Strzyga
Strzyga — The Encounter
Twice-Born Night-Queen, throned upon a harvest of skulls · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Strzyga
The chronicles of the eastern marches name her strzyga: a child born with two souls and two hearts, who died once and rose still hungry. Folk who fear her bury such corpses face-down, weight the lids with poppy seed, and bar the door against the night-owl's cry, for she returns on the seventh year crowned and terrible. This one took to herself a throne of beaten gold and a court of skulls, styling herself queen over the restless dead. She is said to have lent her devotion to a dark old god of winter and ruin, drawn by his promise of an undead host and the terror it would sow. By day she may sleep as a great horned owl in some cold rafter; by night she walks robed and regal, and where she feeds the dead do not stay buried. Salt at the threshold and an unsleeping watch are the only wards the old women still trust.
Run Strzyga in Sixty Seconds
- Hold Two Hearts, Two Souls: the first time she'd die she drops to 1 HP and frightens everyone within 15 ft. instead. Plan for two health bars.
- Open with On Silent Wings + Drink Deep on the back-line caster — her Bite slashes their max HP, not just current, and it doesn't heal until a long rest.
- Kill-priority is anyone who can remove fear or grant saves; her frighten and Wail snowball if the party can't shake them.
- When bloodied she heals off every nearby 0-HP creature via Night Hunger, so don't drop minions next to her — burst her instead.
- Three ways to run her: lone throne-room duel (legendaries + Bloodied Recoil out-act four PCs), warlord of a skeleton honor-guard rising from the skull field, or a stealth night-stalker who opens in owl form and picks off a straggler.
Strzyga
Medium undead, neutral evil
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINETwo Hearts, Two Souls. Signature. The strzyga was born with two souls; the first death freed only one. The first time she would drop to 0 hit points, she instead drops to 1 hit point, lets out a shrieking exhalation, and every creature within 15 feet must succeed on a DC 16 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened of her until the end of its next turn.
Night Hunger. Whenever the strzyga reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a bite, or a creature within 5 feet of her drops to 0 hit points, she regains 10 hit points. She cannot exceed her hit point maximum.
Owl Shape. As a bonus action she can take or drop the form of a great horned owl, retaining her statistics but gaining a fly speed of 40 ft. and advantage on Stealth checks. She cannot use her Multiattack while in owl form.
Actions
Multiattack. The strzyga makes one Bite attack and two Talon attacks.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 12 (2d6+5) piercing damage plus 14 (4d6) necrotic damage, and the target's hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage dealt. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest.
Talon. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) slashing damage.
Wail of the Twice-Born (Recharge 5-6). The strzyga unleashes a soul-splitting scream in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in the area must make a DC 16 Constitution saving throw, taking 33 (6d10) thunder damage and being deafened until the end of its next turn on a failure, or half damage and no deafness on a success.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Bloodied Recoil (Reaction). When a creature the strzyga can see hits her with a melee attack, she may shift up to 15 feet without provoking opportunity attacks; if she ends this move adjacent to a different creature, that creature must succeed on a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw or take 7 (2d6) slashing damage from her raking talons.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Talon Strike. The strzyga makes one Talon attack.
On Silent Wings (Costs 1 Action). The strzyga flies up to her fly speed without provoking opportunity attacks. She may enter or leave owl form as part of this movement.
Drink Deep (Costs 2 Actions). The strzyga makes one Bite attack against a creature she has not bitten this round. If it hits, she regains hit points equal to the necrotic damage dealt.
A horned and crowned vampire-queen sits enthroned in gold, her dark gown pooling over a carpet of harvested skulls, her painted face serene above a hunger that never dies. She rules from her seat of bone like a court she has long since devoured.
Strzyga, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINECarrion Sense (signature). The familiar knows the location of any creature reduced below half its hit points within 60 feet, and grants its ally advantage on attacks against such creatures.
Actions
Rending Beak. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage.
Reactions
Warning Cry. When an ally within 30 feet is targeted by an attack, the familiar screeches; the attacker has disadvantage on that attack roll.
A great horned owl with embers for eyes, perched ever at her shoulder, screaming when blood runs thin.
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 from owl form, drop in, and Bite the squishiest caster to crater their hit point maximum early. If the party clusters, save the Wail for the bunch. Pair her with a skeleton honor-guard rising from the skull field so she is never alone.
Lead with the Wail when three or more are bunched, then Multiattack the lowest-AC PC and feed Night Hunger off any drop. Use Bloodied Recoil to slip away from the front-liner pinning her. Run her as a lieutenant in a larger crypt or warband, not the whole fight.
True boss fight: open On Silent Wings to bypass the wall and Drink Deep on the back-line healer or wizard, stacking hit-point-max loss. Kill-priority is whoever can lift her frightened/charmed lockouts. When bloodied, Two Hearts cancels the killing blow and frightens her attackers; lean on legendary Talon Strikes and Bloodied Recoil to out-act the party, and let the skull field spawn add undead so the action economy stays brutal.
Put Strzyga 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 Strzyga?
Her home tier is Tier 3 (CR 11, 7,200 XP), built as a solo centerpiece for levels 11-15. Because she carries a real legendary kit plus a punishing reaction, her sheet is dropped one band so she plays up to a true boss. Tier 1 and Tier 2 sheets are provided to drop her into lower-level games as a lieutenant.
Can Strzyga be a companion or ally?
As written she is a self-styled vampire-queen and a poor team player, but a coven, a campaign-long pact, or a charmed-by-a-dark-god arc can put her on the party's side. For a friendlier table option, the Owl-Familiar companion block scales as a bound ally on its own.
Why doesn't her Bite damage just heal back?
The hit-point-maximum reduction from her Bite lasts until the victim finishes a long rest, so it accumulates across the fight and can't be undone by ordinary healing. That permanence is the pressure clock of the encounter — the longer it runs, the more fragile the party becomes.
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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