Auril the Frostmaiden is more than a monster, she is a god. The story of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden hinges upon the players being embroiled in her inscrutable divine plans. Each icy moment of the adventure is haunted by her powerful magic, but it’s the Dungeon Master’s job to make the moments in which she appears so sinister and dramatic that it chills the blood in their players’ veins. Here’s how.

Be warned! This article contains major endgame spoilers for Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. If you’re currently a player in this campaign, or plan on playing in this campaign in the future, read no further.

Who is Auril the Frostmaiden?

"Folk propitiate Auril with offerings and prayers for mercy. Her priests warn others to prepare for winter, and to stock extra provisions in order to have some to spare as offerings to the goddess. […] Few favor Auril except for those who make their livelihood from winter or those who truly love the season. Her rare priests tend to be folk who would, but for their status, likely be outcasts from their communities."

Source: Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide

Let’s talk about the Frostmaiden herself. The Sword Coast Adventurer’s Guide gives a short overview of how people in the Forgotten Realms view Auril, and Rime of the Frostmaiden spins this description out into a full character.

Auril is an evil goddess with little care for human life. While winter may be a charming season in temperate regions like Waterdeep and Elturel, the people of Luskan and Icewind Dale know all too well how cruel and heartless winter can be. Frostbite kills limbs, snowstorms blind travelers, and snow madness leads people to strip naked, feeling warm when truly they’re dying of chill. Auril feels not a single frigid drop of remorse for the suffering her winters cause, for she thinks of all mortals as meddling, inferior beings.

Change is anathema to Auril. As the characters ought to learn over the course of this adventure, Auril longs to place the world in perfect stasis, like a quaint ice sculpture that she can admire for its beauty, eternally. If that means annihilating all life by plunging the world into night unending, so be it — mortals, after all, are unpredictable agents of change. They have no place in her perfect, crystallized world.

If you want more advice roleplaying Auril the Frostmaiden, check out the “Roleplaying Auril” section in appendix C of Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. This section includes valuable tips that will help you preserve her mystique and keep her feeling like a strangely alien divine entity.

Encountering Auril on Solstice

The characters have two major chances to encounter Auril the Frostmaiden in her eponymous adventure. The first occurs in chapter 5 of the adventure, when they travel to her island of Solstice and invade her fortress of Grimskalle to recover The Codicil of White — an item that could be used to undo her evil plot. If they invade the island at nighttime, they can slip into her fortress and abscond with the Codicil while Auril flies upon her roc companion, Iskra, to cast her spell of eternal darkness upon Icewind Dale.

If they invade during the day, however, Auril is present and has complete mastery over her domain. If the characters are still 7th level when they visit Solstice, they may wish to stop her. This is a foolhardy idea, bordering on suicidal, but one which you should permit them to see through if they wish. There is a chance, however slim, that they can defeat Auril then and there. This encounter will likely begin in Auril’s cramped chambers within Grimskalle (area G8), but could move anywhere on the island, since Auril can freely teleport anywhere on Solstice using her lair actions.

If they try and fail, you may wish to spare them a TPK so that you can continue your campaign. In that case, consider having them awaken, years later, by the fire of a priest of the sun god Amaunator in hiding — perhaps Mishann, who tends to the House of the Morninglord in Bryn Shander. The characters were turned into ice sculptures by Auril, and were saved by a group of hired adventurers who plucked them from Auril’s sculpture garden. They were thawed and resurrected by Mishann and other priests in hiding — for Auril has spread her curse across the Sword Coast and her frost druids persecute any who do not pay her homage. Now, the stakes are higher than ever.

Encountering Auril in the Necropolis

The adventures climactic final dungeon is the necropolis of Ythryn, found in chapter 7 of this adventure. This region is not Auril’s domain, but it is a prize beyond measure to her — an ancient Netherese city, perfectly preserved in glacial ice. If the characters disturb it, they earn Auril’s true wrath, and she comes to Ythryn to deliver it unto them personally. Auril makes her roost at the top of the Spire of Iriolarthas at the heart of the city (area Y19p), but eventually begins stalking the characters through the city. Thus, this encounter could take place anywhere in Ythryn. If they learn this, the characters could even set a trap for her.

Be prepared for anything when running Auril in Ythryn. No matter where the characters encounter her, your best bet is to know her game statistics well, so that you can play her in a cunning and proactive manner. Your knowledge will also help you play reactively, if your players outfox her.  

Phase 1: The Cold Crone

Auril the Frostmaiden possesses three forms. As each form is defeated, it strips a layer of artifice away from her, burrowing closer and closer to her divine spark.

All of these forms possess a few powers in common. The first of which are significant bonuses to several skill checks. These bonuses aren’t relevant in combat, but it is worth remembering her bonus to Wisdom (Insight) and Wisdom (Perception) checks if the characters try to deceive or elude her. More saliently, she has large bonuses to Constitution and Wisdom saving throws, plus two uses of Legendary Resistance per form (except her third form, which has only one), plus Magic Resistance giving her advantage on all saving throws against spells and magical effects make her unlikely to be laid low by magic. She possesses a huge suite of condition immunities, as well as immunity to cold and poison damage. She also has telepathy out to 1,000 feet, allowing her to communicate with any creature in that range, as well as truesight out to 120 feet, giving her the ability to see invisibility, see the true form of shapechanged creatures, and see through illusions. Finally, her divine nature prevents her from being surprised or changed into another shape against her will, rendering sneak attacks and crowd control spells like polymorph worthless.

The first form is an eerie form that terrifies mortals with its uncanny, bestial features. However, this form is actually relatively physically frail — at least compared to her other forms. In this form, Auril can fly. With a flying speed of 60 feet, she is easily able to flit through the fallen spires of Ythryn and stay out of reach of melee fighters. Auril is haughty and confident, but she could start weakening characters by using hit-and-run tactics in this form, haunting them like an omnipotent specter. On Solstice, this ability is less relevant, as she can teleport anywhere on the island practically at will.

Auril has two useful combat loops in this form: a ranged loop and a melee loop. Start by using the ranged loop, but try to swap between these different strategies as necessary to adjust to your players’ tactics. No matter what, if a character attacks her with radiant damage (which she is weak to in this form) she prioritizes killing that character first.

Ranged Combat. Auril uses her flying speed to stay away from the characters, but lurks at a maximum range of 90 feet. She attacks using ice storm (2/day) when the characters are clustered together, and chromatic orb (see her Actions) when they’re apart. She tries to use her flying speed to end each turn out of sight of the characters.

Melee Combat. Auril uses her flying speed to swoop in and attack physically weak characters like wizards with her Touch of Frost attack. She then uses misty step to gain distance and avoid opportunity attacks if necessary, and then uses the remainder of her flying speed to end each turn out of sight of the characters. 

Phase 2: The Brittle Maiden

When Auril’s first form is defeated, she melts away and instantly appears in her second form at a point of her choice within 60 feet of where she was defeated. Her second form, the Brittle Maiden, appears as a ten-foot tall woman of jagged ice. This form can’t fly, and lacks any sort of utility spellcasting, but her Armor Class and hit points have increased significantly over her first form. This form is unquestionably that of a resilient melee combatant. In this form, she is weak to fire damage, and prioritizes the destruction of any character that harms her with fire.

Start combat by using one of her most powerful abilities: Cone of Cold or Ice Stasis. Use cone of cold if the characters are all clustered together, to deal immense damage to them immediately. Otherwise, single out one of the party with Ice Stasis. Temporarily removing one of her foes from combat is a mighty boon, and if she uses it early enough, there’s a chance it will recharge before this form is defeated.

Unless the characters try to flee, Auril tries to stay in the thick of combat. She gets up close and personal and tries to crush her foes using her Ice Morningstar attacks, accompanied by using her Attack or Ice Flurry legendary actions to keep up the damage on single foes (Attack) or clustered enemies (Ice Flurry). She doesn’t use her Create Ice Mephit action or Splinter legendary action unless she’s given time to prepare, possibly by the characters fleeing.

Phase 3: The Queen of Frozen Tears

Just as before, Auril’s third form reforms within 60 feet of where her previous form was defeated. This form, the Queen of Frozen Tears, is her true, divine essence. A small elemental ice crystal surrounds her divine spark. Only by defeating this form can Auril be killed.

Auril can’t walk in this form; she can only hover slowly, making this form the easiest to trap. However, this slow movement speed works well with her most significant action: Blizzard Veil. This allows her to create a blizzard that surrounds her, heavily obscuring her, thus making it difficult to hit her. If her concentration on her Blizzard Veil is broken, Auril has a trick up her sleeve. She can use her Blinding Gleam legendary action to dazzle all creatures within 10 feet of her that can see her with light, potentially blinding them.

Because of these abilities, and combined with her impressive Armor Class of 19, this form is one of the hardest to kill, being resilient against both martial and magical attacks.

Nevertheless, Auril wants to be close to her enemies in this form. Because of her Frigid Aura, any foe within 10 feet of her also takes 10 cold damage each turn, making getting close to this crystal an unpleasant prospect. She can even use two legendary actions to use her Intensify Aura feature, increasing this aura’s damaging effects.

Outside of her aura, Auril only has one attack in this form: Polar Ray. It’s a powerful beam of ice. Point, attack, deal damage. Your turns as Auril are actually quite simple in this form. The biggest tactical challenge in this form is managing your legendary actions so that you can use her Intensify Aura or Blinding Gleam actions at the most opportune time. Be careful; since both cost 2 actions and she can only take 3 legendary actions per round, you can’t use them both in the same round of combat. Do you play it defensively, or get aggressive? You’ll have to adjust your tactics on the fly to account for the characters’ actions.

How will you play Auril the Frostmaiden when your players find her? Let us know in the comments!

James Haeck (@jamesjhaeck) is the lead 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.