Nanook
Nanook — The Encounter
Inuit master of bears, antlered lord of the white hunt · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Nanook
Among the people of the long dark, Nanook is the master of bears, the spirit who keeps the count of every hunter who has ever stalked his kind across the floe. The shamans teach that a bear is not killed but given, and only Nanook decides whether the gift is honored. Hunters who treat the slain beast with the proper rites, drink offered to its spirit, tools laid beside it, are remembered and rewarded with fat seasons. Those who waste the kill or boast of it are remembered too, and Nanook withholds his bears until the boaster's family starves on the empty ice. He wears the antlers of the caribou as a sign that he holds dominion over all that runs and all that lumbers in the white country. To meet him on the ice is to be weighed. The good hunter walks home; the proud one becomes the next lesson taught to the village in whispers.
Run Nanook in Sixty Seconds
- Read the trait first. Master of Bears charms any beast of CR 1 or lower within 30 ft.; if the party brought a wolf, a familiar, or an animal mount, it may turn on them. Strip beast allies before they fight him.
- Open with the gore. Lead with Antler Gore to prone a front-liner (DC 15 Str), then Bite the prone target with advantage for the big 3d8+5 hit.
- When bloodied, expect the roar. At half HP he uses Bear's Endurance to reposition free and frighten everyone within 30 ft. (DC 14 Wis), buying himself a turn, plan for it.
- Kill-priority is whoever commands beasts. Druids, beastmasters, and mounted PCs lose their animals to his charm, take them out or pull the party out of the 30 ft. aura.
- Three ways to run him: a lone tundra guardian blocking a pass; the enforcer beside a Sedna/Ahklut boss; or a 'do not provoke' set piece the party can walk past if they honor the hunt.
Nanook
Huge beast (spirit), neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEMaster of Bears. Signature. Nanook is the spirit that decides whether the hunt feeds the people or buries them. Any beast of CR 1 or lower within 30 feet is charmed by Nanook while it can see him, and will not willingly attack him. While at least one such beast is charmed in this way, Nanook has advantage on attack rolls.
Snow Walker. Difficult terrain composed of ice, snow, or rubble costs him no extra movement, and he leaves no tracks in snow. He has advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made in snowy or icy terrain.
Keen Smell. Nanook has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell.
Actions
Multiattack. Nanook makes two attacks: one with his Bite and one with his Antler Gore. He can replace the gore with a Crushing Slam.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) piercing damage.
Antler Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) piercing damage, and if the target is a creature of Large size or smaller it must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Crushing Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and a Large or smaller target is grappled (escape DC 15).
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Bear's Endurance. When Nanook is reduced to half his hit points or fewer, he immediately moves up to his speed without provoking opportunity attacks and lets out a roar; each enemy within 30 feet that can hear him must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of him until the end of its next turn.
A shaggy white bear the size of a hut walks the ice on heavy paws, a great rack of caribou antlers branching from his skull and layered seal-leather lashed across his chest. He pads from a throne of black tidal ice, eyes patient as the long winter.
Nanook, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEPack Sense (signature). Nanook has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the cub's allies is within 5 feet of that creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 4) piercing damage.
Reactions
Shrug Off the Cold. When Nanook takes cold damage, it can use its reaction to halve that damage.
A white cub the size of a wolfhound, all paws and appetite, that adopts the warmest member of the party as its mother.
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 Antler Gore to knock the front-line prone, then Bite the downed target. Kill-priority is whoever has a beast companion or a ranged firebrand. Pair him with an Ice Dragon Tribe shaman or a pack of dire wolves so the Master of Bears trait actually has beasts to command.
Open by charging the squishiest caster: Antler Gore to knock prone, then Bite for big piercing. If the party clusters, use Crushing Slam to grapple and pin the tank in place while allies pour in. He is the brute centerpiece of a tundra warband; pair him with a Sedna or Ahklut flagship so he is the bruiser, not the only threat.
Open with a grapple via Crushing Slam on the highest-AC defender, then Antler Gore an adjacent target to prone it. Kill-priority is the healer; chase relentlessly with his 40 ft. speed. Run him as the heavy enforcer beside a true boss, the Bear's Endurance fear when bloodied buys the boss a free round.
Put Nanook 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 Nanook?
Natively CR 6 (Tier 2, ~levels 5-10): AC 15, 138 HP, +8 to hit, save DC 15. The record also provides scaled Tier 1 (~CR 2) and Tier 3 (~CR 11) numbers; traits and actions are identical, only the numbers move.
Can Nanook be a companion or ally?
Yes, in spirit. The full Nanook is a Huge guardian, not a follower, but the companion block gives you Tornait the Ice-Cub (AC 13, 30 HP) as a beast ally a party can adopt or be gifted by honoring the hunt. Nanook himself may aid a hunter who keeps the rites.
Is Nanook a solo boss?
No. He has no legendary actions, so he is built as an add-on brute, the bruiser of a tundra warband. Pair him with a flagship like Sedna or Ahklut; run him solo only against a single PC or as a non-combat 'be weighed' encounter.
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 Nanook 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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