Vayu
Vayu — The Encounter
Lord of the Wind, breath of the world made wrath · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Vayu
Among the oldest of the bright ones, Vayu is the wind itself given a face, the first breath that filled the empty world and the last sigh drawn from the dying. The fire-priests name him twin-natured, for the same gale that scatters the seeds of spring also flays the caravan from the road and tears the roof from the temple. He stands at the narrow bridge between the living and the silent, and no soul crosses it but on his current. Mortals leave him offerings at high passes and ship's prows, begging fair passage, knowing he is neither kind nor cruel but only vast and tireless. When the powers of darkness press upon the world he descends as a screaming cyclone, hurling the wicked from their feet and grinding their cries into the howling. To bind him is folly; the wind keeps no chains and remembers no master. It only moves, and what stands against it is unmade.
Run Vayu in Sixty Seconds
- Keep him airborne. Vayu hovers 10+ ft. up so melee can't reach and ranged attacks have disadvantage; if the party can't shoot him down, they will burn turns just closing distance.
- Open with Howling Blast across the most clustered PCs, then immediately drift away with a legendary Drifting Step so nobody gets a full-attack on him.
- Kill-priority: spellcasters and archers. Use Slipstream and the 15-ft. push to keep him out of melee range and shove the front line off the healer.
- When bloodied, retreat to high ground, lean on Cyclone Aura to chip chasers, and save Rend the Air for the moment three or more PCs bunch up.
- Three ways to run him: a tense cat-and-mouse boss (solo, kite relentlessly), the screaming heart of a storm lair, or a fast skirmisher paired with a grounded brute that pins the party in place.
Vayu
Medium celestial (elemental), neutral
CR 9 · 5,000 XP · GUIDELINEUntouchable Wind. Vayu cannot be knocked prone, grappled, or restrained, and difficult terrain costs him no extra movement. Ranged weapon attacks against him have disadvantage while he is at least 5 ft. above the ground.
Cyclone Aura. Signature. A screaming gale fills a 15-foot radius around Vayu. When a creature enters this area for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it must succeed on a DC 15 Strength save or take 7 (2d6) bludgeoning damage and be pushed 10 ft. away from him. Ranged attacks that pass through the aura are made with disadvantage.
Actions
Multiattack. Vayu makes two Gale Slash attacks, or uses Howling Blast and makes one Gale Slash attack.
Gale Slash. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) slashing damage as the cutting wind opens the target's flesh.
Howling Blast. Vayu hurls a lance of compressed air at a point within 60 ft. Each creature in a 30-foot line, 5 ft. wide, must make a DC 15 Dexterity save, taking 22 (5d8) thunder damage and being pushed 15 ft. on a failure, or half damage and no push on a success.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Slipstream (Reaction). When a creature Vayu can see hits him with an attack, he rides the wind 20 ft. in any direction without provoking opportunity attacks, and the triggering attack deals no damage if his movement carries him out of its reach.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Drifting Step. Vayu flies up to half his fly speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
Lashing Gale. Vayu makes one Gale Slash attack.
Rend the Air (Costs 2 Actions). Vayu unleashes a thunderclap. Each creature within 15 ft. must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution save or take 14 (4d6) thunder damage and be deafened until the end of its next turn. Creatures that fail by 5 or more are knocked back 15 ft.
A lean, storm-haired figure hangs in the eye of a roaring vortex, robes torn sideways by the gale, screaming faces and shattered stone churning at his feet. His outstretched hands do not throw the wind so much as command the breath already inside every living thing.
Vayu, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEGustling (signature). The peri is a Small winged spirit that can fly 40 ft. and hover. It is immune to being grappled or restrained while airborne and gains advantage on saves against being moved against its will.
Actions
Cutting Breeze. Ranged Spell Attack: +6 to hit, range 60 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6 + 3) slashing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength save or be pushed 10 ft.
Reactions
Veer. When hit by an attack, the peri darts 15 ft. without provoking opportunity attacks; if this moves it out of reach, the attack misses.
A mischievous winged sprite that rides Vayu's storms, snatching arrows from the air and giggling as it spins the unwary off their feet.
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 by hovering 10 ft. up so melee parties cannot reach him, then Howling Blast the tightest cluster. Kill-priority is anyone with a bow, since his Cyclone Aura already taxes ranged fighters. At this tier run him alongside a brute that holds the line while he kites overhead.
Start aloft and lead with Howling Blast across the line, then Slipstream away from the first big hit. Spend legendary actions on Lashing Gale against the squishiest target and Rend the Air when three or more PCs bunch up. When bloodied, drift to high ground and let Cyclone Aura punish anyone who chases.
At this tier pair him with a lair of churning skies or a bigger storm-titan and let him play harasser: hover, blast, and Slipstream to deny the party clean lines. Kill-priority is the healer, whom he isolates by pushing the front line away each round. Frame the fight as the eye of a hurricane, not a duel.
Put Vayu 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 Vayu?
Natively CR 9 (Tier 2, XP 5,000) as a solo wind-deity for a party of levels 5-10. His legendary actions and Cyclone Aura let him play up a band, so he is built one step below the usual Tier 3 numbers. Drop him to ~CR 4 for Tier 1 or scale to ~CR 11 for Tier 3 using the table.
Can Vayu be a companion or ally?
As a primordial wind-spirit he is rarely bound, but a stormcaller or sky-pact hero might earn his fleeting aid. For an allied version, use the Peri, Wind-Borne companion block, which captures a lesser wind-sprite at a power level safe to fight beside the party.
What's the best way to make him feel like a wind god, not just a flyer?
Narrate the push every round: shove PCs off ledges, scatter their formation, and let Cyclone Aura turn the battlefield into a place where standing still is dangerous. He should never trade blows toe-to-toe; he is the storm, and the party should feel like they are chasing the wind.
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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