Tanuki 2
Tanuki 2 — The Encounter
Straw-hatted shapeshifter of the road, blade and trick in hand · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Tanuki 2
Of the tanuki the old travelers' almanacs warn: trust no fat priest who laughs on a lonely mountain road. These raccoon-dog spirits are masters of metamorphosis, slipping between the shapes of beasts, monks, and merry drunkards to test, tease, and occasionally rob the unwary. They are not cruel by nature, only mischievous, and a tanuki that takes a liking to a traveler may guard them as fiercely as it would have fleeced a stranger. By moonlight it conjures whole inns of leaves and lantern-light that vanish at dawn, leaving the guest asleep in a field. The wiser pilgrims leave an offering of rice wine at wayside shrines, for the gourd at a tanuki's belt is never empty, and a spirit shared a drink with is a spirit unlikely to turn its long blade upon you. Strike one in earnest, however, and discover how swiftly mirth becomes a whirl of steel.
Run Tanuki 2 in Sixty Seconds
- Hold its identity loose — Shapechanger means it may already be the friendly monk or the lost dog the party met an hour ago; reveal it mid-ambush for maximum panic.
- Open with the gourd — lead Gourd Trick into the tightest cluster for poison damage and the poisoned condition before anyone closes.
- Kill-priority is grappling and pinning — the tanuki's whole game is mobility; whoever can lock it down (grapple, restrain, web) ends the dance, so it kills them first.
- When bloodied, it bolts — it Shapechanges into a beast or bystander and uses Bewildering Foliage to break line of sight; let it flee to fight again rather than dying in the open.
- Three ways to run it — comic trickster who only wants the party's sake and gold, wary guardian-spirit testing whether they deserve passage, or a vengeful prankster whose 'jokes' have turned lethal.
Tanuki 2
Medium fey (shapechanger), chaotic neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEShapechanger. The tanuki can use its action to polymorph into a Small or Medium beast or humanoid it has seen, or back into its true form. Its statistics, other than its size, are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying transforms with it. It reverts to its true form if it dies.
Bewildering Foliage. Signature. When the tanuki would be hit by an attack, it can shroud itself in conjured leaves and moonlight. The attacker must reroll the attack; if the reroll misses, the tanuki may immediately move up to half its speed without provoking opportunity attacks. The tanuki can use this once per round.
Actions
Multiattack. The tanuki makes two Long Blade attacks, or makes one Long Blade attack and uses Gourd Trick.
Long Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 4) slashing damage.
Gourd Trick. The tanuki hurls an enchanted sake gourd that bursts in a 10-foot radius centered on a point within 30 feet. Each creature there must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or take 13 (3d8) poison damage and be poisoned until the end of its next turn (half damage, no poison, on a success).
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Trickster's Slip (Bonus). The tanuki takes the Disengage or Hide action.
A raccoon-dog spirit walks the high roads in a broad straw kasa and a faded kimono, a too-long blade slung at one shoulder and a sloshing gourd swinging at its hip. Its grin says it has already decided whether you are a meal, a mark, or a friend.
Tanuki 2, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEBorrowed Face (signature). Once per short rest, Tanuki 2 copies the appearance of a creature it can see, granting its ally advantage on the next Deception or Stealth check made within 1 minute.
Actions
Snap and Scratch. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4 + 4) slashing damage.
Reactions
Leaf-Veil. When an ally within 10 feet is targeted by an attack, Tanuki 2 scatters illusory leaves, imposing disadvantage on that attack roll.
A young tanuki sworn to a wanderer, all clumsy paws and quicksilver disguises, learning the craft of misdirection one stolen rice ball at a time.
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 Gourd Trick to poison a clustered front line, then close to slash. Use Bewildering Foliage to dodge the first big hit and reposition behind cover. Pair it with a road-ambush of bandits or beasts and let it pick off stragglers.
Lead with Gourd Trick on a clump, then Multiattack the squishiest spellcaster. When bloodied, Shapechange into a fleeing peasant or beast and slip away to strike from a new angle. Kill-priority is whoever can grapple or pin it; pair it with a larger flagship threat or a lair of illusions so the party never quite trusts what they see.
Run it as an elite skirmisher beside a bigger boss: open Gourd Trick, then dart between targets with Bewildering Foliage so it is never where attacks land. Focus the party's healer with Multiattack and use Shapechanger to vanish among minions when bloodied. It is an add-on harasser with minions or a lair, not a solo centerpiece.
Put Tanuki 2 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 Tanuki 2?
Its home stat block is CR 6 (2,300 XP), tuned for a Tier 2 party of levels 5-10. Scaled lines are provided for Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) so you can drop it into almost any table without rebuilding it.
Can Tanuki 2 be a companion or ally?
Yes. A tanuki that takes a liking to the party makes a delightful trickster ally, and the companion block (Mameda, the Bound Cub) gives you a ready-made sidekick with disguise tricks and an illusory leaf-veil reaction to protect a PC.
Is the tanuki actually dangerous, or just a prankster?
Both. Its mischief is the warning; its long blade is the consequence. Played gently it is comic relief and a quest-giver, but cross it or threaten its road and the Multiattack plus poison gourd let it bloody an unprepared party fast.
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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