Zeus
Zeus — The Encounter
Cloud-Gathering Sky-Father, hurler of the unerring bolt · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Zeus
Before there were temples there was the fear of the open sky, and that fear had a name. The grimoires of the old peoples record him as the Cloud-Gatherer: the one who weighs the fates of mortals and lets the bolt fall where judgement lands. Sailors swore by him because he could drown them; kings swore by him because he could unseat them; oath-breakers feared him most of all, for the bolt that never misses was said to seek the false tongue across any distance. His eagle carries his eye to the corners of the world and returns with the names of the proud. Where he sets his heel the air turns to glass and the rain falls upward. To bargain with him is to bargain with weather itself — generous one hour, annihilating the next, and bound by nothing but his own thunderous sense of who has earned the sky's wrath. Offer cleanly, or be made an example.
Run Zeus in Sixty Seconds
- Stay up. Zeus flies 60 ft. and refreshes his speed each turn with Gathering Wind — keep him out of melee reach and make the party spend actions just to touch him.
- Open with Cast Down. If two or more PCs stand within 20 ft. of each other, lead with the forked bolt — 10d8 lightning plus prone resets the whole front line.
- Kill-priority is casters. The bolt that never misses bypasses saves and resistances; aim Thunderbolt at the wizard, and let Answering Strike counter their next spell.
- When bloodied (80 HP), go vertical and mobile. Burn legendary actions on Strike and Roll of Thunder every round; deafened PCs can't trigger reaction triggers cleanly.
- Three ways to run him: a fair storm-judge who offers terms, a vengeful sky-father smiting an oath-breaker the party shelters, or the final boss atop his thundercloud with the eagle screening for him.
Zeus
Large celestial, neutral
CR 9 · 5,000 XP · GUIDELINEStorm Mantle. Thunder rolls in a 30-foot radius around Zeus. A creature that starts its turn there and is hostile to him has disadvantage on Wisdom checks. Zeus can see normally through fog, mist, and cloud of any kind.
Bolt That Never Misses. (signature) When Zeus hits with Thunderbolt, the target cannot reduce or redirect the damage by any means, and cannot make a saving throw to lessen it. Lightning he calls ignores cover.
Actions
Multiattack. Zeus makes two attacks: one with Thunderbolt and one with Sky-Father's Grasp, or he uses Cast Down in place of all attacks.
Thunderbolt. Ranged Spell Attack: +9 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 31 (6d8 + 4) lightning damage.
Sky-Father's Grasp. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 17 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone and pushed 10 feet.
Cast Down (Recharge 5-6). Zeus hurls a forked bolt at a point he can see within 120 feet. Each creature in a 20-foot-radius sphere makes a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw, taking 45 (10d8) lightning damage on a failure, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails is also knocked prone.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Answering Strike (Reaction). When a creature Zeus can see within 60 feet casts a spell or moves out of his reach, Zeus calls down a bolt at it. The creature takes 13 (3d8) lightning damage; if the trigger was a spell of 3rd level or lower, the creature must also succeed on a DC 17 Constitution saving throw or the spell fails and is wasted.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Strike. Zeus makes one Thunderbolt attack.
Gathering Wind (Costs 1 Action). Zeus flies up to his speed without provoking opportunity attacks. Each creature he passes within 5 feet of takes 5 (1d10) lightning damage.
Roll of Thunder (Costs 2 Actions). Thunder cracks in a 15-foot-radius sphere centered on a point Zeus can see within 60 feet. Each creature there makes a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking 18 (4d8) thunder damage and being deafened until the end of its next turn on a failure, or half damage on a success.
Caught mid-stride atop a boiling thundercloud, Zeus winds back a fistful of jagged bolts while a great eagle screams at his shoulder and lightning claws up from the storm beneath his heel.
Zeus, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEStormsight (signature). The eagle has advantage on Perception checks relying on sight and cannot be blinded by lightning, fog, or bright light. While it can see, allies within 30 feet ignore lightly obscured terrain caused by weather.
Actions
Rending Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 16 (3d6 + 4) slashing damage, and the eagle can choose to drop a Tiny or Small target it grapples up to 20 feet.
Reactions
Snatch the Bolt. When an ally within 30 feet would take lightning damage, the eagle dives in and takes half that damage instead, then flies up to 20 feet away.
A storm-grey eagle the size of a warhorse, its eyes the same cold white as the lightning it carries on its master's behalf.
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 Thunderbolt on the squishiest spellcaster — the bolt that never misses ends a sorcerer's day fast. If foes cluster, recharge Cast Down for a wide knockdown, then mop up with Sky-Father's Grasp. Pair him with the eagle as an air-superiority duo, not a true solo at this level.
Fly above the melee and rain Thunderbolt while Answering Strike punishes anyone casting or repositioning. Hold Cast Down for a tight cluster, then knock the survivors prone. Lead with the eagle to soak the party's first burst before Zeus commits.
Run him as a true solo: stay airborne, open with Cast Down on the clustered backline, then spend legendary actions on Strike and Roll of Thunder so the party never gets a clean round. Answering Strike taxes every spell — kill-priority is whatever just dropped concentration. Hold Cast Down's recharge for when they bunch to heal.
Put Zeus 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 Zeus?
His native sheet is CR 9 (5,000 XP), a Tier 3 (levels 11-15) centerpiece. Because he is solo_capable with a full legendary and reaction kit, his numbers sit one band below raw CR 11 so a four-PC party can still out-act him — he plays up about two CR thanks to flight, Answering Strike, and three legendary options. Use the Tier 1 or Tier 2 rows to drop him into lower-level games.
Can Zeus be a companion or ally?
Zeus himself is a boss-scale celestial, not a party member, but his bound Eagle of Zeus statblock is built for exactly that — AC 14, 97 HP, Stormsight scouting, Rending Talons, and the Snatch the Bolt reaction to soak lightning for an ally. Hand the eagle to a player or run it as a benevolent companion the sky-father has loaned them.
How do I keep one solo boss from feeling swingy against a full party?
Lean on the kit, not the dice. His legendary actions and Answering Strike let him act on the players' turns, so he stays threatening even between his own. Open from the air with Cast Down to spread damage, prioritize the bolt-that-never-misses on whoever can shut him down, and use the eagle as a screen so the party can't alpha-strike him in round one.
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.
The Legend
In Your Campaign
Source Mythology: Zeus draws from ancient mythological traditions, bringing legendary power to your tabletop.
Encounter Design: Use Zeus as a divine patron, a mythic boss encounter, or the centerpiece of a mythology-themed campaign arc. The model's dynamic pose creates immediate dramatic tension at the table.
Campaign Hooks: An ancient temple awakens. A prophecy names Zeus as either savior or destroyer. A cult seeks to summon or bind this mythological power for mortal purposes.
Technical Specifications
32mm, 75mm
STL, Pre-supported STL
Standard or ABS-like resin, 0.05mm layer height
Yes — ready to print, optimized supports included
From the Same Collection
Frequently Asked Questions
What scale is the Zeus miniature available in?
Zeus is available in 32mm (tabletop standard) and 75mm (display/collector scale). Both scale files are included with presupported and unsupported STL options.
Is the Zeus STL file presupported?
Yes. Every Clay Cyanide miniature includes presupported STL files optimized for resin printing at 0.05mm layer height, plus unsupported files for custom support placement.
Can I use Zeus in my D&D or tabletop RPG campaign?
Absolutely. Zeus is designed for tabletop gaming at 32mm scale, fitting standard grid-based combat systems. The dynamic pose and detailed sculpt create memorable encounters and character moments.
Played Zeus at your table? Log in with your Obsidian Tavern account to leave a balance note, a war story, or a file issue — the sharpest reports get the block revised.
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