Tsegaye
Tsegaye — The Encounter
Sun-Crowned Lash, who whips daylight into a blade · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Tsegaye
In the highland songs of the Ethiopian mythos, Tsegaye is named the Sun-Crowned Lash, a child of the morning given a thread of the first dawn to wield as a weapon. Where lesser heroes carry steel, he carries light braided into a whip, and the elders say it can never be dulled, for one cannot dull the day itself. He walks the cool hours before sunrise, driving back the things that feed in shadow, and his coming is told by farmers who wake to find their fields already warm. The grimoires warn that Tsegaye answers darkness, not malice alone; he will scourge any creature that hides the sun from the living, whether spirit, sorcerer, or beast. Those he spares carry a faint sunburn-mark of his lash, a sign of mercy that brands them debtors. He is generous to the honest and merciless to the things that creep, and he never, the songs insist, strikes the same foe twice without first offering it the light.
Run Tsegaye in Sixty Seconds
- What he is: a hit-and-run radiant skirmisher with 15-ft. reach whips, not a stand-and-trade boss. Never let him be pinned.
- Open with: a whip pull to drag the enemy's softest target out of position, then Blinding Coil for radiant burst plus blind.
- Kill-priority: anything that creates darkness or hides the sun, and any caster he can yank into the open with the whip's pull.
- When bloodied: lean on Vault and Parry the Dark, strike once, and skip away. He should die having never stood still.
- Three ways to run him: lone harasser softening a back line; bodyguard for a darkness-caster he shields; or pack-leader running beside his Dawnhound to flank.
Tsegaye
Medium celestial, neutral good
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINESunlit Step. Tsegaye's movement does not provoke opportunity attacks from creatures he can see, and he ignores difficult terrain.
Daybright Aura. (signature) Tsegaye sheds bright light in a 20-foot radius. A creature that starts its turn in the aura and has resistance to fire or radiant loses that resistance until the start of its next turn, and any darkness magic of 3rd level or lower in the aura is suppressed.
Actions
Multiattack. Tsegaye makes two attacks with his solar whip.
Solar Whip. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8+4) radiant damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be pulled 10 feet toward Tsegaye.
Blinding Coil (Recharge 5-6). Tsegaye lashes a ribbon of daylight around a creature he can see within 15 feet. The target must make a DC 14 Dexterity saving throw, taking 22 (5d8) radiant damage and being blinded until the end of its next turn on a failure, or half damage and not blinded on a success.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Vault. Bonus Action. Tsegaye moves up to half his speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Parry the Dark. Reaction. When a creature Tsegaye can see hits him with a melee attack, he adds 3 to his AC against that attack, possibly causing it to miss.
A wiry, sun-touched warrior coils two whips of living daylight, gold solar discs gleaming at his throat and waist as he crouches mid-strike on weathered stone.
Tsegaye, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINELightpace (signature). The Tsegaye's speed is 50 ft., and it can take the Dash action as a bonus action while in bright light.
Actions
Searing Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage plus 4 (1d8) radiant damage.
Reactions
Guard the Sun-Lash. Reaction. When a creature within 5 feet attacks an ally, the Tsegaye imposes disadvantage on that attack roll.
A lean hound woven of dawnlight pads at Tsegaye's heel, its coat smoldering like banked coals, ready to run down anything that flees the sun.
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 Blinding Coil on the enemy with the highest AC, then use the whip's pull to drag a back-line caster into the open. Vault away each turn so melee brutes never catch him; kill-priority is anything that dispels light or summons darkness. Pair him with a shadowy ambusher so the party must choose which threat to chase.
Open by pulling the squishiest target 10 ft. into the Daybright Aura, then Blinding Coil it the moment Recharge is up. Keep the 15-ft. reach and Vault working so he strikes and retreats without ever standing still; spend Parry the Dark on the party's biggest hitter. He is an add-on skirmisher, not a boss, so pair him with a heavier bruiser or a darkness-themed caster he protects.
Lead with Blinding Coil to strip a key defender's sight, then whip-pull casters out of their formation turn after turn. Use Daybright Aura to gut fire/radiant-resistant minions standing near him, and Parry the Dark to shrug off the party's nova. Run him alongside a bigger threat or a lair full of shadow-minions; with minions screening him he becomes a relentless, untouchable harasser.
Put Tsegaye 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 Tsegaye?
Natively CR 6 (Tier 2, ~2,300 XP) as a celestial skirmisher. Use the Tier 1 line (CR ~2) for levels 1-4 or the Tier 3 line (CR ~11) for levels 11-15; the traits and actions stay identical and only the numbers shift.
Can Tsegaye be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a neutral good celestial he fits naturally as a guardian, mentor, or temporary ally who scourges shadow-creatures. His Daybright Aura and whip-pull make him a strong support NPC, and the Dawnhound companion can join the party as a radiant skirmishing pet.
Is Tsegaye a solo boss?
No. He lacks the action economy to anchor a fight alone against a full party. He shines as an add-on skirmisher beside a heavier bruiser or a darkness-themed caster he protects, where his reach, pulls, and mobility punish a distracted party.
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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