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D&D Ideas — Cold

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is cold, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST on Nerdarchy Live to talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of cold in Gang of One a highly intelligent chimera uses the cold environment, deception and flight to assail heroes with all its cunning along with 54 other dynamic scenarios in Out of the Box. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here.

Nerdy News

Get thirsty for the week that was! Run the tunnels, show mercy and explore new RPGs plus new live chats with creative folks and industry pros and live game plays round out this week’s Nerdy News. Check it out here.

Delving Dave’s Dungeon

Last week we focused on fire. This week it is cold. The elements are such a fun element to introduce and play with in 5E D&D. Winter Witches and Fire Mages have been fantasy genre tropes for as long as I can remember. The Elemental Adept feat for 5E D&D allows a spellcaster to lean into these tropes.

If you want to create a cold themed spellcaster for 5E D&D there are 27 spells that deal cold damage. You can open this up even more by choosing the sorcerer and taking the Transmuted Spell Metamagic. This optional class feature lets you turn any spell dealing acid, fire, lightning, poison or thunder damage into cold damage instead for the low cost of 1 Sorcery Point.

Another option is playing an Order of Scribes wizard. With the Awakened Spellbook feature you can change one damage type for another as long as you have a spell at the spell slot level dealing the type of damage you want to do, in this case cold.

Both of these options come online fairly early in 5E D&D. Sorcerers get access to Metamagic at 3rd level and Order of Scribes can change spell damage at 2nd level.

Cold is far easier to incorporate as a Dungeon Master than most other elements. We can do so through arctic environments, seasons, elemental planes and magical phenomena.

Looking at D&D Beyond we can quickly pull up a bunch of monsters who interact differently with cold whether we are talking resistance, immunity or vulnerability. We have 130 arctic monsters, 225 monsters resistant to cold damage, 92 immune to cold and 8 monsters vulnerable to cold damage.

Previous editions of D&D included the concept of paraelemental planes. Where one of the four elemental planes would meet another a paraelemental plane existed. As regards cold, where the planes of air and water meet we get the plane of ice.

As DMs we have a bunch of monsters to use and plenty of ways to introduce cold or arctic themed adventures to our players. The weather section of the Dungeon Master’s Guide also offers up some hazards: Extreme Cold, Frigid Water, Slippery Ice and Thin Ice. From the Player’s Handbook we can use spells like sleet storm and ice storm to replicate other weather conditions with which adventurers might have to deal. These harsh environments give players a chance to do battle with the elements and test their mettle against Mother Nature.

From Ted’s Head

It seems like in the summer heat we all want to be a little cold sometimes. I am sure the others will address cold in terms of lower temperature but I am more interested in going in a completely different direction.

Of all the elements in 5E D&D, which we have been talking about lately, cold can be viewed from a different point of view. Beyond a temperature it can also mean distant and emotionless. When a person is cold towards you it can be hard to get a proper reaction out of them. We have all seen or interacted with a person who gives you nothing to work with. A cold stare or a cold hard glare can stop a person in their tracks or even in the middle of a sentence. Let’s not limit this amazing word to a simple low temperature.

Using the concept of cold as a jumping off point what if we had a character who was emotionless? I am currently playing a lizardfolk, which in our home games have less emotional range like so many cold blooded creatures. If you are struggling with a new character concept this is something to provide a roleplaying challenge. It can be hard to relate to the other characters when you have no compassion for them. It gives you a growth arc where you can build up to making a connection through the goings on of the story.

On the other side of the Dungeon Master screen what if something happened to the majority of the people of the world, city or small town and everyone loses their emotions. Imagine playing a game and interacting with NPCs who were mechanically going through the motions of daily life without the joy and care of their activities like simply making a sword for its intended purpose instead of making an item capable but also a work of art. (Sounds an awful lot like Barovians and duergar, huh?)

What about those whose crafts rely on artistic expression like painters, jewelers and so many more? Would they be drab or would they still cover the spectrum uninhibited by emotion? Figuring out why this has happened and how to stop it could be anywhere from a one shot adventure to a long campaign with characters chasing the culprit who enacts a ritual everywhere people gather to steal their emotions for dark or nefarious reasons.

From the Nerditor’s Desk

I really enjoyed the live chat when Ted and I discussed cold as a concept for 5E D&D. As I mentioned then an arctic campaign is one of the sort of bucket list campaigns of which I’ve always wanted to be a part. Along those lines something else to emerge during the chat is the large amount of cold themed content we’ve created over the years. If you’ll indulge me I’m curious to rediscover some of it myself while sharing with you. We create tons of content and frankly even with my exceptional memory I can’t recall all of it off the top of my head.

• Dark Paths: Encounters with the Winter Lord. Ice Spires, Drop Ghouls and Frozen Lake all challenge adventurers with different cold themed perils to drop right into your game.
• Dark Paths: Winter Lord’s Throne. A massive complex resides within the gargantuan throne of the Winter Lord and icy death threatens heroes sent to retrieve an artifact.
• Fane of the Frost Wyrm. An arctic tribe invites adventurers to celebrate their traditions before accompanying young warriors in a rite of passage to introduce a brand new character option.
• Frost King. The frozen tundra of Kredgefur’s Belt holds myth and magic waiting to be discovered like new playable races, Otherworldly Patrons, creatures, magic items, tundra vehicles and an adventure.
• The Krinch Who Stole Father Winter’s Day. A Nerdarchy classic! All of the gifts, decorations and feasting foods from the citizens of Gryphongaff have vanished.
• Treasures of the Tundra. Uncovering the secrets of the frozen tundra gives adventurers the edge they’ll need to survive like a new playable race, four cold themed subclasses, creature mounts, 17 magic items with arctic flair and a selection of tundra poisons.
• Winter Court Soiree. Adventurers receive an invitation to a fancy fey holiday party. Festive favors like new magic items and winter solstice spells await.
• Expanding Frost King’s Arctic Hobgoblin Frost Raiders for 5E D&D. A post at Nerdarchy the Website with alternative monster traits, a new arctic monster and three new frosty magic items.
• This New 5E D&D Freezing Condition Puts Characters on Ice. A post at Nerdarchy the Website with a new condition to make adventures in cold environments more challenging.
• The Witch of Flame Skull Peak. A post at Nerdarchy the Website with a terrific encounter from former Intern Jake inspired by my favorite Monster BFF video.
• 5E D&D Adventurers are the Warmest Place to Hide for the Blood Rime Monster. A post at Nerdarchy the Website with a chilling new ooze monster!

Setting any campaign or adventure in a cold environment adds a lot to a 5E D&D game if you ask me. There’s certainly plenty of mechanical support to satisfy those needs but the greater value for me comes through the immersion. A game needn’t incorporate Extreme Cold for me to engage with an adventure featuring cold environments whether this translates to avoiding metal armor or simply letting the situation inform my choices.

Someday perhaps I’ll get an opportunity to explore my great desire for a robust cold themed campaign and when that day comes I’ll be sure to thaw out a lot of these ideas we’ve come up with to make part of the experience!

*Featured image — In Gang of One an arctic chimera gets their hands on a powerful magic item that gives them all sorts of devious ideas along with 54 other dynamic scenarios in Out of the Box. Find out more about it here. [Art by Kim Van Deun]

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