BRUTE 04
BRUTE 04 — The Encounter
Hooded ogre-kin, the lurching tyrant of the marsh roads · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is BRUTE 04
The hill-folk name them Brutes, but the old marsh-charters call them road-tyrants, and warn that one such creature can hold a causeway against a caravan for a season. Born of ogre-stock and grown vast on carrion and crushed bone, the Brute is no thinker; it is a battering ram with appetite. It drapes itself in whatever plate it can wrench from the dead, cinching helms and pauldrons over a hide already thick as boiled leather. It does not ambush so much as arrive, lurching from fen-mist at a dead run, and the first a traveler knows of it is the ground shaking and a fist the size of a shield closing the distance. Folk who survive speak of the way it grins wider as its own blood runs, fighting hardest when most hurt. Bind one to a warband and it becomes a living siege engine; leave one to its bog and it simply waits, hungry, for the next foolish road.
Run BRUTE 04 in Sixty Seconds
- Charge first When the Brute has 20+ ft. of runway, it charges: extra 2d8 and a DC 15 STR save or prone. Open every fight this way against the most fragile reachable PC.
- Kill-priority It is dumb muscle aimed at the back line. Point it at the healer or caster and Backhand anyone who tries to slip past to help.
- When bloodied Bloodied Frenzy kicks in at half HP: advantage on melee and +1d8 per hit. It fights HARDEST when hurt, so the party racing to finish it is exactly when it is most dangerous.
- Three ways to run it Highway tyrant blocking a chokepoint; living siege ram smashing a gate alongside a warband; or the bound bodyguard of a smarter villain who points and says 'kill that one.'
BRUTE 04
Large giant, chaotic evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEBrutal Momentum. If the brute moves at least 20 feet straight toward a target before a melee attack, the attack deals an extra 9 (2d8) bludgeoning damage on a hit, and a Large or smaller target must succeed on a DC 15 Strength save or be knocked prone.
Bloodied Frenzy. While the brute has half its hit points or fewer, it has advantage on melee attack rolls and its melee hits deal an extra 4 (1d8) damage.
Actions
Multiattack. The brute makes two attacks: one with its Crushing Fist and one with its Hurled Debris, or two with its Crushing Fist.
Crushing Fist. Melee Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 17 (3d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage, and if the target is a creature it must succeed on a DC 15 Strength save or be pushed 10 feet away.
Hurled Debris. Ranged Weapon Attack: +8 to hit, range 30/60 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d10 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Backhand (Reaction). When a creature the brute can see moves within 5 feet of it, the brute makes one Crushing Fist attack against that creature.
A hunched, hooded mountain of muscle, its scavenged armor straining over scarred grey hide, one long arm already reaching for the nearest throat. Where it walks, road and rampart alike are reduced to rubble.
BRUTE 04, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINELiving Bulwark (signature). Allies within 5 feet of BRUTE 04 have half cover. While BRUTE 04 is bloodied, that becomes three-quarters cover instead.
Actions
Slam. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 13 (2d8 + 4) bludgeoning damage.
Reactions
Interpose. When an ally within 5 feet is hit by an attack, BRUTE 04 swaps places with them and takes the damage instead.
A scarred, half-tamed brute that has decided your warband is its pack. It shields its chosen, and it eats anyone who threatens them.
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 charging the squishiest PC with Brutal Momentum to knock them prone, then Backhand anyone who closes. Kill-priority: drop a healer or wizard fast before they can kite it. Pair it with a goblin pack or a bigger boss; alone it is just a slow wrecking ball.
Open with a 20-ft. charge + Crushing Fist to knock the front-liner prone, then Multiattack into them. When bloodied its Frenzy turns it terrifying, so save big saves for that window. Use Backhand to punish anyone darting past it; pair it with a controller or caster boss so it is not the party's only target.
Run it as the anvil to a flagship boss's hammer: it charges in, knocks the tank prone, and Backhands every flanker. Kill-priority for the party is the boss, but the Brute will not let them ignore it. With minions and lair hazards it bottlenecks a corridor; do not field it solo at this tier, the party out-acts it.
Put BRUTE 04 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 BRUTE 04?
Its home tier is CR 6 (Tier 2, levels 5-10): AC 16, 126 HP, +8 to hit, save DC 15. The sheet also gives drop-in CR 2 (Tier 1) and CR 11 (Tier 3) numbers using the same traits and actions.
Can BRUTE 04 be a companion or ally?
Yes. As 'Gristle, Bound' (AC 14, 75 HP) it is a half-tamed bodyguard brute: a Living Bulwark that grants cover, a Slam attack, and an Interpose reaction that lets it swap places with an ally to eat a hit for them.
Is BRUTE 04 a solo boss?
No. It is a melee bruiser add-on with no legendary actions, built to threaten the back line while a smarter flagship threat does the real scheming. Pair it with minions, lair hazards, or a caster boss rather than fielding it alone.
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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