After over three years of playing our Rime of the Frostmaiden campaign, we finally ended it yesterday with an epilogue episode, rounding the whole thing out to 67 Sessions - and as is custom, it's time for the End of Campaign discussion post!

I've segmented the post into some subsections, so you can jump to whatever part you find interesting - it's a very long post after all!

The Players

My campaign started with six players and ended with four due to various real-life situations. Over the campaign, we had eight player characters:

• "Uld" (Real Name Geduld Geddarm), Gnome Wizard: Uld was the unofficial leader of the team, and a secret spy agent for the Harpers. Started out as a straight-forward good dude, but as the stakes got raised and Vellynne got involved, he became more extreme and direct; though without fully losing his heart. Him and Vellynne had a powerful rivalry that ended in begrudging respect on both sides.
• Prince Tjommi Gunvaldsson, Half-Orc Barbarian: A big, strong guy with a love for ale and magic, and a hatred for water. Though outwardly simple, Tjommi was the heart of the party and an MVP in the last sessions, destroying both the Staff of Power AND hiding Iriolarthas' spellbook, so both Wizards couldn't claim them. Is the son of Gunvald Halraggson born to an Orcish Chieftain through a diplomatic agreement, which is why Ulkora the shaman hadn't caused his death at birth as well.
• Myra, Human Ranger, Ranger/Druid, then Druid and Nuniq, Polar Bear: A wilderness survivalist who's never known anything other than the tundra and her polar bear. Naturally curious and hella suspicious, Myra saw secrets and hidden information anywhere. We began calling Insight Checks "Myra Checks". Had amnesia after falling into the Caves of Hunger as a child, and learned that she were raised by Oyaminartok.
• Xantcha, Doppelganger Cleric: The party Cleric, who took the image of the first person to show her kindness, the real Xantcha, after she died. Was truly blessed by Lathander, who saw her true colors behind the disguise. A real button-pusher but ultimately an MVP when it came to braving Ythryn and its horrors.

Other characters included:

• Fjella, Goliath Fighter: Originally a human Tentowner who died while attempting to flee the Rime with her family, and was Reincarnated as a Goliath, while her family remained dead. The player left the campaign due to real life stuff, but her character and the implications around her rebirth stayed in the campaign until the very end.
• Aurelius, Human Rogue: Xantcha's player's original character. Was a writer-in-exile after writing an exposée on Devil-worshipping nobles down south, but a run-in with the White Lady in Easthaven aged him fourty years. The player felt uncomfortable with this, and left the character, who stayed a support NPC from then on. Aurelius canonically wrote the campaign as a book called "The Rime of the Frostmaiden" as a partially fictional novel in our version of the setting.
• Orak, Hexblood Druid: A Frost Druid who broke from the other Auril-aligned Druids and became a Wildfire Druid. His existence alone made the most changes to the book, requiring extensive changes to Ravisin, to Geluvicken (more on her later) and much more. Found out that he had been changed by a ritual from an artifact but died soon after. The player shifted to a new character, abandoned that character then returned as a almost-Wood-Woad-Orak, before leaving the campaign by turning into their child self through the use of a different artifact. It's a long story.
• Sadidda Ibbylan, Drow Rogue/Wizard: A Drow agent of a Menzobarranzen House aligned with the Sunblight clan, and Orak's player's replacement character for Chapter 3 and 4. He quickly got tired of him, and asked to return to Orak once Chapter 4 had ended, which I agreed to. Only really interesting fact about him was that he rolled like dog; had a Session titled "The Humbling of one Sadidda Ibbylan" for a reason.

Major Changes I Made

Overall, I think I ran the book pretty close to how it's supposed to. I was looking forward to seeing the campaign work as it was written, and only changed or added things I thought would improve the original writing, not to add complexity or higher stakes.

Major changes include:

• Auril wasn't on Solstice, and her statblock was made quite a bit more powerful. I really wanted a proper, climactic end, and I didn't feel like Chapter 5 put me up to that. The players confronted her only in Ythryn, in a battle that took us almost 5,5 hours to complete.
• Instead of Auril, a Chosen of Auril named Archdruid Geluvicken acted as custodian of Grimskalle, and her main agent in the Dale. Geluvicken was originally taken from Eventyr Games' supplements, but I changed her so much she is barely the same character now. She was the leader of the Frost Druids, running them as a terrorist group and working to make them into magical soldiers with an artifact called the Bloodbriar Needle, which could turn them into powerful Hexblood (which she herself, Orak and Ravisin were). This wasn't put into motion by the Goddess herself; it was Geluvicken acting on her own.
• I introduced Vellynne as an NPC as early as Session 4, though she only really got important at Chapter 4 like normal.
• I upended the travel-time in the tundra. One hour on snowsled before one hour's rest? That's silly; I changed the travel times and speeds to better represent the real world.

Feelings on Each Chapter

Chapter 1 and 2

We started with the Chwinga mission, which they accidentally solved in Session 1, but after that, it was off to the races. With a little nudging, I had my players bopping from Bryn Shander to Good Mead, then Dougan's Hole and Easthaven, completing each quest there while getting to know each other. By accident they forced me to play the "Chardalyn figurehead"-version of the town hall caper, which is what caused Aurelius to grow old. It was also after this that they met Vellynne. By the end, the party had dealt with the Caer and travelled up Kelvin's Cairn as well.

Overall, every mission is fantastic - they're small, pacey and self-contained. I was excited for each one of them, and every one was fun - even the trek up Kelvin's Cairn, which is still a meme to us to this day.

The flip-side is that this Chapter and Chapter 2 are hella unstructured. Perhaps by design, every quest, town and location feels very distant from one another, both physically but also as a story. I wanted to slowly string together something like a story which could eventually culminate in Chapter 7, but everything was so disjointed, it often felt like I was inventing a story for a setting guide rather than an adventure.

It was fun, but overall I think I could've used some way of tying locations together - if nothing else, with optional hints, clues and threads one could put at each location to lead to the next one. For example, perhaps two options for the The Mead Must Flow quest could be to:

1. ... have a letter written in Giant somewhere in the cave that explains how the Sunblight Duergar from the Outpost would pay for any mead the Verbeeg steals, or
2. ... have a frightened, awakened mountain goat by her freedom and life by explaining that Ravisin set the Verbeeg up to raiding Good Maid, and that she can be found near Lonelywood.

Too often I felt like I had to have an NPC come and tell the players where to go, and what to do - but in general, I loved my time in and around the Ten-Towns!

Chapter 3 and 4

I was surprised to love the Duergar subplot. At first, I feared that the outside problem of Underdark conquerors would take the players' attention too far away from the main "endless winter"-plot - which it still does, but we'll get to that.

My players had swerved around all the good clues as to the existence of the Duergar so I had to give the mission to them directly. I also had a new character, Sadidda, Orak's new character as a help - his personal story was deeply intertwined with the whole Sunblight plot.

I made the common changes - the Chardalyn Dragon only left Sunblight once the players were inside the fortress, and by then I'd given them enough information that they knew about the Dragon and Xardarok's plans. They had also met Vellynne several times, so it was less startling for them to meet her. I also had her cast Sending to contact them while they were in the fortress. More on that in a bit.

By the end of Chapter 4, Dougan's Hole, Good Mead and about a third of Easthaven was destroyed. The Dragon had been destroyed over Easthaven with the Horn of Blasting from the Jarlmoot in a battle my players still enthusiastically talk about to this day. The death-toll numbered only in a few hundreds - Vellynne having Sending meant that they could warn the towns, who mostly evacuated before the Dragon got there.

Overall, what I think this plot does will is that it is extremely tangible. The threat from the Duergar is easy to understand, and the danger that the Dragon poses makes it easy for the players to set their own plans in motion.

This relative simplicity means that it felt like the game of DnD could do what it does best - enable players in heroic actions and clever thinking! It's easy to understand the cost of failure, and besides the slightly strange Underdark statblocks, the enemies are wonderful - nothing is quite as cool as a vast army of grunts to make a villain feel like a villain!

On a more negative note, we all discussed that we felt like the Dragon battle was the highlight of the Campaign. Since this is the last time any threat will affect the Tentowns directly, everything in later chapters felt more like afterthoughts to them.

I will also say that the "Big Threat" towards the Towns being the Duergar and not a massive Druid attack felt like the story swerved hard away from Auril and the Rime. It wasn't as bad as I feared it could've been, but it still felt like a out-of-context problem.

Chapter 5

I kept telling my players that "the sandbox will become more linear as we go", which is what happenes in this Chapter. My players went with Angajuk to Solstice, where they puttered around the island before entering Grimskalle.

Here I made a larger change; Auril wasn't on Solstice, but her Chosen, the Archdruid Geluvicken, a Frost Giant, was - but to not force a battle immediately, and because Orak's player had gotten Orak back again through some artefact shenanigans, she was basically playing a very distant, hateful host who assumed the party would break under the weight of the Tests.

The Tests went well, but I did feel like it was difficult to give them the narrative weight they really required. I think the book assumes the players will bring that, but mine were just mostly confused. One Test did go well, as Tjommi ended up killing his own father, Gunvald Halraggson, in the Test of Cruelty (or so he thought at the time).

They still managed, and even managed well enough through a secret fifth Test I invented. See, I thought the campaign would race ahead from here on out, with little focus on characters, so I made a final test meant to torture them with their personal failures. It didn't go as well as I'd hoped, but the battle against Geluvicken afterwards was a real slobberknocker. I also had Auril remotely rip apart Solstice, which required some quick thinking to escape from my players.

I don't really know what to think of Chapter 5. Most of my thoughts end in a "Yeah alright", and no strong feelings either way. That in itself is pretty damning, since this is the point where Auril and her worship finally comes into stark focus, and it just feels... A bit "eh", maybe? I didn't find Grimskalle particularly interesting as a location, and there's very little lore there. The tests are very "show, don't tell", which is great, but the knowledge the players gain aren't used anywhere else.

I'm still happy enough with my Chapter 5, but this is the point where I began getting a feeling that me and my players weren't as engaged in the campaign as we had been.

Chapter 6

My players returned to the Dale through some Fey shenanigans to see that the Everlasting Rime had intensified - now the blizzards never end, as a punishment from Auril for having her lair in the Dale destroyed. My players gear up for a final trek, and journey to and through the Caves of Hunger.

And if I'm honest, I think the whole of the Caves are filler that one could feasibly skip. They are cool enough as an adventuring location, but that's not what we're doing at this point in a campaign - we're at the Point of No Return now, and puttering around a vast glacier cave, while neat as a concept, just slowed the campaign way down for us.

Nothing particularly memorable happened in the Caves; they fought Tekeli-li and defeated it, killed most of the other denizens in the caves and were thorough in their way through it. They had fun, but were also a bit confused as to what they needed to focus on here.

I do like the remnants of Ythryn a party finds here though; some foreshadowing of what to come.

Chapter 7

Ythryn; I had looked forward to getting here for a long time. It's such a strange place, and a very different vibe than almost all of the rest of the campaign. I had made changes so that the final confrontation with Auril would happen here, and was looking forward to Vellynne's relationship to the party getting some focus.

I came away from the last Chapter more dissappointed than happy. Ythryn is big and filled with locations - and almost none of them are that interesting. Don't get me wrong; a lot of the ideas in the Towers and other locations are cool - but I don't need more cool stuff at this point. I wanted something more focused and direct, which would enhance the final chapter.

Rather than use the rush of energy from destroying Solstice and leading that to a climactic final showdown, Chapter 7 felt like hitting the brakes. My players even began rushing through Ythryn to get it done faster and frequently forgot where they'd been and why they were here. That's just the death of a good ending.

On the other side, I love how many Red Buttons the Chapter gives the players. The option to turn back time, to summon the Tarrasque or call a comet - so cool, and so nice that they're not afraid of letting the players go absolutely ham at the end of the campaign, if they wish!

I also do love Ythryn conceptually - just not in play.

My party did do very well in playing into Ythryn's themes - my Wizard, Uld, got more and more shcemey (not helped by an Indefinite Madness) and the others were confronted with just how powerful a nation of wizards would be.

In the end, my party destroyed Iriolarthas in one turn (anyone who's frequented this sub might remember my post about it) and went below the Spire to confront Auril. I had ramped up the narrative tension as much as possible, and the players went in like they knew they would die - and we had an epic, 5,5 hour long battle against three slightly improved Auril statlines and two servants, a Bheur Hag and a Winter Eladrin! It was a tough and grueling fight, but my party won, and Auril sputtered out, knocking all but my Barbarian, Tjommi, out.

He took this opportunity to take the Staff of Power and break it, and he had stolen and hidden the Incantations of Iriolarthas previously as well. He wanted to ensure that his friends were never tempted by power in that way again!

In the epilogue, Uld and Vellynne came to an understanding; they returned to Ythryn with the party to take what they could from it, and then use the Scroll of the Comet to demolish it. Xantcha, my Doppelganger Cleric starts a covenant of people who attune to the Mythallar to keep it out of others' hands, and the rest go on to change the Dale in small and big ways - a fitting end to a long campaign!

My Thoughts

He isn't done yet?! Nope!

Some thoughts have bopped around in my head since the campaign ended, and I wanted to share them here - if nothing else, these are the things I think might be useful for a DM who's about to run this campaign.

As a heads up, this might sound pretty negative. It's not that I didn't have fun, it's that the campaign was a bit disappointing to me. I want to share those feelings with you, because that might help you start your campaign in a way that fits your table better.

"Kill Your Darlings"

There's the term in creative writing, "Kill your darlings", which means that you have to trim away those parts of your work that aren't contributing to telling the story - even if those parts are your favourite. This is a book that feels like it has never killed a darling in its life.

Don't get me wrong. I mean it when I say that every location in Chapter 1 and 2 are great. My issue is that, because the book is so filled with them, and they barely connect to one another, they end up feeling like filler that slows the book down and bloats it.

The book is ostensibly about the Frostmaiden and her curse, but we also have...

• ... a Zentharim scheme.
• ... a Duergar Invasion.
• ... a Goliath cold war.
• ... a competition between four dubious Wizards.
• ... a visit from outer space.
• ... a high-security prison.
• ... a Goblin fortress.
• ... an ancient Giant site of power.
• ... a brewing Reghed Nomad civil war.
• ... a strange material called Chardalyn.
• ... a cave filled with psychic phenomona, vampires and Drow.
• ... an ancient city, with its own subplots.

... And much more I'm sure I'm forgetting.

One of my players told me, that if the whole thing about Chardalyn turned out to not be important to the overarching plot, then they'd be really disappointed - and that's pretty much the case.

It's a general problem with WotC's books. For some reason, they think a good adventure just has to have "stuff" in it, and as much as possible. It's like the difference between an "all you can eat buffet" and properly cooked dinner to me.

Were I to run this campaign again, I would decide whether to use the "Duergar Menace" or the "Frost Druids" as the main villains to the Tentowns, and then pick a handful of the locations relevant to those plots to run, stringing them together with clues and connections.

Your mileage may vary of course; it just got to me by the time we got to the Caves of Hunger. Nothing we did there felt like it advanced the story. Instead, it felt like obstacles that were put in front of my players to keep them from moving forward.

Lack of Connections

I already wrote something like this above, but I really missed having the locations in the book be connected to one another in some way. They are in certain cases - e.g. the hunt for the lake monster you get in Bremen is technically connected to Ravisin, who you can find in the Lonelywood quest - but I'd have like there to be even more of it.

I felt like I was often telling my players where to go, first through Tentowner NPCs, and then through Vellynne. Very rarely did my players have to think for themselves and plan their own adventure. That would be difficult to be fair; the book isn't great at giving them options.

This extends to NPCs. I wish the relationship between NPCs in the Towns and between them were more clarified, so it would be easier for the players to connect with them and care for the Tentowns as a whole.

Which leads to...

The Tentowns

There's not much you can do about this one, since the lore makes it very clear that there's ten Tentowns... But maaan would I have loved it if the campaign was centered around three towns instead. Ten are just too many for the players to care about, and it means that they just dash right through the towns most of the time, rather than stay in them and get to know them.

Again, not really feasible, what with how the setting is, but it would've worked to the books benefit.

Detached Threats

This is minor, but I feel like it's worth mentioning - I really like how the early quests affect the Tentowns very directly. It makes to so that the early adventures feel very relevant and dire, since they can make or break a town's chance of survival. This culminates in the Chardalyn Dragon attack, which puts everything on the table. The players can loose it all, or save the Towns by their own actions!

As we get further into the book, the party has to go further and further away, and this means the the Tentowns become less important. Going to Solstice and to Ythryn are important for the survival of the Dale, but it feels less immediate. Ythryn especially feels so detached from the rest of the plot that its relevance to the Tentowns isn't clear to the players.

Again, not a major issue, but it's something I attempted to address in my campaign. I guess this is also why many DMs add some major scheme to the book that Auril or the other villains are trying to achieve - it at least makes it so Ythryn and Solstice has more relevance later in the book.

Final Thoughts

Left to my own devices, I think I'd talk about this book forever. I love it still - but in the way you love someone when you've experienced both their best and worst parts. It's a flawed book, but it's ambitious, interesting, fiercely dedicated to its themes; and I can really respect that!

I don't see myself returning to this book anytime soon. It's just too big - as I've grown older and more experienced, I've learned just how insane long campaigns really are. So many other systems run campaigns that run for 5-15 Sessions at most and are satisfying all the way, so running a 67 Session campaign like this feels like madness to me now.

I'm still happy we got through it, and happy to have played Rime of the Frostmaiden. It'll be in my mind for years to come.

My group is taking a break for now - and when we return, we're doing Wild Beyond the Witchlight, which I'm so excited by!

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I would love to answer any questions you might have, give semi-useful advice and discuss the campaign with you all in the comments, so feel free to write!

Hey everyone!

This was originally posted on r/DnDHomebrew.

I'm nearing the end of my three-year long campaign of the Rime of the Frostmaiden! It's been a fun romp, with plenty of twists and turns - and now we're staring down the barrel of our final session. For that, I'd really like a proper, firing-on-all-cylinders Final Battle against the final enemy of the campaign, Auril the Frostmaiden!

Core Idea

I've made three homebrewed statblocks that modify the original three statblocks for Auril that came with the adventure (I'd link them here, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to, so if you need to find them, they can be found on pages where 5e rules can be read). The goal with these homebrews was:

• To make her a tad stronger; these statblocks can be fought as early as Level 8, and my players will be at Level 11, with many powerful magic items.
• To make her more divine in nature. A god who just acts like a normal creature isn't a god, that's just a powerful dude. I wanted to make it clear that she's still a goddess of winter, regardless of how drained she is.
• To make her something akin to a WoW Raid boss in terms of mechanics; that there should be some sort of puzzle to the way the players approach her.

Problem is, the longer I look at them, the more I fear she will be too difficult to run and to fight to be proper fun at the table - so I would love to have your trained eyes to help me!

Encounter Details

I won't get too into the weeds on what exactly has gone down in the campaign, but the final encounter, if all goes as plan, is as follows:

• It will take place under the Spire of Iriolarthas in Ythryn, at the frozen-over Mythallar that can be found there. She is hiding in the icicles above the Mythallar, using one of her Simulacra to make it seem like she's at the foot of the frozen Mythallar.
• At either side of the Mythallar is her two Handmaidens (a Winter Eladrin (Cr 10) and a Bheur Hag (Cr 7). They fight until death.
• My players are a team of four Level 11 characters (A Wizard, a Barbarian, a Cleric and a Druid), plus a souped up polar bear and Vellynne, who tend to perform as a Level 2-3 character despite her powerful spells.
• My party will likely have enormously powerful items, including but not limited to a Candle of Invocation, a Staff of Power, an Iron Flask, several Supreme Healing Potions and diamonds and more.
• Most of them have Resistance to Cold damage in some way or other.
• We play 5e2014.
• My players are, apart from my Wizard player, not optimizers and can occasionally struggle with overly complicated rules.
• If they wish, they have many Red Buttons they can push - the Scroll of the Comet and the Tarrasque, the Obelisk that can turn back time that they can rush to in Ythryn or something wild of their own invention.
• I do not need a nailbiting battle - I want something that feels satisfying. If that means my players perform some cockamamie scheme that breaks the core fundementals of the rules, I'm okay with that.

Homebrewed Auril Statblocks

Here are my statblocks; I detail some of my intentions with the changes down below!

All three statblocks have the following traits in common:

>Divine Awareness. Auril cannot be surprised and has advantage on Initiative rolls. In addition, Auril can maintain several Concentration spells and has advantage on Concentration rolls, unless she is concentrating on two or more spells.
Divine Form. Auril gains 20 temporary hitpoints at the beginning of her turn, and can't be changed into another form or be shifted to another plane of existence against her will.
Divine Mind. Auril cannot have her mind read. Any spell or magical effect that would divine what choices she will make (such as a divination spell) fails unless Auril herself chooses otherwise. 
Magic Resistance. Auril has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Unusual Nature. Auril doesn't require air, food, drink, or sleep.

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Auril (First Form) (Alt.)

>Medium Monstrosity, Neutral Evil
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 133 (14d8 + 70)
Speed 30 ft., Fly 90 ft.

>STR 14 (+2)
DEX 16 (+3)
CON 21 (+5)
INT 24 (+7)
WIS 26 (+8)
CHA 28 (+9)

>Saving Throws STR +7, CON +10, INT +12, CHA +14
Skills Deception +13, Insight +12, Intimidation +13, Perception +16

Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Damage Immunities Cold, Poison
Condition Immunities Blinded, Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, 
Poisoned, Stunned

Senses Darkvision 120 ft., Truesight 120 ft., Passive Perception 26
Languages All, telepathy 1000 ft.
Challenge 15 (13,000 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +5

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Divine Rejuvenation. When Auril drops to 0 hit points, her body explodes into ice shards and mist. Auril reappears in her third form on her next turn, in an unoccupied space within 60 feet of where her first form disappeared. Her initiative count doesn't change.

Innate Spellcasting. Auril's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 21, +13 to hit with spell attacks). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: detect magic, detect thoughts, misty step, ice storm
2/day: control weather, greater invisibility (on herself only)

Legendary Resistance (2/Day in This Form). If Auril fails a saving throw, she can choose to succeed instead.

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Actions

Multiattack. Auril makes two attacks in any combination.

Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) cold damage.

Touch of Frost. Melee Spell Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 13 (3d8) cold damage, and the target can't take reactions until the start of its next turn.

Icicle Javelin. Ranged Spell Attack: +13 to hit, range 90 ft., one creature. Hit: 13 (3d8) cold damage.

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Bonus Actions

Create Simulacrum. As a bonus action, Auril creates a duplicate of this form out of snow in a space she can see within 60 ft. of her. The form has the same general shape as her, but besides eyes glowing with pale blue light, the body is clearly crafted from snow.

The duplicate uses her own statistics, movement speed and attacks, but does not have any Legendary resistances, cannot cast any spells that are not a part of her Actions, does not have access to her Divine Awareness, Form or Rejuvenation traits, or her Magic Resistance trait. 

The duplicate has 22 hitpoints, an AC of 13, immunity to cold damage and vulnerability to fire damage. The duplicate does not share the original Auril's resistance to non-magical weapons.

Auril can have three Simulacra active at a time. They share Auril's initiative count.

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Reactions

Greater Invisibility. When taking damage from any source, Auril can cast the Greater Invisibility spell on herself.

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Legendary Actions

Auril can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Auril regains spent legendary actions at the start of her turn. Each action can only be chosen once per round.

Heart of Winter. Auril designates an enemy she can see within 120 ft. of her to be the Heart of Winter. They are vulnerable to Cold damage (or looses resistance to Cold damage if they have it) and have disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity and Constitution saving throws until they are dealt cold damage next, they recieve magical healing of any kind or are within 10 ft. of a source of great magical or divine heat or light. When it is dealt cold damage, any other creature within 10 ft. of them may choose to take the cold damage dealt as if they were the target.

Cruel Feast. Auril and each Simulacrum may make a Move and then make a Talons attack. If the target of these attacks have at least one of Auril's allies or Simulacra within 5 ft. of them, the attacks have advantage.

Teleport. Auril teleports to an unoccupied space she can see within 30 feet of her.

Create Simulacrum (Costs 2 Actions). Auril uses her Create Simulacrum bonus action.

- - -

Auril (Second Form) (Alt.)

>Large Elemental, Neutral Evil
Armor Class 16
Hit Points 184 (16d10 + 96)
Speed 45 ft.

>STR 22 (+6)
DEX 12 (+1)
CON 23 (+6)
INT 24 (+7)
WIS 26 (+8)
CHA
28 (+9)

>Saving Throws STR +11, CON +11, INT +12, CHA +14
Skills Deception +13, Insight +12, Intimidation +13, Perception +16

Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Damage Immunities Cold, Poison
Condition Immunities Blinded, Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, 
Poisoned, Stunned

Senses Darkvision 120 ft., Truesight 120 ft., Passive Perception 26
Languages All, telepathy 1000 ft.
Challenge 15 (13,000 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +5

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Divine Rejuvenation. When Auril drops to 0 hit points, her body explodes into ice shards and mist. Auril reappears in her third form on her next turn, in an unoccupied space within 60 feet of where her first form disappeared. Her initiative count doesn't change.

Innate Spellcasting. Auril's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 21, +13 to hit with spell attacks). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: detect magic, detect thoughts
2/day: control weather

Legendary Resistance (2/Day in This Form). If Auril fails a saving throw, she can choose to succeed instead.

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Actions

Multiattack. Auril uses Ice Flurry, if it is available. Then, she makes two attacks in any combination.

Ice Flurry. Each creature within 30 feet of Auril takes 5 (2d4) piercing damage from swirling ice, and nonmagical, open flames in that area are extinguished. Creatures within 10 ft. of Auril takes an additional 2 (1d4) piercing damage.

Ice Warpick. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (1d10 + 6) piercing damage plus 9 (2d8) cold damage dealt to the target and all creatures within 5 ft. of the target.

Touch of Frost. Melee Spell Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 13 (3d8) cold damage, and the target can't take reactions until the start of its next turn.

Icicle Javelin. Ranged Spell Attack: +13 to hit, range 90 ft., one creature. Hit: 13 (3d8) cold damage.

-

Bonus Actions

Ice Stalagmites. As a bonus action, Auril conjures three a Large, 8 ft. tall frozen stalagmite from the ground in spaces she can see within 90 ft. of her. The stalagmites each have 25 hitpoints, an AC of 15, is immune to cold, poison and psychic damage and is vulnerable to fire and thunder damage. Any creatures in those spaces are forced to the nearest nearby unoccupied space.

Any creature that starts their turn within 5 ft. of an Ice Stalagmite loose 10 ft. of movement, which does not stack.

If the Stalagmite is reduced to 0 hitpoints, it explodes, dealing 5 (1d10) cold damage to anyone other than Auril within 10 ft. of the Stalagmite.

Auril cannot have more than five Stalagmites summoned at one time.

-

Reactions

Frostmaiden's Rebuke. When dealt damage that isn't fire by a creature she can see within 30 ft. of her, Auril can spend her Reaction to force them to make a Charisma saving throw (DC 21). On a failure, they take 16 (3d10) cold damage and immediately end their turn, or take half that with no further effects on a success.

-

Legendary Actions
Auril can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Auril regains spent legendary actions at the start of her turn. Each of these actions can only be chosen once each round.

Heart of Winter. Auril designates an enemy she can see within 120 ft. of her to be the Heart of Winter. They are vulnerable to Cold damage (or looses resistance to Cold damage if they have it) and have disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity and Constitution saving throws until they are dealt cold damage next, they recieve magical healing of any kind or are within 10 ft. of a source of great magical or divine heat or light. When it is dealt cold damage, any other creature within 10 ft. of them may choose to split the cold damage dealt evenly to themselves.

Glacier's Advance: Auril moves 10 ft., and then makes a Touch of Frost attack with disadvantage against any creature she is now within 5 ft. of.

Splinter (Costs 2 Actions). Auril causes an Ice Stalagmite she can see to explode. All creatures except herself must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC 18) or take 3 (1d6) cold damage and be knocked Prone, or half of that damage without being knocked prone on a success. The Stalagmite is removed, and is replaced by two Ice Mephits. The Mephits then immediately takes their turn, after which they retain the initiative timing they arrived at. Auril cannot target a Stalagmite she created on her last turn.

- - -

Auril (Third Form) (Alt.)

>Small Elemental, Neutral Evil
Armor Class 19
Hit Points 138 (16d10 + 80)
Speed 0 ft., Fly 20 ft. (hover)

>STR 1 (-5)
DEX 12 (+1)
CON 21 (+5)
INT 24 (+7)
WIS 26 (+8)
CHA 28 (+9)

>Saving Throws CON +10, INT +12, CHA +14
Skills Deception +13, Insight +12, Intimidation +13, Perception +16

Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Damage Immunities Cold, Poison
Condition Immunities Blinded, Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, 
Poisoned, Stunned

Senses Blindsight 120 ft. (Blind beyond this range), Truesight 120 ft., Passive Perception 26
Languages All, telepathy 1000 ft.
Challenge 16 (15,000 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +5

-

Divine Rejuvenation. When Auril drops to 0 hit points, her crystalized form breaks, revealing her divine spark to the world before it sputters and dies out.

Frigid Aura. So long as Auril has at least 1 hit point in this form, each creature within 10 feet of her takes 10 cold damage at the start of each of her turns.

Imperfect Avatar. Auril loses 11 (2d10) hitpoints and has her maximum hitpoints reduced by the same amount at the end of every turn except her first. This effect cannot reduce her to below 1 hitpoint.

Innate Spellcasting. Auril's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 21, +13 to hit with spell attacks). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: detect magic, detect thoughts
2/day: control weather

Legendary Resistance (1/Day in This Form). If Auril fails a saving throw, she can choose to succeed instead.

Magic Resistance. Auril has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Unusual Nature. Auril doesn't require air, food, drink, or sleep.

-

Actions

Multiattack. Auril makes a Polar Ray. Then, she casts Blizzard Veil.

Polar Ray. Ranged Spell Attack: +13 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (6d6) cold damage.

Blizzard Veil. Auril creates a magical blizzard in a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on herself. The area within the sphere is heavily obscured, and the sphere moves with Auril. The effect lasts until Auril drops to 0 hit points in this form, until she chooses to end the effect (no action required), or until her concentration is broken (as if concentrating on a spell).

-

Legendary Actions

Auril can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Auril regains spent legendary actions at the start of her turn. Each action can only be chosen once per round.

Winter Everlasting. All creatures within 60 ft. of Auril become vulnerable to Cold damage (or looses resistance to Cold damage if they have it) and have disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity and Constitution saving throws until they are dealt cold damage next, they recieve magical healing of any kind or are within 10 ft. of a source of great magical or divine heat or light. When a creature affected by this ability is dealt cold damage, any other creature within 10 ft. of them may choose to take any amount of the cold damage dealt to the original target as if they were the target.

Polar Ray. Auril uses Polar Ray.

Intensify Aura (Costs 2 Actions). Auril's Frigid Aura deals an extra 10 cold damage until the end of her next turn.

Blinding Gleam (Costs 2 Actions). Auril's form flares with a blue light. Each creature that can see Auril and is within 10 feet of her must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be blinded by Auril's magical gleam for 1 minute. The blinded creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

- - -

Thoughts and Ideas

So, that's a lot. And that's sort of the main issue I have.

I was very happy with these blocks when I first wrote them, but the more I look at them, I fear I've made them overly complicated - or scratch that, I know that I have. I won't have fun running them, and my players won't have fun dealing with them. There are good parts to them, but I think, in my eagerness to make Auril a proper final boss, I went overboard. So here's the pain points I spot:

• Generally too cumbersome to run: Natch.
• "Heart of Winter" Effect: This is what I call the debuff she can give out as a bonus action. At first, my goal was to make it sort of a "soak" ability like a WoW Raid Boss might have, where the players would have to spread damage out among them... But really, it's just a hellish debuff that forces them to clump together all the time. I have a few ideas for how to change this:
  • "When another creature takes Cold damage within 30 ft. of you, you take Xd4 Cold damage, where X is the amount of Heart of Winter stacks you have" - Which would spread more damage out and force people to keep their distance. Would also allow for more ways to avoid the effect!
  • "You are vulnerable to Cold damage, or lose resistance to Cold damage if you had it" - Just that, but that it only applies on the end of Auril's turn to targets she has attacked. Perhaps we could give her a new Legendary Action that could allow her to remove the debuff in return for a buff to herself or debuff to the targets who had the effect removed?
• Ditching "Heart of Winter": I had an alternative idea for this encounter, where Auril wouldn't have "Heart of Winter", but instead she, and all her flunkies, were chanting to complete a rítual that would bind her Everlasting Rime to the Mythallar, potentially removing the sun from the North forever. Whatever way I would do that mechanically, the goal here would be that the players aren't just trying to defeat Auril and her minions, but also to find ways of stopping the ritual from being cast before its too late. Perhaps a countdown that ends at 20, and ticks up from 0 by 1 for every minion she still has on the board, plus 1d4 for herself at all times? Or maybe the minions have an action they can take to charge the ritual even further?
• First Auril is way too slippery: I fear that Teleport and Greater Invisibility plus her Simulacra will be too difficult to deal with. Anyone more used to high level DnD, I would love to hear what you think!
• Too many debuffs: This is something I know is a problem, but didn't wanna fix before you guys had a look at my work. Problem is, by definition, winter and cold is associated with cold, with lack of energy and such. To make her feel like something different than a bog-standard spellcaster, I wanted Auril to feel like winter itself. Ideas as to how to maintain this would be appreciated.

Ending Thoughts

I could write loads more, but this is already a monstrously long post, so I will let my statblocks speak for themselves and let you guys critique it however way you like!

I hope I've adhered to the rules of the sub; it's the first time I write something here, so feel free to correct me.

I hope you're up for helping me out!

Hey everyone!

I'm nearing the end of my three-year long campaign of the Rime of the Frostmaiden! It's been a fun romp, with plenty of twists and turns - and now we're staring down the barrel of our final session. For that, I'd really like a proper, firing-on-all-cylinders Final Battle against the final enemy of the campaign, Auril the Frostmaiden!

Core Idea

I've made three homebrewed statblocks that modify the original three statblocks for Auril that came with the adventure (I'd link them here, but I'm not sure if I'm allowed to, so if you need to find them, they can be found on pages where 5e rules can be read). The goal with these homebrews was:

• To make her a tad stronger; these statblocks can be fought as early as Level 8, and my players will be at Level 11, with many powerful magic items.
• To make her more divine in nature. A god who just acts like a normal creature isn't a god, that's just a powerful dude. I wanted to make it clear that she's still a goddess of winter, regardless of how drained she is.
• To make her something akin to a WoW Raid boss in terms of mechanics; that there should be some sort of puzzle to the way the players approach her.

Problem is, the longer I look at them, the more I fear she will be too difficult to run and to fight to be proper fun at the table - so I would love to have your trained eyes to help me!

Encounter Details

I won't get too into the weeds on what exactly has gone down in the campaign, but the final encounter, if all goes as plan, is as follows:

• It will take place under the Spire of Iriolarthas in Ythryn, at the frozen-over Mythallar that can be found there. She is hiding in the icicles above the Mythallar, using one of her Simulacra to make it seem like she's at the foot of the frozen Mythallar.
• At either side of the Mythallar is her two Handmaidens (a Winter Eladrin (Cr 10) and a Bheur Hag (Cr 7). They fight until death.
• My players are a team of four Level 11 characters (A Wizard, a Barbarian, a Cleric and a Druid), plus a souped up polar bear and Vellynne, who tend to perform as a Level 2-3 character despite her powerful spells.
• My party will likely have enormously powerful items, including but not limited to a Candle of Invocation, a Staff of Power, an Iron Flask, several Supreme Healing Potions and diamonds and more.
• Most of them have Resistance to Cold damage in some way or other.
• We play 5e2014.
• My players are, apart from my Wizard player, not optimizers and can occasionally struggle with overly complicated rules.
• If they wish, they have many Red Buttons they can push - the Scroll of the Comet and the Tarrasque, the Obelisk that can turn back time that they can rush to in Ythryn or something wild of their own invention.
• I do not need a nailbiting battle - I want something that feels satisfying. If that means my players perform some cockamamie scheme that breaks the core fundementals of the rules, I'm okay with that.

Homebrewed Auril Statblocks

Here are my statblocks; I detail some of my intentions with the changes down below!

All three statblocks have the following traits in common:

>Divine Awareness. Auril cannot be surprised and has advantage on Initiative rolls. In addition, Auril can maintain several Concentration spells and has advantage on Concentration rolls, unless she is concentrating on two or more spells.
Divine Form. Auril gains 20 temporary hitpoints at the beginning of her turn, and can't be changed into another form or be shifted to another plane of existence against her will.
Divine Mind. Auril cannot have her mind read. Any spell or magical effect that would divine what choices she will make (such as a divination spell) fails unless Auril herself chooses otherwise. 
Magic Resistance. Auril has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.
Unusual Nature. Auril doesn't require air, food, drink, or sleep.

- - -

Auril (First Form) (Alt.)

>Medium Monstrosity, Neutral Evil
Armor Class 13
Hit Points 133 (14d8 + 70)
Speed 30 ft., Fly 90 ft.

>STR 14 (+2)
DEX 16 (+3)
CON 21 (+5)
INT 24 (+7)
WIS 26 (+8)
CHA 28 (+9)

>Saving Throws STR +7, CON +10, INT +12, CHA +14
Skills Deception +13, Insight +12, Intimidation +13, Perception +16

Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Damage Immunities Cold, Poison
Condition Immunities Blinded, Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, 
Poisoned, Stunned

Senses Darkvision 120 ft., Truesight 120 ft., Passive Perception 26
Languages All, telepathy 1000 ft.
Challenge 15 (13,000 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +5

-

Divine Rejuvenation. When Auril drops to 0 hit points, her body explodes into ice shards and mist. Auril reappears in her third form on her next turn, in an unoccupied space within 60 feet of where her first form disappeared. Her initiative count doesn't change.

Innate Spellcasting. Auril's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 21, +13 to hit with spell attacks). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: detect magic, detect thoughts, misty step, ice storm
2/day: control weather, greater invisibility (on herself only)

Legendary Resistance (2/Day in This Form). If Auril fails a saving throw, she can choose to succeed instead.

-

Actions

Multiattack. Auril makes two attacks in any combination.

Talons. Melee Weapon Attack: +7 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d8 + 3) piercing damage plus 3 (1d6) cold damage.

Touch of Frost. Melee Spell Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 13 (3d8) cold damage, and the target can't take reactions until the start of its next turn.

Icicle Javelin. Ranged Spell Attack: +13 to hit, range 90 ft., one creature. Hit: 13 (3d8) cold damage.

-

Bonus Actions

Create Simulacrum. As a bonus action, Auril creates a duplicate of this form out of snow in a space she can see within 60 ft. of her. The form has the same general shape as her, but besides eyes glowing with pale blue light, the body is clearly crafted from snow.

The duplicate uses her own statistics, movement speed and attacks, but does not have any Legendary resistances, cannot cast any spells that are not a part of her Actions, does not have access to her Divine Awareness, Form or Rejuvenation traits, or her Magic Resistance trait. 

The duplicate has 22 hitpoints, an AC of 13, immunity to cold damage and vulnerability to fire damage. The duplicate does not share the original Auril's resistance to non-magical weapons.

Auril can have three Simulacra active at a time. They share Auril's initiative count.

-

Reactions

Greater Invisibility. When taking damage from any source, Auril can cast the Greater Invisibility spell on herself.

-

Legendary Actions

Auril can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Auril regains spent legendary actions at the start of her turn. Each action can only be chosen once per round.

Heart of Winter. Auril designates an enemy she can see within 120 ft. of her to be the Heart of Winter. They are vulnerable to Cold damage (or looses resistance to Cold damage if they have it) and have disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity and Constitution saving throws until they are dealt cold damage next, they recieve magical healing of any kind or are within 10 ft. of a source of great magical or divine heat or light. When it is dealt cold damage, any other creature within 10 ft. of them may choose to take the cold damage dealt as if they were the target.

Cruel Feast. Auril and each Simulacrum may make a Move and then make a Talons attack. If the target of these attacks have at least one of Auril's allies or Simulacra within 5 ft. of them, the attacks have advantage.

Teleport. Auril teleports to an unoccupied space she can see within 30 feet of her.

Create Simulacrum (Costs 2 Actions). Auril uses her Create Simulacrum bonus action.

- - -

Auril (Second Form) (Alt.)

>Large Elemental, Neutral Evil
Armor Class 16
Hit Points 184 (16d10 + 96)
Speed 45 ft.

>STR 22 (+6)
DEX 12 (+1)
CON 23 (+6)
INT 24 (+7)
WIS 26 (+8)
CHA
28 (+9)

>Saving Throws STR +11, CON +11, INT +12, CHA +14
Skills Deception +13, Insight +12, Intimidation +13, Perception +16

Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Damage Immunities Cold, Poison
Condition Immunities Blinded, Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, 
Poisoned, Stunned

Senses Darkvision 120 ft., Truesight 120 ft., Passive Perception 26
Languages All, telepathy 1000 ft.
Challenge 15 (13,000 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +5

-

Divine Rejuvenation. When Auril drops to 0 hit points, her body explodes into ice shards and mist. Auril reappears in her third form on her next turn, in an unoccupied space within 60 feet of where her first form disappeared. Her initiative count doesn't change.

Innate Spellcasting. Auril's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 21, +13 to hit with spell attacks). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: detect magic, detect thoughts
2/day: control weather

Legendary Resistance (2/Day in This Form). If Auril fails a saving throw, she can choose to succeed instead.

-

Actions

Multiattack. Auril uses Ice Flurry, if it is available. Then, she makes two attacks in any combination.

Ice Flurry. Each creature within 30 feet of Auril takes 5 (2d4) piercing damage from swirling ice, and nonmagical, open flames in that area are extinguished. Creatures within 10 ft. of Auril takes an additional 2 (1d4) piercing damage.

Ice Warpick. Melee Weapon Attack: +11 to hit, reach 5 ft., one target. Hit: 11 (1d10 + 6) piercing damage plus 9 (2d8) cold damage dealt to the target and all creatures within 5 ft. of the target.

Touch of Frost. Melee Spell Attack: +13 to hit, reach 5 ft., one creature. Hit: 13 (3d8) cold damage, and the target can't take reactions until the start of its next turn.

Icicle Javelin. Ranged Spell Attack: +13 to hit, range 90 ft., one creature. Hit: 13 (3d8) cold damage.

-

Bonus Actions

Ice Stalagmites. As a bonus action, Auril conjures three a Large, 8 ft. tall frozen stalagmite from the ground in spaces she can see within 90 ft. of her. The stalagmites each have 25 hitpoints, an AC of 15, is immune to cold, poison and psychic damage and is vulnerable to fire and thunder damage. Any creatures in those spaces are forced to the nearest nearby unoccupied space.

Any creature that starts their turn within 5 ft. of an Ice Stalagmite loose 10 ft. of movement, which does not stack.

If the Stalagmite is reduced to 0 hitpoints, it explodes, dealing 5 (1d10) cold damage to anyone other than Auril within 10 ft. of the Stalagmite.

Auril cannot have more than five Stalagmites summoned at one time.

-

Reactions

Frostmaiden's Rebuke. When dealt damage that isn't fire by a creature she can see within 30 ft. of her, Auril can spend her Reaction to force them to make a Charisma saving throw (DC 21). On a failure, they take 16 (3d10) cold damage and immediately end their turn, or take half that with no further effects on a success.

-

Legendary Actions
Auril can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Auril regains spent legendary actions at the start of her turn. Each of these actions can only be chosen once each round.

Heart of Winter. Auril designates an enemy she can see within 120 ft. of her to be the Heart of Winter. They are vulnerable to Cold damage (or looses resistance to Cold damage if they have it) and have disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity and Constitution saving throws until they are dealt cold damage next, they recieve magical healing of any kind or are within 10 ft. of a source of great magical or divine heat or light. When it is dealt cold damage, any other creature within 10 ft. of them may choose to split the cold damage dealt evenly to themselves.

Glacier's Advance: Auril moves 10 ft., and then makes a Touch of Frost attack with disadvantage against any creature she is now within 5 ft. of.

Splinter (Costs 2 Actions). Auril causes an Ice Stalagmite she can see to explode. All creatures except herself must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw (DC 18) or take 3 (1d6) cold damage and be knocked Prone, or half of that damage without being knocked prone on a success. The Stalagmite is removed, and is replaced by two Ice Mephits. The Mephits then immediately takes their turn, after which they retain the initiative timing they arrived at. Auril cannot target a Stalagmite she created on her last turn.

- - -

Auril (Third Form) (Alt.)

>Small Elemental, Neutral Evil
Armor Class 19
Hit Points 138 (16d10 + 80)
Speed 0 ft., Fly 20 ft. (hover)

>STR 1 (-5)
DEX 12 (+1)
CON 21 (+5)
INT 24 (+7)
WIS 26 (+8)
CHA 28 (+9)

>Saving Throws CON +10, INT +12, CHA +14
Skills Deception +13, Insight +12, Intimidation +13, Perception +16

Damage Resistances Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks
Damage Immunities Cold, Poison
Condition Immunities Blinded, Charmed, Exhaustion, Frightened, Paralyzed, Petrified, 
Poisoned, Stunned

Senses Blindsight 120 ft. (Blind beyond this range), Truesight 120 ft., Passive Perception 26
Languages All, telepathy 1000 ft.
Challenge 16 (15,000 XP)
Proficiency Bonus +5

-

Divine Rejuvenation. When Auril drops to 0 hit points, her crystalized form breaks, revealing her divine spark to the world before it sputters and dies out.

Frigid Aura. So long as Auril has at least 1 hit point in this form, each creature within 10 feet of her takes 10 cold damage at the start of each of her turns.

Imperfect Avatar. Auril loses 11 (2d10) hitpoints and has her maximum hitpoints reduced by the same amount at the end of every turn except her first. This effect cannot reduce her to below 1 hitpoint.

Innate Spellcasting. Auril's innate spellcasting ability is Charisma (spell save DC 21, +13 to hit with spell attacks). She can innately cast the following spells, requiring no material components:

At will: detect magic, detect thoughts
2/day: control weather

Legendary Resistance (1/Day in This Form). If Auril fails a saving throw, she can choose to succeed instead.

Magic Resistance. Auril has advantage on saving throws against spells and other magical effects.

Unusual Nature. Auril doesn't require air, food, drink, or sleep.

-

Actions

Multiattack. Auril makes a Polar Ray. Then, she casts Blizzard Veil.

Polar Ray. Ranged Spell Attack: +13 to hit, range 120 ft., one target. Hit: 21 (6d6) cold damage.

Blizzard Veil. Auril creates a magical blizzard in a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on herself. The area within the sphere is heavily obscured, and the sphere moves with Auril. The effect lasts until Auril drops to 0 hit points in this form, until she chooses to end the effect (no action required), or until her concentration is broken (as if concentrating on a spell).

-

Legendary Actions

Auril can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. Auril regains spent legendary actions at the start of her turn. Each action can only be chosen once per round.

Winter Everlasting. All creatures within 60 ft. of Auril become vulnerable to Cold damage (or looses resistance to Cold damage if they have it) and have disadvantage on Strength, Dexterity and Constitution saving throws until they are dealt cold damage next, they recieve magical healing of any kind or are within 10 ft. of a source of great magical or divine heat or light. When a creature affected by this ability is dealt cold damage, any other creature within 10 ft. of them may choose to take any amount of the cold damage dealt to the original target as if they were the target.

Polar Ray. Auril uses Polar Ray.

Intensify Aura (Costs 2 Actions). Auril's Frigid Aura deals an extra 10 cold damage until the end of her next turn.

Blinding Gleam (Costs 2 Actions). Auril's form flares with a blue light. Each creature that can see Auril and is within 10 feet of her must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be blinded by Auril's magical gleam for 1 minute. The blinded creature can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success.

- - -

Thoughts and Ideas

So, that's a lot. And that's sort of the main issue I have.

I was very happy with these blocks when I first wrote them, but the more I look at them, I fear I've made them overly complicated - or scratch that, I know that I have. I won't have fun running them, and my players won't have fun dealing with them. There are good parts to them, but I think, in my eagerness to make Auril a proper final boss, I went overboard. So here's the pain points I spot:

• Generally too cumbersome to run: Natch.
• "Heart of Winter" Effect: This is what I call the debuff she can give out as a bonus action. At first, my goal was to make it sort of a "soak" ability like a WoW Raid Boss might have, where the players would have to spread damage out among them... But really, it's just a hellish debuff that forces them to clump together all the time. I have a few ideas for how to change this:
  • "When another creature takes Cold damage within 30 ft. of you, you take Xd4 Cold damage, where X is the amount of Heart of Winter stacks you have" - Which would spread more damage out and force people to keep their distance. Would also allow for more ways to avoid the effect!
  • "You are vulnerable to Cold damage, or lose resistance to Cold damage if you had it" - Just that, but that it only applies on the end of Auril's turn to targets she has attacked. Perhaps we could give her a new Legendary Action that could allow her to remove the debuff in return for a buff to herself or debuff to the targets who had the effect removed?
• Ditching "Heart of Winter": I had an alternative idea for this encounter, where Auril wouldn't have "Heart of Winter", but instead she, and all her flunkies, were chanting to complete a rítual that would bind her Everlasting Rime to the Mythallar, potentially removing the sun from the North forever. Whatever way I would do that mechanically, the goal here would be that the players aren't just trying to defeat Auril and her minions, but also to find ways of stopping the ritual from being cast before its too late. Perhaps a countdown that ends at 20, and ticks up from 0 by 1 for every minion she still has on the board, plus 1d4 for herself at all times? Or maybe the minions have an action they can take to charge the ritual even further?
• First Auril is way too slippery: I fear that Teleport and Greater Invisibility plus her Simulacra will be too difficult to deal with. Anyone more used to high level DnD, I would love to hear what you think!
• Too many debuffs: This is something I know is a problem, but didn't wanna fix before you guys had a look at my work. Problem is, by definition, winter and cold is associated with cold, with lack of energy and such. To make her feel like something different than a bog-standard spellcaster, I wanted Auril to feel like winter itself. Ideas as to how to maintain this would be appreciated.

Ending Thoughts

I could write loads more, but this is already a monstrously long post, so I will let my statblocks speak for themselves and let you guys critique it however way you like!

I hope I've adhered to the rules of the sub; it's the first time I write something here, so feel free to correct me.

I hope you're up for helping me out!

Myra, Xantcha, Tjommi and Uld - If you read this, get out!

I'm just about one(!) session from ending the campaign of three years - and I have this sneaking suspicion that one of my players might try and throw the Spindle into the Mythallar.

To provide just a but of context, my players will have to contend with the fact that Auril is jury-casting a ritual that binds her Everlasting Rime to the Ythryn Mythallar, a constant font of magical power. This will probably cause the sun to dissappear from the whole of the Far North forever. This will happen during the last battle at the Mythallar, while the party fights her and her minions.

Now, I have this absolutely Red-Button-obsessed player, who made it clear that they'll steal the Spindle and put into their Bag of Holding if they get the option. At first, I thought that either wouldn't work, or would destroy the magic that holds the bag together - but hey, who am I to stop my player's fun?

In essence, the final battle has a whole host of possible outcomes - A simple defeat of Auril, they die but stop the ritual, they hurry out to the Obelisk and activate it... Aaand my Red-Button player could attempt to stop the whole thing by throwing the Bag with the Spindle at the Mythallar.

I want that outcome to be decisive, even overpoweringly so. Here's a few thoughts:

• The Mythallar explodes, creating a chain reaction that blows up the whole city. The players get to make a Dexterity Saving Throw (DC 22) or take the Mythallar's 20d10 + 70 radiant damage. This likely also obliterates Auril - either per the rules or because I rule that she just dies.
• The Mythallar explodes, but only doing relatively minor damage - and blasts everyone and everything far into the air. The players will then have to try and save each other in the air and survive debris before they land, almost certainly dying immediately.
• The Mythallar explodes, inadvertantly activating the Obelisk, which sends the city and everyone else back in time.

... Or something else? What do you think?

We made it to the top of the Spire, and I spent quite a lot of time making it clear to my table that, if they were ever gonna strategize and choose their spells properly, now would be the time. I was honestly so afraid I'd kill them - they're not optimizers, except for one player...

... Who proceeded to do 42 force damage with an Evocation Wizard-buffed Magic Missile, followed by a Bigby's Hand slam attack. 86 hitpoints done in one turn.

We couldn't stop laughing; I think it was easily one of my favourite moments in any game I've ever had!... And now for them to confront Auril. Our three-year long campaign is about to end!

Hey friends,

I've been searching online to see if anyone has created a system for auto-resolving combats in DnD 5e2014, but I couldn't find any - so as they say, if you want something done, you gotta do it yourself!

Intention

I hope to work with experienced DMs like you to figure out how to best make a system that would allow a party to determine what resources and hitpoints they'd lose from a combat they might not want to go through the motions of fighting. I intend to write a system for my own home use, but I am just one guy, and I'd love to hear more perspectives and ideas from other DM's own games.

Disclaimer: This is a post about workshopping an Auto-Resolve Combat system - not a post about whether or not that is a good or even necessary system to have. If you read this far and feel like such a system is unnecessary, don't write a comment about it. That fact that you might find it useless won't help us write the system, and it won't deter me from trying to write it. However, if you have legitimate critiques or points for the workshopping of this system, go ahead.

Reasoning

There's this joke in RPG fandom that the greatest monster in all of tabletop roleplaying is the group's calendar, and as I approach thirty, that's more true than ever. People are busy, there's jobs to do and children to raise - so for me, as a diehard RPG fan of almost twenty years, I want the time that me and my friends have together to be as interesting and efficient as possible.

DnD as a core system has issues with how the time spent with it doesn't always measure up to the enjoyment you get out of the effort spent, but that's a discussion for another time - what I have spotted that my players and me frequently stumble upon, is the fact that, as a game of resource management and drainage, DnD is quite taxing to play.

The mechanical side of DnD is exciting in the minutia of managing hitpoints, hit dice, magic items, spell slots and exhaustion, and they are drained by combat - this comes partially from the game's origin as a wargame. This is fun, but as time has gone by, DnD has shifted focus to become a game of swashbuckling adventure, cinematic combat and emotional narratives in campy settings.

In modern DnD, I imagine DnD scenes like actual TV-show scenes - and that means that the players and DM alike are the editors and writers of their little story. We get excited about when Bard kisses their love interest and linger on that moment for ages, while the otherwise boring (but mechanically more interesting) journey through the desert is punctuated with a short narration that might span weeks of in-game time.

This does not translate to combat. DnD combat is almost a seperate, frequently deep and tactical system that essentially has the mechanical function of draining resources for the player characters - but that's as true for a three-phase boss battle with the Elder Dragon as it is with the three overzealous Goblins that mistakenly ambush them on their way home. In a TV-show, we'd enter that scene by seeing three Goblins on the ground while the characters brush a little dust of their shoulders from the combat that we, as viewers, didn't need to see.

This long pre-ample is all to say that I think an Auto-Resolve system for DnD 5e2014 could be quite useful; even necessary to keep the pressure of the mechanics up while maintaining the momentum of the story.

I've constructed a few strawmen arguments here, just in case:

• "If a combat is uninteresting, why have it in the first place?": I usually remove combats I don't find interesting already, but there are two reasons why: 1) As I wrote, DnD is a game of longterm resource management. The tension of that game is removed when a party can have one, maybe two difficult encounters between each Long Rest each day. The smaller, less important combats are there to drain those resources - and 2) Not every combat should be Auto-Resolved right away. Many combats are decided in the middle, when the big threat is handled, and the party just wants to "mop up" the rest without resorting to taking several turns of slashing and firebolting to do it.
• "Can't you just eyeball it with your party?": Absolutely, and I have, but I think having an organized way of doing it - with actual rules the players can study to determine if they like their chances - empowers to players rather than giving the DM the final say.
• "With this much homebrewing, wouldn't it be better to find a different game?": Absolutely. Lets move on.

Basis

If you ask me, this system should contain a few things:

• Simple: The rules should be very simple and easy to implement. No reason to complicate something that is supposed to save time.
• Require consensus: The DM and players should always agree when to use it. It cannot and should not be forced by either side.
• Take Classes into account: Like the write-up I make below, I think its easiest to make this system if it takes each class into account - it would be monumentally unfair for the Barbarian and the Wizard of the party to take an equal amount of damage, for example.
• Should be usable in the middle of combat: The real power of this system should be that it should be able to end a combat the exact moment the player's excitement peaks, rather than fizzle out as they mop up the stragglers.

So, with that in mind, here's a...

First Draft

This draft contains straightforward rules, as well as an example of what a Combat Outcome table for a Fighter might look like.

Combat Auto-Resolve

At any point from when an Initiative roll is called until the characters exit Initiative count, a player and/or the DM can call an "Auto-Resolve". If the entire table agrees to this, all creatures immediately exits Initiative count, and all enemies are effectively defeated (either unconcious, dead, fleeing or what else feels most natural the situation), and each character must make a "Combat Outcome" Roll on their respective Combat Outcome Table.

When you roll on the Combat Outcome table, your character immediately suffers the results of the roll, as if it was caused during the auto-resolved combat. Any effect rolled is final, regardless of any special abilities of the characters, enemies or otherwise in play. The roll cannot be modified, except by spending Heroic Inspiration (which allows for a reroll of one die) or an ability that allows a player to reroll any die (such as the Lucky feat).

Once an "Auto-Resolve" is called, follow this instruction:

1. The DM determines the Combat Outcome dice pool by consulting the Auto-Resolve Table. The dice are placed within view of all players.
2. Each player takes the amount of Combat Outcome dice they wish to roll. Each player must roll at least one dice. If there aren't enough dice for everyone to have at least one, ignore this rule and proceed as normal.
3. Each player rolls their Combat Outcome dice and consults their Combat Outcome Table. Each die is counted as a separate result.
4. The players implement the result of their roll.

-

Auto-Resolve Table

CR (Counted for each individual enemy)	Combat Outcome Dice
1/8	1d4
1/4	1d4
1/2	1d6
1	2d4
2	1d4, 2d6
3	2d4, 2d6
4	4d6
... etc...	... etc ...

(The die-types will increase as the CR goes up, with leads to more dramatic outcomes, as seen below)

Combat Outcome Table (Fighter)

Result on Combat Outcome Die	Result
1	1d4 damage.
2	1d6 damage.
3	1d4 damage, loss of 1d4 arrows, bolts or similar ammunition.
4	2d6 damage.
5	1d12 damage.
6	1d12 damage, 1 "Action Surge"/Magic Item/Class Feature charge spent.
... etc ...	... etc ...

(As with the Auto-Resolve Table, the results on the die will become more dire the larger the result is. It will also drain more of the Class' unique features, such as Inspiration, Spell Slots, Ki point etc.)

Example

My character, the Level 3 Dwarf Fighter "Brokrem Stoneseeker", has encountered two famished wolves on his journey. Easy enough to take down, but the DM doesn't wanna fiddle with a five minute battle, and neither does Brokrem. They call an Auto-Resolve.

1. Following the Auto-Resolve Table, the DM finds the right die for each enemy. The two Wolves are both CR 1/4, so he takes 2d4 and places them in front of Brokrem.
2. As the only player present, Brokrem takes the two Combat Outcome dice. Had he had a friend with him, he could've given the friend one d4 and taken the other himself.
3. He rolls the 2d4, getting a 2 and 4.
4. Looking at his Combat Outcome, that means he takes 1d6 damage and 2d6 damage - ouch! He rolls the damage, and gets a 3 on all three. Brokrem takes the 9 damage, and the battle is over - with a few wolves' teeth imbedded in his shield as a trophy!

-

... And that's as far as I've gotten. What do you guys think? How would you implement higher CR creatures, and how should a Combat Outcome Table look to be somewhat fair to the DM and the players?

I hope you'll join me in workshopping this system, because lord knows it's one we could really use at our table :D