Containing over 70 new monsters within its pages, Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden is bursting with new creatures that you can add to your D&D game! I talked with Todd Kenreck yesterday about some of our favorite monsters from the book, and how you can use them in your Icewind Dale campaign, or your own homebrew adventures. This article and the videos embedded within it contain major spoilers for Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. 

Coldlight Walker

Inspired by the iconic poster to—but not the monster from—John Carpenter’s 1982 horror film The Thing, the coldlight walker is one of the grisliest monsters from Rime of the Frostmaiden, and one that a particularly sinister Dungeon Master can use to instill doubt and terror in their players for the duration of the campaign. Coldlight walkers are the corpses of mortals who died to the frigid environment of Icewind Dale, reanimated and overflowing with the winter goddess Auril’s divine power. These undead beacons stalk the wastes, slaughtering all living beings they find with cold, nihilistic fury.

This simple description dodges one key aspect of Rime of the Frostmaiden’s story: the people of Ten-Towns make sacrifices to ward away Auril’s wrath. Some towns sacrifice food, some sacrifice warmth (by going through the night without a fire), and some still sacrifice living humanoids. These unlucky folk are thrown out into the snow fields, where they die of frostbite and exposure—and transform into coldlight walkers infused with a radiant fury for the heartless act that created them. A party that sees a person sacrificed in this way in Ten-Towns and does nothing is in for a sobering surprise when they are attacked by that wretch’s corpse, glowing with Auril’s icy light, several levels later.

Icewind Kobolds

Kobolds aren’t cold-blooded reptiles! Kobolds can be found anywhere dragons can be found, and Icewind Dale is home to more than a few white dragons. The local Icewind kobolds aren’t much different from regular kobolds, but there are a number of quests in and around Ten-Towns that deal with these hardy little dragonlings.

However, the real exciting addition to your monstrous arsenal is the kobold vampire spawn, servants of the gnoll vampire Tekeli-li who resides in the Caves of Hunger. These creatures possess all the usual strengths and weaknesses of kobolds, but are enhanced by the powers of vampirism. A vampire’s bloodsucking bite, when combined with kobold pack tactics, makes a swarm of these ravenous undead a terrifying sight to behold! Things get even worse when you realize that thanks to Auril’s spell of endless night, these vampire spawn may never face their greatest weakness: the light of the sun!

Gnome Ceremorphs

When mind flayers implant their tadpoles in the skulls of humanoid creatures, the host undergoes a hideous metamorphosis into a new mind flayer—a deadly process known as ceremorphosis. This process takes the course of several months, during which the subject’s skin becomes rubbery, their body and limbs become long and gangly, and four hideous tentacles burst from their face. Their very minds undergo a similar transformation, twisting their thought processes into a mind flayer’s alien hunger. No trace of their humanity remains by the time ceremorphosis has run its course.

When a mind flayer tadpole enters the cranium of a gnome, however, the process doesn’t go quite as planned. Their skin turns rubbery, their eyes become beady, and they grow four mind flayer-like tentacles, but their bodies stay short and stout. The exact reasons for this glitch in the transformation is unknown—perhaps it’s due to gnomes’ innately magical nature. Nevertheless, gnome ceremorphs retain partial memories of their past lives and their natural penchant for tinkering and creation.

Some gnome ceremorphs suppress their inconvenient flashes of memory (or embrace them, if they were evil in life to begin with), whereas others are tormented by the fragments of altruism that crackle through their hyperintelligent, sociopathic minds. 

The White Wyrm, Arveiaturace

The fourth monster on this list is a creature whose stats you can mind in the Monster Manual. Arveiaturace (pronounced ar-vay-AH-chur-us) is an ancient white dragon, with no special tweaks or changes to her game statistics—save one, her eyes are blind, limiting her field of vision to the 60 feet of peerless vision that her blindsight provides. Why does this creature deserve a place on this list? Because Rime of the Frostmaiden shows how story, character, and context can transform a well-trod stat block. Here are three interesting facts about Arveiaturace:

She’s a challenge rating 20 monster. When the characters encounter her, they could be as weak as 4th level, or maybe even as strong as 11th level. No matter when they encounter her, she’s a viciously deadly encounter. There’s no way that the characters are going to best her in a fair fight. If they want to engage in an ill-advised battle, they’d better have an ace up their sleeve. More likely, however, is that this ancient, might creature will be a tension-filled social encounter or stealthy exploration encounter.

She has a long and storied history. Arveiaturace’s long lifespan has given her more than just a high challenge rating. She has hundreds of years of history behind her, including meetings with Laeral Silverhand, current Open Lord of Waterdeep. Her rocky relationship with the Lords’ Alliance could make her an odd ally if the characters wish to strike out against the Lords’ Alliance’s presence in Icewind Dale. Moreover, her age means she has a truly mighty treasure hoard. Rumors of her great wealth circulate throughout Ten-Towns, and intrepid adventurers could even be tempted into undergoing a quest to search for it…

She talks to the corpse of her former rider. Long ago, a wizard named Meltharond trained Arveiaturace to be a dragon of war, and rode her into battle as a faithful steed and companion. These days, Meltharond isn’t doing much. Because he’s dead. And, as luck would have it, still strapped to Arveiaturace’s saddle-throne. He’s not very talkative anymore, but the White Wyrm doesn’t let that stop her from chatting with her closest friend. If there’s one thing that sets her off, though, it’s meddling with Meltharond. One of your players may learn that the hard way.

These three simple elements, taken together, have transformed a run-of-the-mill dragon into an interesting and even pitiable character that could inspire adventures for sessions on end!

Oyamintarok, the Goliath Werebear

One of the most affecting moments in any fantasy story is when a hulking monster, one that the heroes have heard spoken of only in hushed tones over dying campfires, turns out to a good guy! Maybe not a nice guy—the legendary goliath were-polar bear Oyamintarok has a very survival-of-the-fittest outlook on life—but she is far from a villain. Dungeon Masters with access to the Monster Manual know that werebears are renowned for their goodness, and your players may have learned that too.

But have they ever met a were-polar bear? Even if they’re certain that this arctic cousin to the iconic “good guy” lycanthrope isn’t as evil as a werewolf or a wererat, the novelty of this white-furred, battle-scarred creature might give them pause. Oyamintarok and her fellow goliath werebears may show up throughout Rime of the Frostmaiden when circumstances grow dire, and she may even travel with the characters for a time to aid them in their battle to save Icewind Dale from Auril’s curse.

Auril the Frostmaiden

The monstrous being that graces the cover of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden is none other than the goddess Auril, the eponymous Frostmaiden herself. Auril’s divine power has been diminished greatly by the daily casting of a spell that prevents the sun itself from rising over Icewind Dale, but she is still more than a match for the heroes of this adventure as they struggle to halt her deadly scheme.

Her three-phase boss fight has gained a lot of attention lately. Check the Todd Talks video above for a discussion of her three forms, a monstrous humanoid snowy owl, a towering woman of jagged ice, and an eldritch, geometric crystal of wintry and unknowable intelligence. Check D&D Beyond’s front page in the weeks to come for an article detailing how to use Auril’s three forms to their fullest extent in combat, and how to make her into a boss battle your players will never forget in an upcoming article: How to Play Auril the Frostmaiden like a God of Destruction!

Have you begun playing Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden? What are some of your favorite new monsters? Let us know in the comments below!

James Haeck (@jamesjhaeck) is a former writer for D&D Beyond, the co-author of Waterdeep: Dragon Heist, Baldur's Gate: Descent into Avernus, and the Critical Role Explorer's Guide to Wildemount, a member of the Guild Adepts, and a freelance writer for Wizards of the Coast, the D&D Adventurers League, and other RPG companies. He lives in Seattle, Washington with his fiancée Hannah and their animal companions Mei and Marzipan.