Moro no Oni 2
Moro no Oni 2 — The Encounter
The crouching oni that haunts the gate, eyes like cold lanterns · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Moro no Oni 2
In the old temple registers it is set down as a moro no oni, a gate-haunting demon that takes a froggish, river-cold shape. Such oni were said to keep the flooded approaches below shrine and barrow, where the living seldom tread and the drowned are never counted. It crouches motionless for whole nights at the mouth of a culvert or sluice, mistaken for a knot of weed or a slick of moss, until a foot strays close. Then the wide jaws open and the long claws take, and the pilgrim is dragged down into black water before a prayer can be finished. The priests held that silvered iron and consecrated rope could bind it, and that it would not cross a salted line. Otherwise it answered to nothing but hunger, squatting at the threshold of Ashura's gate, patient as standing water and twice as cold.
Run Moro no Oni 2 in Sixty Seconds
- Hold, don't charge: keep it crouched. Gate-Crouch gives advantage on its first swing each round and lashes the first body to end its turn within 10 ft. It loses all that the instant it moves more than 5 ft.
- Open on the closest soft target: let a PC step into the 10 ft. ring, take the free 2d6 lash, then Multiattack (Bite + Claws) with advantage on the first roll.
- Use the Claws pull: the DC 15 Strength save drags a target 5 ft. closer; yank a backline melee or skirmisher into the oni's reach, away from the party.
- When bloodied (63 HP): stop holding the line, start hunting. Spend the reaction (Sudden Lunge) to close on a caster and burn it down before it can be pried off.
- Three ways to run it: (1) silent gate-ambusher at a single chokepoint; (2) a paired flanker beside a bigger boss; (3) a water-denial piece that keeps dragging victims toward deep water with the Watcher.
Moro no Oni 2
Large fiend (oni), neutral evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEAmphibious. The oni can breathe air and water.
Gate-Crouch. Signature. While the oni has not moved on its previous turn it is treated as crouched in ambush: it has advantage on the first attack roll it makes each round, and the first creature that ends its turn within 10 ft. of the unmoving oni takes 7 (2d6) slashing damage as it lashes out from its low coil. The oni rises and loses this benefit on any turn it moves more than 5 ft.
Actions
Multiattack. The oni makes two attacks: one with its Bite and one with its Claws.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 15 (3d6+4) piercing damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) slashing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be pulled 5 ft. toward the oni.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Sudden Lunge. When a creature the oni can see moves within 10 ft. of it, the oni can use its reaction to move up to half its speed toward that creature without provoking opportunity attacks.
A hunched, scale-plated oni squats low at the threshold, webbed claws splayed and ember-blue eyes burning beneath a fanged grin. It does not charge; it waits, coiled like a toad of the deep gate, for something soft to wander near.
Moro no Oni 2, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEHeld Breath (signature). The Watcher does not need to breathe and is immune to being grappled while submerged. It has advantage on Stealth checks made in or beside water.
Actions
Raking Grasp. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) slashing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 14) if it is a Medium or smaller creature.
Reactions
Drag Under. When the Watcher hits a grappled creature, it can use its reaction to move 5 ft. toward water, pulling the grappled creature with it.
A smaller scaled shape that surfaces only as far as its lantern eyes, the Watcher feeds the oni what wanders too near the water's edge.
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 lone ambusher at a chokepoint or waterline: it stays crouched (Gate-Crouch) so the first PC to close eats the lash and the advantaged attack. Open on the squishiest body that strays within 10 ft., Sudden Lunge to reach it. Kill-priority for the party is to NOT cluster at the threshold; it can only punish one approacher per round.
This is an ADD-ON, not the boss: pair it with a larger flagship oni or a caster and let it guard the gate/water flank. Open crouched so the front-line tank triggers the lash, then Claws-pull the backline melee out of formation toward it. Kill-priority is whoever the oni drags isolated; force the party to break the choke or fight it one-at-a-time.
Field it as the gate-warden minion of a bigger threat, holding a flooded approach while the real boss works. Keep it unmoving to bank Gate-Crouch advantage, Claws-pull to yank a PC off a ledge or into deep water, and Sudden Lunge onto teleporting strikers. Pairs best where terrain (water, narrow gate) does the work; it is a denial piece, not a damage race.
Put Moro no Oni 2 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 Moro no Oni 2?
Its home (native) tier is CR 6 (2,300 XP), tuned for level 5-10 parties: AC 16, 126 HP, +7 to hit, save DC 15. Stat lines for level 1-4 (CR ~2) and level 11-15 (CR ~11) are provided in the tiers block; the traits and actions are identical, only the numbers move.
Can Moro no Oni 2 be a companion or ally?
As written it is an adversary, but the bound Drowned Watcher (AC 13, 76 HP) is provided as an allied/companion stat block for a water-themed patron or a captured guardian. The oni itself is not solo-capable; it has no legendary actions and is meant to be paired with a larger flagship threat.
How do I keep the Gate-Crouch fight from feeling static?
The crouch rewards patience, but the bonus-action Sudden Lunge and the Claws pull let it reposition explosively. Stay coiled at the threshold until a target commits, then lunge or yank a victim out of formation so the table sees the trap snap shut rather than a creature standing still.
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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