Circle of Rime

Druids of the circle of rime usually hail from the freezing tundras of the world, drawing their power from the might of frost and rime. Maybe you draw your power from the natural power of winter as a whole, perhaps have a connection to a powerful archfey or even a blue or silver dragon; or maybe you simply hail from a circle located in a frigid land.

Whatever the case may be, druids of rime bind the world to a halt, unleashing frost and icy winds to every creature reckless enough to stand against winter, slowing the battle around them to an icy halt, bringing stability and order to the battlefield, as they sing “be still” to the world for it to obey.

Circle Spells

You have formed a bond of primordial magic with rime and frost. Your link with it grants you access to some spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown on the Circle of the Rime spells table.

Once you gain access to one of these spells, you always have it prepared, and it doesn't count against the number of spells you can prepare each day. If you gain access to a spell that doesn't appear on the Druid Spell List, the spell is nonetheless a druid spell for you.

Druid Level	Spells
2nd	fog cloud, ice knife
3rd	misty step, snilloc’s snowball swarm
5th	sleet storm, slow,
7th	ice storm, resilient sphere
9th	arcane hand, cone of cold

Designer’s Note: There’s a decent number of spells I would have chosen instead of those on this list, but they are not basic rules or elemental evil companion’s guide content, and as such, cannot put them in here without DnDBeyond not letting me upload the subclass. 

If you add this subclass to your collection, feel very free to copy it and make a different version with spells like Armor of Agathys, Rime’s Binding Ice and Frostfingers.

Aspect of Winter

Beginning when you first pick this circle at 2nd level, you become naturally adapted to cold climates, even if you’ve never been to one; and suffer none of the drawbacks of extreme cold. 

In addition, you learn the ray of frost cantrip if you don’t know it already. It counts as a druid spell for you, but it doesn’t count against your number of cantrips known.

Rime Watcher

Also at 2nd level, you can conjure a conduit for winter. As a bonus action, you can expend a use of your Wildshape to summon a Rime Watcher on an unoccupied space you can see within 60 feet of you, rather than transforming into a beast form. You choose the appearance of your watcher, whether it is a totem, a pillar of ice or an actual creature. Whatever you choose, it is a Medium Object immune to all damage and conditions.

As part of the bonus action required to summon it, and as a bonus action on any subsequent turns, you can have your watcher shoot magical ice flares at a creature you can see within 60 feet of it. Make a ranged spell attack roll against the creature, and on a hit, the creature takes cold damage equal to your druid level + your Wisdom modifier.

Whenever a creature takes damage from your Rime Watcher, it suffers a level of Frostbite, as seen below in the Frostbite table. The effects last as long as the creature has that many Frostbite levels, and a creature with 4 levels of Frostbite isn’t applied more levels on any subsequent instances of damage. A creature loses all levels of Frostbite if any more aren’t applied for a number of turns equal to your proficiency bonus, and whenever it takes fire damage, its Frostbite levels are reduced by 1. Creatures that are immune to the effects of extreme cold suffer no drawbacks from levels of Frostbite.

Frostbite Table

Level	Effect
1	The creature’s speed is decreased by 10 feet.
2	The creature’s speed is either reduced by 15 feet or halved, whichever option leads to them having a lower speed. Their speed can’t become less than 10 feet this way.
3	The creature suffers all effects from level 2 of Frostbite, except its speed can't become less than 5 instead; and it can’t take reactions.
4	The creature becomes encased in ice. An encased creature is incapacitated, can’t move, and can speak only falteringly. It automatically fails Strength and Dexterity Saving Throws, attack rolls against it have advantage, and it is inmune to all damage other than fire, which reduces its Frostbite level by 1. At the end of its turn, a creature may attempt to succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC to escape the ice, reducing its levels of Frostbite by two.

Glacial Harvest

Starting at 6th level, you can empower yourself by subjecting your foes to the power of winter. Whenever you inflict a level of Frostbite to a creature, or cast one of your Circle spells, you gain one of the following benefits: 

• You gain temporary hit points equal to half your druid level.
• If you already have temporary hit points, you gain a +1 bonus to your AC and resistance to fire damage until the end of your next turn.
• The range on your Rime Watcher increases by 30 feet until the end of your next turn.

Iceflare Storm

At 10th level, your connection to primordial frost and winter grants you more power. Whenever you activate your Glacial Harvest feature, you can cause an icy whirlwind to wreck the battlefield. Creatures of your choice within 10 feet of you, or within 5 feet of a point you can see within 5 feet of you must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. 

On a failed save, creatures take cold damage equal to your druid level and suffer one level of Frostbite, as seen in the Rime Watcher feature. On a successful save, creatures take half as much damage and suffer no further effects.

In addition, you gain resistance to cold damage.

Winter's Wrath

By the time you’ve reached 14th level, you can become an avatar of winter, frost and rime. As an action, you can channel the full power of winter, entering a state that lasts for 1 minute, during which you gain the following benefits:

• You gain immunity to cold damage and resistance to fire damage.
• You gain a flying speed equal to your walking speed.
• You ignore immunity to cold damage, treating it as resistance instead.
• You can make two attacks, instead of one, when you activate your Rime Watcher feature.
• You may have any druid spell you cast deal cold damage rather than its original type.
• Any spell you cast that deals cold damage deals additional damage equal to your druid level.

You can use this feature twice, regaining the ability to use it again when you finish a long rest.