Zhu Baije
Zhu Baije — The Encounter
The Marshal of Heavenly Reeds, glutton-monk of the nine-tooth rake · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Zhu Baije
Before he was a pilgrim he was Tian Peng, Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds, admiral of eighty thousand soldiers of the celestial river. Drunk at the immortals' banquet, he laid hands upon a moon-maiden and was hurled from the upper sky, his soul mis-cast into the womb of a sow so that he was born a thing half man, half hog. He took to a mountain as a brigand-monk, devouring travellers and brides alike, until a wandering elder shackled his appetites with a vow and a holy name. Now he carries the nine-tooth rake forged of star-iron, its teeth blessed to bite both flesh and ghost, and he trudges the pilgrim road grumbling of empty bellies and lost rank. He is a coward and a glutton, yes, but when the rake comes down the earth itself is furrowed, and few who have seen that arc laugh at the pig again.
Run Zhu Baije in Sixty Seconds
- Open with Gluttonous Charge straight at the backline healer or caster, then both rake swings — same target both times triggers a prone save.
- Kill-priority is whoever restores hit points; Insatiable Vigor means Zhu Baije out-grinds any lone defender, so deny him the heal-loop first.
- Hold Furrowing Sweep until two or more PCs bunch within 10 ft., then drop the whole cluster prone for the rest of the team.
- When bloodied he gets greedy — let crits and kills tick Insatiable Vigor's self-heal so he keeps fighting; lean on Gluttonous Charge to chase fleeing prey.
- Three ways to run him: dumb hungry bruiser who chases food, disciplined ex-marshal who works angles with prone control, or comic glutton who grumbles and brags between brutal swings.
Zhu Baije
Medium celestial (shapechanger), chaotic neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEMarshal of the Heavenly Reeds. Zhu Baije once commanded the celestial river-host. On a turn when he hits the same target with both rake attacks, that target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone as the nine teeth bear it to the ground.
Insatiable Vigor. Zhu Baije has advantage on saving throws against being poisoned, charmed, or frightened, and against effects that would reduce his hit point maximum. The first time each turn he reduces a creature to 0 hit points or scores a critical hit, he regains 9 (2d8) hit points.
Actions
Multiattack. Zhu Baije makes two attacks with his Nine-Tooth Rake.
Nine-Tooth Rake. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d8 + 4) slashing damage, and the target takes 4 (1d8) necrotic damage as the rake's heavenly teeth rend body and spirit alike.
Furrowing Sweep (Recharge 5-6). Zhu Baije swings the rake in a low arc. Each creature within 10 ft. must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 22 (4d8 + 4) slashing damage and falling prone on a failed save, or half damage and remaining standing on a success.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Gluttonous Charge. Bonus Action. Zhu Baije moves up to his speed toward a creature he can see. If he ends within reach, his next Nine-Tooth Rake attack this turn deals an extra 9 (2d8) slashing damage on a hit.
A barrel-bellied boar-monk in travel-worn green and grey robes, prayer beads slung over one tusk-jutting shoulder, the great nine-tooth rake balanced lazily across his back as though it weighed nothing.
Zhu Baije, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINENine Hungry Teeth (signature). While you wield the bound rake, your melee weapon attacks ignore resistance to slashing damage, and a creature you reduce to 0 hit points cannot regain hit points until the start of your next turn.
Actions
Rake Strike. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (3d6 + 4) slashing damage plus 3 (1d6) necrotic damage.
Reactions
Reaping Hook. When a creature within 10 ft. tries to move away, you may strike with the rake; on a hit the creature's speed becomes 0 until the end of its turn.
The marshal's own rake, lent to a worthy pilgrim — it tugs toward food and danger in equal measure, and grumbles when neither is near.
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 Gluttonous Charge into the squishiest backliner, then two rake swings to knock them prone. Save Furrowing Sweep for when two or more PCs cluster to gang the pig. Pair him with a flagship boss as the bruiser who flattens the front line while the boss controls the field.
Charge the healer or caster, land both rake hits to drop them prone (Marshal of the Heavenly Reeds), then Furrowing Sweep when it recharges and bodies are bunched. Kill-priority is whoever heals — Insatiable Vigor lets the pig out-attrition a single defender. Use him as the muscle beside a controller or summoner boss, not as the brains.
Front-load Furrowing Sweep on a clustered party, then Gluttonous Charge + double rake to flatten and pin the priority healer. With minions or a lair feeding him bodies, Insatiable Vigor keeps him topped up. Pair him with a bigger threat — he is a relentless line-breaker, not a solo encounter.
Put Zhu Baije 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 Zhu Baije?
His home build is CR 6 (2,300 XP) for a Tier 2 party of levels 5-10. Scale him down to a CR ~2 bruiser for Tier 1 or up to a CR ~11 line-breaker for Tier 3 using the tier table — traits and actions stay identical, only AC, HP, to-hit, save DC, and damage move.
Can Zhu Baije be a companion or ally?
Yes. As written he is a chaotic-neutral glutton who can be bargained, fed, or shamed into helping a party — and the bound Star-Iron Rake companion lets a PC wield his weapon directly, gaining the prone-and-pin reaping hooks without the full stat block.
Is Zhu Baije a demon or a celestial?
Celestial — a fallen marshal of the heavenly river-host reborn into a boar's body, not a fiend. He keeps celestial traits (Celestial language, necrotic resistance, holy rake) despite his coarse appetites, so radiant-leaning parties can't simply blast him as an evil outsider.
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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