Wrath of Chernobog
Wrath of Chernobog — The Encounter
The Black God of night, ruin, and spilled blood · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Wrath of Chernobog
Where the night is blackest and the harvest fails, the old folk whisper his name only in dread: Chernobog, the Black God, brother and opposite to all that is bright. The grimoires of the eastern steppes name him the bringer of ruin, the one who curses the dice of fate and turns fortune sour at the moment of triumph. He is said to ride a vortex of spilled blood, the lifeblood of every oath broken and every kin betrayed, drawing it about himself as a king draws a cloak. The Dreadbloods, his maddened thralls, are men and beasts hollowed by his touch, fed into the crimson tide to swell his power. Offerings of fear sustain him; he does not crave worship so much as despair. Slay him in his own night and he laughs, for darkness has no death, only a setting and a rising. The wise leave a coin at the crossroads and do not look back.
Run Wrath of Chernobog in Sixty Seconds
- Hold the vortex. Raise the Crimson Vortex on turn one centered on the casters; it is difficult terrain plus 2d6 necrotic per turn and reshapes the whole fight.
- Open with a drag. Grasping Claw a lone PC and pull them into the tide, then use Drag Into the Mire to keep them swimming in necrotic blood.
- Kill-priority: the healer. Withering Word reduces hit point maximums, so spend it where it sticks and chase the cleric before they undo it.
- When bloodied, stay inside your own vortex, spend Veil of Night on the biggest incoming hit, and let necrotic ticks and Curse of Misfortune grind them down.
- Three ways to run him: lone god (lean on legendary actions and reactions), god plus two Dreadblood Maulers (bodyguards that eat hits), or terror-engine (Word of Ill Omen + Misfortune to wreck the party's dice).
Wrath of Chernobog
Large fiend (shapechanger), neutral evil
CR 11 · 7,200 XP · GUIDELINECrimson Vortex (Lair). A whirling vortex of conjured blood surrounds Chernobog within 20 feet. Each creature other than the Black God that starts its turn there takes 7 (2d6) necrotic damage, and the area is difficult terrain for them. Chernobog can suppress or raise the vortex at the start of its turn (no action).
Curse of Misfortune. When a creature within 30 feet of Chernobog rolls a 20 on a d20, it instead treats the roll as if it had rolled a 1. This signature ill-luck cannot itself be countered or rerolled.
Magic Resistance. Chernobog has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Actions
Multiattack. Chernobog makes two attacks: one with its Black Glaive and one with its Grasping Claw, or it uses Withering Word and makes one weapon attack.
Black Glaive. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) slashing damage plus 10 (3d6) necrotic damage.
Grasping Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and the target is grappled (escape DC 17) and pulled into the Crimson Vortex if not already there.
Withering Word (Recharge 5-6). Chernobog speaks a word of ruin. Each creature in a 30-foot cone must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking 36 (8d8) necrotic damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails has its hit point maximum reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken until it finishes a long rest.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Veil of Night. Reaction (1/round): When a creature Chernobog can see hits it with an attack, the Black God wreathes itself in darkness, imposing disadvantage on that attack roll. On a now-miss, the attacker takes 9 (2d8) necrotic damage.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Black Glaive. Chernobog makes one Black Glaive attack.
Drag Into the Mire (Costs 2 Actions). Chernobog moves up to its speed without provoking opportunity attacks and may pull one grappled creature with it. Any creature that ends within the Crimson Vortex takes 7 (2d6) necrotic damage.
Word of Ill Omen (Costs 2 Actions). One creature Chernobog can see within 60 feet must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or have disadvantage on all attack rolls and saving throws until the end of its next turn.
A towering black-armored god rises from a churning maelstrom of conjured blood, a horned helm crowning the dark warrior at its heart while ribbons of crimson coil outward like grasping limbs.
Wrath of Chernobog, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEBlood Frenzy (signature). The Mauler has advantage on melee attack rolls against any creature that does not have all its hit points.
Actions
Rending Maw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d8 + 4) slashing damage.
Reactions
Shield the Master. When the creature it is bound to is hit by an attack within 5 feet, the Mauler interposes its body and takes the damage instead.
A hulking, blood-slicked horror given a sliver of will, the Mauler exists only to feed and to die for the Black God.
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 raising the Crimson Vortex on the party's casters, then drag the squishiest body into the tide with the Grasping Claw. Spread Withering Word only when two or more PCs are clustered. Pair the Black God with a Dreadblood swarm so it never has to chase.
Lead with Word of Ill Omen on the party's heaviest hitter, then glaive-and-claw the marked target. Save Veil of Night for the crit that would otherwise land. When bloodied, retreat into the vortex and let necrotic ticks do your work.
Open with Curse of Misfortune in play so the party fears their own crits, then anchor the fight in the Crimson Vortex and drag a PC in each round. Kill-priority is the healer: Withering Word their max HP down before they recover. Solo-viable thanks to three legendary options and Veil of Night, but truly punishing with a pair of bound Maulers.
Put Wrath of Chernobog 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 Wrath of Chernobog?
Natively CR 11 (Tier 3, ~7,200 XP). Because he is a true solo boss with three legendary actions, a punishing reaction in Veil of Night, and his lair vortex, his sheet sits one band lower than a non-solo Tier 3 brute so a full party doesn't simply out-act him. Scale him to CR 2 (Tier 1) or CR 6 (Tier 2) using the tier table.
Can Wrath of Chernobog be a companion or ally?
The Black God himself is a final-boss adversary, not a companion. For an allied or pet-side version, use the Dreadblood Mauler, Bound companion block — a hulking bodyguard with Blood Frenzy and Shield the Master that throws itself in front of whoever it serves.
How do I run the Crimson Vortex without slowing the table down?
Treat it as a 20-foot bubble around Chernobog: anything that starts its turn inside takes 2d6 necrotic and moves at half speed. He can drop or raise it free each turn, so use it to wall off ranged attackers, then drag melee PCs in with the claw. One reminder at the top of each round is enough.
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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