The Hanged Man
The Hanged Man — The Encounter
The willing martyr suspended between worlds, seeing what the standing cannot · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is The Hanged Man
He gave himself willingly to the gallows-tree, and the gallows-tree would not let him die. Where lesser souls scream against the noose, the Hanged Man crossed his leg, closed his eyes, and chose to dangle between the living world and the next, paying with his stillness for sight no upright mind can hold. The thorned wreath that crowns him grew from his own patience; the skeletal hands that reach from the frame are those who tried to cut him down and were drawn up in his place. Seers seek him in dead orchards to ask the single question they would trade everything to answer, and he answers truly, which is why so few who find him return whole. He does not pursue. He does not flee. He hangs, inverted and untroubled, and waits for the world to come and be reversed. To meet his eyes is to glimpse your life from the underside.
Run The Hanged Man in Sixty Seconds
- He never moves speed is fly 20 ft. hover but he chooses to hang in place forever. The party must come to him through 15 ft. of thorn-reach, so position the frame to break up their line.
- Open with Revelation 6d8 psychic plus incapacitate on a fail. Best on two or more clustered PCs; if it is recharging, fall back to two Thorn-Lash attacks.
- Kill-priority is anyone grappling or trying to cut him down. Suspended Between Worlds shrugs off the first hit each round and he cannot be moved, so they will waste actions trying.
- When bloodied (below 62 HP) his Revelation gives enemies disadvantage on the save. Recharge it and drop it on the cluster the turn you cross that line.
- Three ways to run him as a thorn-orchard guardian the PCs seek out for answers; as a control add-on beside a melee brute; or as an ambush where the skeletal frame-hands grab anyone who steps close.
The Hanged Man
Medium undead, neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEInverted Sight. The Hanged Man perceives the world reversed and cannot be surprised. He has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects, and creatures have disadvantage on saving throws against his Revelation while he is below half his hit points.
Suspended Between Worlds. The Hanged Man hangs forever upside down and cannot be knocked prone or forcibly moved against his will. While suspended he has resistance to all damage from the first attack made against him on each of his turns, as fate refuses to let him fall.
Actions
Multiattack. The Hanged Man makes two Thorn-Lash attacks, or uses Revelation if it is available.
Thorn-Lash. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6+3) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or take 7 (2d6) necrotic damage as the barbed wreath drinks its vitality.
Revelation (Recharge 5-6). The Hanged Man speaks a truth no one was meant to hear. Each creature of his choice within 30 ft. must make a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) psychic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails is also incapacitated until the end of its next turn as the revelation unmakes its certainties.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Martyr's Reversal. Reaction: When a creature the Hanged Man can see within 30 ft. hits him with an attack, he turns its fortune inside out. The attacker must succeed on a DC 14 Charisma saving throw or have disadvantage on its next attack roll, and the next attack roll made against that creature before the end of its turn has advantage.
A robed figure hangs by one ankle from a thorn-choked wooden frame, his free leg crossed behind the other and his hands bound, face serene amid the writhing dead branches and skeletal grasping hands. The barbed wreath around him is no torment but a halo of surrender.
The Hanged Man, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINECrown of Surrender (signature). While within 10 ft. of the bound creature, allies have advantage on saving throws against being frightened, and the The Hanged Man cannot be moved from the spot it has chosen to guard.
Actions
Barbed Coil. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage, and the target's speed is reduced by 10 ft. until the start of its next turn.
Reactions
Take My Place. Reaction: When an ally the The Hanged Man can see within 10 ft. takes damage, it may take half that damage itself instead, hauling the harm into its barbs.
A living halo of barbed branches and grasping bony fingers, torn loose from the gallows-frame to coil protectively around whoever it has judged worthy of suspension.
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 Revelation to soften a clustered party, then Thorn-Lash the nearest spellcaster from his 15 ft. reach. He never moves, so make the party come to him through the thorn-choked frame. Pair him with a melee brute that drives PCs into his reach.
Hold Revelation for two or more bunched targets, then alternate Thorn-Lash on whoever closes. Kill-priority is whoever tries to cut him down or grapple him out of his frame; Martyr's Reversal punishes melee. Below half HP his Revelation gives foes disadvantage, so save it for that turn. Pair him with minions or a thorn-wreath lair, never alone.
Anchor a thorned-orchard lair with grasping skeletal hands as terrain hazards. Lead with Revelation each recharge, Thorn-Lash anyone within 15 ft., and lean on Martyr's Reversal to swing the action economy. He is a control/condition centerpiece, not a duelist, so pair him with a bigger melee threat to body-block while he reveals.
Put The Hanged Man 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 The Hanged Man?
Natively CR 6 (Tier 2, ~2,300 XP) as a control-focused undead seer. The stat record also provides Tier 1 (~CR 2) and Tier 3 (~CR 11) columns so you can drop him into any party by swapping only AC, HP, to-hit, and save DC. He is an add-on or set-piece, not a solo boss.
Can The Hanged Man be a companion or ally?
Yes, though he is a strange one. He never leaves his frame, so he works as a stationary oracle-ally who answers a question with Revelation-like insight, or whose Thorn-Wreath companion detaches to guard the party. Most tables use him as a fixed location the PCs return to rather than a traveling NPC.
Why is his alignment neutral and not evil?
The Hanged Man is a willing martyr suspended between worlds, not a malevolent undead. He neither hunts nor hates; he simply hangs, sees, and answers truly. The danger he poses is the weight of the truths he speaks, not cruelty, which is why he reads as a neutral mythic fixture rather than a villain.
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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