Morrigan
Morrigan — The Encounter
Phantom Queen of crows, war, and battlefield prophecy · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Morrigan
Thrice-named and thrice-feared, the Phantom Queen walks where blood is owed. She is no soldier but the prophecy of the soldier's end, glimpsed before the first horn sounds. Warriors who meet her at the river ford find her washing armor that is not yet bloodied, and her crows wheeling above a host already mark the men who will not see dusk. She wears the trophies of kings and answers to none, choosing her own slaughter and walking the long battle-rows to drink the dread of the dying. To name her aloud is to invite her gaze, and to earn her gaze is to be counted among the fallen before the spears even cross. She takes the shape of a crow to walk unseen above shield-walls, croaking the doom of those below, then steps back into her terrible woman's form to claim the heads she is owed. Heroes do not bargain with the Morrigan. They only hope she has come for someone else.
Run Morrigan in Sixty Seconds
- Mark first, swing second. Each of her turns starts by marking one creature with Death Foretold (crits on 19-20 against it). Always name the party's biggest single-target threat so her crits land where they hurt.
- She heals off the mark's death. If the marked creature drops to 0 before her next turn she regains 15 HP. Stabilize fast or break her line of sight to the dying target to deny the heal.
- Hold Carrion Caw for a cone. The 30-ft. cone does psychic damage and frightens; fire it when three or more are clustered, then go back to blade work.
- When bloodied, she runs you ragged. Crow's Vanish (reaction) and Reaping Step (legendary) let her teleport and chase across the field. Box her in with difficult terrain or grapples so she cannot kite to her marked victim.
- Three ways to run her: a lone solo boss with full legendary actions (T3), a duelist mini-boss who hunts one PC (T2), or a frightening battlefield skirmisher paired with her crow-herald (any tier).
Morrigan
Medium celestial (shapechanger), chaotic neutral
CR 9 · 5,000 XP · GUIDELINEDeath Foretold. (signature) At the start of each of the Morrigan's turns, she names one creature she can see and marks it for death until the end of her next turn. Her attacks against the marked creature score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20, and if the marked creature drops to 0 hit points before the mark ends, the Morrigan regains 15 hit points as the battlefield feeds her.
Crow Shape. The Morrigan can use a bonus action to transform into a Tiny crow, or back into her true form. Her statistics are the same in each form except her speed becomes fly 60 ft. and she cannot make weapon attacks. Anything she is wearing or carrying is transformed with her.
Washer at the Ford. The Morrigan knows when a creature within 60 feet falls to 0 hit points without needing to see it, and learns the name of any humanoid that dies within 1 mile of her over the past day.
Actions
Multiattack. The Morrigan makes two attacks with her Prophecy Blade.
Prophecy Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 4) slashing damage plus 9 (2d8) necrotic damage.
Carrion Caw (Recharge 5-6). The Morrigan looses a shrieking omen of carrion crows in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, a creature takes 27 (6d8) psychic damage and is frightened until the end of its next turn; on a success, it takes half damage and is not frightened.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Crow's Vanish. When a creature the Morrigan can see ends its turn within 30 feet of her, she can use her reaction to dissolve into a flock of crows and reappear in an unoccupied space she can see within 30 feet, taking no opportunity attacks from the movement.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Blade. The Morrigan makes one Prophecy Blade attack.
Reaping Step (Costs 1 Action). The Morrigan moves up to her speed without provoking opportunity attacks. If she ends this movement adjacent to her marked creature, that creature must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or take 9 (2d8) necrotic damage.
Cry of the Slain (Costs 2 Actions). The Morrigan wails the names of the dead. Each enemy within 20 feet must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of her until the end of its next turn.
A war-queen in feathered helm and battle-leathers plants her great two-handed blade point-down amid a field of broken weapons, a severed trophy clutched in one hand and a crow-feathered cloak streaming like an omen of slaughter.
Morrigan, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEOmen-Bound (signature). While within 30 feet of the Morrigan, Morrigan has advantage on saving throws against being frightened and cannot be charmed.
Actions
Rending Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) slashing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or take 5 (2d4) psychic damage from the cawing of doom.
Reactions
Ill Omen. When an ally within 30 feet is hit by an attack, Morrigan caws a warning; the triggering attacker must reroll the attack's damage and use the lower total.
A swirling herald of crows in half-woman shape, Morrigan shrieks the names of the doomed and ushers her queen across the killing-field.
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 by marking the party's healer or weakest defender with Death Foretold, then close and swing the Prophecy Blade. If the party clusters, hold Carrion Caw for a three-target cone. Kill-priority is whoever she has marked; she heals when the mark dies, so break line of sight to deny her the kill.
Mark the strongest single-target damage dealer turn one so her crits punish them, then alternate blade swings and Carrion Caw to keep frighteners up. Use Crow's Vanish to escape anyone who corners her. Run her as a duelist boss who picks her victim and refuses to be pinned.
She is a solo centerpiece: open by marking the party's nova damage dealer, then spend legendary actions on Reaping Step to chase the mark and Blade to stack crits. Lead with Carrion Caw on a cluster, and Cry of the Slain when surrounded. When bloodied she leans on Crow Shape and Crow's Vanish to reset position and feast on the first kill for healing.
Put Morrigan 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 Morrigan?
Her native build is a CR 9 solo centerpiece (Tier 3, levels 11-15), set one band below the usual T3 boss numbers because her legendary actions and Death Foretold marking let her play up. Scaled-down Tier 1 and Tier 2 versions are provided for lower-level parties.
Can Morrigan be a companion or ally?
She works far better as a foreboding patron or temporary ally than a party member. Bound to a battlefield oath she might fight alongside heroes for a single war, but her Death Foretold and Washer-at-the-Ford abilities make her an omen of doom, not a loyal friend. For a true sidekick, use her crow-herald Badb instead.
Why is Morrigan a celestial and not a fiend?
She is the Celtic Phantom Queen of war, fate, and crows from public-domain Irish myth, a primal sovereignty spirit rather than an evil outsider. Statting her as a chaotic neutral celestial shapechanger captures her role as a neutral arbiter of slaughter and prophecy who chooses her own dead.
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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