Boneclaw 5e: Stats and Guide for Players & DMs

Last Updated on January 22, 2023

Becoming a lich is hard. Sometimes, wizards can mess it up and become something else they didn’t intend. Of the many things they can turn into, Boneclaws are quite possibly the nastiest, deadliest, and most violent thing of all.

Created when a wizard’s soul doesn’t quite make it to a phylactery, boneclaws are what happens when that soul gets caught into the vortex of a truly evil creature. The soul manifests as a boneclaw intent on serving that evil creature as a serial assassin whether that creature knows it or not.

10-12 feet tall with a 19 Strength and predatory cunning to match, the Boneclaw is foe you do not want to meet in a dark alley. Or anywhere else.

This post is all about the boneclaw: where you’ll find them and how to fight them. Afterward, we have a little gift for the DMs out there who may want to feature boneclaws in their next adventure or campaign.

What Is a Boneclaw in DnD 5e?

A boneclaw is a Large, CR 12 undead with unmatched stealth abilities and a vicious melee claw attack.

Player’s Guide

Boneclaws tend to be rare enemies to find. While they are certainly intelligent and dangerous enough to be featured, their creation requires them to be in service to a nearby master.

Therefore, you won’t see boneclaws very often as they will tend to be overshadowed by their master. Boneclaws are the perfect assassin, bodyguard, and lieutenant.

Let’s check out the stat block.

Statblock Breakdown

From the top:

The first thing we see is that the boneclaw is a Large undead. Large creatures tend to be difficult to grapple but more susceptible to area effects. They also tend not to fit very well into small spaces; so, remember that if you want to Sparta it up and make the boneclaw have to squeeze in order to reach you.

Also, as an undead, some PCs may have special bonuses or equipment in fighting them. Obviously, clerics and paladins get the gold star here, but rangers and a few arcane casters can sometimes have a slight advantage.

The armor class is respectable. At a 16, it is harder to hit than many large creatures, and it has a boatload of Hit Points just in case you do hit it! Furthermore, its speed is 40 feet, so running away may prove difficult.

We are barely into the stat block, and already the boneclaw is giving me chills.

All of its ability scores, with the sole exception of Charisma, are positive, meaning forcing this thing to make saving throws may not be a sure way to bring it down. With a 19 strength, you can depend on it being a melee combatant, but a 16 Dexterity means it might find a way to go into range if given the resources. It has proficiency in Dexterity, Constitution, and Wisdom saving throws as well as a handful of resistances and immunities common to many undead.

Defensively, this monster is solid. It will be hard to overcome, so expect it to show up as a last obstacle between you and a boss. On the offensive, the boneclaw is a one-trick pony. It will teleport within range and try to stab you repeatedly with its giant claws. If successful, it will grapple you on those claws and then teleport away so your friends can’t help you escape.

A Bone Claws Tactics

This monster has one strategy in three words: ambush, snatch, escape. Afterward, it will pick you apart while your friends run in circles trying to save you.

While its defense means it can stay for a prolonged melee battle, it will more than likely try to find the person with the least HP, grapple them from ambush, and then teleport around the room until that PC dies. Then the boneclaw will simply do it again to the next most vulnerable PC.

Clever (and evil) DMs may give the boneclaw the ability to throw a bone javelin in order to give it some variation, but in general, you can trust the monster to keep it simple.

He just wants to reach out and touch someone. Deeply. In the chest.

Your Tactics Against a Boneclaw

The boneclaw moves around by teleporting from dark space to dark space. That is the first thing it does.

So, get rid of all the dark spaces! Cast Light on your head. Cast Produce Flame or even Create Bonfire. If the monster can’t jump around, then it will have a more difficult time ambushing and escaping.

Secondly, once it grapples someone, it can only attack that person with that particular claw. Consider readying an action to dive in front of the attack!

If you are a big, tough barbarian or paladin with a decent grapple, stick near the puny wizard. When the boneclaw attacks, jump in front, and take the attack and damage. After that, let it grapple you so that you can control the grapple on subsequent turns.

If you are in control of the grapple and someone was smart enough to cut off its escape with a light source, then you and your friends can jump this creepy monster and make it regret its life choices.

However, you can not actually kill a boneclaw until its master either dies or changes their alignment. So, killing the boneclaw once isn’t enough. Unless you can stop the master within 1d10 hours, you’ll just have to fight it again.

Either make sure you learn your lessons from your first battle with it or hope you can take out both it and the master in the same run.

Finally, you should guard your own emotions about this evil master you are slaying. If too much hatred or vengeance fills your heart, the boneclaw might just come back with you as its new master and kill everyone you have ever been annoyed at.

A DM’s Guide to Boneclaws

So, you like horror. Like, really like horror. You’d have to if you wanted to feature a boneclaw in your next game because these guys are big, scary, undead predators par none.

A Boneclaw’s Environment

There is no official recommendation for where a boneclaw will manifest. Given that they are found in the employ of a random evil master, they could literally be anywhere.

Since the boneclaw has a light-based teleportation, it is best if that master has a few shadowy corridors to exploit. So, it goes rather easily that boneclaws are great for urban environments.

But it need not stop there! They could just as easily be out in the woods, jumping from tree to tree in the shadows cast by the moonlight. If a boneclaw were underground or in the Shadowfell, it wouldn’t need to find a shadow from which to flit at all.

If, for example, a boneclaw were invading the celestial fields in the plane of ever-present daylight, it would need a way to create shadows and darkness. The more the boneclaw has to hide behind, the more it can teleport and hide in order to pick the PCs off one by one.

Boneclaw Manifestations That You Can Use To Create Adventures

Obviously, a boneclaw would manifest in the service of a different, successful lich or any other type of evil overlord. That’s simple, enough. If you need another encounter before your PCs fight the BBEG, throw in a boneclaw!

However, below we have given you a list of places and situations that can manifest a boneclaw. My hope is that these ideas will be enough to spur your imagination into running a horrifyingly memorable game for your friends.