Marzanna
Marzanna — The Encounter
Slavic Goddess of Winter and Death, Crowned in Frost · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Marzanna
Where the last warmth of autumn dies, Marzanna walks. The grimoires of the old Slavic lands name her the goddess who governs winter and death together, for to her they are one mercy and one cruelty. Each spring the villagers weave her effigy of straw and drown or burn it in the river, begging the cold to release the soil, and each winter she returns crowned in horn and rime to claim what the year has spent. The conspirators who would wake the black god of old courted her favor, for she alone could cloak the living world in an unending night of frost. Her gaze halts the blood in a warm body; her scepter, carved from the ice that never thaws, drinks the heat of whatever it touches. She does not hate the living. She simply outlasts them, gathering their skulls beneath her feet as a farmer gathers the harvest, patient as the season that always, always comes again.
Run Marzanna in Sixty Seconds
- Aura first — turn on Aura of Killing Cold before initiative; every PC within 15 ft. eats 1d10 cold and gets halved speed unless they make DC 17 CON. It quietly wins the positioning war for you.
- Kill-priority: torchbearers — anyone wielding fire can permanently end her Eternal Winter rebirth, so she targets and frostbites the party's fire damage first.
- When bloodied — she stops trading blows and spends legendary actions on Death's Hunger to heal off the frontliner; remind players that fire or consecration is the only way to keep her down for good.
- Recharge discipline — hold Drowning Frost (10d8 cone, restrains on a fail) until at least two PCs stand in the cone; it is the round that breaks a party.
- Three ways to run her — (1) lone winter-witch of a frozen shrine, (2) the necromantic ritualist anchoring a cult that means to wake the black god, (3) a recurring villain who literally cannot stay dead until the heroes find fire or holy ground.
Marzanna
Medium fiend (deity), neutral evil
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINEAura of Killing Cold. Signature. A creature that starts its turn within 15 feet of Marzanna takes 5 (1d10) cold damage and has its speed halved until the start of its next turn unless it succeeds on a DC 17 Constitution save. Plants and bodies of water within the aura wither and freeze solid.
Eternal Winter. Marzanna ignores difficult terrain made of ice or snow and is never harmed by environmental cold. When she is reduced to 0 hit points she does not die but freezes into a pillar of black ice, reviving with 30 hit points at the next dusk unless burned with fire or consecrated.
Innate Spellcasting. Marzanna's spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 17). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components: at will chill touch, ray of frost; 3/day each ice storm, sleet storm; 1/day each cone of cold, insect plague.
Actions
Multiattack. Marzanna makes two attacks with her Frost Scepter, or casts one spell and makes one Frost Scepter attack.
Frost Scepter. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8+5) bludgeoning damage plus 13 (3d8) cold damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution save or be unable to take reactions until the start of its next turn.
Drowning Frost (Recharge 5-6). Marzanna exhales a killing winter in a 30-foot cone. Each creature there makes a DC 17 Constitution save, taking 45 (10d8) cold damage and being restrained in ice on a failure (escape DC 17), or half damage and not restrained on a success.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Veil of Mourning. Reaction (when hit by a melee attack): Marzanna wreathes herself in freezing mist; the attacker takes 9 (2d8) cold damage and must succeed on a DC 17 Strength save or be pushed 10 feet away.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Frozen Step. Marzanna teleports up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space she can see, leaving a patch of ice (difficult terrain) where she stood.
Withering Ray (Costs 2 Actions). Marzanna casts ray of frost or makes one Frost Scepter attack.
Death's Hunger (Costs 2 Actions). One creature within 30 feet that Marzanna can see must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom save or take 16 (3d10) necrotic damage; Marzanna regains hit points equal to the damage dealt.
A pale goddess crowned with great curved horns and gilded frost-plate strides from a mound of frozen skulls, her blood-and-gold mantle spread like wings, an ornate scepter of black ice held high.
Marzanna, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEThawless Vigil (signature). While within 30 feet of Marzanna, Marzanna has resistance to cold damage and advantage on saves against being frightened. If Marzanna would drop to 0 hit points and Marzanna is within 30 feet, Marzanna may take the blow instead, dropping to 0 in her place.
Actions
Brittle Grasp. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8+3) cold damage, and the target's speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of its next turn.
Reactions
Shatter Ward. When an ally within 10 feet is hit by an attack, Marzanna freezes apart and reforms; the triggering attack deals half damage, and the attacker takes 5 (1d10) cold damage.
The straw effigy the villagers drowned to end winter, risen as black ice in a goddess's image, shielding her mistress with the body meant to banish her.
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 the cold aura active and a chill touch on the nearest healer; the halved-speed aura lets her kite a low-level party for ages. Save Drowning Frost for a cluster of two or more. She is a centerpiece even here, so a 4-person party of level 3-4 will be tested; run her as the lone winter-witch of a frozen shrine.
Lead with sleet storm to blind the casters, then Frozen Step into reach and scepter the squishiest target. Kill-priority is anyone who carries fire, since fire ends her Eternal Winter rebirth. When bloodied, retreat to the skull-mound and pour Drowning Frost into the chokepoint.
Open by hovering 15 feet up so melee must approach through the aura; lead with ice storm on the back line. Spend legendary actions on Death's Hunger to self-heal off the frontliner, and Frozen Step the moment two PCs flank her. Bloodied means burn-it-or-it-comes-back, so make the party choose between killing her now and surviving Drowning Frost.
Put Marzanna 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 Marzanna?
Her native tier is 3 (CR 11, 7,200 XP), tuned for a party of levels 11-15. Because she is a true solo boss with legendary actions, her sheet is dropped one band from the T3 ceiling so the legendary economy doesn't overwhelm. Tier-1 (CR ~2 feel) and Tier-2 (CR ~6 feel) sheets are provided to scale her down.
Can Marzanna be a companion or ally?
Only in the loosest sense. She is a death-goddess and a centerpiece adversary, not a follower, but a party of frost-aligned villains or a desperate cult could treat her as a patron-ally. The included companion, Vesna the Drowned Effigy, is the bodyguard meant to fight at her side.
How do I keep her dead?
Her Eternal Winter trait revives her at the next dusk with 30 hit points unless her frozen form is burned with fire or consecrated. Lean into this: she makes an excellent recurring villain who returns each winter until the heroes finally bring flame or holy water to the black ice.
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 Marzanna 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.
Log in to comment