Hailstorm Bow (Patreon)

Weapon (longbow), legendary (requires attunement)

This bow is made of pure ice, which only becomes pliable in your hands once you attune to it. While the bow is on your person, your skin becomes covered in a thin layer of protective frost, granting you a +1 bonus to AC and immunity to cold damage.

An arrow that's fired from the bow becomes covered in ice, which deals an extra 1d6 cold damage to any target it hits. If you hit a target within 5 feet of you using the bow on your turn, the target also has disadvantage on any attack rolls it makes until the end of your current turn.

The bow has 7 charges and regains 1d6 + 1 expended charges daily at dawn. While holding the bow, you can use an action to expend 1 or more of its charges to use either of the following properties.

Hailstorm Volley. For each charge you expend, you fire a magical arrow of pure ice from the bow into the sky centered directly above a point that you can see within 120 feet of you. Sharp hail then falls from the sky in a 20-foot-radius, 40-foot-high cylinder centered on the point. Each creature in the area must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. On a failed save, a creature takes 2d8 cold damage, plus 1d8 cold damage for each expended charge after the first. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much cold damage. The hailstones then turn the area into difficult terrain until the end of your next turn.

Ice Wall. For each charge you expend, you fire a magical arrow of pure ice from the bow at a different point on the ground that you can see within 120 feet of you. Each arrow then grows into a 10-foot-square panel that's 1 foot thick and perpendicular to the ground. Each panel has AC 12, 30 hit points, and is vulnerable to fire damage. If the wall cuts through a creature's space when it appears, the creature is pushed to one side of the wall (your choice which side) and must make a DC 17 Dexterity saving throw. A creature takes 3d8 cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. Each panel remains for 1 minute or until it's reduced to 0 hit points.

With her silver crown settled in her hair, the half-elf stood at attention with the rest of her graduating class. Her eyes remained forward as the Winter Guard captain delivered her speech, the Elven words washing over her and filling her with pride. She was far too excited to focus on the words' meaning, however, as she already knew them by heart. Instead, she found herself counting them down to their end.

Somewhere between three and five hundred words remaining, her gloved fingers dared to twitch and pulling her attention away from her counting. In that moment, her gaze flicked to the face with her grandmother. To her surprise, the high elf's lips curled ever so slightly into a smile on her usually stern face. On her right, the stonefaced scowl of her great-grandfather leered back at her. She steeled herself again and refocused her attention.

After what felt like an eternity, she was allowed to approach the stand. As the captain handed her a bow of unyielding ice, she gave her a small wink and a quick blessing:

"Your great-grandfather will get over it. Welcome to the Winter Court."