Morghulis the Marauder
Morghulis the Marauder — The Encounter
Horned spirit of slaughter, twin blades drinking the field · a boss your table can run with almost no prep. SRD 5.1-compatible.
Who Is Morghulis the Marauder
The grimoires name him Morghulis, the Marauder, a spirit of the slaughter-field summoned not to counsel but to reap. Conjurers who bargain for him learn too late that he answers only the scent of blood; once a battle is joined he cannot be recalled until the last throat is cut. He is said to have been a war-captain who sold his soul to the morning-star host for victory, and who was remade as a horned thing of appetite, his twin blades forged from the iron of every banner he ever broke. Where he treads, briar and bone erupt from the earth in his image. Soldiers who have faced him speak of a dread that locks the knees and a frenzy that quickens with each kill, as though the marauder feeds on the falling. The wise inscribe his sign only in the outermost ring of a circle, and never speak his name aloud upon a field where men have died.
Run Morghulis the Marauder in Sixty Seconds
- What he is: a Tier-2 dual-wield melee enforcer (CR 6, AC 16, 130 HP) — an add-on bruiser, NOT a solo boss. Field him beside a flagship threat or with minions.
- Open with: charge into the tightest cluster so Aura of Dread (DC 14 Wis) frightens two or three PCs at once, then Multiattack the lowest-HP target.
- Reaping Frenzy: the moment a hit drops a creature to 0 or crits, he gets a bonus weapon attack — point that bonus swing at the next-weakest body to snowball kills.
- When bloodied: he gets greedy — use Bloodscent Lunge each turn to dash onto any PC under half HP; kill-priority is healers and downed allies.
- Three ways to run him: straight berserker (all-out Frenzy), bodyguard (lead with Parrying Sweep, protect a caster boss), or pack-hunter (loose the Thornbound Reaver to herd prey into his axe).
Morghulis the Marauder
Large fiend (demon), chaotic evil
CR 6 · 2,300 XP · GUIDELINEReaping Frenzy. Signature. Morghulis is a storm of twin blades. The first time on each of his turns that one of his weapon attacks reduces a creature to 0 hit points or scores a critical hit, he may immediately make one additional weapon attack as part of the same action. He thirsts for the kill and surges toward fresh prey when blood is spilled.
Aura of Dread. Each creature that starts its turn within 15 feet of Morghulis must succeed on a DC 14 Wisdom saving throw or be frightened until the start of its next turn. A creature that succeeds is immune to this aura for 24 hours.
Actions
Multiattack. Morghulis makes two attacks: one with his curved blade and one with his cleaving axe.
Curved Blade. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 12 (2d8+4) slashing damage.
Cleaving Axe. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 14 (2d10+4) slashing damage. If the target is a creature, it must succeed on a DC 14 Strength saving throw or be pushed 5 feet away and knocked prone.
Bonus Actions & Reactions
Bloodscent Lunge. Bonus Action. Morghulis moves up to half his speed toward a creature that is below half its hit point maximum, without provoking opportunity attacks.
Parrying Sweep. Reaction. When a creature Morghulis can see makes a melee attack against him, he adds 2 to his AC against that attack with the flat of his curved blade. If the attack misses, he may immediately make one Curved Blade attack against that creature.
A towering, crimson-fleshed reaver crowned with branching horns, Morghulis advances behind a cloak of black feathers, a curved blade in one fist and a heavy cleaving axe in the other, the ground around him bursting with thorned, grasping growths.
Morghulis the Marauder, Bound
Companion · acts on your initiative
Bound · GUIDELINEPack Goad (signature). While the Morghulis the Marauder is within 30 feet of the creature it is bound to, that creature has advantage on the first melee attack it makes against any target the Reaver has hit this round.
Actions
Barbed Glaive. Melee Weapon Attack: +6 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (2d6+4) slashing damage plus 3 (1d6) piercing damage from raking thorns.
Reactions
Bristle Guard. Reaction. When an ally within 5 feet is hit by a melee attack, the Reaver imposes disadvantage on that attack roll as black thorns rise to shield them.
A lesser horned servitor wreathed in the same thorned growth, loosed to herd prey toward its master's blades.
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 stalking the squishiest target and using Cleaving Axe to knock them prone, then finishing on Reaping Frenzy. Send him at a flank, not the front line. Pair him with a caster or a lair full of thorn hazards so he is not the only threat.
Open into the cluster so Aura of Dread frightens multiple PCs, then Multiattack the lowest-HP target to trigger Reaping Frenzy. When a PC drops below half, Bloodscent Lunge onto them for a free kill chain. Kill-priority: healers and downed-but-stable allies. He is an elite enforcer, not a solo; field him with minions or beside a bigger flagship boss.
Use him as the bruiser bodyguard of a true boss or warlord: he intercepts melee with Parrying Sweep and chains Reaping Frenzy through summoned thornling minions. Open on the back line, frighten the casters, then carve toward the healer. Always pair with a bigger threat or a full lair encounter so the party cannot simply focus-fire him.
Put Morghulis the Marauder 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 Morghulis the Marauder?
Morghulis is built as a Challenge Rating 6 elite (2,300 XP) in his native Tier 2, tuned for parties of levels 5-10. He is an add-on enforcer rather than a solo boss, so for a single deadly fight pair him with minions or a bigger threat. Scaled stat lines for Tier 1 (levels 1-4) and Tier 3 (levels 11-15) are provided so you can drop him into any party — only the numbers change, his traits and tactics stay the same.
Can Morghulis be a companion or ally?
Morghulis himself is a chaotic, blood-hungry slaughter-spirit, ill-suited to loyal service — but a lesser Thornbound Reaver can be bound to a worthy summoner as an ally (AC 14, 78 HP). It goads its bond-mate's attacks, rakes foes with a barbed glaive, and raises thorn-walls to shield allies with its reaction. Use it as a martial companion for a warlock or summoner who has earned a measure of the marauder's host.
Why is a fiend listed in the Undead collection, and is he safe to use?
The miniature is sculpted as a horned, crimson reaver wreathed in grave-thorns, fitting the necromantic/undead display set, but mechanically he reads as a fiend (demon) — so that is how he is statted. His identity is grounded entirely in public-domain demonology and the fallen-host tradition (Lesser Key of Solomon, Milton), making him fully safe to print, sell, and run at your table without any proprietary content.
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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