Tanuki Full
Tanuki Full — The Encounter
Straw-hatted shapeshifter of the wayside shrine · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Tanuki Full
Where the old roads bend past forgotten shrines, the tanuki keep their mischief. Folk of the islands know them as shapeshifters and merry deceivers: they pay for sake with leaves that turn to coin and back again, drum upon their bellies in the moonlight, and wear the faces of travelers to win a meal or play a prank. The Gate of Ashura has roused a fiercer breed, banded together in conical hats and pilgrim's robes, some shouldering glaives, others baring honed steel. They are not malicious by nature, only ungovernable, delighting in confusion and bargains that unravel by dawn. A wise wanderer offers them rice and a riddle; a foolish one draws a blade and finds the path behind him gone, the trees rearranged, and his purse full of dead leaves. Slay one and it sheds its borrowed shape, revealing the round-faced beast beneath, still smiling at the joke.
Run Tanuki Full in Sixty Seconds
- Disguise first. Have the tanuki enter combat wearing a borrowed humanoid face so the party cannot see its true form; that unlocks Leaf-Coin Trickery's +2d6 on the opening hit.
- Fan the bruiser. Use the War Fan on the enemy front-liner to deny its reactions, opening the lane for allies to slip past or for the tanuki to bound away.
- Kill-priority: the drummer. The one using Vanishing Bound to Hide while observed resets the fight every round; drop it first or it never stays put.
- When bloodied: the tanuki drops the disguise, Disengages, and tries to break line of sight in dim light, leaving illusory leaves where it stood.
- Three ways to run it: a roadside prankster you can bribe with rice, a flanking skirmisher beside a real boss, or a full hat-wearing band in a confusing lair.
Tanuki Full
Medium fey (shapechanger), chaotic neutral
CR 2 · 450 XP · GUIDELINEShapechanger. The tanuki can use its action to polymorph into a Small or Medium humanoid it has seen, or back into its true beast-faced form. Its statistics are the same in each form. Any equipment it is wearing or carrying is not transformed. It reverts to its true form if it dies.
Leaf-Coin Trickery. Signature. Once per turn, when the tanuki hits a creature that cannot see its true form, the attack is treated as a surprise strike and deals an extra 7 (2d6) damage. The tanuki conjures illusory coins, false sake, and dry leaves to keep foes off balance.
Actions
Multiattack. The tanuki makes two attacks: one with its katana and one with its War Fan, or two with its katana.
Katana. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8+3) slashing damage.
War Fan. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6+3) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be unable to take reactions until the end of its next turn as drumming and laughter rattle its nerves.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Vanishing Bound (Bonus Action). The tanuki takes the Disengage or Hide action. If it ends this movement behind cover or in dim light, it may attempt to Hide even while observed, slipping behind a puff of conjured leaves.
A grinning beast-faced trickster in a broad straw hat and travel robes, one paw on a sheathed katana and the other spinning a painted fan, a coil of rope and a gourd of false sake at its belt.
Tanuki Full, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEBelly-Drum Cadence (signature). As a bonus action, Tanuki Full drums a rhythm that grants one ally within 30 feet advantage on its next Charisma or Dexterity check this turn.
Actions
Glaive. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d10+2) slashing damage.
Reactions
Leaf Screen. When an ally within 10 feet is targeted by an attack, Tanuki Full scatters conjured leaves; the attacker has disadvantage on that attack roll.
A loyal tanuki retainer who follows a kind master, trading pranks for protection and a warm fire.
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 hiding or while wearing a borrowed face so Leaf-Coin Trickery lands its bonus damage on the first strike. If the party clusters, fan the front-line martial to lock down its reaction, then Vanishing Bound out of reach. Run these as a 3-4 model band flanking a bigger threat; kill the one drumming first to stop the disengage shuffle.
Same trickster kit at deadlier numbers; lead with a disguised ambush and use the fan to strip reactions from the party's bruiser. Have them harry the flanks while a stronger boss holds center. Focus the tanuki that keeps Hiding while observed before it resets the whole skirmish.
Field a full band of these in a lair full of dim light and false cover so they Hide and reappear at will. Pair them with a bigger threat as skirmishers and distraction; their fan-save lockout protects the heavy hitter. Concentrate fire on whichever one has line of sight to your casters.
Put Tanuki Full 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 Full?
The home build is CR 2 (450 XP), a Tier 1 skirmisher. Scaled stat lines are provided for Tier 2 (~CR 6) and Tier 3 (~CR 11) so it stays a credible threat at higher levels.
Can Tanuki Full be a companion or ally?
Yes. Pon, Bound is a ready-made tanuki retainer (AC 13, 30 HP) with a glaive, a belly-drum buff, and a Leaf Screen reaction to protect allies, ideal for a player who befriends one rather than fights it.
Why is a tanuki fey and not a beast?
In Japanese folklore the tanuki is a shapeshifting trickster spirit, not a mundane raccoon-dog, so it is statted as a Medium fey (shapechanger) with disguise and illusion, matching its mythological role.
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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