Mahal
Mahal — The Encounter
The Weeping Infant of the Wilds, lure of the lost · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Mahal
Listen, traveler, and do not trust the crying in the trees. The thing the old folk call the weeping infant is no lost child but a fey horror born of grief and malice, said to be the spirit of one who died unbaptized or was abandoned in the wilds. By day it lies still among the roots, a pitiable babe with mud on its skin; by night it sends up a thin, heartbreaking wail that no kind soul can ignore. The merciful who stoop to gather it up find the soft shape splitting open into a fanged maw and raking claws, and they are pulled down into the undergrowth and devoured. It hunts the edges of villages and the lonely forest paths, preying on midwives, the pious, and the gentle. Carry iron, the elders say, and turn your garments inside out to confuse it, for it knows your pity better than you do, and pity is the only door it needs.
Run Mahal in Sixty Seconds
- Hold still: the mini is a fey, not a real infant. Innocent Disguise (DC 13 Insight) means the party may not know it's a monster until it bites.
- Open with the Wail: charm the most compassionate PC (DC 13 Wis), drag them toward the sound, then ambush for the surprise/charmed bonus damage.
- Kill-priority: the charmed straggler it lured off — that is the whole point of the creature; protect them and the threat collapses.
- When bloodied: it stops trading blows and uses Scurry to Disengage/Hide into the undergrowth, then wails again to reset the ambush.
- Three ways to run it: a lone roadside trap, a brood of two or three in the deep wood, or a lair piece beside the Cradle-Vine that restrains rescuers.
Mahal
Small fey, neutral evil
CR 2 · 450 XP · GUIDELINEInnocent Disguise. While motionless and not attacking, the creature appears to be a helpless, weeping infant. A creature must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom (Insight) check to discern its true nature; those that fail treat it as harmless until it strikes.
Pitiful Wail. Signature. A creature that hears the infant's crying within 60 ft. that cannot see its true form must succeed on a DC 13 Wisdom saving throw or be charmed until the end of its next turn, compelled to move toward the sound by the safest route. While charmed this way the creature has disadvantage on Wisdom (Insight) checks made to see through the Innocent Disguise.
Actions
Multiattack. The creature makes two Rending Bite attacks.
Rending Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (2d4 + 3) piercing damage. If the target is surprised or charmed, this attack deals an extra 3 (1d6) piercing damage.
Raking Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +5 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 6 (1d6 + 3) slashing damage, and the target must succeed on a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Scurry (Bonus Action). The creature takes the Disengage or Hide action.
A bloated, mud-smeared infant clings to a twisted branch, its glowing eyes and fang-crowded grin betraying the thing that wears a baby's shape to lure the tender-hearted into the dark.
Mahal, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINESnaring Roots (signature). When a creature ends its turn within 5 ft. of Mahal, it must succeed on a DC 12 Strength saving throw or be restrained until it uses an action to break free (DC 12).
Actions
Thorn Lash. Melee Weapon Attack: +4 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (2d4 + 2) piercing damage.
Reactions
Clutching Boughs. When the weeping infant is targeted by an attack, Mahal can sweep a tendril in the way, granting it +2 AC against that attack.
The gnarled tree the infant nests in answers its wails, lashing barbed boughs to snare anyone who comes to comfort the cry.
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 the Pitiful Wail to charm the softest-hearted PC and pull them off formation, then ambush with two Rending Bites for the surprise bonus damage. Kill-priority: the lone, charmed straggler. Pair it with the Cradle-Vine or a small swarm of forest minions so it can wail-bite-Scurry while the terrain holds the party in place.
Use it as a lure-and-ambush add-on, not a centerpiece. Wail to scatter the line, then Bite the isolated target and Scurry into cover before retaliation. Best run as a brood of two or three among denser threats so the charm and prone effects compound; pair it with a bigger fey or undead predator that capitalizes on knocked-down, charmed victims.
At this tier it is purely a minion-and-lair piece. Seed several through a haunted wood so their overlapping Wails keep the party charmed and split, then let them Bite and Scurry hit-and-run. Pair it with a larger flagship boss; on its own a high-tier party will out-act it, so use it to soften and isolate before the real threat lands.
Put Mahal 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 Mahal?
Its home tier is CR 2 (450 XP), built for a Tier 1 party of levels 1-4. The block also scales to CR 6 (Tier 2) and CR 11 (Tier 3) using the tier table; only the numbers change, the traits and tactics stay identical.
Can Mahal be a companion or ally?
It is built as an adversary add-on, not a party member. If you want a friendly version, reflavor the Pitiful Wail as a warning cry and pair it with the bundled companion, Cradle-Vine, Bound, which restrains foes and shields the creature it nests beside.
Is it solo-capable?
No. It has no legendary actions and a single defensive bonus action, so a four-player party will out-act it. Run it with minions, a lair, or alongside a larger flagship threat rather than as a standalone boss.
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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