Buy Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden on D&D Beyond: dndbeyond.link/RIme This conversation was part of a larger Todd Talks around the monsters in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, where they also looked at Coldlight Walkers ( ruclips.net/video/gxG6xgIJTss/видео.html ) and Squidlings & Icewind Kobolds ( ruclips.net/video/TSRnKhGMa-k/видео.html ).
All these people saying that she's weak without considering that fighting Auril is actually like fighting 3 separate monsters, of CR 9, CR10, and CR11. Along with whatever conditions the fight provides for, and Legendary actions..it would still be relatively difficult. And this is in her weakened state as she is literally casting the equivalent of a 9th level spell every single night. Not only that, but she doesn't stay even stay dead. She returns upon the Winter Solstice.
This boss is epic! I would even throw in checks to draw your swords from frozen scabbards, checks to avoid freezing in place or slipping on ice, and arcana checks to force your freezing limbs to perform somatic gestures in spell casting. Make this fight as harrowing as a bitter winter 🥶
Running Rime of the Frostmaiden- first time ever DMing and I’ve never played as a player either. Videos like this really help me prepare and give my players a good experience (and enjoy the process myself!)
Gods dont always have beauty without. But rather within. I could only imagine meeting the frost maiden in the beautiful tundra lands of ice. Looking through the lands of ice and snow to admire the beautiful scenery across the lands.
A lot of people in the comment using the "might makes right" logic. "Well a dragon is more powerful than her! Why not worship the dragon?????" You do realize being a God is more than just power, right? Just like a king rules over everyone but most likely couldn't kick the ass of every soldier in his army. That's why they elect generals, and Seargents and so on. Being in a position of power does not mean you are automatically stronger than everyone below, there are tons of reasons why stronger people will respect your position of authority. She is the Goddess of Winter's Cruelty, she provides spells to clerics, she has a role in nature and a domain she rules over. It doesn't matter if there are other more powerful beings out there, they are not Gods, it's not the same. Gods are reborn, Gods have thousands of followers and other elements that grant them power other than brute strength or CR (which by the way is just a game mechanic, and not very accurate beyond CR 6 or so). Use your imagination guys, don't let arbitrary numbers on a book constrain your narrative common sense.
The notion of “if I think of it, it knows about me” traces its way back _at least_ to the ancient Greeks. The reason they had so many names for Hades and Persephone was because they feared that if you talked about them you’d catch their attention.
About a year ago, I started a campaign with a cleric that got lost up in the Spine and was granted reprieve by Auril in exchange for spreading fear of her power down south. My character spent the campaign seeking to warn people that a harsh winter was coming, and that they should be diverting attention to prepare for it, in a sort of true-neutral loophole interpretation of her demand. Anyway, I died to some random orc, but I'd like another go at it with this module.
The Forgotten Realms is a perfect example of beloved characters being caught in eternal resurrection, from smaller retcons to Elminster the Eternal to the big daddy Second Sundering aka “Fine! We’ll just put everything back with just enough acrobatics that it’s still canon but treated like a bad season of a show that everyone ignores”
I dislike reducing "gods" to beings that can be battled. My homebrew pantheon has a strict deity roll for actual "gods" but has room for demi-gods, which Auril fits. Demi-god, as the term implies, are beings that are not really gods but they hold powers well beyond that of a mortal. I wish the game used this term more.
I think your looking at gods from a too western view of them, in in say Shinto belief their are gods of all power levels and stories of mortal men defeating gods and or becoming gods (why you think jrpgs have you fight gods so much?)
The avatar is just a fraction of her power. Kill it and it can be reformed in the next week by a lesser god. A god can be killed only by another god of the same or higher power.
@Tyler Ford Not to mention that this god is weakened because she’s been casting spells at bare minimum of 9th level and beyond for every, Single DAY to maintain the cold weather.
I was very disappointed the creature on the cover was a "god" (ahem) and not an owlbear matriarch. I am inclined to say that it *is* an owlbear matriarch, and Auril was just possessing it.
Very excited to run this game. I read the first part yesterday and I think the initial review are not fair. It beautiful. I would caution new dungeon masters on this....How did your pcs get here. Lots going on here and some awesome moments for RP. On a scale of 1-5 for GM difficulty would be 3.5 out of 5. It does take a little prep and will need some thought going into it. So do some prep work and this will be a special game.
Our party in Ravenloft has it in their mind to find a way to put down Strahd permanently by turning him human again, taking him out of Ravenloft (kinda like how Vecna almost did), and then finding a way to rip Barovia out of the Planes of Dread and return it to it's original world. Gonna need some big old Plane Shift Pilons and might need to steal Mordenkainen's tower in Decent into Avernus
I just don't agree that Gods can be weak and maintain their position. If an adult dragon can slap you around without too much trouble, why should you be feared, why should you command worship? Why not just worship the dragon? Compare her to Tiamat who is another lesser deity, she is still the strongest statblock in the game at CR 30. Tiamat handles all of Auril's forms in a couple turns and it isn't close. Auril while visually and thematically impressive is pretty underwhelming in scale and influence.
Your doing that thing, where you compare the mechanical difference of each edition to the present one and extrapolate story from it. 5e isn't 3.5 wherein X must be mechanically Y to justify its place in story. Auril is a deity. That's a classification of a thing based on it nature not its mechanical expression in the game. And the writers already pointed out that the deity in question has been turned on by her greatest allies, forced to assume a physical form and expending a great deal of her divine power to maintain an eternal winter over a vast swath of the world. Now think about what the last part must involve. She's forcing the sun not to rise in the north, bending the very laws of space and time within its effect and canceling out the powers of other Greater deities like Lathander & Chauntea, Silvanus & Amaunator in the area! Not to mention she is doing something the Gods have explicitly not done sense the sundering; directly affecting Toril and manifesting fully on the prime material plane not as an avatar but as a fully corporeal deity. Ergo she is also separated from her divine realm, further weakening her. Let's put it this way. Take a Level 20 Wizard. not take away there Spell Focus and Book, take away all but a few of their most powerful magical trinkets and force them to expend their remaining power on maintaining a series of high level spell effects. Despite being a 20th level Wizard they could likely be taken out by four or more level 9 players with the right approach. Auril is basically in this position.
What did you expect he can heal 5 points a round as a passive has 75 at the start and has multi attack and then teleport and you tried that at level one?
Well to be fair they were winning and his heal only went off twice they arent the dumbest but they all just started rolling very bad near the end of it not even able to hit his 12 ac
The adventure is really really awesome, but Auril is extremely disappointing as a major antagonist let alone an evil god, she just looks harmless and straight up adorable. She has no real aura of menace about her, I'm running the adventure and its so so good, but I've written Auril out of the adventure and replaced her with a completely different antagonist. This is supposed to be a horror adventure that huggable old owl lady inspires fear into no one.
CR 9 god wow! Why has not any even slightly powerful dragon not trying to take her power? I'm sure there are plenty or demons, devil, and other beings just looking to kill a god for fun. Wizards could have gave a some what more epic ending to Auril in a novel or something, not killed by a 6th level group of murder hobos. Hopefully the book is worth it, I will not be running this adventure.
Ah yes. A group of 6th level players killing a CR 9, then a CR 10, then two CR 11's simultaneously. That's not including the fact that it's literally impossible to hide from her (one of her lair actions reveals the location of everyone, as well as their health), also she can teleport anywhere on her vast island at will. Yep, super weak
It's stated in the adventure that Auril is using nearly all her divine power to cast her darkness spell each day and on top of that giving her faithful followers there spells. So when you face her she is actually super nerfed by her own doing. If she were at her full power I could easily see her being a CR 17-20 creature.
![Megan Thee Stallion - Roc Steady (feat. Flo Milli) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HozPPyqW0dY/mqdefault.jpg)
Buy Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden on D&D Beyond: dndbeyond.link/RIme
This conversation was part of a larger Todd Talks around the monsters in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden, where they also looked at Coldlight Walkers ( ruclips.net/video/gxG6xgIJTss/видео.html ) and Squidlings & Icewind Kobolds ( ruclips.net/video/TSRnKhGMa-k/видео.html ).
They keep describing her as "Terrifying" instead of "Adorable" and I'm wondering what they have against owls.
All these people saying that she's weak without considering that fighting Auril is actually like fighting 3 separate monsters, of CR 9, CR10, and CR11. Along with whatever conditions the fight provides for, and Legendary actions..it would still be relatively difficult. And this is in her weakened state as she is literally casting the equivalent of a 9th level spell every single night. Not only that, but she doesn't stay even stay dead. She returns upon the Winter Solstice.
This boss is epic! I would even throw in checks to draw your swords from frozen scabbards, checks to avoid freezing in place or slipping on ice, and arcana checks to force your freezing limbs to perform somatic gestures in spell casting. Make this fight as harrowing as a bitter winter 🥶
Exactly! And another important note: REFRESHES LEGENDARY RESISTANCES EACH FORM!
That’s the equivalent of sapping 6 spells for the teams spell casters!
Running Rime of the Frostmaiden- first time ever DMing and I’ve never played as a player either.
Videos like this really help me prepare and give my players a good experience (and enjoy the process myself!)
Gods dont always have beauty without. But rather within. I could only imagine meeting the frost maiden in the beautiful tundra lands of ice. Looking through the lands of ice and snow to admire the beautiful scenery across the lands.
A lot of people in the comment using the "might makes right" logic. "Well a dragon is more powerful than her! Why not worship the dragon?????"
You do realize being a God is more than just power, right? Just like a king rules over everyone but most likely couldn't kick the ass of every soldier in his army. That's why they elect generals, and Seargents and so on. Being in a position of power does not mean you are automatically stronger than everyone below, there are tons of reasons why stronger people will respect your position of authority. She is the Goddess of Winter's Cruelty, she provides spells to clerics, she has a role in nature and a domain she rules over. It doesn't matter if there are other more powerful beings out there, they are not Gods, it's not the same. Gods are reborn, Gods have thousands of followers and other elements that grant them power other than brute strength or CR (which by the way is just a game mechanic, and not very accurate beyond CR 6 or so).
Use your imagination guys, don't let arbitrary numbers on a book constrain your narrative common sense.
I agree 👍
A 3 stage boss fight in the north against a ice cold woman.... hmmmm..... bring me my flail ?
Nice reference, just beat her a few days ago
The notion of “if I think of it, it knows about me” traces its way back _at least_ to the ancient Greeks.
The reason they had so many names for Hades and Persephone was because they feared that if you talked about them you’d catch their attention.
About a year ago, I started a campaign with a cleric that got lost up in the Spine and was granted reprieve by Auril in exchange for spreading fear of her power down south. My character spent the campaign seeking to warn people that a harsh winter was coming, and that they should be diverting attention to prepare for it, in a sort of true-neutral loophole interpretation of her demand.
Anyway, I died to some random orc, but I'd like another go at it with this module.
"Winter is coming."
The characters don’t ever necessarily know Strahd returns. So in their minds they get their happy ending.
The Forgotten Realms is a perfect example of beloved characters being caught in eternal resurrection, from smaller retcons to Elminster the Eternal to the big daddy Second Sundering aka “Fine! We’ll just put everything back with just enough acrobatics that it’s still canon but treated like a bad season of a show that everyone ignores”
Love Icewind Dale. Awesome campaign!
I dislike reducing "gods" to beings that can be battled. My homebrew pantheon has a strict deity roll for actual "gods" but has room for demi-gods, which Auril fits. Demi-god, as the term implies, are beings that are not really gods but they hold powers well beyond that of a mortal. I wish the game used this term more.
Well the game uses 'lesser gods' and 'avatars' for the same purpose
I think your looking at gods from a too western view of them, in in say Shinto belief their are gods of all power levels and stories of mortal men defeating gods and or becoming gods (why you think jrpgs have you fight gods so much?)
The avatar is just a fraction of her power. Kill it and it can be reformed in the next week by a lesser god. A god can be killed only by another god of the same or higher power.
@Tyler Ford
Not to mention that this god is weakened because she’s been casting spells at bare minimum of 9th level and beyond for every, Single DAY to maintain the cold weather.
Aruli Is Barn owl
Why are these beautiful Todd Talks being cut up into segments with no option for a full version? What happened to that?
I was very disappointed the creature on the cover was a "god" (ahem) and not an owlbear matriarch. I am inclined to say that it *is* an owlbear matriarch, and Auril was just possessing it.
Very excited to run this game. I read the first part yesterday and I think the initial review are not fair. It beautiful. I would caution new dungeon masters on this....How did your pcs get here. Lots going on here and some awesome moments for RP. On a scale of 1-5 for GM difficulty would be 3.5 out of 5. It does take a little prep and will need some thought going into it. So do some prep work and this will be a special game.
What's the easiest and most fun to run? Looking for a fun and easy game to run
Our party in Ravenloft has it in their mind to find a way to put down Strahd permanently by turning him human again, taking him out of Ravenloft (kinda like how Vecna almost did), and then finding a way to rip Barovia out of the Planes of Dread and return it to it's original world. Gonna need some big old Plane Shift Pilons and might need to steal Mordenkainen's tower in Decent into Avernus
I would be really keen on "stealing" her divinity if she is killed somehow.
but how
Hii
I just don't agree that Gods can be weak and maintain their position. If an adult dragon can slap you around without too much trouble, why should you be feared, why should you command worship? Why not just worship the dragon?
Compare her to Tiamat who is another lesser deity, she is still the strongest statblock in the game at CR 30. Tiamat handles all of Auril's forms in a couple turns and it isn't close. Auril while visually and thematically impressive is pretty underwhelming in scale and influence.
Auril is weak specifically because she uses a tremendous amount of her power maintaining the rime though, not because she's naturally that way.
@@noahs97 I know that but I think its still somewhat underwhelming that there isn't a more powerful version of Auril that we get to see.
@Ryan Smith Many dragons worship gods.
Your doing that thing, where you compare the mechanical difference of each edition to the present one and extrapolate story from it.
5e isn't 3.5 wherein X must be mechanically Y to justify its place in story.
Auril is a deity. That's a classification of a thing based on it nature not its mechanical expression in the game.
And the writers already pointed out that the deity in question has been turned on by her greatest allies, forced to assume a physical form and expending a great deal of her divine power to maintain an eternal winter over a vast swath of the world.
Now think about what the last part must involve. She's forcing the sun not to rise in the north, bending the very laws of space and time within its effect and canceling out the powers of other Greater deities like Lathander & Chauntea, Silvanus & Amaunator in the area! Not to mention she is doing something the Gods have explicitly not done sense the sundering; directly affecting Toril and manifesting fully on the prime material plane not as an avatar but as a fully corporeal deity. Ergo she is also separated from her divine realm, further weakening her.
Let's put it this way.
Take a Level 20 Wizard. not take away there Spell Focus and Book, take away all but a few of their most powerful magical trinkets and force them to expend their remaining power on maintaining a series of high level spell effects. Despite being a 20th level Wizard they could likely be taken out by four or more level 9 players with the right approach. Auril is basically in this position.
I’m running this and just did full session one and my party got whooped by just Sephek, even one dying flat out. So my group is doomed
I had my party do the lake monster quest before fighting Sephek. That health boost from level two made that fight much more manageable.
They are cr 3. Your party is level 1.
What did you expect he can heal 5 points a round as a passive has 75 at the start and has multi attack and then teleport and you tried that at level one?
Well to be fair they were winning and his heal only went off twice they arent the dumbest but they all just started rolling very bad near the end of it not even able to hit his 12 ac
@@MojaDGaminG so your saying they killed him in 2/3 rounds
The adventure is really really awesome, but Auril is extremely disappointing as a major antagonist let alone an evil god, she just looks harmless and straight up adorable. She has no real aura of menace about her, I'm running the adventure and its so so good, but I've written Auril out of the adventure and replaced her with a completely different antagonist. This is supposed to be a horror adventure that huggable old owl lady inspires fear into no one.
The first fight against a god in 5e, and it's not even close to epic level. What? Why would you do this?
3 CR monsters at 9,10,11 in one fight is equal to fighting one monster of CR 30. At least that's what WotC thinks
CR 9 god wow! Why has not any even slightly powerful dragon not trying to take her power? I'm sure there are plenty or demons, devil, and other beings just looking to kill a god for fun. Wizards could have gave a some what more epic ending to Auril in a novel or something, not killed by a 6th level group of murder hobos. Hopefully the book is worth it, I will not be running this adventure.
there is the part where this is an avatar.
Ah yes. A group of 6th level players killing a CR 9, then a CR 10, then two CR 11's simultaneously. That's not including the fact that it's literally impossible to hide from her (one of her lair actions reveals the location of everyone, as well as their health), also she can teleport anywhere on her vast island at will. Yep, super weak
It's stated in the adventure that Auril is using nearly all her divine power to cast her darkness spell each day and on top of that giving her faithful followers there spells. So when you face her she is actually super nerfed by her own doing. If she were at her full power I could easily see her being a CR 17-20 creature.
CR 9? You mean CR 30 right? 9+10+11=30