Crippling Vexers
Crippling Vexers — The Encounter
Flayed dead that hamstring the living and feast on the fallen · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Crippling Vexers
Where a massacre is left unburied and unmourned, the worst of the slain do not rest. The Crippling Vexers rise flayed of their own skin, their muscle laid bare and weeping, driven by a single spiteful hunger: to bring the living down to the ground where they themselves were felled. They hunt in lacerated packs, circling at the edge of firelight, and strike not to kill outright but to cripple, hamstringing the swift and the strong so that none may flee the killing field a second time. Folk who have survived their passing speak of a hissing, wet chittering and of corpses left with every tendon severed. Charnel-keepers warn that a single vexer is a wound that festers, but a pack is a plague: each kill swells their number, for any wretch who dies hamstrung among them, unburied and afraid, may rise flayed by dawn to join the circling hunt.
Run Crippling Vexers in Sixty Seconds
- Pack first Vexers are add-ons, not a boss. Field 2-3 alongside a bigger undead and let them swarm; never run one alone.
- Open with the lunge Bonus-action Hamstring Lunge to close on the back line, then both claws to trigger Crippling Hunger and lock their speed and reactions.
- Kill-priority is escape Target whoever tries to disengage or flee; the whole point of these things is that nobody leaves the killing field.
- Bite to bleed them dry Flensing Bite lowers max HP until a long rest, so spread bites across the party rather than dumping on one PC.
- When bloodied Lean fully into Pack Frenzy: cluster two vexers on one victim for advantage and the crippling save, then peel to the next runner.
Crippling Vexers
Medium undead, chaotic evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEPack Frenzy. The vexer has advantage on attack rolls against a creature if at least one of the vexer's allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated.
Crippling Hunger. Signature. The vexer's claws seek tendon and joint. When it hits a creature that is already missing any of its hit points with both claws on the same turn, that creature must succeed on a DC 15 Constitution saving throw or have its speed halved until the end of its next turn, and it can't take reactions until then.
Actions
Multiattack. The vexer makes two Rending Claw attacks and one Flensing Bite attack.
Rending Claw. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) slashing damage.
Flensing Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (2d4+4) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) necrotic damage, and the target's hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken. This reduction lasts until the target finishes a long rest. The target dies if this effect reduces its hit point maximum to 0.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Hamstring Lunge (Bonus Action). The vexer moves up to half its speed toward a creature it can see without provoking opportunity attacks from that creature.
A skinless thing of raw red sinew and jutting bone, jaw unhinged in a permanent silent scream, it scuttles low over a midden of stripped skulls and gnawed ribs.
Crippling Vexers, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEScent of the Wounded (signature). Crippling Vexers has advantage on attack rolls against any creature that is below half its hit points, and can sense the location of any bleeding creature within 30 feet even through total cover.
Actions
Raking Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 10 (2d6+3) slashing damage, and if the target is prone the attack deals an extra 4 (1d8) slashing damage.
Reactions
Drag Down. When a creature within 5 feet of Crippling Vexers is reduced to half its hit points or fewer, Crippling Vexers can force that creature to make a DC 13 Strength saving throw or be knocked prone.
A half-tamed lesser vexer kept on a chain of knotted sinew, it answers only to the scent of fresh blood and the promise of a fallen foe to gnaw.
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 lunging at the lightest-armored PC, then bite to whittle their hit point maximum. If two vexers flank one target, stack Pack Frenzy advantage and try for the Crippling Hunger speed-halve so the victim can't retreat. Run them as a 2-4 model pack swarming around a tougher undead anchor.
Open with Hamstring Lunge into the back-line caster or archer, double-claw for Crippling Hunger to lock their speed and reactions, then bite to erode their max HP. Kill-priority is anything trying to disengage; the pack exists to make sure nobody escapes. Pair 2-3 with a necromancer or bone golem so the boss controls and the vexers cripple.
Deploy as a lair-bound pack guarding a deathlord's charnel sanctum, not as a solo threat. Open against the most mobile PC, halve their speed, and let bites stack max-HP loss across rounds. Always pair with a bigger threat (a lich, a death knight-style commander) so the vexers pin the party while the flagship lands the heavy hits.
Put Crippling Vexers 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 Crippling Vexers?
The native build is CR 6 (2,300 XP), tuned as a Tier 2 pack add-on for parties of levels 5-10. Scaled tactics for Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) are provided, with all traits identical and only the numbers shifting.
Can Crippling Vexers be a companion or ally?
Yes. The companion sidebar gives Gristle, Bound, a half-tamed lesser vexer (AC 13, 76 HP) that scents wounded foes, rakes the prone, and can drag bloodied enemies to the ground as a reaction. Use it as a grim hunting beast for an evil-aligned or desperate party.
Are Crippling Vexers solo bosses?
No. They lack a boss action-economy kit and are designed as add-ons. Field two or three around a flagship undead such as a necromancer, lich, or bone golem; the vexers cripple and pin while the bigger threat deals the decisive damage.
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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