Babalu
Babalu — The Encounter
The Exo-Fluid Horror, scientist drowned in his own serum · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Babalu
He was a scientist once, the one who first drew the exo-fluids from the tortured young and saw what they could do: bodies swollen past human size, sinew a hundred times tougher, sanity burned away as fair payment. In the district laboratories he turned the serum on prisoners to forge brutes for war, and somewhere in the work he turned it on himself. Now Babalu is the worst of his own creations. His chest has split open around a glowing reservoir, and weeping arms have erupted from his sides, each fused to a salvaged weapon he no longer recalls building. He remembers fragments of his old name and nothing of his old mercy. He drags the living toward his drill with barbed harpoons, vents poison from his ruined lungs, and refuses to die while the green light still burns inside him. Those who study his corpse find no organs that should belong to a man.
Run Babalu in Sixty Seconds
- Open ranged. Lead with two Harpoon Launchers to grapple and yank the most fragile PCs into drill range before they can spread out.
- Caustic cone. The moment two or more characters bunch up, fire the Caustic Emitter 30-foot cone for poison and the poisoned condition.
- Kill-priority. Target anything that grants freedom of movement, breaks grapples, or shrugs off poison first; it neuters Babalu's whole loop.
- When bloodied (75 HP). Babalu fights recklessly and burns legendary actions on Reel In to keep dragging the backline into melee.
- Three ways to run it. Solo siege boss (legendary actions + the Core revival), lab-warden paired with Hagibis Brutes, or a scaled-down set-piece mini-boss for a lower party.
Babalu
Large aberration, neutral evil
CR 9 · 5,000 XP · GUIDELINEExo-Fluid Core. Babalu's glowing chest reservoir keeps it standing past all reason. The first time it drops to 0 hit points, it instead drops to 1 hit point, and a 15-foot radius bursts with toxic spray: each creature there must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or take 18 (4d8) poison damage and be poisoned until the end of its next turn (half damage on a success, and not poisoned).
Many-Armed. Babalu has advantage on saving throws against being grappled, shoved, or knocked prone, and it can grapple a creature with one set of arms while still attacking with the others.
Reckless Bulk. When Babalu makes its first melee attack on its turn, it can attack recklessly, gaining advantage on melee attack rolls this turn but giving attack rolls against it advantage until its next turn.
Actions
Multiattack. Babalu makes three attacks: one with its Grafted Drill and two with its Harpoon Launchers, or it replaces any of these with a Caustic Emitter.
Grafted Drill. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 18 (3d8 + 6) piercing damage, and the target's speed is reduced by 10 feet until the end of its next turn.
Harpoon Launcher. Ranged Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, range 40/120 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) piercing damage. If the target is Large or smaller, it is grappled (escape DC 16) and pulled up to 15 feet toward Babalu.
Caustic Emitter (Recharge 5-6). Babalu sprays exo-fluid in a 30-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 16 Dexterity saving throw, taking 27 (6d8) poison damage on a failed save, or half as much on a success. A creature that fails is also poisoned until the end of its next turn.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Crushing Seize (Reaction). When a creature Babalu is grappling tries to move away or attacks, Babalu can clamp down, dealing 9 (2d8) bludgeoning damage to that creature.
Legendary Actions (3/Round)
Harpoon Shot. Babalu makes one Harpoon Launcher attack.
Reel In (Costs 2 Actions). Babalu drags each creature it is grappling up to 15 feet toward it, then makes one Grafted Drill attack against one of them.
Toxic Vent (Costs 2 Actions). Each creature within 10 feet of Babalu must succeed on a DC 16 Constitution saving throw or take 10 (3d6) poison damage and be poisoned until the end of its next turn.
A hulking many-armed mutant looms from the sewer grate, its face hidden behind a riveted gas mask, every limb capped with a grafted launcher, drill, or hissing emitter while a sickly green core pulses where its heart should be.
Babalu, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESerum Frenzy (signature). While above half its hit points, the Brute makes melee attacks with advantage but cannot take reactions.
Actions
Augmented Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength save or be knocked prone.
Reactions
Cover the Maker. When Babalu within 10 feet would be hit by an attack, the Brute steps in and takes the damage instead.
An earlier, lesser product of the same serum, the Brute throws its overgrown body between any blade and the scientist who made it.
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.
Drop the legendary actions and Caustic Emitter to a single recharge breath, and run Babalu as a terrifying mini-boss for a level 4 party. Open by harpooning the squishiest PC and reeling them next to the drill, then grapple-pin them. This bruiser will fold a starter party fast at full numbers, so use it as a set-piece, not random filler.
Open with the Caustic Emitter cone to catch the clustered front line, then harpoon-and-reel the backline caster into melee. Kill-priority is whoever can remove the grapple or move allies free. Pair Babalu with two Hagibis Brutes so the party cannot simply focus the boss down.
As a true solo, open by harpooning two PCs and using Reel In to stack them on the drill, then Caustic Emitter the cluster. Spend legendary actions on Harpoon Shot to keep dragging the backline forward, and Toxic Vent when surrounded. Kill-priority is anyone with freedom-of-movement or poison protection; lean on the Exo-Fluid Core revival to buy one more devastating round.
Put Babalu 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 Babalu?
Babalu's home tier is Tier 3 (levels 11-15) at roughly CR 9, built as a solo centerpiece: AC 16, 150 HP, +9 to hit, save DC 16, with legendary actions and the Exo-Fluid Core revival. The Tier 1 and Tier 2 blocks rescale the same kit downward for lower parties.
Can Babalu be a companion or ally?
Not really; his mind is gone and he answers to no one. If you need a serum-bonded ally instead, use the Hagibis Brute companion block, an earlier creation that still instinctively shields its maker.
How do I keep the harpoon-and-drag loop from feeling unfair?
Telegraph it. Let players see the launchers and the chest core, remind them grapples can be escaped (DC 16) and that freedom of movement or pushing Babalu away breaks the loop. The threat should feel beatable through positioning, not random.
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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