Warbands
Twenty themed enemy sets. Every room with creatures draws from exactly one.
A warband is a coherent creature set with shared tactics and shared flavour. Rooms never mix them, so a party that meets Sown Bones in room 13 and again in room 60 should recognise the shield wall before the DM says a word. That recognition is the reward for paying attention, and it is the main thing making a shuffled deck of rooms feel like one dungeon.
Each entry below gives the minis or stat blocks to reach for, and two or three reinforcement options for the moment a fight is going too easily. Pull reinforcements from the same warband: a second wave that arrives on theme costs nothing, and a second wave from a different warband costs the room its identity.
W01 — Sown Bones
Roster shape. Skeletal hoplites, dragon-tooth warriors, bone archers
Signature tactic. Ranks, and spawning from sown ground
Fields it (7 rooms). 1, 13, 28, 46, 60, 83, 97
Caps it. F08 The Skeleton Kings of Five Wars
Stat blocks. Bone Archer of the Sown Field CR 2, Bronze-Tooth Hoplite CR 3, Dragon-Tooth Serjeant CR 5
- Minis and reskins. Any skeleton mini, and more of them than you think you need. The Bronze-Tooth Hoplite is a skeleton with a shield and 45 hit points; the Serjeant is a minotaur skeleton's numbers on a human frame. Bone archers are skeletons with longbows who never close.
- Running them. They are a line, not a swarm. Move them as a rank, never individually, and have them step into a fallen comrade's space rather than chase. The moment they break formation they should be visibly weaker.
- Reinforcements. Sow a fresh rank from any bare earth or groove (two hoplites on a two-round delay). Have a Serjeant blow its horn from an unseen doorway, which costs the party a round of listening. Or let the previous room's dead hoplites walk in behind the party — their teeth were in the floor there too.
W02 — Bull-Kin
Roster shape. Minotaurs, taurine brutes, bull-masked cultists
Signature tactic. Charge lanes and shoving
Fields it (5 rooms). 4, 31, 65, 85, 93
Caps it. F01 The Minotaur of the Third Horn
Stat blocks. Bull-Masked Cultist CR 2, Minotaur Champion CR 11, Taurine Brute CR 5
- Minis and reskins. Minotaur for the Taurine Brute, cultist for the bull-masked, and something a size larger for the Champion. Horns on everything.
- Running them. Charge lanes. Every Bull-Kin fight should have at least one straight line 30 ft long, and the brutes should shove people into whatever the room does to people who get shoved.
- Reinforcements. Open a stock gate and let two more brutes trot in on a count of three. Have the cultists drive a panicked bull through the fight, which hurts everyone. Or reveal that the arena's cages are not all empty.
W03 — Daedalan Automata
Roster shape. Bronze guardians, clockwork beasts, animated tools
Signature tactic. Predictable patterns that reward observation
Fields it (7 rooms). 6, 21, 45, 56, 74, 79, 99
Caps it. F03 The Warden, Talos-Pattern · F15 The One-Eyed Smith and His Bronze Herd
Stat blocks. Bronze Ox CR 4, Bronze Warden, Atelier-Pattern CR 12, Clockwork Sentinel CR 5, Swarm of Bronze Bees CR 6
- Minis and reskins. Animated armour for sentinels, an ox or boar mini painted bronze for the Bronze Ox, a swarm marker for the bees, and a shield guardian or stone golem for the Atelier-Pattern warden.
- Running them. Patterns. Every automaton in this warband does the same thing every round unless something interrupts it, and the fight is the party working out the pattern. Announce the pattern honestly; the puzzle is in exploiting it, not in guessing it.
- Reinforcements. Another sentinel completes its patrol circuit and arrives on round three. A rail opens and a second ox rolls through. Or the room's own tools animate — three CR 1/2 animated implements, worth 100 XP each and a lot of noise.
W04 — Gorgon Brood
Roster shape. Medusae, basilisks, petrifying serpents
Signature tactic. Gaze denial and statue terrain
Fields it (3 rooms). 27, 66, 92
Caps it. F05 The Gorgon Queen of the Sunken Court
Stat blocks. Creeper of the Petrified Garden CR 3, Elder of the Pale Sisters CR 12, Garden Basilisk CR 5
- Minis and reskins. Medusa, basilisk, and lengths of green cord for the creepers. Keep statues on the mat: they are cover, warning, and a reminder.
- Running them. Gaze denial is the whole subject. Reward closed eyes, mirrors, and fighting from behind statuary, and never petrify a character without a save and a round of warning first.
- Reinforcements. Two creepers unrolling from a crack in the plaster. A statue that was not a statue. Or the sister the party thought was asleep, waking on a five-count that the DM says out loud.
W05 — Harpy Squall
Roster shape. Harpies, storm-crows, Stymphalian birds
Signature tactic. Verticality, snatch-and-drop
Fields it (3 rooms). 20, 35, 61
Caps it. No finale headlines this warband. Run one whose shape fits and reskin the boss — the retinue is already here.
Stat blocks. Bronze-Beak Harpy CR 5, Storm-Crow CR 2
- Minis and reskins. Harpies on flight stands. If you have no flight stands, put a die next to each bird showing its height in 10-ft increments — the whole warband lives or dies on the table understanding the Z axis.
- Running them. They never land. Snatch, drop, retreat to the ceiling, sing from cover. A party that pulls one down should kill it easily and feel clever.
- Reinforcements. Two storm-crows drop in from a shaft the party has not looked up. A harpy returns carrying something it stole. Or the nest above the fight starts throwing things.
W06 — Revel of Hoof and Horn
Roster shape. Satyrs, centaurs, maenads
Signature tactic. Charm, drink, and archery
Fields it (3 rooms). 57, 58, 90
Caps it. No finale headlines this warband. Run one whose shape fits and reskin the boss — the retinue is already here.
Stat blocks. Centaur of the Split Herd CR 6, Maenad of the Vat CR 3, Satyr Piper CR 4
- Minis and reskins. Satyr, centaur, and berserkers for maenads. Everything is half-dressed, drunk, and armed with something improvised.
- Running them. They can be talked to mid-fight — that is the warband's whole trick. Any offer of wine, a song, a fair contest, or a shared enemy gets a real hearing, and the pipes stopping is a visible sign the fight is winding down.
- Reinforcements. The revel next door hears the noise and joins — but joins whichever side is more fun. A centaur archer arrives on a balcony. Or a maenad gets into the casks and the room becomes flammable.
W07 — Chimeric Menagerie
Roster shape. Chimeras, manticores, hybrids
Signature tactic. Multiple damage types, infighting
Caps it. F04 Kirke of the Deep Halls · F14 The Chimera Triarch
Stat blocks. Bronze-Barbed Manticore CR 8, Cage-Broken Hybrid CR 5, Chimera of the Yard CR 11
- Minis and reskins. Chimera and manticore, and any two-monsters-glued-together mini for the cage-broken hybrids.
- Running them. These things hate each other more than they hate the party. Always give the party a way to make the infighting worse, and let the fight resolve itself if they do.
- Reinforcements. A cage the party walked past opens. A hybrid that fled comes back bleeding and angrier. Or the manticore's tail-spikes hit the chimera, which is a reinforcement in the party's favour and should be visibly the DM's choice.
W08 — Drakon Nest
Roster shape. Drakons, wyrmlings, serpent-hounds
Signature tactic. Breath cones and coiling
Fields it (3 rooms). 25, 88, 95
Caps it. F06 The Drakon of the Hollow Root
Stat blocks. Coiled Drakon CR 13, Drakon Whelp CR 4, Serpent-Hound CR 3
- Minis and reskins. Young green dragon for the Coiled Drakon, guard drakes or giant snakes for whelps, and any legged-serpent mini for serpent-hounds.
- Running them. Breath cones and coiling. Whelps are undisciplined and breathe at the wrong moment, hitting each other. The mother does not miss.
- Reinforcements. Eggs hatch: two whelps, one round apart. The mother returns early — announce her arrival two rounds before it happens, every time. Or a serpent-hound pack cuts off the retreat, which is the honest consequence of spending too long in a nest.
W09 — Shades of the Maze
Roster shape. Ghosts, wraiths, lost-wanderer undead
Signature tactic. Reenactment, sound triggers, incorporeality
Fields it (5 rooms). 18, 22, 54, 75, 76
Caps it. F02 Asterion Remembered · F20 The Champion's Shade
Stat blocks. Lost Wanderer CR 3, Sighing Shade CR 5, Wraith of the Long Silence CR 12
- Minis and reskins. Ghost, specter, wraith. Use clear or unpainted minis if you have them; the visual difference matters when half the room can walk through walls.
- Running them. Sound and reenactment. Most shades are looping the worst hour of their lives, and interrupting the loop is what makes them hostile. A silent party can often cross unnoticed, and the rooms are built assuming they might.
- Reinforcements. The loop restarts, and this time there are more of them. A shade the party talked past turns out to have been the polite one. Or every dead thing in earshot arrives at once — save this for a party making noise on purpose.
W10 — Lamia Court
Roster shape. Lamias, empusae, blood-witches
Signature tactic. Hospitality traps and charm
Caps it. F17 The Marriage Feast
Stat blocks. Empusa Attendant CR 5, Empusa Bath-Mistress CR 12
- Minis and reskins. Lamia, succubus for empusae, and something with too many teeth for the Bath-Mistress.
- Running them. Hospitality is a contract with rules, and the court honours it scrupulously until the guest breaks it. Make the rules explicit early: eat what is offered, do not draw, do not refuse a gift. A party that keeps the rules can walk out; a party that breaks them learns why the rules were generous.
- Reinforcements. More attendants arrive with the next course. The bath's steam thickens and something moves in it. Or the host calls in the debt of a guest who never left — one charmed adventurer, statistically a veteran, fighting for the wrong side.
W11 — Cyclopean Gang
Roster shape. Cyclopes, one-eyed smiths, giant kin
Signature tactic. Thrown objects, single-target crush
Caps it. F19 Talos-of-Coins
Stat blocks. Forge-Thrall Cyclops CR 8, Gang Slinger CR 4
- Minis and reskins. Cyclops, ogres for slingers, and a fire giant's numbers if you need something worse than the butcher.
- Running them. Thrown objects and single-target crush. One target at a time, and everything in the room is ammunition. The eye is the lever: a hit to it is worth ruling on generously.
- Reinforcements. The forge's apprentice wakes up. A slinger climbs to a ledge and starts dropping ingots. Or the butcher simply picks up the wall.
W12 — Arachne's Weave
Roster shape. Giant spiders, weavers, web-fey
Signature tactic. Restraint and vertical webbing
Fields it (3 rooms). 12, 38, 72
Caps it. F10 The Weaver in the Deep Dark
Stat blocks. Weaver Spider CR 3, Web-Fey Spinner CR 5
- Minis and reskins. Giant spiders, an ettercap or drider for the spinner, and cotton wool for webbing that everyone can see.
- Running them. Restraint and verticality. Spiders retreat up a strand, wait, and come back; the fight is about the party's freedom of movement rather than their hit points.
- Reinforcements. A cocoon opens. Three more spiders arrive along the ceiling — announce them by dropping dust on someone first. Or the spinner re-webs the exit the party was heading for, which is a reinforcement made of terrain.
W13 — Salamander Forge
Roster shape. Salamanders, fire elementals, pyre-hounds
Signature tactic. Heat zones, ignition, cold vulnerability
Fields it (5 rooms). 11, 29, 55, 67, 77
Caps it. No finale headlines this warband. Run one whose shape fits and reskin the boss — the retinue is already here.
Stat blocks. Forge Salamander CR 6, Pyre-Hound CR 3
- Minis and reskins. Salamander, hell hound for pyre-hounds, fire elemental or azer for anything hotter. Mark heat zones on the mat; do not keep them in your head.
- Running them. Herding. They drive prey into the heat rather than fighting toe-to-toe, and cold damage is the party's best answer — say so once, out loud, the first time it works.
- Reinforcements. A vent opens and the room gets a new heat zone, which is worse than another monster. Two pyre-hounds come up the flue. Or the forge's coals stand up: a CR 5 fire elemental with a single-round warning.
W14 — Deep Water Kin
Roster shape. Kraken spawn, scyllan horrors, sirens, hostile tritons
Signature tactic. Grapple-and-drag into water
Fields it (5 rooms). 36, 48, 69, 89, 98
Caps it. F12 The Arm Through the Wall
Stat blocks. Drowned Hoplite CR 3, Kraken Spawn CR 12, Scyllan Horror CR 8, Siren of the Sunken Court CR 5
- Minis and reskins. Merrow and sahuagin for drowned hoplites, giant octopus for the scyllan horror, water elemental for the spawn. Anything with tentacles.
- Running them. Grapple and drag. Being moved is the danger, not being hit, and the party should learn within a round that the water is the enemy and the creature is the delivery mechanism.
- Reinforcements. The water rises 5 ft, which reinforces the enemy without adding a body. Two drowned hoplites walk up out of the deep end. Or the siren starts singing from somewhere the party cannot reach.
W15 — Sphinx & Riddlers
Roster shape. Sphinxes, riddling beasts, oracular monsters
Signature tactic. Talk first, claws second
Fields it (3 rooms). 9, 44, 94
Caps it. F13 The Sphinx of the Last Door
Stat blocks. Lesser Sphinx CR 9, Riddle-Hound CR 4, Whispering Laurel CR 5
- Minis and reskins. Gynosphinx trimmed to CR 9 for the Lesser Sphinx, hell hounds without the fire for riddle-hounds, and a potted tree for each whispering laurel — or nothing at all: the voices carry, and an empty mat is scarier.
- Running them. Talk first, claws second, and say so. These monsters announce their terms, honour them, and are genuinely delighted by a good answer. Combat is the failure branch and should feel like a failure.
- Reinforcements. A second hound wakes when the bargain is broken. A voice joins the chorus with a harder question. Or the sphinx, losing, offers a better deal — the correct reinforcement for a monster whose weapon is words.
W16 — Clay & Marble
Roster shape. Earth elementals, animate statues, terracotta soldiers
Signature tactic. Slow, many, hard to move
Fields it (4 rooms). 7, 40, 73, 78
Caps it. No finale headlines this warband. Run one whose shape fits and reskin the boss — the retinue is already here.
Stat blocks. Choirmaster of the Plinth CR 8, Marble Chorister CR 4, Terracotta Soldier CR 3
- Minis and reskins. Animated armour for choristers, terracotta warriors from any historical range, and a stone golem for the Choirmaster. Keep the statues that are not animate on the mat too, and do not tell the party which is which.
- Running them. Slow, many, hard to move. They never rush and never retreat. The answer is terrain — stairs, ledges, water, a doorway — and the party should find that out by trying to out-damage them first and being disappointed.
- Reinforcements. Another rank of three animates, on the beat, which is worse than a surprise. The Choirmaster reassembles a shattered chorister at half hit points. Or a statue the party has been using as cover stands up.
W17 — Beasts of the Hunt
Roster shape. Calydonian boars, Nemean lions, death dogs, dire beasts
Signature tactic. Pure animal pressure; food and scent tricks work
Fields it (3 rooms). 8, 53, 71
Caps it. F09 Lykaia and the Nine Throats
Stat blocks. Calydonian Boar-Warden CR 4, Two-Headed Death Dog CR 3
- Minis and reskins. Giant boar, dire wolf, and death dogs. For the Nemean Lion, use the biggest cat you own and treat its hide as the fight's actual problem.
- Running them. Pure animal pressure, and pure animal logic. They fixate, they gorge, they can be fed, distracted, and frightened by fire, and none of them understands a door. Food and scent tricks should work every time.
- Reinforcements. The pack's fourth dog arrives late, from behind. A wounded beast breaks and brings back a bigger one. Or the boars simply refuse to die on schedule — add 15 hit points rather than another body.
W18 — Cult of the Thread
Roster shape. Knossian priests, labyrinth wardens, human cultists
Signature tactic. Cut and re-tie the maze's guiding threads
Fields it (6 rooms). 3, 26, 39, 52, 87, 96
Caps it. F07 The Thing Beneath the Floor · F16 The High Warden of the Thread
Stat blocks. Knossian Priest of the Thread CR 5, Lost Cohort Hoplite CR 3, Thread-Warden CR 4
- Minis and reskins. Cultists, cult fanatics, a priest, and a veteran or two in bronze. These are the maze's only ordinary humans and they should look like people.
- Running them. They cut and re-tie the maze's guiding threads mid-fight, which is how they navigate and how they trap. And they surrender: at a third of the cohort down, someone offers terms. A cult that fights to the last man makes every parley room in the deck a lie.
- Reinforcements. A patrol answers the horn — three wardens, two rounds out, and audible before they arrive. The priest re-ties a cut thread and a door the party closed opens again. Or the lost cohort's veterans arrive and have to decide whose side they are on.
W19 — Erinyes & Ash
Roster shape. Furies and vengeance spirits (reskinned fiends)
Signature tactic. Judgment triggers; they attack the guilty first
Caps it. F11 The Furies' Verdict
Stat blocks. Ash-Winged Fury CR 8, Erinys of the Vigil CR 12
- Minis and reskins. Erinyes, vrock for the ash-winged, and any winged fiend with a scourge. Ash on the floor, always.
- Running them. They attack the guilty first, and they will tell you who that is. Before the fight, ask each player one thing their character has done that they would not want read aloud — then use it. A fury that ignores the paladin to scourge the character with a secret is doing its job.
- The counter every one of them shares. None of this warband will willingly cross a poured line of salt or funeral ash — a line laid as a boundary, not the loose ash their halls are floored with. It is on all three cards, a party with a salt ration can hold a doorway with it, and it buys distance rather than mercy: the charge stands, and they wait at the line for longer than the rations last.
- Reinforcements. A third sister arrives to read the charge. The chained penitent is freed and joins in, badly. Or the vigil's judgment is passed and the furies gain advantage against whoever the party wronged.
W20 — Keres & Plague
Roster shape. Swarms, disease-spirits, carrion things
Signature tactic. Attrition, conditions, area denial
Fields it (3 rooms). 42, 64, 82
Caps it. No finale headlines this warband. Run one whose shape fits and reskin the boss — the retinue is already here.
Stat blocks. Gnawing Swarm CR 2, Grave-Honey Flow CR 6, Plague-Thing CR 5
- Minis and reskins. Swarm markers, rats, and a slab of amber putty — or any ooze mini — for the Grave-Honey Flow. Use a marker per swarm and move them as blobs; individual rats are a waste of everyone's evening.
- Running them. Attrition and area denial. Conditions rather than damage, and the swarms should make the party choose a route rather than fight at all. Fire and smoke work, and the rooms are built to let a party discover that.
- Reinforcements. The swarm splits into two smaller swarms, which covers more ground. Something gorged and slow follows the noise in. Or the corpses in the room start moving — one plague-thing, and no more, because attrition warbands become tedious if they escalate.