Rime Witch

Medium fey, neutral evil

Armor Class 18 (Aura of Spite)
Hit Points 70 (10d8 + 10)
Speed 40 ft.

Str	Dex	Con	Int	Wis	Cha
10 (+0)	17 (+3)	13 (+1)	15 (+2)	14 (+2)	22 (+6)

Saving Throws Dex +7, Wis +6, Cha +10
Skills Deception +10, Insight +6, Persuasion +10, Stealth +7
Damage Resistances bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons
Damage Immunities cold
Damage Vulnerabilities fire
Senses darkvision 60 ft.; passive Perception 12
Languages Sylvan, Titan Speech
Challenge 11 (7,200 XP)

Special Traits

• Aura of Spite. The rime witch gains a bonus to their armor class equal to their Charisma bonus (already factored into their statistics). However, all undead under their control gain the same bonus, as well as the rime witch’s damage resistances, damage immunities, and damage vulnerabilities.
• Despairing Visions. Three times per day, a rime witch may infuse despair and sorrowful longing into one illusion spell they cast against a single creature. If the target fails its save against this spell, it takes a level of exhaustion in addition to the spell’s other effects. If the spell has no saving throw, the creature must make a DC 16 Wisdom save when it perceives the illusion, suffering two levels of exhaustion on a failure. A creature that dies from this exhaustion rises 24 hours later as an undead servant of the rime witch, as the animate dead spell.
• Spellcasting. The rime witch is a 10th-level spellcaster. Their spellcasting ability is Charisma (Spell save DC 18, +10 to hit with spell attacks). The rime witch has the following sorcerer spells prepared:
  • Cantrips (at will): acid splash, chill touch, mage hand, mending, prestidigitation, ray of frost
  • 1st level (4 slots): disguise self, magic missile, silent image
  • 2nd level (3 slots): alter self, invisibility, mirror image
  • 3rd level (3 slots): animate dead, major image
  • 4th level (3 slots): hallucinatory terrain, phantasmal killer
  • 5th level (2 slots): dream
• Trackless Step. With just a thought, the rime witch removes any marks of its passage. All attempts to track the rime witch with Wisdom (Survival) checks are made at disadvantage.

Actions

• Short Sword. Melee Weapon Attack: +7+ to hit, reach 5 ft, one target. Hit: 7 (1d6 + 3) slashing damage.

About

A rime witch without her illusions in place appears as a beautiful woman with platinum blond hair and skin of flawless, frosty porcelain. They wander the frigid wastes and visit woe upon any who cross their path, cloaked in illusions: a wary, lost traveler in a snowstorm seeking succor or shelter; a mother ranging the wilderness, seeking a lost child; a druid battered by a wild beast, barely holding on to life. The rime witch knows many ploys to draw a victim close.

They insinuate themselves into the lives of their victims.

Once within their confidence, the rime witch uses her illusions to whittle away at the target’s mind over the course of days. Her illusions draw out their delicious terror and suffering. When they have nothing left to give, the drained victim dies, but rises the next day as an undead trophy for the rime witch to appreciate until she grows bored and discards the remains to seek new prey.