Tescatlipoca
Tescatlipoca — The Encounter
The Smoking Mirror, Lord of the Night Wind · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Tescatlipoca
Know him by his mirror, for it smokes with the breath of night. The grimoires of the old jaguar-priests name Tescatlipoca the Smoking Mirror, he who sees every deed done in darkness and every cruelty hidden behind a smile. He gave the world fire and took back a foot for the price, and where that foot was lost a serpent now coils, dragging the cold of the underworld behind him. He is the god of sorcerers and of fortune that turns without warning, patron of those who rule and those who would pull rulers down. When he walks unseen on the night wind, omens fail and brave men forget their courage. To gaze into his obsidian glass is to behold one's own ending; the mirror reflects not the face but the fate, and those who strike at him find their own blows turned back upon them. Offer him no oath you cannot keep, for the Lord of the Near and the Nigh forgets nothing.
Run Tescatlipoca in Sixty Seconds
- Hold the darkness. Tescatlipoca is invisible in dim light or darkness until he acts, so describe the lights guttering before he ever rolls — the dread is half the fight.
- Open with the mirror. Cast darkness over the back line, then bonus-action teleport into it and Multiattack. Smoking Mirror means whoever crits him eats their own crit.
- Kill-priority is the healer. Blind them with Veil of Night, then spend Reflected Doom to frighten and burn down whoever hits hardest.
- When bloodied, Step Through Shadow out of melee every turn and snipe with legendary actions — never let the party corner him in the light.
- Three ways to run him: as a lone solo boss (Tier 3, full legendary kit), as a duo with the Mirror-Jaguar tearing the flank, or as a cult's hidden patron who strikes from darkness mid-other-fight.
Tescatlipoca
Medium celestial (deity), chaotic neutral
CR 9 · 5,000 XP · GUIDELINESmoking Mirror. Tescatlipoca carries an obsidian mirror that shows hidden truths and the watcher's own ruin. When a creature he can see hits him with an attack, he can use his mirror to reflect: the attacker must make a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or the attack also strikes itself, taking the same damage. He can do this once per turn.
Lord of the Night Wind. Tescatlipoca and his effects are invisible in dim light or darkness until he attacks or casts a spell. Each creature that starts its turn within 10 ft. of him in darkness must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom save or be unable to take reactions until the start of its next turn.
Innate Spellcasting. His spellcasting ability is Charisma (save DC 17). He can innately cast darkness, fear, and bestow curse at will, requiring no material components.
Actions
Multiattack. Tescatlipoca makes two attacks: one with his Jaguar Claw and one with his Obsidian Staff, or he casts a spell and makes one weapon attack.
Jaguar Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) slashing damage plus 9 (2d8) necrotic damage.
Obsidian Staff. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution save or have disadvantage on attack rolls until the end of its next turn as its reflection is stolen.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Step Through Shadow. As a bonus action, Tescatlipoca teleports up to 60 ft. to an unoccupied space he can see that is in dim light or darkness.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Mirror Glance. Tescatlipoca makes one Jaguar Claw attack.
Veil of Night (Costs 2 Actions). Darkness spreads in a 20-ft. radius around a point he can see for 1 minute. He and his allies ignore it. Each enemy in the area when it appears must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom save or be blinded until it leaves the area.
Reflected Doom (Costs 2 Actions). One creature within 60 ft. must make a DC 17 Wisdom save. On a failure it takes 22 (4d10) psychic damage and is frightened of Tescatlipoca until the end of its next turn; on a success, half damage.
A skull-faced lord crowned in a vast fan of night-dark plumes, one hand raising a carved obsidian mirror-shield while his clawed foot ends in a coiling serpent where his foot was lost.
Tescatlipoca, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEShadow-Walk (signature). While in dim light or darkness, the Tescatlipoca is invisible and has advantage on Stealth checks. It can move through other creatures' spaces as if they were difficult terrain.
Actions
Rending Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) piercing damage, and if the target is a creature it must succeed on a DC 14 Strength save or be knocked prone.
Reactions
Mirror Pounce. When an ally within 30 ft. is hit by an attack, the Tescatlipoca can move up to its speed toward the attacker without provoking opportunity attacks; if it ends within 5 ft. of the attacker, it makes a Rending Bite against it.
A spectral night-jaguar that pads at the god's heel, its hide rippling like polished obsidian, vanishing wherever shadows pool.
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 darkness with Step Through Shadow, then a single claw on whoever has the lowest AC. Keep Smoking Mirror up to punish the party's biggest hitter. At this tier run him as a terrifying mini-boss with the Nahual; do not throw the full legendary kit at level-1s.
Lead with Veil of Night over the clustered casters, then teleport behind the line. Kill-priority: the party healer, blinded by the veil. Bank legendary actions for Mirror Glance on whoever shrugs off fear.
He is a full solo boss here. Open with darkness on the casters and Step Through Shadow into the squishy back line, then Multiattack. Each round spend legendary actions on Reflected Doom against the highest-damage PC and Mirror Glance to finish stragglers; Smoking Mirror turns the party's nova back on them. When bloodied, retreat into darkness and let Reflected Doom + reflect attrition the party down.
Put Tescatlipoca 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 Tescatlipoca?
His home tier is Tier 3 (levels 11-15) at CR 9, built as a true solo boss — the legendary actions and Smoking Mirror reflection let him play up against a four-PC party. Scaled stat blocks are provided for Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 2 (levels 5-10) so you can drop him in at any level.
Can Tescatlipoca be a companion or ally?
As a god he makes a poor permanent companion, but his bound Mirror-Jaguar (the Nahual) is provided as a usable ally — a shadow-walking night-jaguar that turns invisible in darkness and pounces to defend a struck ally. Use it as a player's patron-gift or a key NPC's guardian.
How do I keep a solo boss from dying in one round?
Lean on his kit: open with darkness so the party loses sight and advantage, use Step Through Shadow every turn to break melee, and let Smoking Mirror reflect the party's biggest hit back at them. The legendary actions give him a turn between every PC, so he keeps acting even while focus-fired.
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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