Ylva Grimrune
Ylva Grimrune — The Encounter
She-wolf of the cleaving rune, sworn to a dead war-god · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Ylva Grimrune
In the saga-songs of the northern reaches, Ylva Grimrune was an orc shield-maiden who pledged her axe-arm to a war-god whose name the priests now refuse to speak, for the god fell and his hall went cold. When her patron died she did not lay down her blade; she carved his last battle-rune into a cleaver of black iron and swore to keep the war going in his memory, that his glory not gutter out entirely. The runes drink the strength of those she wounds, feeding it back into the dead god's hungry silence. She marches with raiding bands and broken war-hosts, never leading and never quite following, a grief-mad veteran who fights because stopping would mean admitting the war is lost. Skalds say a wound from the Grimrune never fully heals until she herself is slain, and that her howl is the howl of a wolf who outlived its pack.
Run Ylva Grimrune in Sixty Seconds
- Open with Howling Charge: cross the field, smash the nearest caster, knock it prone, then she is already in melee for next round.
- Kill-priority is the party healer or anyone who can restore hit-point maximums — Grimrune wounds don't heal until the long rest, so that damage is real until she dies.
- Grimrune Cleave is the engine: every kill or crit grants a free attack on a NEW target, so plant her in a cluster and watch it chain.
- When bloodied, lean into Blood Wrath — bait hits to bank advantage, then Aggressive-charge whoever fled.
- Three ways to run her: grief-mad lone duelist who hunts stragglers; the muscle beside a raider warlord; or pack-alpha leading wolves and her bound Fenris-Pup.
Ylva Grimrune
Medium humanoid (orc), chaotic neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEAggressive. As a bonus action, Ylva can move up to her speed toward a hostile creature she can see.
Grimrune Cleave. Signature. Once per turn when Ylva reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack, or scores a critical hit, the runes along her blade flare. She can immediately make one additional Rune-Cleaver attack against a different creature within reach as part of the same action.
Actions
Multiattack. Ylva makes two Rune-Cleaver attacks.
Rune-Cleaver. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d8+4) slashing damage. On a hit, the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or have its hit point maximum reduced by an amount equal to the damage taken until it finishes a long rest.
Howling Charge (Recharge 5-6). Ylva moves up to her speed in a straight line and makes one Rune-Cleaver attack. If she moved at least 20 feet, the target takes an extra 9 (2d8) slashing damage and must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Blood Wrath. Reaction. When a creature Ylva can see hits her with an attack, she can grit through the wound; she gains advantage on the next Rune-Cleaver attack she makes before the end of her next turn.
A green-skinned she-wolf in studded wraps and a torn war-skirt, hefting a runed cleaver nearly as long as her arm, eyes fixed and jaw set for the kill.
Ylva Grimrune, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEPack Tactics (signature). The wolf has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the wolf's allies is within 5 feet of it and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Actions
Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) piercing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Reactions
Guard the She-Wolf. When an enemy within 5 feet hits Ylva, the wolf can move up to 10 feet toward her without provoking opportunity attacks.
A grey war-wolf that adopted Ylva when her own pack of warriors died; the two hunt as one grief-bound predator.
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 Aggressive into the softest body and swing twice. If two PCs cluster, save Howling Charge to knock the front one prone, then carve the one behind. Run her as a duelist-flavored brute who chases stragglers; pair her with goblin or wolf minions.
Home tier. Open with Howling Charge into the squishiest caster to knock prone, then Multiattack and let Grimrune Cleave bounce to a second body on any kill or crit. Kill-priority is whoever can heal the hit-point-max damage off; chase them. Pair her with a flagship raider boss or a wolf pack, not solo.
As a lieutenant in a larger war-host. Lead with Howling Charge, then Multiattack and ride Grimrune Cleave through clustered melee. Focus the healer so max-HP damage sticks. Field her alongside a bigger threat and a wolf pack to soak the party's action economy while the real boss works.
Put Ylva Grimrune 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 Ylva Grimrune?
Natively CR 6 (Tier 2, ~levels 5-10): AC 16, 123 HP, +7 to hit, save DC 14. Scale her down to a CR 2-flavored brute for Tier 1 or up to a CR 11-flavored lieutenant for Tier 3 using the tier table — the kit stays identical, only the numbers move.
Can Ylva Grimrune be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a grief-mad veteran she makes a believable reluctant ally or hired sword for a martial party — use the companion block (Fenris-Pup, Bound) as her loyal war-wolf, or run Ylva herself at a tier below the party as a guest fighter who chases down fleeing foes.
Is Ylva Grimrune a solo boss?
No. She is an add-on adversary — a hard-hitting skirmisher without legendary actions, so a four-PC party will out-act her alone. Pair her with a flagship boss, a raider warlord, or a wolf pack so her Grimrune Cleave and charges have room to work.
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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