Shiva
Shiva — The Encounter
The Destroyer Dancing, Trident Raised Over a Drowning World · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Shiva
Mark him by the third eye sealed upon his brow, for when it opens, what it looks upon is reduced to ash and remembered no more. He is the Destroyer of the old triad, ascetic and dancer both, who sits unmoving in meditation upon the high cold places until the appointed hour, then rises into the tandava, the dance whose every step ends an age. The serpents at his throat are not ornament but oath: poison swallowed so the world might live, held forever in his blue-stained throat. He carries the trishula of three prongs that creation, preservation, and dissolution may be balanced in one hand. Petitioners bring him ash and bilva leaves and ask only that the dance be delayed. He is not cruel; he is necessary. Destruction in his hands is not malice but the clearing of ground, so that what is worn and broken may at last be made new.
Run Shiva in Sixty Seconds
- Hold Pillar of Destruction (Recharge 5-6) for the moment three or more PCs line up — it does 45 radiant in a 60-ft line and ashes anything it drops to 0, so it is your scariest button.
- Open with the legendary Ash Step to slip past the front line and reach the casters; he is a back-line hunter, not a tank-and-spank wall.
- Kill-priority: the party healer. Multiattack them, then spend Wrath of the Third Eye to blind whoever tries to stabilize.
- When bloodied: Cosmic Dance triggers and never stops — every turn the floor near him deals thunder and shoves PCs out of position. Lean into it; herd them toward edges and hazards.
- Three ways to run him: SOLO centerpiece (native Tier 3, legendary actions + Coil reaction out-act a full party); WITH serpent-warrior/naga adds for a temple-defense set piece; or as a DELAYED apocalypse who only enters the tandava when a ritual is interrupted.
Shiva
Large celestial, neutral
CR 13 · 10,000 XP · GUIDELINEThird Eye. The eye in Shiva's brow never closes. Shiva has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects, cannot be surprised, and is aware of any invisible or hidden creature within 60 feet.
Cosmic Dance (Recharge after Bloodied). When Shiva is first reduced to half its hit points or fewer, the tandava begins. Until the end of the encounter, at the start of each of Shiva's turns, every creature of Shiva's choice within 30 feet must succeed on a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw or take 11 (2d10) thunder damage and be pushed 10 feet.
Magic Resistance. Shiva has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects (also reflected in saves).
Actions
Multiattack. Shiva makes two attacks with the Trishula, or casts a spell and makes one Trishula attack.
Trishula (Trident). Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d8+6) piercing damage plus 9 (2d8) radiant damage.
Pillar of Destruction (Recharge 5-6). Shiva calls down a beam of annihilating light in a 60-foot line that is 5 feet wide. Each creature in the line must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, taking 45 (10d8) radiant damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature reduced to 0 hit points by this damage is disintegrated to ash.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Coil of the Serpent. Reaction — when a creature Shiva can see ends its movement within 10 feet, the serpents wreathing its throat lash out. The creature must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be grappled (escape DC 17) and take 9 (2d8) poison damage.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Trishula Strike. Shiva makes one Trishula attack.
Ash Step (Costs 1 Action). Shiva teleports up to 30 feet to a space it can see, leaving a 5-foot cloud of stinging ash in the space it left. The first creature to enter that space before the start of Shiva's next turn takes 7 (2d6) fire damage.
Wrath of the Third Eye (Costs 2 Actions). Shiva's brow-eye flares. Each creature within 15 feet must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or take 16 (3d10) radiant damage and be blinded until the end of its next turn.
A four-armed ascetic stands atop a shattered crag, trident raised, ash-grey flesh wound with living serpents while a torrent of violet cosmic fire spirals from his open palm. He is mid-dance, and the dance is the unmaking of the world.
Shiva, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEUnshakable Guardian (signature). Shiva has advantage on saving throws against being moved, frightened, or charmed, and any ally within 10 feet has advantage on saves against being frightened.
Actions
Gore. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8+5) piercing damage, and if the target is Large or smaller it must succeed on a DC 16 Strength save or be knocked prone.
Reactions
Interpose. When an ally within 5 feet is hit by an attack, Shiva can swap places with it and become the target instead, taking the hit.
The great white bull kneels at the dancer's feet, calm amid the spiral of cosmic fire, a wall of patient muscle between his master and all that would harm him.
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 Pillar of Destruction down the most clustered line, then stalk the squishiest caster with the trident. When bloodied the Cosmic Dance starts pushing the party off cliffs and out of cover — herd them toward hazards. Pair with serpent-warrior adds so the trident isn't his only threat.
Lead with a legendary Ash Step to reach the back line, Pillar of Destruction when three or more stand in a row, then full Multiattack on the healer. Spend legendary actions every round so a four-PC party never gets a clean alpha-strike. Coil of the Serpent punishes melee that crowds him.
Open by Ash Stepping past the front line, then Pillar of Destruction at the densest cluster (it disintegrates downed PCs — real stakes). Multiattack the kill-priority caster; bank legendary actions to interrupt healing with Wrath of the Third Eye. When bloodied the Cosmic Dance turns the whole floor lethal and Coil grapples anyone who closes — this kit lets him stand alone against a full party.
Put Shiva 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 Shiva?
Natively CR 13 (Tier 3, levels 11-15) as a solo centerpiece — his legendary actions and Coil reaction let him face a full party alone. Scaled stat blocks are provided for Tier 1 (~CR 2) and Tier 2 (~CR 6) so you can drop him in at any level; only the numbers change, the kit stays the same.
Can Shiva be a companion or ally?
As a god of dissolution he is too cosmic to be a hireling, but he can answer a petitioner who brings ash and offerings — appearing to unmake a single foe or hazard before withdrawing. For a persistent ally use Nandin, the Faithful Mount: a patient guardian bull that interposes itself and shields the party.
How do I keep him from dying in one round at high levels?
Use the Third Eye (advantage vs. magic) and Magic Resistance against save-or-suck spells, Ash Step to break line of sight after taking a big hit, and his nonmagical-damage resistance to blunt martials. The Cosmic Dance after bloodied also forces the party to spread out, lowering their focused damage.
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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