Nimueh, Lady of the Lake
Nimueh, Lady of the Lake — The Encounter
Water-fey of the mere who lends the deathless blade · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Nimueh, Lady of the Lake
The folk of the old kingdoms knew her by many names, but most simply called her the Lady of the Lake, for she dwelt beneath the still meres where the boundary between the world and the otherworld runs thin. She is no ghost and no goddess, but one of the fair folk bound to water, ancient and unhurried, keeper of oaths and of the deathless blade that surfaces only for a worthy hand. To those who come honestly to her shore she gives counsel, healing, and on rare occasion the sword itself, raised dripping on a pillar of conjured water. To the false and the grasping she gives only the lake's silence and, sometimes, its cold depths. She remembers every promise made upon her waters, and the breaking of such a promise calls her up from the deep with a tide at her back and grief turned to wrath in her pale eyes.
Run Nimueh, Lady of the Lake in Sixty Seconds
- Keep her wet. Watery Form and Mistveil only matter near water at least 5 ft across, so set the fight at a lake, fountain, or flooded ruin. Off the water she is just a fey caster.
- Open by pulling. Lead with Water Lash on the party's frontline anchor to drag it 10 ft off the line, then retreat into the water lightly obscured.
- Save the cone. Hold Drowning Surge until three or more cluster on the bank, then prone them in a 30-ft cone before they reach her.
- When bloodied, lean on Mistveil and her swim 60 to teleport-skip across the water, kiting and refusing the melee trade.
- Three ways to run her: the warding guardian who tests the party at the shore, the grieving avenger of a broken oath, or the boon-giver who hands over the blade mid-fight to a worthy ally.
Nimueh, Lady of the Lake
Medium fey, neutral good
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEWatery Form. While in or adjacent to a body of water at least 5 feet across, Nimueh is lightly obscured and can move through any space as narrow as 1 inch wide without squeezing. She can pull herself wholly into the water as a bonus action, becoming indistinguishable from it until she next acts.
Keeper of the Blade. Nimueh carries one charmed sword raised aloft on a pillar of conjured water. As an action she may bestow it upon a willing creature; that creature gains a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls with the blade and resistance to fear while they wield it honourably. She may recall the sword to her hand from up to 120 feet as a bonus action.
Actions
Multiattack. Nimueh makes two Water Lash attacks, or one Water Lash attack and casts a spell.
Water Lash. Melee or Ranged Spell Attack: +7 to hit, reach 15 ft. or range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (4d6 + 4) cold damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be pulled up to 10 feet toward Nimueh.
Drowning Surge (Recharge 5-6). Nimueh raises a coiling tide in a 30-foot cone. Each creature there makes a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) cold damage and being knocked prone on a failure, or half damage and not prone on a success.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Mistveil (Reaction). When a creature Nimueh can see hits her with an attack, she dissolves partly into spray, halving the damage and teleporting up to 20 feet to an unoccupied space within or adjacent to water she can see.
She rises dancing from the still mere, a maiden woven of moonlit water, one arm flung outward and the other lifting a great sword on a twisting column of the lake itself.
Nimueh, Lady of the Lake, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEAmphibious (signature). The wraith breathes air and water and ignores difficult terrain made of water or mud.
Actions
Grasping Tendril. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6 + 4) cold damage, and a Medium or smaller target is grappled (escape DC 14).
Reactions
Undertow. When a creature it has grappled tries to move away, the wraith drags it 10 feet toward the nearest water instead.
A half-formed thing of reeds and lake-silt that rises to guard the shore at the Lady's word.
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 from the water's edge with Water Lash, dragging the squishiest hero into reach. If the party clusters on the bank, hold Drowning Surge for the cone. Kill-priority is anyone trying to seize the sword by force; pair her with a shoreline brute so she can stay near water and stay obscured.
Open by pulling the melee anchor off the line with Water Lash, then fall back into water and use Mistveil to bleed every committed hit. If three or more cluster on the shore, lead with Drowning Surge to prone them. She is the support/control piece beside a bigger flagship threat, not the centerpiece kill.
Open with Drowning Surge to scatter the front rank, then Water Lash the highest-damage caster into the deep. Use Mistveil on the first big crit to skip across the lake. Kill-priority is whoever holds her bestowed blade; pair her with a flagship so she controls while it lands the damage.
Put Nimueh, Lady of the Lake 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 Nimueh, Lady of the Lake?
Her native build is CR 6 (2,300 XP) for a 5th-10th level party. The record also gives a CR 2 build for tier-1 tables and a CR 11 build for tier-3, with identical traits and only the numbers scaled.
Can Nimueh be a companion or ally?
Yes. She is not solo_capable and works best as a benefactor NPC rather than a boss. She can bestow her charmed sword on a worthy character, grant counsel or healing at the shore, or fight alongside the party against a shared foe.
Does she have to fight near water?
She can fight anywhere, but her signature defenses (Watery Form, Mistveil) require a body of water at least 5 ft across nearby. Stage the encounter at a lake, fountain, or flooded room to let her play to her strengths.
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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