Mad Hatter
Mad Hatter — The Encounter
Wonderland's lunatic tinker, throned upon a spiked monowheel · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Mad Hatter
They say the Hatter went mad long before the machines, that the mercury of his trade had already curdled his wits when the great clocks of Wonderland first began to run backward. Now he keeps no appointments and yet is forever late, careening across the broken country on a monowheel of his own devising, a hooped cage of iron spikes that spins him from one impossible tea-party to the next. He speaks in riddles that turn out to be schematics, and laughs at threats because nothing frightens a man who has already lost his hours. The boiler strapped beneath his seat hisses and screams; the drill-lance bolted to its flank has bored through walls, wagons, and watchmen alike. Soldiers of the Yard who have faced him report the same thing: he never stops moving, never stops grinning, and always, always asks the same question of the dying — "Why is a raven like a writing-desk?"
Run Mad Hatter in Sixty Seconds
- He is a harrier, not a wall — the Hatter wants to charge, drill, and roll away every round. Never let him stand still and trade; that wastes the whole gimmick.
- Open with the charge — move 20+ ft. straight in, Drill-Lance for the prone knockdown, then scattergun a second target to slow the chase.
- Kill-priority is his mobility — anything that grapples, restrains, or prones him (or hits the wheel) shuts him down, so make players spend resources to catch him.
- When bloodied he speeds up — Mad Genius unlocks Overclock every turn, so he charges twice as far and hits with advantage; lean into reckless, grinning aggression.
- Three ways to run him — lone road-menace ambushing travelers, the fast flanker beside a Queen of Hearts boss, or the wildcard in a full Wonderland steampunk warband.
Mad Hatter
Medium humanoid (human), chaotic neutral
CR 2 · 450 XP · GUIDELINEMad Genius. The Hatter has advantage on saving throws against being charmed or frightened. Whenever he is reduced to half his hit points or fewer, his frenzy quickens: he may use his Bonus Reaction Overclock on each of his turns even if he has already used a bonus action.
Monowheel Charge. If the Hatter moves at least 20 ft. straight toward a target while mounted on his spiked wheel and then hits it with the Drill-Lance, the target takes an extra 5 (2d4) piercing damage and must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Actions
Multiattack. The Mad Hatter makes two attacks: one with his Drill-Lance and one with his Clockwork Scattergun.
Drill-Lance. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d6+2) piercing damage, and on a critical hit the spinning auger jams in the wound, dealing an extra 3 (1d6) piercing damage at the start of the target's next turn.
Clockwork Scattergun. Ranged Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, range 30/90 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (2d4+2) piercing damage. On a hit, the target's speed is reduced by 10 ft. until the end of its next turn from the cloud of clockwork shrapnel.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Overclock. Bonus Action. The Hatter vents his boiler, taking 2 (1d4) fire damage to gain advantage on his next attack roll this turn and add 10 ft. to his monowheel's movement until the end of the turn.
Tea Smoke. Reaction, when a creature within 10 ft. hits him with an attack. The Hatter hurls a scalding teapot of vapor; the attacker must succeed on a DC 13 Constitution saving throw or be blinded until the end of its next turn.
Crowned in a battered, rivet-studded top hat and goggled against his own steam, the Hatter rides a single great spiked wheel like a lunatic's throne, one mechanical drill-arm thrust forward into the wreckage he has made.
Mad Hatter, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINETwitching Speed (signature). The Hare's clockwork legs never rest; it can take the Dash or Disengage action as a bonus action on each of its turns.
Actions
Spring-Loaded Cleaver. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d8+2) slashing damage.
Reactions
Mad Dash. When a creature ends its turn within 5 ft. of the Hare, it may move up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
A brass-jointed hare wound far too tight, forever lurching, twitching, and serving cups of nothing to nobody.
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 a Monowheel Charge to knock a frontliner prone, then split fire with the scattergun to slow whoever tries to chase. Kill-priority is anyone who slows or grapples the wheel — keep him mobile. Pair him with a heavier brute or a Queen of Hearts piece; the Hatter is the harrier, not the anvil.
Run him as a recurring hit-and-run skirmisher who charges, drills, and flees on the wheel each round. When bloodied, Mad Genius lets him Overclock every turn for double-charge mayhem. Kill-priority remains the party's mobility controllers; keep him as the fast flanker beside a slower tier-2 centerpiece.
Treat him as the elite engine in a Wonderland war-machine pack. He charges through lines, drills the backline, and blinds melee with Tea Smoke. He is still an add-on — pin him beside a true tier-3 boss so the party can't simply outrun the wheel.
Put Mad Hatter 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 Mad Hatter?
Natively CR 2 (450 XP) — a tier-1 skirmisher built for levels 1-4. Scaled stat blocks are provided for tier 2 (~CR 6) and tier 3 (~CR 11) so he can ride alongside higher-level threats unchanged in tactics.
Can Mad Hatter be a companion or ally?
Yes, but he's a chaotic, unreliable one. As an NPC ally he's a brilliant tinker and demolitions hand who'll happily breach walls — just never trust his timing or his riddles. The included March Hare, Wound-Up makes a fitting bound companion if you want the duo.
Is the Mad Hatter solo boss material?
No. He has no legendary actions and dies fast if cornered — he's an add-on piece designed to harry the party while a heavier centerpiece (the Queen of Hearts, a Moving Fortress) does the anchoring. Pair him; don't field him alone against a full party.
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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