Santa Claus
Santa Claus — The Encounter
The Grim Gift-Bringer, Maul of the Long Night · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Santa Claus
Long before the gentle saint of bright midwinter, the old folk knew the gift-bringer as a thing to be feared. He walks the longest night, when the sun all but dies, and he keeps a tally no child escapes: a list of the kind, and a list of the cruel. To the worthy he leaves what was lost; from the wicked he takes, and what he takes goes into the sack that never stops squirming. Mountain villages still bar their doors at solstice and set out offerings of bread and strong drink, for an unwelcomed gift-bringer settles his accounts with the maul. He is no devil and no god, but something older and colder, a tradition given limbs, half kindness and half punishment. Smiths who have crossed his path speak of the smell of coal-smoke and pine, and of a laugh like ice cracking on a frozen lake.
Run Santa Claus in Sixty Seconds
- Hold the line Santa is an ADD-ON bruiser, not a solo boss. Drop him next to a real winter flagship so the party can't focus the centerpiece without eating maul hits.
- Open with mark the squishiest attacker as naughty, then Hurl from the Sack to knock a clustered front-liner prone before you Multiattack.
- Naughty List whoever damages him first becomes the crit target (19-20). Always re-mark to the most dangerous striker each turn.
- When bloodied lean on Lump of Coal every melee hit and stay on the marked target; he hits harder the longer a fight drags into the long night.
- Three ways to run him village enforcer guarding a frozen hoard, wild-hunt outrider chasing fleeing PCs, or the maul-arm of a greater solstice horror.
Santa Claus
Medium giant, chaotic neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINENaughty List. At the start of each of its turns, the Gift-Bringer marks one creature it can see that has dealt damage to it since its last turn as naughty. Its attacks against a naughty creature score a critical hit on a roll of 19 or 20, and it has advantage on Intimidation checks made against that creature. Only one creature can be marked at a time.
Cold Endurance. The Gift-Bringer has advantage on saving throws against being frightened, and difficult terrain made of ice or snow costs it no extra movement.
Actions
Multiattack. The Gift-Bringer makes two Maul attacks. If both hit the same target, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Maul. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
Hurl from the Sack. Ranged Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, range 20/60 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and a Medium or smaller target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone as it is buried under a heap of frozen 'gifts.'
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Lump of Coal (Reaction). When a creature the Gift-Bringer can see hits it with a melee attack, it can hurl a smoldering coal at that attacker. The attacker takes 7 (2d6) fire damage.
A mountainous figure in a tattered red cap and matted white beard, one shoulder caged in a horned ram-skull pauldron, dragging a war-maul taller than a man and a writhing sack that should not move. Frost rimes his boots; the snow at his feet is stained where the 'gifts' were taken.
Santa Claus, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEBirch Switch (signature). When the Santa Claus hits a creature with its claws, that creature has disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes before the end of its next turn.
Actions
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 3) slashing damage.
Reactions
Yank the Chain. When an ally within 10 ft. is hit by a melee attack, the Santa Claus rattles its chains; the attacker must succeed on a DC 12 Wisdom save or be frightened of the Santa Claus until the end of its next turn.
A wiry, soot-black horror that scampers at the gift-bringer's heel, dragging chains and a bundle of birch switches, grinning with far too many teeth.
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 marking your hardest hitter with Naughty List, then wade in with the Maul to crit-fish. If the party clusters, lead with Hurl from the Sack to knock the front-liner prone. Pair this with a flagship winter boss; here he is the heavy bruiser that pins low-level parties in melee.
Open on the squishiest PC, then mark whoever first bloodies him as naughty for the 19-20 crit window. Lead each turn with Multiattack to fish for the prone-knockdown rider, and spend Lump of Coal on whatever is chipping him from melee. Kill-priority: he is the X-piece add-on, so feed him a healer or controller while your boss handles the rest.
Throw him at a higher table as enforcer beside a true winter centerpiece. Open by Hurling from the Sack to prone a caster, then Multiattack the prone target for crit-range Mauls. Use Lump of Coal every round it triggers; he soaks attacks so the real threat lands its big play.
Put Santa Claus 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 Santa Claus?
Natively CR 6 (Tier 2, ~levels 5-10): AC 16, 127 HP, +7 to hit, save DC 14. The tier table also gives a CR-2-ish build (levels 1-4) and a CR-11-ish build (levels 11-15) using the same traits with scaled numbers.
Can Santa Claus be a companion or ally?
He is built as an adversary add-on, not a solo boss, so he is not solo_capable. For a friendly version, reskin him as a hard-bitten winter guardian who fights beside the party, and use the bundled Krampusling, Bound as a controllable minion or summoned ally.
Why is this Santa framed as a giant brute instead of a jolly saint?
The mini is from the 'Dark Side of Christmas' line and depicts the older, grimmer gift-bringer of solstice folklore who rewards the kind and punishes the wicked. He is statted as a Medium giant for raw strength and the man-tall war-maul shown in the render, with cold resistance for his midwinter nature.
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 Santa Claus 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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