Sobek
Sobek — The Encounter
The Rager of the Nile, Crocodile-Headed Lord of Flood and Hunger · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Sobek
Of Sobek it is written in the temple papyri: Lord of the green water, who came forth from the primeval flood, whose sweat became the river and whose hunger fed it. The priests of Crocodilopolis kept sacred reptiles in his pools, gilding their claws and crowning their brows, for they believed each held a portion of the god's wrath. He is the patron of pharaohs in war, the strength of arm that drags the enemy beneath the surface and does not let go. Fishermen and bargemen poured libations to him before crossing the deep channels, naming him both protector and devourer, for he gives the inundation that feeds the black earth and takes the careless who wade too far. Where his shadow falls upon the bank, the reeds part and the herons take flight. To raise him in battle is to invite the river itself ashore, indifferent, ancient, and patient as the current that grinds stone to silt across ten thousand years.
Run Sobek in Sixty Seconds
- Water is his lifeline. If there is a river, pool, or rising flood anywhere on the map, Sobek heals 15 every turn he starts in or beside it. Fight him on dry ground or you fight him forever.
- Open with the Roar. Bellowing Roar (legendary) frightens casters before they act, then Multiattack lands on your front-liner and the grapple begins.
- Kill-priority is the bite. Once Crushing Jaws grapples someone, Death Roll drags them toward the water where he wins. Break the grapple (DC 17) or burn his action economy down fast.
- When bloodied, he runs to water. Expect him to dive and heal. Bring fire or acid: it switches off Floodborn Vigor for a round and is your only reliable answer.
- Three ways to run him: lone river-temple boss against an 11th-level party; flood-lair fight where he heals each round and fields Petsuchos; or a Tier 1-2 add-on dragging a grappled hero toward the Nile while his guards hold the bank.
Sobek
Large fiend (shapechanger), lawful neutral
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINEHold Breath. Sobek can hold his breath for 1 hour and is equally at home submerged in the Nile or on its banks.
Floodborn Vigor. Signature. Whenever Sobek starts his turn in or adjacent to a body of water, or while standing in his lair's risen flood, he regains 15 hit points. If he takes acid or fire damage, this trait does not function until the end of his next turn. He cannot regain hit points this way if reduced to 0.
Death Roll. When Sobek hits a Large or smaller creature with his Crushing Jaws, he can immediately make a special grapple check (his Athletics) against the target. On a success the target is grappled (escape DC 17) and Sobek may drag it as he moves.
Actions
Multiattack. Sobek makes three attacks: one with his Crushing Jaws and two with his Nile Axe. He can replace one attack with Tail Sweep (recharge 5-6).
Crushing Jaws. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 19 (3d8 + 6) piercing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 17) if it is Large or smaller. Until this grapple ends, Sobek can't bite another target.
Nile Axe. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (2d10 + 6) slashing damage.
Tail Sweep (Recharge 5-6). Sobek swings his armored tail in a 10-foot radius. Each creature in that area must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, taking 22 (4d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage and being knocked prone on a failure, or half as much damage and not prone on a success.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Snapping Retort. Reaction. When a creature Sobek can see within 5 feet hits him with a melee attack, he snaps his jaws in answer, dealing 9 (2d8) piercing damage to that creature.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Lash. Sobek makes one Nile Axe attack.
Surge of the Flood (Costs 2 Actions). Sobek moves up to his swim or walk speed without provoking opportunity attacks. If he ends this movement adjacent to a creature, that creature must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Bellowing Roar (Costs 2 Actions). Sobek looses a thunderous roar. Each creature of his choice within 30 feet that can hear him must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of him until the end of its next turn.
A towering crocodile-headed warrior stands braced over churning Nile waters, linen scale wrapped across knotted muscle, one fist closing on a great bronze battle-axe while his armored tail coils ready to sweep.
Sobek, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESacred Ward (signature). While Sobek is within 10 feet of an ally, that ally has advantage on saving throws against being frightened.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d6 + 5) piercing damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 15).
Reactions
Drag Under. When a creature grappled by Sobek tries to escape, Sobek can move up to half its speed toward water, pulling the creature with it.
A temple-kept crocodile, claws gilded and brow crowned, that lunges from still water with eerie, sacred patience.
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 lunging from cover with Crushing Jaws on the closest melee fighter, grapple, and start dragging toward water. If the party clusters, save Tail Sweep for two or more bodies. Pair him with reed-bank guards or a swarm of small crocodiles so he is never out-actioned at this tier.
Lead with the bite-grapple, then Death Roll the squishiest reachable target toward the river edge. Kill-priority is anyone with fire or acid, since that shuts off his healing. When bloodied, retreat into water to trigger Floodborn Vigor and dare them to follow. Best fielded with mummy warriors holding the dry ground.
Open with Bellowing Roar to scatter casters, then Multiattack the front-liner and grapple. Spend legendary actions on Surge of the Flood to reposition between turns, and Snapping Retort punishes every melee hit. Kill-priority for the party: whoever carries fire or acid. He can solo a party here, but is nastier with Petsuchos and a flooded lair that lets him heal each round.
Put Sobek 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 Sobek?
His home tier is Tier 3 (levels 11-15) at CR 11, 7,200 XP. The stat block also gives down-scaled Tier 1 (CR 2-ish) and Tier 2 (CR 6-ish) numbers so you can drop him in at any table; traits and actions stay identical, only AC, HP, to-hit, save DC, and damage move.
Can Sobek be a companion or ally?
Yes. He is a lawful patron-god of pharaohs in war and will fight beside those he deems worthy of the Nile's strength. As an ally, scale him to the party's tier and let him grapple-and-drag the biggest enemy threat while the party finishes it. The bundled Petsuchos works as a lower-power sacred-crocodile companion if you want the ally option without a full boss.
How do I keep the fight from dragging on?
Control the water. Floodborn Vigor heals him 15 a round next to any water source, so either fight him on dry terrain, hit him with fire or acid to suppress the healing, or set a hard objective (destroy the flood-shrine) that ends the regeneration. Do that and his effective HP drops to something a Tier 3 party clears in three or four rounds.
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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