Vishnu
Vishnu — The Encounter
Four-armed Preserver who rests upon the cosmic serpent · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Vishnu
Where creation frays, the Preserver descends to mend it. He is the keeper of cosmic order, dreaming the worlds into being upon the coils of the world-serpent Shesha, whose hood shelters him across the milk-ocean of eternity. In his four hands he holds the instruments of his office: the discus Sudarshana that severs disorder from the weave of things, the mace Kaumodaki that humbles the proud, the conch Panchajanya whose voice is the first sound of being, and the lotus that promises rebirth. He does not war for conquest; he intervenes only when the balance tips toward ruin, and when he does, even the eldest powers grow still. Hymns name him gentle and terrible in equal measure, a god who would sooner forgive a foe than break it, yet who has unmade tyrants with a single turn of his wheel. To stand against him is to stand against the patient law that holds the heavens from falling.
Run Vishnu in Sixty Seconds
- Hold the wheel. Vishnu's Sudarshana Discus is both his melee and his ranged answer and always returns to hand, so he punishes spread-out parties and clustered ones alike.
- Open with the conch. Lead with Conch-Blast on the tightest cluster for 8d8 thunder and deafened, then Multiattack the deadliest striker.
- Kill the ward first. Divine Preserver keeps him at 1 HP while a warded ally lives nearby and props that ally up too. Remove the ward (kill or banish it) before his own health matters.
- When bloodied, he leans on legendary actions: Serpent's Tide to prone the melee in surging water, Preserving Word to undo a condition and heal, Discus Throw to snipe.
- Three ways to run him: as a serene final boss who fights to disable not slay; as a guardian at a temple threshold the party must get past; or paired with Garuda and naga minions as a celestial host.
Vishnu
Medium celestial, lawful good
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINEDivine Preserver. Vishnu cannot be reduced below 1 hit point while any creature he has marked as a ward is conscious within 60 feet. The first time each round an ally within 30 feet would drop to 0 hit points, that ally instead drops to 1.
Many-Armed Wielder. Vishnu wields four divine implements at once and never has disadvantage from being grappled or restrained while wielding them. His weapon attacks are magical.
Magic Resistance. Vishnu has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Actions
Multiattack. Vishnu makes three attacks, choosing from his Discus, Mace, and Conch-Blast.
Sudarshana Discus. Melee or Ranged Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft. or range 60/120 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) slashing damage plus 9 (2d8) radiant damage. The discus then returns to his hand.
Kaumodaki Mace. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (2d10 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Conch-Blast (Recharge 5-6). Vishnu sounds the Panchajanya conch. Each creature in a 30-foot cone must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking 36 (8d8) thunder damage and being deafened for 1 minute on a failure, or half damage on a success.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Lotus Mercy (Reaction). When an ally Vishnu can see within 30 feet takes damage, he raises the lotus and grants that ally resistance to the triggering damage and 10 (3d6) temporary hit points.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Discus Throw. Vishnu makes one Sudarshana Discus attack.
Serpent's Tide (Costs 2 Actions). Cosmic waters surge from beneath him. Each creature within 20 feet must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be pushed 15 feet and knocked prone. The area becomes difficult terrain until the start of Vishnu's next turn.
Preserving Word (Costs 2 Actions). Vishnu speaks a word of order. One creature he can see within 60 feet regains 22 (4d8 + 4) hit points, and one condition (blinded, charmed, deafened, frightened, paralyzed, poisoned, or stunned) afflicting it ends.
A serene four-armed deity stands upon a coiled cosmic serpent, framed by towering walls of churning blue water; in his many hands he balances a war-mace, a spinning discus, a great conch, and a single perfect lotus.
Vishnu, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESerpent-Bane (signature). Vishnu has advantage on attack rolls against creatures of the serpent or dragon kind, and is immune to poison damage and the poisoned condition.
Actions
Rending Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) slashing damage. If the target is Large or smaller, Vishnu can lift it and fly up to half its speed.
Reactions
Stormwing Veer. When a ranged attack hits Vishnu or its rider, Vishnu beats its wings; the rider gains a +3 bonus to AC against that attack, possibly causing it to miss.
The golden sun-eagle, mortal foe of every serpent, who bears the Preserver across the vault of heaven on wings like spread fire.
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.
A radiant guardian for a low table. Open with Conch-Blast to scatter the cluster, then Discus the back-line caster. He revives a downed minion with Preserving Word before finishing a hero, so kill his nearest ward first to switch off Divine Preserver.
Lead with Conch-Blast on the densest knot, then Multiattack the most exposed PC. Spend legendary actions on Discus Throw between turns and Preserving Word to keep an ally up. Kill-priority for the party: drop his warded ally, then focus him.
His home tier, built to run solo against four PCs. Open with Conch-Blast, then Multiattack the deadliest striker. Between turns alternate Discus Throw and Serpent's Tide to keep melee prone in the water; spend Preserving Word only when his Divine Preserver ward is threatened. Parties must break Divine Preserver (kill or remove the warded ally) before his health bar means anything.
Put Vishnu 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 Vishnu?
His native build is CR 11 (Tier 3, levels 11-15) at 7,200 XP, designed to hold his own as a solo centerpiece against a four-person party thanks to three legendary actions and the Divine Preserver trait. Scaled-down Tier 1 (~CR 2) and Tier 2 (~CR 6) versions are provided for lower tables.
Can Vishnu be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a lawful good preserver he fits naturally as a patron or temporary divine ally rather than an enemy. Use his Lotus Mercy reaction and Preserving Word to shore up the party, or field him alongside his sworn mount Garuda, statted as the companion in this record.
Does Divine Preserver make Vishnu unkillable?
No. It only holds him at 1 hit point while a creature he has warded is conscious within 60 feet. Once that ally is downed, charmed, banished, or moved out of range, the trait switches off and he can be killed normally. Solo encounters without minions disable it from the start.
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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