Brisk
Brisk — The Encounter
The Piston-Fisted Bulwark, forged of iron and forgefire · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Brisk
The smith-lords of the Forgebound chained living forgefire inside a body of plate and rivet, and named the result Brisk for the cruel speed of its fists. It feels no fatigue and no fear; the scarf wound at its throat is a vanity of its makers, not a comfort it understands. In the foundry-holds it works the great hammers, but in war it is set at the head of a column to break gates and the ranks behind them. Witnesses speak of the heat that rolls off it, the hiss of vented steam when blades glance from its hide, and the way it simply keeps walking forward. It obeys the last lawful command given by one bearing the maker's sigil, and will pursue that order until its boiler heart goes cold. Salvagers prize the red-glowing chambers in its gauntlets, though prying them loose has cost more than one crew a hand.
Run Brisk in Sixty Seconds
- What it is: a Large fire-construct bruiser — heavy melee, immune to a pile of conditions, resists nonmagical weapons. It is an ADD-ON, not a solo boss; give it a leader or minions.
- Open with: Concussive Slam if two or more PCs are clustered (DC 15 Dex, prone), otherwise march to a chokepoint and Multiattack the nearest squishy.
- Kill-priority: light-armored PCs and casters within its 10-ft. reach — its double Piston Fist can knock them prone and lock them down.
- Pressure Vents punishes burst: a single big hit (15+ damage) sprays 2d6 fire on the attacker and anyone next to Brisk — warn melee before they nova it.
- Three ways to run it: (1) the immovable wall blocking a breach, (2) the bodyguard planted in front of a flagship boss, (3) the siege engine smashing the objective while the party races the clock.
Brisk
Large construct, lawful neutral
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEPressure Vents. Signature. Brisk's gauntlets bleed off forgefire when struck hard. The first time each round it takes 15 or more damage from a single source, the attacker and each creature within 5 ft. of Brisk take 7 (2d6) fire damage as superheated steam erupts from its joints.
Siege Engine. Brisk deals double damage to objects and structures.
Ponderous. Brisk can't take reactions on a turn in which it has not moved at least 10 ft., its hydraulics needing momentum to fire.
Actions
Multiattack. Brisk makes two Piston Fist attacks. If both hit the same target, the target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Piston Fist. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d8 + 5) bludgeoning damage plus 4 (1d8) fire damage.
Concussive Slam (Recharge 5-6). Brisk drives both fists into the ground. Each creature within 15 ft. must make a DC 15 Dexterity saving throw, taking 22 (4d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage and being knocked prone on a failure, or half damage and remaining standing on a success.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Overpressure Shove. Reaction (1/round), when a creature Brisk can see ends its move within 10 ft.: Brisk makes a Piston Fist attack against it. On a hit, the target is also pushed 10 ft. away.
A slab of riveted iron given a soldier's stance, Brisk plants its boots and lets the forgefire roar through its piston gauntlets until the glowing chambers run cherry-red. Its blue faceplate never changes, even as it caves in a wall.
Brisk, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEHeat Shroud (signature). While within 10 ft. of Brisk, its bound ally has resistance to cold damage and ignores difficult terrain caused by ice or rubble.
Actions
Ember Maul. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage plus 3 (1d6) fire damage.
Reactions
Bank the Coals. When an ally within 10 ft. drops to 0 hit points, Brisk vents stored forgefire into them; they instead drop to 1 hit point. Once Brisk uses this, it can't again until it finishes a short or long rest.
A smaller forge-thrall that trails Brisk like a second shadow, hauling a glowing maul and stoking its larger kin's furnace heart.
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 wading into the densest cluster and using Concussive Slam to flatten the front rank, then plant for Multiattack. Kill-priority is anyone in light armor — its fists fold them fast. Run it as a wall the party must go around; pair it with skirmishers who exploit the prone.
Open by marching to the chokepoint and using Overpressure Shove to deny repositioning, then Concussive Slam clustered foes. Punish melee with Pressure Vents — make the party choose between heavy hits and burning steam. Priority targets are casters it can reach; otherwise it just keeps walking forward. Best paired with a flagship boss or ranged minions sniping from behind it.
Deploy it as the anvil in a lair fight — let it hold the gate or breach while the real threat works the flanks. Open with Concussive Slam, then grind with Multiattack and Overpressure Shove, leaning on Pressure Vents to tax melee dps. Do not run this solo; it is a bruiser add-on. Pair it with a bigger commanding threat that the party must reach past it.
Put Brisk 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 Brisk?
Brisk is built at CR 6 (2,300 XP) on its native Tier 2, tuned for parties of levels 5-10. The record includes rescaled Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) numbers using identical traits and actions, so you can drop it into any tier without rewriting its kit.
Can Brisk be a companion or ally?
Yes. As a bound construct it follows the last lawful order from someone bearing its maker's sigil, so a sympathetic forge-lord or a party that seizes that sigil can field it as a hulking guardian. For a lighter table option, use the companion profile Cinder, Bound — a smaller forge-thrall that shields allies from cold and can yank a downed friend back to 1 hit point.
Is Brisk a good solo boss?
No — Brisk has no legendary actions and only one reaction, so a four-PC party will out-act it. Run it as a frontline bruiser beside a true centerpiece threat, or with ranged minions firing from behind its bulk, and lean on Pressure Vents and Concussive Slam to keep melee honest.
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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