Tiger Vanguard
Tiger Vanguard — The Encounter
The Striped Razor, first blade across the threshold · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Tiger Vanguard
The grimoires of the eastern marches name them the Striped Vanguard: beast-blooded skirmishers said to be born when a tiger devours a sworn warrior beneath a hunter's moon, and the two souls refuse to part. They are not pack-beasts but heralds, sent ahead of greater things to clear a path with tooth and stolen steel. Folklore holds that a Vanguard will not strike the weak first; it scents for the strongest heart in a room and leaps for it, believing honor is owed to the worthiest prey. Villagers leave a slaughtered goat at the treeline and a single drawn knife beside it, an old bargain meaning we yield the road, do not test us. Where the offering is ignored, the Vanguard takes that as challenge accepted, and by dawn the gate stands open for whatever marches behind.
Run Tiger Vanguard in Sixty Seconds
- Open with Tiger's Leap or a charge so it crosses the room turn one and Pounces something to the ground before initiative settles.
- Kill-priority is the worthy heart it sniffs for whoever hit hardest last round and leaps for them, not the nearest body.
- Pounce-then-bite is the combo a hit on a 20+ ft charge knocks the target prone (DC 14 Str) and grants a free bonus-action bite.
- When bloodied, lean on Tiger's Leap harass anyone who retreats; it would rather chase a fleeing champion than guard its own flank.
- Three ways to run it sole skirmisher ahead of a boss, paired with a bigger adversary, or fielded with 1-2 Striped Cubs to swarm the prone target.
Tiger Vanguard
Medium monstrosity (shapechanger), neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEKeen Smell. The Vanguard has advantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on smell, and cannot be surprised while it can smell.
Pounce. Signature. If the Vanguard moves at least 20 feet straight toward a creature and then hits it with a claw attack on the same turn, that target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone. If the target is prone, the Vanguard can make one bite attack against it as a bonus action.
Actions
Multiattack. The Vanguard makes two attacks: one with its drawn blade and one with its claws.
Drawn Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) slashing damage.
Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) slashing damage.
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d10+4) piercing damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Tiger's Leap. Reaction. When a creature the Vanguard can see ends its turn within 20 feet, the Vanguard can move up to its speed toward that creature. This movement does not provoke opportunity attacks.
A towering tiger-headed warrior in mid-lunge, blade flashed overhead and red eyes blazing, every striped muscle coiled to spring across the breach.
Tiger Vanguard, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEPack Instinct (signature). The Cub has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the Cub's allies is within 5 feet of that creature and isn't incapacitated.
Actions
Rending Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6+3) slashing damage.
Reactions
Bounding Guard. Reaction. When an ally within 10 feet is hit by an attack, the Cub leaps in and the attacker must reroll the damage, taking the lower result.
A half-grown tiger that pads at its master's heel, all soft fur and unsheathed claws, learning the worth of prey by watching where the Vanguard leaps.
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 Tiger's Leap so it crosses the room turn one, then Pounce the party's heaviest hitter to knock them prone and free up the bonus bite. Kill-priority is whoever did the most damage last round; it chases honor, not safety. Pair it with archers or a caster who can punish the prone target.
Open by closing 40+ ft and Pouncing the front-line tank to drop them prone, then Multiattack plus bonus bite for a brutal alpha strike. Use Tiger's Leap to follow anyone who tries to peel away. This is an add-on skirmisher, not a boss; run it as the blade ahead of a bigger threat or alongside 1-2 Striped Cubs to gang the prone target.
Open with Pounce on the squishiest reachable PC and let Tiger's Leap make the backline feel hunted all combat. Kill-priority is the highest-damage target it can reach. Even scaled up it is a vanguard, not a lair-holder; pair it with a true boss or a lair of cubs so the party can't simply focus it down.
Put Tiger Vanguard 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 Tiger Vanguard?
Its home tier is CR 6 (Tier 2, levels 5-10): AC 16, 127 HP, +7 to hit, save DC 14. Scaled stat lines are provided for Tier 1 (~CR 2) and Tier 3 (~CR 11) so you can drop it into any table without rebuilding the block.
Can Tiger Vanguard be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a beast-blooded herald it makes a striking ally or rival; the bundled Striped Cub (AC 13, 76 HP) is the ready-made companion version, a half-grown tiger that fights with Pack Instinct and guards its handler.
Is the Tiger Vanguard solo-boss material?
No. It is a fast, hard-hitting skirmisher add-on without a real legendary or reaction-economy kit, so a four-PC party will out-act it alone. Field it as the blade ahead of a true boss, or back it with Striped Cubs or a lair.
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
Played Tiger Vanguard at your table? Log in with your Obsidian Tavern account to leave a balance note, a war story, or a file issue — the sharpest reports get the block revised.
Log in to comment