Shamhat
Shamhat — The Encounter
Sacred Dancer of Uruk, who tamed the wild man with seven nights · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Shamhat
Sent forth from the gates of Uruk by the bidding of its restless king, Shamhat is a priestess of the goddess of love and a dancer without equal in the river-lands. The grimoires of Sumer remember her not as a warrior but as a tamer: at the watering-hole she found the wild man Enkidu, who ran with the gazelles and tore the trappers' snares, and for seven days and seven nights she drew him from the beasts into the company of men. Where she sang, the wild grew gentle; where she moved, the savage forgot its fury and learned shame, bread, and the wearing of cloth. Such is her power that strong men set down their spears to watch her, and the cruelest hearts soften into longing. Yet she is no helpless thing: those who would seize her find only veils and shadow, for the goddess guards her dancer, and the love she kindles can bind a foe as surely as any chain of bronze.
Run Shamhat in Sixty Seconds
- She is a controller, not a brawler. Her threat is the charm, not the damage. Never trade blows in the open; dance her behind allies and use Slip the Embrace plus legendary Graceful Step to stay untouchable.
- Open with Honeyed Word the moment two or more PCs are within 30 feet, then spend Beckon to drag their strongest melee out of position toward her.
- Kill-priority for the party is the charmed ally — once a striker is charmed they fight for Shamhat and shield her, so the DM should always aim charms at the highest-damage PC first.
- When bloodied, she stops attacking and turns full defensive: Graceful Step away each round, recharge Honeyed Word, and let her charmed thralls and Enkidu absorb the party's blows.
- Three ways to run her: solo enchantress who turns the party against itself; flagship boss with Enkidu, Tamed at her side; or temple centerpiece backed by charmed guards in her lair.
Shamhat
Medium humanoid (human), neutral good
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEBeguiling Presence. Shamhat is immune to being charmed. A creature that starts its turn within 30 feet of her and can see her must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on attack rolls against her until the start of its next turn, as its eye is drawn to her dance.
Sacred Allure. Signature. When Shamhat reduces a hostile creature's hostility, she works fast. She can take the Hide action as a bonus action, and any creature charmed by her treats her as a trusted friend and will not knowingly harm her or allow her to be harmed while the charm lasts.
Actions
Multiattack. Shamhat makes two Veiling Touch attacks, or makes one Veiling Touch attack and uses Honeyed Word (if available).
Veiling Touch. Melee Spell Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (4d6+5) psychic damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed by Shamhat until the end of its next turn.
Honeyed Word (Recharge 5-6). Shamhat sings a verse of soul-stilling longing. Each hostile creature within 30 feet that can hear her must make a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw. On a failure, a creature is charmed for 1 minute and has disadvantage on the first attack roll it makes each turn; on a success, it takes 14 (4d6) psychic damage. A charmed creature repeats the save at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on a success.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Slip the Embrace. Reaction: When a creature Shamhat can see attacks her, she may impose disadvantage on that attack roll. If the attack still hits, she takes half the damage and moves up to half her speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Graceful Step. Shamhat moves up to her speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Veiling Touch. Shamhat makes one Veiling Touch attack.
Beckon (Costs 2 Actions). Shamhat fixes one creature within 30 feet with her gaze. That creature must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until the end of its next turn and immediately move up to its speed toward her by the safest route.
Crowned in gold and draped in temple white and royal purple, Shamhat dances upon the cracked stair of Uruk, every gesture a prayer to the goddess of love and a snare for any heart that watches.
Shamhat, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEWild-Born Vigor (signature). While within 30 feet of Shamhat, Shamhat has advantage on saving throws against being frightened and cannot be charmed by anyone but her.
Actions
Great Fists. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) bludgeoning damage. If the target is charmed, the damage is reduced to 0 and Shamhat instead grapples it (escape DC 14).
Reactions
Shield the Dancer. When an attacker Shamhat can see hits Shamhat (within 5 feet of him), he interposes himself and takes the damage instead.
The wild man she drew from the gazelles now stands at her side, half-civilized and wholly devoted, a wall of muscle between his teacher and the world.
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 Honeyed Word before the party clusters, then pick off the highest-damage striker with Veiling Touch to charm them off their friends. If your group is low-tier, drop Enkidu and run her as a lone enchantress; the charm will feel scarier than the damage. Keep her mobile with Slip the Embrace so melee can never pin her down.
Open by gazing the party's heaviest hitter with Beckon, dragging them out of formation, then Honeyed Word the rest. Kill-priority for the DM: charm the front-line damage dealer first so the party must waste turns subduing their own ally. Spend legendary actions on Graceful Step to stay out of reach; she is a centerpiece that punishes a party that bunches up.
At this tier run her with minions or a lair full of devoted temple guards; pair her with a bigger bruiser threat she can keep buffed and shielded behind a wall of charmed foes. Open with Beckon on the cleric or controller, then Honeyed Word every round you can. Use legendary Graceful Step and Slip the Embrace to make her nearly impossible to corner while her allies grind the party down.
Put Shamhat 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 Shamhat?
Her native build is CR 6 (2,300 XP) for a 5th-10th level party. The stat record also provides a CR 2-style sheet for levels 1-4 and a CR 11-style sheet for levels 11-15; the traits, actions, and tactics are identical across all three tiers, only the numbers move.
Can Shamhat be a companion or ally?
Yes. As an ally she is a superb non-combat face and crowd-controller: her Performance and Persuasion are exceptional, and Honeyed Word can pacify a hostile mob without a single death. In a fight she charms enemies into turning on each other rather than dealing big damage, making her a strong support to a martial party. Her own companion, Enkidu, Tamed, comes bound to her side.
Is Shamhat tied to any other miniature?
She belongs to the Epic of Gilgamesh line and pairs naturally with Enkidu and Gilgamesh himself. Run her as the lure that tames a raging Enkidu, or as a temple power broker whose charmed devotees stand between the party and a greater threat she serves.
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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