The Groom towers over other men, his handsome features chiseled and ice-blue eyes framed by curls of ebony hair. Many would liken his body to the most exquisite of marble statues. The truth be told, it is crafted from enchanted wax lending an angelic-white tone. The Groom usually bears a stoic countenance, occasionally accented by heroic resolve. No heart beats within the fighter’s chest, only a corrupted slice of divine fire. His eyes are frozen marbles, his hair spun silk, and his noble mien as false as it is well-sculpted. The Groom wears a suit of curated platemail armor as easily as others don clothing; both it and his longsword bear a frosty sheen of rime. His appearance makes women swoon and men defer to this larger than life figure, often to their great detriment.

Revenge Obsessed. The Groom will stop at nothing to track down his creator, The Relict, and destroy her. He realizes he is a thing that should not be and often waxes on ending his plight via suicide. The icy warrior may do just that, but only once the focus of his ire is no more. The Groom isn’t the Relict’s first attempt to create a family, but he is the feminine golem’s biggest success and greatest failure. After coming to life the Groom immediately set upon the Relict and their battle brought the entirety of a derelict keep down upon them. All of her artificers and researchers perished in the destruction. By the time the Groom dug his way out the false woman was gone. In pursuing her the Groom will steal, blackmail, and slaughter whomever he needs to get one step closer. Despite his looks, the waxen man is no hero.

Divinity Extinguished. The Groom’s power and demeanor can be traced back to a critical failure on the The Relict's part. Having only fragments of her creator’s notes the tallow woman chiseled the incorrect runes on the skeletal cage that would form the Groom’s core. While she was able to capture another flicker of divine fire within the ribcage the improper sigils immediately quenched the flames and then stoked to life something that was the opposite. Where the Relict burns hot the Groom is akin to an arctic tundra. Instead of creating a companion to fill the void in her soul the Relict birthed her greatest rival instead. Both incredible forces of evil the golem pair wreak havoc on the living in their quest to obliterate one another.

The Groom

Medium construct, choatic evil

Armor Class 20 (platemail armor and shield)

Hit Points 178 (17d10+85)

Speed 30ft

Str 18 Dex 11 Con 20 Int 15 Wis 18 Cha 12

Saves Con +9, Wis +8

Skills Athletics +9, Perception +9

Condition Immunities charmed, exhaustion, frightened, paralyzed, petrified, poisoned

Damage Immunities cold

Damage Resistances blundgeoning, piecing, and slashing from non-magical weapons, poison

Senses blindsight 30ft, passive Perception 19

Languages common, deep speech, primordial

Challenge 13 (10000 XP)

Cold Absorption:

Whenever the Groom is subjected to cold damage, he takes no damage and instead regains a number of hit points equal to the cold damage dealt.

Eclipse:

The Groom can choose to quench a non-magic light source or end a light spell within a 30ft that he can see as a bonus action.

Innate Spell Casting:

The Groom is a 7th level spellcaster. His spellcasting ability is Wisdom (spell save DC 17, +9 to hit with spell attacks). He requires no material components to cast its spells.

At will: Chill touch

1/day each: Chromatic Orb (cold only), Ice Knife, Ice Storm, Snowball Storm

Legendary Resistance (3/day):

If The Groom fails a saving throw, he can choose to succeed instead.

Actions

Multiattack

The Groom makes two long sword attacks and 1 shield bash as one action.

Longsword:

Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit:8 (1d8 + 4) slashing damage plus 7 (2d8) cold damage. If wielded two handed a hit deals 9 (1d10+4) slashing damage plus 7 (2d8) cold damage.

Shield Bash:

Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 5ft., one target. Hit: 7 (1d6+4) bludgeoning damage plus 7 (2d8) cold damage. If the target is a creature it must succeed on a DC 17 Constitution save or be stunned until the end of its next turn. Creatures that are resistant or immune to cold damage ignore this effect.

Hoarfrost (Recharge 6)

The air around the Groom becomes frigid, forming ice crystals across the ground. Creatures that take a mover action within 30 feet of the Groom must make a DC 17 Dexterity save or fall prone and immediately end their movement. A creature can elect to only move half their movement to automatically pass the save. The hoarfrost lasts 1 minute.

The Groom ignores this effect.

Reactions

Icy Smite

When the Groom hits a creature with a melee weapon attack, he can expend one of his 1/day spells to deal and additional 10 (3d8) cold damage.

Legendary Actions

The Groom can take 3 legendary actions, choosing from the options below. Only one legendary action option can be used at a time and only at the end of another creature's turn. The Groom regains spent legendary actions at the start of his turn.

Wisp of Oblivion (1 point): The Groom becomes an ethereal silhouette and mimics the effects of the Misty Step spell. All creatures within 5ft of where the cultist appears must succeed on a DC 17 Wisdom saving throw or be stunned until the end of its next turn.

Assault (1 point): The Groom makes one melee weapon attack.

Spell (2 points): The Groom casts an available spell.

Using the Groom–

Hatred and wrath are not what drives the Groom, but a deep-seated depression and inferiority complex. The construct regrets being ‘born’, his core a smoldering emptiness of divinity denied. While he lashes out at the world it is to hide an unrelenting ache. The Groom attracts like-minded nihilists to him like moths to a flame, in this case, a flame extinguished. With fanatical glee, these hangers-on will sacrifice themselves for the Groom’s schemes, if anything to finally die and do so for something greater than themselves. What are the Groom’s schemes? Usually, ones to destabilize his creator, the Relict’s, power base, and hopefully destroy her as well. He doesn’t care about those that die in his name or the collateral damage caused. His organization tends to be brutish, obvious, and heavy-handed in their tactics, more like a barbarian horde in mentality than anything else. However, like the Relict, he cannot abide seeing others happy since the emotion is forever denied to him and crushes hope wherever he finds it.

The Groom can be used differently, of course. He doesn’t have to be one-half of a supervillain duo pitted against one another. Within a cage of rune-laced bone burns the extinguished fire of something both dead and divine. He could simply be a mad warlord intent on reducing everything to ash or driven by whispers to relight the divinity within and challenge the gods that once cast down whatever entity he holds inside. A dungeon master could just use him as a terrible monster wandering the wintery wastes of their world, a bogeyman of sorts who murders anyone that tries to traverse an area.

Appropriate Minions

Any NPC, as nihilistic cultists and hanger-ons

Any Golems

Bheur Hag

Ice Mephits

Polar Bears

Shadows

Shadow Mastiffs

White Dragons

Winter Wolves