scales down to roughly CR 2 for Tier 1 parties and up to roughly CR 11 for Tier 3, with all traits identical and only the numbers shifting.
Can Lovers be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a bound pair of neutral-good fey spirits they make a natural guardian or patron — their Heartbound Glamour and greater restoration shield a party, and the companion half, Anima, can lend rerolls against charm and fear. They are non-combatants by nature, so they shine as protectors and peacemakers rather than damage dealers.
How do you actually defeat the Lovers without a slugfest?
Separate them. Everything that makes the pair dangerous — the Dodge, the save bonus, Mirrored Grace, Shared Breath — keys off the two halves staying within 30 feet. Wall spells, forced movement, or simply grappling one half past that line turns a tough fight into a fast one, and may end it without a single death.
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 Lovers 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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