MrStabby
2023-04-11, 08:15 PM
Inspired by Rime of the Frostmaiden, one of my players wants to play a priestess of Auril. I thought I would give this a stab. The hard part is the campaign in question is going to run levels 8 to 16... where the cleric domain focus drops off a bit. Still, an effort to inclue changing/Scaling feaures that will last well is an emphasis of the class.
The winter domain is associated not only with the dark and bleak depths of winter but also the ice encrusted chilled parts of the world.
Winter Domain Spells
Level
Spells
1st
Armor of Agathys, Fog Cloud
3rd
Rime's Binding Ice, Gust of Wind
5th
Sleet Storm, Wind Wall
7th
Compulsion, Ice Storm
9th
Cone of Cold, Control Winds
Frostfinger
At first level you learn the Frostbite and Ray of Frost cantrips. These are cleric cantrips for you. When you make an attack roll using a cleric spell that deals cold damage you make a critical hit on an unmodified roll of an 18,19 or 20.
Winterproof
At first level you also become resistant to cold damage.
Channel Divinity: Frigid Drift
At second level you may take an action to use your channel divinity to create a large and very cold snow drift. The drift is 20ft long, 5ft deep and has width in ft equal to five times your proficiency modifier and can be created anywhere wihin 120ft of you. The area is difficult terrain for all creatures except yourself and whenever a creature begins its run in the drift or enters the drift for the first time in a turn it must succeed at a constitution save or be incapacitated untill end of turn.
Icy Manipulator
At 6th level your affinity for cold has grown. When you cast a spell that deals cold damage, if it calls for a save and if that save is failed, then the enemy is knocked prone.
Potent Spellcasting
Starting at 8th level, you add your Wisdom modifier to the damage you deal with any cleric cantrip.
Rimestorm
At level 17 as an action you may expend a use of channel divinity to conjure a powerful blizzard to a point you can see within 60ft. The blizzard occupies a 30ft sphere and obscures the area within. Any creature cought within the storm must make a dexterity save or be knocked prone and take 10d4cold damage and be blinded until the end of their next turn. On a succesful save the damage is halved. Any creature that fails their first save must repeat the save at the end of their subsequant turn with advantage, or be knocked prone again, remain blinded and take 4d4 cold damage
Broadly the aim is a cleric subclass with a bit of blasting added on, not just damage but a little movement control. Pumped Ray of Frost is still never going to compare with things like a warlock's eldritch blast but it closes the gap a little. It was intended to broadly be on par with the death cleric's reaper -get a cantrip and a boost to their damage. The Channel Divinities are a bit odd - the first seems powerful just for taking enemies out of the fight and really needs a bit of toning down... maybe. Con saves are realtively easy for most enemies and the enemies that really need to burst through this are the melee type enemies that are usually very good at con saves. This is a strong level 2 ability.
Icy manpulator at 6 also needs a little bit of a closer examination. Frostbite is a cantrip and can trigger this easily and it could potentially be quite powerful with bigger spells like cone of cold that can seperate out some enemies in larger encounters. Given the way I see the class, I don't have an issue with it being this effective with crowd control, but it also has other strengths. The requirement for it to be on a failed save prevents stacking to many bonuses on attack roll spells and also still makes it relatively weak vs magic resistant or legendarily resistant enemies.
Rimestorm at level 17 competes with the second level CD option, and largely superseeds it. The damage isn't much - even on two failed saves its barely more damage than a fireball was at level 5. The conditions applied are valuable though.
The subclass spells are not great. They are mostly not bad spells but its not like this is handing out fireball or wall of force. There is nothing that exciting on the list by itself though simply the extra flexability to blast on a cleric is nice.
The winter domain is associated not only with the dark and bleak depths of winter but also the ice encrusted chilled parts of the world.
Winter Domain Spells
Level
Spells
1st
Armor of Agathys, Fog Cloud
3rd
Rime's Binding Ice, Gust of Wind
5th
Sleet Storm, Wind Wall
7th
Compulsion, Ice Storm
9th
Cone of Cold, Control Winds
Frostfinger
At first level you learn the Frostbite and Ray of Frost cantrips. These are cleric cantrips for you. When you make an attack roll using a cleric spell that deals cold damage you make a critical hit on an unmodified roll of an 18,19 or 20.
Winterproof
At first level you also become resistant to cold damage.
Channel Divinity: Frigid Drift
At second level you may take an action to use your channel divinity to create a large and very cold snow drift. The drift is 20ft long, 5ft deep and has width in ft equal to five times your proficiency modifier and can be created anywhere wihin 120ft of you. The area is difficult terrain for all creatures except yourself and whenever a creature begins its run in the drift or enters the drift for the first time in a turn it must succeed at a constitution save or be incapacitated untill end of turn.
Icy Manipulator
At 6th level your affinity for cold has grown. When you cast a spell that deals cold damage, if it calls for a save and if that save is failed, then the enemy is knocked prone.
Potent Spellcasting
Starting at 8th level, you add your Wisdom modifier to the damage you deal with any cleric cantrip.
Rimestorm
At level 17 as an action you may expend a use of channel divinity to conjure a powerful blizzard to a point you can see within 60ft. The blizzard occupies a 30ft sphere and obscures the area within. Any creature cought within the storm must make a dexterity save or be knocked prone and take 10d4cold damage and be blinded until the end of their next turn. On a succesful save the damage is halved. Any creature that fails their first save must repeat the save at the end of their subsequant turn with advantage, or be knocked prone again, remain blinded and take 4d4 cold damage
Broadly the aim is a cleric subclass with a bit of blasting added on, not just damage but a little movement control. Pumped Ray of Frost is still never going to compare with things like a warlock's eldritch blast but it closes the gap a little. It was intended to broadly be on par with the death cleric's reaper -get a cantrip and a boost to their damage. The Channel Divinities are a bit odd - the first seems powerful just for taking enemies out of the fight and really needs a bit of toning down... maybe. Con saves are realtively easy for most enemies and the enemies that really need to burst through this are the melee type enemies that are usually very good at con saves. This is a strong level 2 ability.
Icy manpulator at 6 also needs a little bit of a closer examination. Frostbite is a cantrip and can trigger this easily and it could potentially be quite powerful with bigger spells like cone of cold that can seperate out some enemies in larger encounters. Given the way I see the class, I don't have an issue with it being this effective with crowd control, but it also has other strengths. The requirement for it to be on a failed save prevents stacking to many bonuses on attack roll spells and also still makes it relatively weak vs magic resistant or legendarily resistant enemies.
Rimestorm at level 17 competes with the second level CD option, and largely superseeds it. The damage isn't much - even on two failed saves its barely more damage than a fireball was at level 5. The conditions applied are valuable though.
The subclass spells are not great. They are mostly not bad spells but its not like this is handing out fireball or wall of force. There is nothing that exciting on the list by itself though simply the extra flexability to blast on a cleric is nice.