5 New 5E D&D Spells and Wizard Stuff from Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden

The latest fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons campaign adventure plunges adventurers into a frozen land of isolation and terror. Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden continues the tradition of building onto game concepts through design as a complete campaign, this time around challenging 1st level characters to save the frozen North from everlasting night as they advance to 12th level. We already know there’s 10 new magic items included with the adventure, and wizards can rejoice to discover new spells and other accoutrements of the craft out there in the lands north of the Spine of the World. Here’s the five new 5E D&D spells and associated wizardly stuff waiting ambitious magic users in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden.

The Codicil of White and the Incantations of Iriolarthas hold many arcane secrets as seen in the fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. [Images courtesy Wizards of the Coast]

5E D&D spells of the frozen North

Books

Two new items in ID: RotFM fall somewhere between mundane and magic item, with neither item type nor rarity to be found between them. Instead they’re objects of power and it’s cool to see a new twist like this, which echoes our own approach to 5E D&D game design.

1. The Codicil of White. The first book on the new item shelf has a lot going for it with an evocative description, great art and notation where to find it in the adventure. Included in the book of religious doctrine is a new spell wizards can learn and an extremely powerful magical poem.
2. The Incantations of Iriolarthas. It’s a Netherese artifact so you know it’s dark and creepy. And powerful. The wizard who discovers this ancient spellbook is richly rewarded with a huge number of spells including the two new spells from the book that aren’t found in the Codicil of White.
3. Blade of Disaster. Reimagining classic old D&D spells like this second edition one for 5E D&D is something we wholeheartedly approve. That’s why we do it ourselves on the fairly regular. Especially when it comes to snakes. We’ve got a lot of snake magic floating around.
4. Create Magen. Stepping into 5E D&D from the pages of 2E’s Mystara Monstrous Compendium Appendix, magen are magical people — constructs created by wizards. This incredible spell allows wizards to revive the lost art of making permanent unquestioning powerful servants. I really dig the simplicity of this powerful spell, particularly the way it manages the wizard’s investment as a stopgap on creating endless magen.
5. Frost Fingers. I’m not sure how useful a cold version of burning hands comes in an adventure so intrinsically tied to the cold but wizards can nevertheless add this one to their spellbook for a rainy day (which incidentally would be frozen instantly by the spell’s side effect).

The new 5E D&D spells and spellbooks in Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden hit all the marks. There’s classic D&D spells reimagined for 5E along with cool creatures not seen in decades brought to life quite elegantly through a powerful wizard spell and a couple of really fun and flavorful items lying somewhere between mundane and magic item. Despite my fondness for D&D’s past I dig those books the most from this bunch. Those sorts of things speak to the adventure designers in us here at Nerdarchy in the sense they’re very much part of the fabric of the adventure in execution while at the same time broad in scope. In fact Dark Paths: The Chained One contains a very similar sort of book hidden inside to give thorough and curious adventurers a tremendous edge confronting the titular being of malediction. You can find that over in Nerdarchy the Store and when you sign up for Nerdarchy the Newsletter you get a special coupon code for $9.99 so you could add it to your collection essentially free. Check it out here.