Adventure Down a 5E D&D Dark Path of Frozen Terror

Winter Lord’s Throne debuted as a new product in Nerdarchy the Store this week. Every month we create new products for our Patreon supporters who get early access to all of these products, which are then released on our store the following month. Each product offers new things for fifth edition Dungeons & Dragons players and Dungeon Masters alike. Winter Lord’s Throne is an adventure I ran, though it is written by the wonderful author and staff writer Megan R. Miller. They are a fantastic writer and Game Master as you can see from Those Bastards! on the Nerdarchy Live channel where we just finished up a 12 session story arc. The adventure is designed for 9th level 5E D&D characters and certainly offers up a nice challenge complete with new monsters and new rules for a condition called frostbite.

A dark path of frozen terror for 5E D&D

The adventure hooks draw characters into a quest seeking to retrieve a stolen sacred weapon: the Sword of Spring, which the local community believes keeps the season moving. If the sword is not retrieved, winter remains in their region forevermore. At least, that is what they believe.

Winter Lord’s Throne offers up seven new 5E D&D monsters for adventurers to face off against and some are built into the frostbite mechanics, upping the difficulty each time you encounter another creature capable of causing more frostbite.

For players the book includes character options like a new race — dullahan — that can give you something no other race in 5E D&D has.

“A headless undead creature with roots in the realm of the fey. The original dullahan were elves of the realm of the fey who led a coup against the Winter Queen long ago. She had every knight that rode against her lined up and beheaded, one after another, but did not allow them the mercy of death.”

The supplement also offers some new subclass options. The Stygian Shadow Ranger Archetype uses the power of undeath and the coldest layer of the Nine Hells to power their abilities. Though not fully undead themselves they feel a kinship and connection with the boundary between life and death.

There are also four new magic items included which can actually be acquired during the adventure if you are lucky enough to find them. Rimeclash is a fun warhammer fitting the cold theme of the adventure. The Skull of Mokk is a bizarre helm made out of the skull and spine of a larger creature. Are you brave enough to attune to it? The flute of the danse macabre and hoarfrost armor round it out and these are tricky and fun items to play with as well.

Firsthand adventure account

When I ran the adventure the players solved the puzzles, avoided as many of the monsters they could and had a blast doing so. I really enjoyed the scenario because it combined the options for players who wished to skip combat. They could do so and get to the heart of the mission. It gives you a nice but simple puzzle for the players to figure out. If you rush too quickly and use the wrong thing you face consequences but can still solve the dungeon as it were. The end villain has enough detail that I found him easy to roleplay and even was able to offer a few dialog quips to throw at the players to see if they could be converted over to his side before he lost.

All in all you have the perfect recipe. You have exploration in spades as you dungeon delve on a time limit so you do not freeze to death. You have as much combat as you are willing to throw at the players and you have some bad guys who can actually talk and jibe with the player characters. You can find Winter Lord’s Throne over Nerdarchy the Store as well as get future supplements from us by supporting us over on Patreon. This book and the dozens of others in the store start as monthly rewards for Patreon supporters, and we run these adventures for our monthly one shots (another perk for Nerdarchy patrons!). You can add Winter Lord’s Throne to your collection of 5E D&D adventures here.

As always thanks for reading and until next time, stay nerdy!