Taranis
Taranis — The Encounter
The Thunderer who turns the burning solar wheel · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Taranis
Among the old peoples of Gaul and the isles he was named the Thunderer, and altars were raised to him where the sky split with white fire. Taranis turns the great wheel of heaven, and where its spokes pass the seasons follow and the storm rolls in behind. The Romans who came after him saw their own sky-father in his face, yet the wheel was always his own: a sun that wandered, a thunder that was also a turning. His worship was a grave one. The grimoires record that those who would call his lightning into a blade or ward must offer fire and bronze, and never iron, for iron is the silence he despises. He answers oaths sworn under open sky and breaks those who swear falsely beneath it. To stand before Taranis is to stand in the open field as the cloud-bank climbs, knowing the strike will come and not knowing where.
Run Taranis in Sixty Seconds
- He is a flying caster-hunter. Hover at 30+ feet, never stand still on the ground, and force the party to spend turns just reaching you.
- Hold Thunderclap. Save the reaction for the enemy's best spell or ranged nuke each round; failing their Con save wastes their whole action.
- Kill-priority: concentration. Storm Aura gives disadvantage on Concentration saves inside 10 feet, so close on the buff-caster and drop them first.
- When bloodied, go vertical and AoE. Spend legendary actions on Call the Bolt against clustered healers and stay out of melee reach.
- Three ways to run him: (1) solo storm-boss in the open field; (2) with Tarvos as a charging anvil to his lightning hammer; (3) as a tier-1/2 'aspect' with the dropped band, ambushing from a thundercloud.
Taranis
Large celestial, neutral
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINEStorm Aura. At the start of each of Taranis's turns, each creature within 10 feet of him takes 5 (1d10) lightning damage. While in his aura, a creature has disadvantage on Concentration saves.
Magic Weapons. Taranis's weapon attacks are magical, and his strikes count as silvered and adamantine for overcoming resistance.
Wheel of Heaven. Signature. Taranis bears a great burning solar wheel. While he holds it, he has advantage on saving throws against spells, and the first time each turn a creature ends its move within 5 feet of him, he may turn the wheel as a free action to deal 7 (2d6) fire damage to that creature.
Actions
Multiattack. Taranis makes two attacks: one with his Thunder Spear and one Wheel Slam, or he uses Sky-Breaker (if available).
Thunder Spear. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) piercing damage plus 9 (2d8) thunder damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 16 Strength save or be pushed 10 feet and knocked prone.
Wheel Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 5) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d6) fire damage.
Sky-Breaker (Recharge 5-6). Taranis hurls the solar wheel as a wheel of lightning in a 60-foot line, 5 feet wide. Each creature in the line makes a DC 16 Dexterity save, taking 36 (8d8) lightning damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. The wheel then returns to his hand.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Thunderclap (Reaction). When a creature Taranis can see within 60 feet casts a spell or makes a ranged attack, he claps the heavens together: that creature must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution save or take 11 (2d10) thunder damage and have its action fail and be wasted.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Strike. Taranis makes one Wheel Slam attack.
Stormstep (Costs 1 Action). Taranis flies up to half his speed without provoking opportunity attacks. Each creature he passes within 5 feet of takes 5 (1d10) lightning damage.
Call the Bolt (Costs 2 Actions). Taranis points at a creature he can see within 60 feet. It and each creature within 5 feet of it must make a DC 16 Dexterity save, taking 22 (4d10) lightning damage on a failure, or half as much on a success.
A towering horned figure of green-fired bronze stands upon a shattered crag, one hand turning a great spoked wheel that blazes like the sun while a cloak of forked lightning streams from his shoulders into the storm.
Taranis, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEStorm-Yoked (signature). Taranis is immune to lightning and thunder damage. While within 30 feet of an ally, it has advantage on saves against being frightened.
Actions
Goring Charge. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 5) piercing damage. If Taranis moved at least 20 feet straight toward the target, it takes an extra 9 (2d8) bludgeoning damage and must succeed on a DC 15 Strength save or be knocked prone.
Reactions
Lightning-Hide. When a creature hits Taranis with a melee attack, that creature takes 7 (2d6) lightning damage.
A great horned bull of dark bronze, its hide veined with crawling sparks, that paws the earth before the thunder breaks.
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.
Drop the band hard: this is an avatar-fragment, not the god himself. Open with Sky-Breaker down a corridor of clustered PCs, then close to spear-and-prone the squishiest. Pair with one Tarvos so the party can't simply rush him.
Lead with Thunderclap held in reserve to wreck the enemy caster's turn. Use Stormstep to stay airborne and out of melee, raining Call the Bolt on grouped targets. Kill-priority is anyone concentrating; the Storm Aura makes their save miserable.
Solo centerpiece: open from the air with Sky-Breaker, then hover in melee so Storm Aura and the wheel grind the front line. Hold Thunderclap for the enemy nuker. When bloodied, burn legendary actions on Call the Bolt to punish anyone who clusters to heal. Fly when surrounded so the party never gets a full action economy on him.
Put Taranis 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 Taranis?
Natively CR 11 (Tier 3, 7,200 XP) and built as a solo centerpiece boss for an 11th-15th level party, thanks to three legendary actions and the Thunderclap reaction. Scale him to CR 2 (Tier 1) or CR 6 (Tier 2) using the tier table; lower tiers drop a band because the action-economy kit lets him punch above his stat line.
Can Taranis be a companion or ally?
As a god he is a patron, not a sidekick, but his bound bull Tarvos works perfectly as an allied companion or summon for a storm-themed druid, cleric, or paladin. If you want Taranis himself on the party's side, run him as a one-encounter divine intervention rather than a permanent ally.
Why is Taranis a celestial and not a fiend or giant?
He is a worshipped sky-deity of Celtic myth, so the celestial type fits his divine, storm-bringing nature. His lightning and thunder immunities, telepathy, and the burning solar wheel all read as a minor god rather than a mortal giant, and grounding him in folklore keeps the identity public-domain and SRD-safe.
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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