Phlegyas
Phlegyas — The Encounter
Wrathful boatman of the marsh, ferryman of the drowned · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Phlegyas
In the old poets' marsh, Phlegyas is the boatman of the fifth circle's foul water, where the wrathful tear at one another beneath a scum of black mire and the sullen choke unseen below. Once a king who, maddened by grief and rage, put a god's shrine to the torch, he was bound forever to the oar as fitting punishment. Now he poles his barge across the stinking Styx, ferrying the damned and the rare living trespasser, snarling, "And now you are come, foul soul?" before the current swallows the rest. He suffers no passenger to cross uninvited. Those who do not pay in tribute or fear are seized in his fists, dashed against the gunwale, and pressed beneath the surface until the marsh drinks them. He answers to wardens greater than himself, and serves them as gatekeeper and executioner of the wet circle, a creature of pure punitive fury given shape, iron, and a long, patient pole.
Run Phlegyas in Sixty Seconds
- He wants to be hit. Born of Wrath turns every wound into a harder swing (up to +4d6). Don't dogpile him in melee; whittle from range or burst him down fast.
- Open with the pole. Iron Pole knocks targets prone (DC 14 Str), then Multiattack lets him follow with a second swing or a grab. Lead with prone, then punish.
- Kill-priority: anyone near water. He grapples, hurls, and drags toward the marsh, then drowns them. Keep squishy PCs off the waterline.
- When bloodied, his wrath bonus is usually near max and he commits to Hurl Sinner, throwing PCs into each other for splash damage. Stay spread out.
- Three ways to run him: a gatekeeper who demands tribute before letting the party cross; a brute add beside a flagship marsh-lord; or a lone ferryman ambush where the water itself is the second enemy.
Phlegyas
Large fiend (devil), lawful evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEBorn of Wrath. When Phlegyas takes damage from a creature it can see within 60 feet, its next melee attack before the end of its next turn deals an extra 7 (2d6) damage. This bonus stacks up to 14 (4d6) as its fury mounts.
Marsh-Strider. Difficult terrain made of mud, mire, or shallow water doesn't cost Phlegyas extra movement, and it has advantage on saving throws against being grappled or restrained by such terrain.
Actions
Multiattack. Phlegyas makes two Iron Pole attacks. It can replace one with a Hurl Sinner attack if a Medium or smaller creature is within reach.
Iron Pole. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and a Large or smaller target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Hurl Sinner. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: the target is grappled (escape DC 14). On its next turn Phlegyas can hurl the grappled creature up to 20 feet, dealing 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage and knocking it prone; a second creature in the landing space takes 7 (2d6) bludgeoning damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Drowning Grip (Reaction). When a creature within 5 feet that Phlegyas has grappled tries to move away, Phlegyas may pull it 10 feet toward the nearest water and the creature's movement ends.
A crested, horned fiend crouches within a jagged gate of black iron, club of bound stone in fist, the base heaped with the skulls and faces of the souls he has ferried under. He is the wrath that drowns rather than burns.
Phlegyas, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEMire-Bound (signature). While within 10 feet of mud, mire, or water, the barge and any ally aboard it have half cover and ignore difficult terrain made of marsh.
Actions
Splintering Prow. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and a Medium or smaller target is pushed 5 feet into adjacent water if able.
Reactions
Swallowing Wake. When an enemy in the water starts its turn adjacent to the barge, it must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be pulled under and have its speed halved until the end of its next turn.
A low black barge of waterlogged timber and bound bone, it drifts where its ferryman wills and drinks down whatever falls overboard.
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 wading into shallow water and poling sinners prone, then grappling the softest target to drag it under. Kill-priority: anyone separated near the water's edge. Pairs with a flagship fiend as the piece that pins and drowns isolated PCs while the boss burns the cluster.
Open with Iron Pole to knock the frontline prone, then Hurl Sinner to fling a striker into the party. Let Born of Wrath stack: every hit he takes makes his next swing nastier, so he wants to be hit. Kill-priority: ranged casters he can reach by hurling a body at them. This is the warden/add-on piece beside a bigger marsh-lord, not a solo.
Open by hurling the heaviest melee PC into the backline, then pole-sweep the cluster prone. Use Drowning Grip every round to drag the marked target waterward. When bloodied his Born of Wrath bonus tends to be maxed, so spread out. Still an add-on: run him guarding a gate beside a far deadlier captain.
Put Phlegyas 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 Phlegyas?
His home statline is CR 6 (Tier 2, ~levels 5-10): AC 16, 127 HP, +7 to hit, save DC 14. Tier cards scale him down to CR 2 for levels 1-4 and up to about CR 11 for levels 11-15 with identical traits.
Can Phlegyas be a companion or ally?
Not really by temperament, but he comes with his own bound vehicle, The Sullen Barge, as a companion sheet (AC 14, 76 HP) that ferries and drags foes underwater. If you must ally him, run him as a grudging guide who demands tribute and turns on the party the moment payment lapses.
Is Phlegyas a good solo boss?
No. He has no legendary actions and is built as an add-on bruiser, the wrathful gatekeeper standing beside a larger marsh-lord. Field him with a flagship threat or a knot of damned souls rather than alone.
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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