Pisces
Pisces — The Encounter
Twin-Fish of the Vernal Tide, drowned mercy made flesh · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Pisces
Where the spring flood swallows the winter shore, the Twin-Fish is said to rise. The old star-charts name her the gentlest of the zodiac powers and the most sorrowful, for she is the sign of endings dissolving into beginnings, of grief carried out on the tide. Sailors who founder are not always drowned; sometimes a robed shape gathers them in her current and bears them gently to a far beach, and they wake changed, tasting salt and remembering a hymn they never learned. Her two fish swim forever in contrary directions, one toward the deep and one toward the light, and the mystics teach that no soul may keep both. To bind her is folly, for she does not hate her captors so much as weep for them. Offerings of silver and spring water laid at the river-mouth are said to win her brief favor, and her favor is a current that carries a fleet home.
Run Pisces in Sixty Seconds
- Keep her wet Slip the Net and her in-water resistance only matter near water, so always run this fight on a coast, river-mouth, or flooded floor; on dry stone she is half as dangerous.
- Open with the slow Lead with Tidal Lash on the fastest melee threat to cut its speed, then drift away on her 60 ft. swim so it can never close.
- Hold the Hymn Don't waste Drowning Hymn early; save the cone for when three or more land-breathers cluster, since they save at disadvantage.
- Kill the fish first Tell players the smart play: drop a bound Koi to end Twin Currents, killing her cold aura and Dex-save advantage for a round.
- Three ways to run her As a lone slowing skirmisher (T1), as the control half of a sea-boss pair (T2 native), or as an evasive caster beside a leviathan flagship (T3).
Pisces
Medium fey (water), neutral good
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEAmphibious. Pisces can breathe air and water.
Twin Currents (Signature). The two great fish bound to Pisces swim opposing circles around her. While both are alive, she has advantage on Dexterity saving throws and any creature that starts its turn within 5 ft. of her takes 5 (1d10) cold damage from the churning vortex. If a fish is reduced to 0 hit points, this trait ends until it is restored at the start of her next turn (she may sacrifice 10 hit points as a bonus action to restore one).
Actions
Multiattack. Pisces makes two Tidal Lash attacks, or makes one Tidal Lash attack and casts a spell.
Tidal Lash. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 4) cold damage, and the target's speed is reduced by 10 ft. until the end of its next turn.
Drowning Hymn (Recharge 5-6). Pisces sings a sorrowful current in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a DC 15 Constitution saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) cold damage and being unable to take reactions until the start of its next turn on a failure, or half as much damage on a success. Creatures that breathe air have disadvantage on this save.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Slip the Net. When Pisces is hit by an attack while within 5 ft. of water or a wet surface, she can use her reaction to dissolve into spray, halving the damage and teleporting up to 20 ft. to an unoccupied space she can see.
A poised sea-priestess crowned in flowing tresses stands within a living arch of coral, her lower body trailing into shimmering scales as two enormous koi circle her in eternal opposition.
Pisces, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEOpposing Wakes (signature). While the Koi is within 30 ft. of you, the first time each turn an ally moves through difficult water terrain, it ignores that terrain's movement cost.
Actions
Battering Surge. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and a Large or smaller target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength save or be pushed 10 ft.
Reactions
Undertow Pull. When an ally within 15 ft. is hit by a melee attack, the Koi surges, and the attacker must succeed on a DC 13 Strength save or be dragged 5 ft. toward the nearest water.
One of the eternal twin fish, its scales catching light like wet pewter, willing to lend its current to a worthy hand.
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 Tidal Lash to slow your most mobile attacker, then keep water between you and them. If foes cluster, save Drowning Hymn for a tight knot of land-breathers (they roll at disadvantage). Pair her with a heavier brute; she is the slow-and-control piece, not the killer.
Open the round before melee lands by readying ground in water so Slip the Net is always live. Kill-priority is whoever charges her, slow them and reposition. When the party bunches to cross the flood, drop Drowning Hymn. Pairs naturally with a flagship sea-boss; she controls the field, the boss lands the kills.
Lead with Twin Currents active and never let both fish die; the cold aura plus Slip the Net makes her brutal to pin down. Hymn the cluster, lash the runner, teleport before focus-fire connects. Still an add-on: place her beside a legendary leviathan so high-level parties must split fire.
Put Pisces 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 Pisces?
Pisces is CR 6 (2,300 XP) at her native Tier 2, built for parties of levels 5-10. Scaled stat lines for Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) are provided so you can drop her into any campaign.
Can Pisces be a companion or ally?
Yes. She reads beautifully as a mournful guardian of a flooded shrine who aids the party once they prove they mean no harm to the tides. Her bound Koi (the companion block) can also be granted to a player as a temporary water-themed familiar that ignores aquatic difficult terrain and drags enemies into the deep.
Is Pisces a solo boss?
No. She has no legendary actions and is built as an add-on controller, so run her beside a heavier flagship threat (a leviathan, a drowned warlord, or a rival zodiac power). Her job is to slow, scatter, and survive while the bigger threat lands the killing blows.
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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