Rostam
Rostam — The Encounter
Crowned strongman of Persia, mace-bearer and breaker of armies · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Rostam
They name him Rostam, the Pahlavan — the deathless strongman whose deeds fill the Book of Kings. Sired in an age of heroes and weaned on the milk of ten nurses, he could break a brazen gate with one shoulder before he had grown his beard. He rides no horse a lesser man could mount, fells giants with a single throw, and has wrestled both demon and dragon into the dust of the field. The horned crown upon his brow and the great striped hide across his back are trophies torn from beasts that other warriors flee. Kings summon him when armies fail, for where Rostam stands a battle-line cannot be turned. He is no sorcerer and works no charm; his only magic is sinew, patience, and a will that no torment has ever bent. Those who face him learn the oldest lesson of the heroic age — that strength, fully grown, is its own kind of fate.
Run Rostam in Sixty Seconds
- Hold the boulder until Recharge is up, then open it on the back-rank caster — knocking them prone wastes their next turn.
- Kill-priority is anyone who buffs or heals the enemy front line; Rostam's two mace swings plus Prowess can one-round a soft target.
- When bloodied, spend Indomitable to shrug off the save that would lock him down (hold person, banishment) and keep swinging.
- Three ways to run him — (1) the immovable anvil who grapples and holds the party in place, (2) a charging skirmisher mounted on Rakhsh, or (3) a thrown-weapon bruiser softening clusters with boulders before closing.
- Wrestler's Grip punishes melee attackers — bait the party's rogue into engaging, then grapple and crush them.
Rostam
Medium humanoid (human), lawful neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEProwess of the Pahlavan. Signature. Rostam has advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws, and his melee weapon attacks deal an extra 7 (2d6) damage (included below). When he scores a critical hit with a melee weapon, the target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone and pushed 10 feet away.
Indomitable. If Rostam fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead. Once he uses this trait, he can't use it again until he finishes a short or long rest.
Actions
Multiattack. Rostam makes two Ox-Head Mace attacks.
Ox-Head Mace. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d6 + 5) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) damage from Prowess of the Pahlavan.
Hurled Boulder (Recharge 5-6). Ranged Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, range 30/60 ft., one target. Hit: 22 (4d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and a Large or smaller target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Wrestler's Grip. Reaction — when a creature Rostam can see within 5 feet hits him with a melee attack, he makes a special melee attack to grapple it: the creature must succeed on a DC 16 Strength saving throw or be grappled (escape DC 16) and take 9 (2d8) bludgeoning damage.
A mountain of corded muscle in a tiger-skin cuirass, this snarling champion wears a crown of horns and iron spikes and swings an ox-headed war-mace as if it were a willow switch.
Rostam, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEFearless Mount (signature). Rostam is immune to the frightened condition and never bolts. A rider mounted on Rostam gains advantage on saving throws against being knocked prone.
Actions
Trampling Hooves. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage. If the target is Medium or smaller, it must succeed on a DC 14 Strength save or be knocked prone.
Reactions
Shield the Rider. When Rostam, mounted on Rostam, is hit by an attack, Rostam can interpose itself and take the damage instead, once per round.
A great war-stallion of legend, strong enough to bear the Pahlavan's full weight and brave enough to charge a dragon.
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 hurling a boulder to drop a frontliner, then wade in with the mace. Use Wrestler's Grip to pin the party's nimblest striker so allies can pile on. He is the muscle piece — pair him with an archer or caster who hangs back behind his bulk.
Open with Hurled Boulder on the squishiest caster, then Multiattack the heaviest melee threat to crack the front line. Kill-priority is whoever can heal or buff; chase them. When bloodied, lean on Indomitable and Wrestler's Grip to stay sticky. Pair him with a bigger flagship — he is the anvil that holds the party in place.
Lead a charge: boulder first, then Multiattack to prone and shove clustered targets apart. Prioritize the controller trying to lock him down. At higher tiers run him as the bodyguard-champion beside a warlord or sorcerer-king who directs the fight.
Put Rostam 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 Rostam?
His home build is CR 6 (2,300 XP) for level 5-10 parties. Scaled records are provided for tier 1 (level 1-4, ~CR 2) and tier 3 (level 11-15, ~CR 11); the traits stay identical and only the numbers move.
Can Rostam be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a non-spellcasting human champion he makes an excellent NPC bodyguard or hireling for a high-Strength party, or a heroic ally in a war scene. Use the lower-tier numbers so he supports rather than overshadows the players, and let his Indomitable and grapple shine in defense of the group.
Is Rostam a magical creature?
No — he works no spells and carries no enchantment. His power is pure heroic might, which means he is vulnerable to control effects (he has only Indomitable to escape one), so clever casters can still neutralize him if they act before he closes the distance.
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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