Budada
Budada — The Encounter
Hooded plague-cutter of the gutter warrens, dagger and vial · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Budada
In the rot-slick under-warrens men call the Babboo District, the ratfolk keep their own laws, and the sharpest of those laws is Budada. He is a gutter-born killer raised on alley-poison and patience, his snout long, his eyes quick, his claws never still. They say he was once a rat that drank too deeply of the alchemists' run-off and woke walking upright, hungry for coin and quieter work. He carries the District's plagues in stoppered vials at his hip, and a single nicked wound from his bone blades carries the same green sickness that festers in the canals below. Rival gangs do not see him coming; they feel the burn in their blood first, then the cold, then nothing. He bows to no king and signs no pact, selling silence to whoever fills his paw. Where Budada has passed, the only witness left is the smell of spoiled water and the soft skitter of small feet retreating into the dark.
Run Budada in Sixty Seconds
- Hold him back a round. Budada wants the party clustered first, so on initiative throw Hurled Vial (Recharge 5-6) into the tightest knot before committing his daggers.
- Open with the vial, then flank. Vial for AoE poison, Skitter (bonus action) into a flank, then Multiattack with Sneak Attack on a target adjacent to a minion.
- Kill-priority: the soft backline. Drive him at casters and healers; Plague-Touched Vials keeps them poisoned so their saves and concentration suffer.
- When bloodied, slip the leash. Use Gutter Slip on the first melee miss, Skitter to Disengage and Hide, then re-emerge for a fresh Sneak Attack rather than trading blows.
- Three ways to run him: lone assassin picking off stragglers; poisoner anchor of a ratfolk gang ambush; or the dagger-arm of a bigger boss who pins the party while Budada carves them.
Budada
Medium humanoid (ratfolk), neutral evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEPlague-Touched Vials. Budada carries a bandolier of glowing alchemical poisons. The first time each turn he hits a creature with a melee attack, the target must succeed on a DC 14 Constitution saving throw or be poisoned until the end of its next turn. A creature poisoned this way that ends its turn within 5 ft. of Budada takes 5 (1d10) poison damage.
Skitter. Budada can take the Dash, Disengage, or Hide action as a bonus action on each of his turns. He does not provoke opportunity attacks when he moves out of an enemy's reach.
Sneak Attack (1/Turn). Budada deals an extra 14 (4d6) damage when he hits a target with a weapon attack and has advantage, or when the target is within 5 ft. of an ally of Budada's that isn't incapacitated and he doesn't have disadvantage.
Actions
Multiattack. Budada makes two Bone Dagger attacks.
Bone Dagger. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) piercing damage plus 5 (2d4) poison damage.
Hurled Vial (Recharge 5-6). Budada throws a glowing vial at a point within 30 ft. Each creature within 10 ft. of that point must make a DC 14 Constitution saving throw, taking 21 (6d6) 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
Gutter Slip. When a creature Budada can see within 5 ft. misses him with a melee attack, he can use his reaction to move up to half his speed without provoking opportunity attacks.
A lean, rat-headed cutter in a tattered hooded cloak, bound head to claw in filthy wraps, glowing poison vials clinking at his belt as he lunges with twin bone daggers.
Budada, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESwarmcaller (signature). While Budada is conscious, allied ratfolk and vermin within 20 ft. have advantage on saving throws against being frightened, and Budada can spend its action to direct a gnawing swarm: one creature it can see within 30 ft. must succeed on a DC 13 Dexterity saving throw or take 7 (2d6) piercing damage from biting vermin.
Actions
Rusted Shiv. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6+3) piercing damage.
Reactions
Scuttle Aside. When hit by an attack, Budada can halve the damage and move 5 ft. without provoking opportunity attacks.
Budada is Budada's runt lieutenant, a wiry sewer-rat who speaks for the warren and points the prey out before the daggers come.
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 hurling a vial into the most clustered PCs, then Skitter into flank for Sneak Attack. Kill-priority: squishy casters and downed allies' healers. Pair him with a thug or two so the ally-adjacency Sneak Attack stays live.
Open with Hurled Vial on the tightest cluster, then dart in for two poisoned daggers + Sneak Attack on whoever is already engaged. When bloodied, use Gutter Slip and Skitter to peel off, re-Hide, and stab from a fresh flank. Best run as a poisoner skirmisher beside a brute or boss that pins the party in place.
Use him as the assassin in a warren ambush: Hurled Vial to soften, then knife the lowest-HP target every round, recharging vials between. Lean on his lair of ratfolk minions for flanking Sneak Attacks. Pair Budada with a bigger threat; he is the killing edge, not the wall.
Put Budada 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 Budada?
Budada is built at CR 6 (2,300 XP) on his native Tier 2, sized for a party of 4-5 characters around levels 5-10. Tier 1 and Tier 3 stat lines are provided if you want to drop or raise him; only the numbers change, the traits and actions stay identical.
Can Budada be a companion or ally?
Yes, though he is a mercenary, not a friend. As a hireling he is a deadly scout and poisoner, but he sells silence to the highest bidder and will not take a pact. His bound companion Grist (AC 13, 72 HP) tags along to spot prey and rouse the warren's vermin.
Is Budada a solo boss?
No. He is a Tier 2 add-on built to skirmish, not soak a whole party's action economy. Run him alongside a brute, a spellcaster, or a ratfolk gang so his Sneak Attack ally-adjacency stays online; a four-PC party will out-act him if he fights 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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