I've seen a few different attempts at an ice-themed sorcerer in homebrew, but have decided to take a stab at making one of my own for a player to use in a possible future campaign.
A frozen soul sorcerer has a heart of ice and blood as cold as death.
Frost Magic
1st-level Frozen Soul feature
You learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown on the Frost Magic Spells table. Each of these spells counts as a sorcerer spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of sorcerer spells you know.
Whenever you use your action to cast a spell of 1st-level or higher that deals cold damage, you may use your reaction to cause your body to become coated in magical ice until the start of your next turn. While your Hoarfrost is active you are immune to cold damage and gain a bonus to your armour class equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1).
You may use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses on a long rest.
Frozen Soul
6th-level Frozen Soul feature
Your skin takes on an icy sheen, granting you resistance to cold damage.
Winter's Rime
6th-level Frozen Soul feature
Whenever you cast a spell of 1st-level or higher that deals cold damage you may use your bonus action to cast Hold Person against one of your targets. Starting from 9th level you may instead choose to cast Hold Monster using this bonus action.
You must expend a spell slot and meet all other casting requirements as normal when you do this.
Heart of Ice
14th-level Frozen Soul feature
Cold suffuses your entire being and emotions feel like distant memories, granting you immunity to the frightened condition. In addition, you have advantage on Insight checks and Wisdom saving throws taken against attempts to sway you emotionally.
Glacial Aura
14th-level Frozen Soul feature
While your Hoarfrost feature is active you are surrounded by a 10 foot radius area of freezing cold, which other creatures treat as difficult terrain. Whenever another creature starts its turn in this area, or enters it for the first time during its turn, it must take a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save the creature suffers cold damage equal to your sorcerer level, or half on a success.
Avatar of Frost
18th-level Frozen Soul feature
Passing through the world like a blizzard, you are the frozen soul of eternal winter made manifest. As an action, you transform into an avatar of living frost, granting the following benefits:
You are resistant to non-magical bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage.
Hoarfrost can be activated as a reaction at the start or end of each of your turns, and does not consume limited uses.
Whenever you cast a cold damage or Frost Magic spell that targets only a single creature, you may instead choose two different targets.
The effects last for up to a minute, ending early if you fall unconscious or choose to end them. Once you have used this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Notes
Basic idea is to heavily emphasise the use of ice spells with gradually improving resistance to cold and a few other minor bonuses. I have a few notes on the features:
Spell List: I originally wanted to include Armor of Agathys and a few other interesting spells, but due to the limitations of D&D Beyond public homebrew I've had to keep the selection limited to Basic Rules and Elemental Evil sources only, so it doesn't expand as far beyond the Sorcerer list as I'd originally intended. I still think it's a good thematic selection though.
Hoarfrost: Due to the lack of Armor of Agathys I decided to go for a slight twist with a sort of Shield like limited ability. While this could potentially allow for very high AC in combination with Shield and/or Mage Armor, it costs a lot of resources to do-so since it has limited uses and requires your bonus action, plus an enemy may just not attack you while it's active, so I think it's reasonable balanced.
Frozen Soul: I considered granting cold resistance as standard but granting at 1st level seemed too exploitable so I pushed it back to 6th instead. With Hoarfrost granting temporary immunity this gives a kind of progression that I quite like.
Winter's Rime: This is probably the headline feature of the sub-class, as being able to cast a second full spell in a turn is a big deal. It's limited to a combination with ice spells only, and applies to only one of your target(s), but the ability to "freeze" a target in addition to damaging it is pretty sweet, at the cost of burning through your resources faster. Since this is a bonus action it also competes with Hoarfrost, forcing you to choose between offence and defence in a round.
Heart of Ice: Seemed like a fun, thematic addition with fear immunity as the mechanical benefit, but there is also room for RP impacts, or DM fiat on emotive social checks.
Glacial Aura: An upgrade to Hoarfrost that turns it into a close range area effect with difficult terrain and a moderate amount of cold damage.
Avatar of Frost: Once per long rest 1 minute boosted mode. Resistance to non-magical physical damage is handy, but the ability to freely use Hoarfrost is what makes this potent, as well as the ability to use single target cold or frost spells on two targets (since Hold Person/Monster are Frost Spells, this includes Winter's Rime). I'm debating whether this should be once a day only or retain the 7 sorcery point additional use(s), as it may be too strong to justify multiple uses in an adventuring day?
I'd love any feedback, especially around balance compared to official sub-classes! I try to keep things as balanced as possible but it's so much harder with something original rather than my usual tweaks of existing sub-classes!
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
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Frost Spells or Frozen Spells? I suggest picking a name (like Clockwork Magic) that won't be confused to mean anything other than "The spells on your subclass list". Can Bane, Hold, or Slow (or any replacement spell) trigger the other class features?
Define "cold spell", especially since you later reference frost spells (not capitalized, is this the List spells, or any spell that is frosty?) . Anything that deals cold damage? Anything themed as cold? How about if I Transmute it to / from cold damage?
Hoarfrost: Could make it a Reaction to prevent Shield stacking. Most of the time it is worse or as good as Shield (unless your GM loves cold attacks), and only Prof times per day. Having "Cast a worse version of Shield 2-3 times a day" in most campaigns isn't going to break anything, and IMHO is better for balance than stacking & having a crazy MA + HF + S + Dex armor class during the BBEG fight. Stacking is the root of all evil.
Winter's Rime: Remove "also" from Hold Person, could be interpreted to add casting Hold Person on to a normal Bonus Action (I take a Bonus Action, and also cast Hold Person). Can these spells be cast even if they have been replaced on the List / are not known in some other way? Seems worth it to state either way.
Glacial Aura: 10' radius or diameter? Affects all creatures, not just hostile ones?
Avatar: Not too powerful unless you plan on being surrounded by melee / cold attackers. 7 SP is a reasonable cost, especially with how fast you can burn thru spell slots Holding every enemy you come across. Consider having Hoarfrost be active the entire time, no activation required, else it could easily become "You didn't cast a single target cold spell, so absolutely nothing special happens", especially if the BBEG or a sidekick starts counterspelling (or Subtle becomes even more required). To confirm: I cast a 1 target cold spell as a Action, split it to affect 2 targets, then use my Bonus Action to Hold both of them, or still just 1?
Finally, wanted to point out that, aside from Cold Resistance for when you go trudging thru the snow in Rime of the Frost Maiden, the subclass has no effects out of combat. Which is fine, or even a non-issue in some campaigns, but can leave you feeling like you made a bad choice in less combative scenarios. Unsure what to suggest, or if it's even relevant. Some people just want to be a walking avalanche.
Frost Spells or Frozen Spells? I suggest picking a name (like Clockwork Magic) that won't be confused to mean anything other than "The spells on your subclass list". Can Bane, Hold, or Slow (or any replacement spell) trigger the other class features?
Whoops, "Frozen Spells" was just a straight up missed word change, but you're right maybe just "Frost Magic" would be better for consistency?
Define "cold spell", especially since you later reference frost spells (not capitalized, is this the List spells, or any spell that is frosty?) . Anything that deals cold damage? Anything themed as cold? How about if I Transmute it to / from cold damage?
I intended it to mean cold damage specifically, I'll change some of the wordings to reflect this.
Hoarfrost: Could make it a Reaction to prevent Shield stacking.
Excellent idea, nice and simple!
Winter's Rime: Remove "also" from Hold Person, could be interpreted to add casting Hold Person on to a normal Bonus Action (I take a Bonus Action, and also cast Hold Person). Can these spells be cast even if they have been replaced on the List / are not known in some other way? Seems worth it to state either way.
Actually I had intended to remove the replacement mechanic since it still doesn't work on D&D Beyond anyway; these are intended to be spells that you will always have.
Glacial Aura: 10' radius or diameter? Affects all creatures, not just hostile ones?
Whoops, should say radius. And it's intended to affect all other creatures (i.e- friend and foe, excluding only yourself), I felt it would be kind of thematic that you're actually encouraged not to stay too close even to your allies.
Consider having Hoarfrost be active the entire time, no activation required, else it could easily become "You didn't cast a single target cold spell, so absolutely nothing special happens", especially if the BBEG or a sidekick starts counterspelling (or Subtle becomes even more required). To confirm: I cast a 1 target cold spell as a Action, split it to affect 2 targets, then use my Bonus Action to Hold both of them, or still just 1?
You could do both, as the effect is intended to apply to both cold and frost (Frost Magic) spells, or do you think that's too much?
Finally, wanted to point out that, aside from Cold Resistance for when you go trudging thru the snow in Rime of the Frost Maiden, the subclass has no effects out of combat. Which is fine, or even a non-issue in some campaigns, but can leave you feeling like you made a bad choice in less combative scenarios. Unsure what to suggest, or if it's even relevant. Some people just want to be a walking avalanche.
My groups tend to play using Tasha's optional class features, which actually gave sorcerers a big out of combat boost (spend a sorcery point to re-roll any ability check), and actually a lot of sorcerer sub-classes don't seem to have much in the way of out of combat utility; for Clockwork Soul for example only really the Clockwork Cavalcade has out of combat utility, and that comes in at 18th level.
One thing I had considered though as part of the Heart of Ice feature was some kind of advantage on checks and/or saves vs. "emotive" effects, but I haven't figure out how to word that, it was originally something like "You have advantage on opposed social checks against attempts to sway you emotionally" or something, but I'm not sure if that's very clear. I was also thinking about some kind of general snow/ice manipulation; e.g- something a bit like Shape Water but more specifically for freezing and manipulating snow/ice, but that could get very wordy for a class feature.
Anyway, thanks so much for the excellent feedback! I'll get some of the wording issues fixed on the original post shortly, and think over the rest!
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
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I really like this subclass. Personally I don't think there is enough cold based spells or abilities in D&D 5e, and this subclass is a breath of fresh air and seems pretty well written.
Only thing is I would just not publish it on D&D Beyond but rather on something like Homebrewery or GMBinder (or just not add the spells in D&D Beyond's homebrew editor) - so that I can give it whatever thematic spells it deserves, such as Armor of Agathys or Rime's Binding Ice.
Also, I think Hoarfrost should just happen without requiring a reaction, as there already are so many reactions a sorcerer might want to take (not just Shield, but also Counterspell, Absorb Elements, Silvery Barbs if that is allowed, opportunity attacks...), and unless you roll godlike stats, your AC even when stacking Shield on top of that won't be problematic.
As an alternative, an unarmored AC like what the Draconic sorcerer gets could work well.
I've updated the first post with some changes to the Frozen Soul sub-class; a lot of the changes are relatively minor but I think it rounds it out:
I took Jaeken's suggestion and made Hoarfrost a reaction; while this means it will compete with other reaction, since it's a Shield-lite I think that makes the most sense.
I've clarified rules around cold/frost magic by more specifically referring to cold damage and/or Frost Magic (the spell list is now labelled Frost Magic Spells).
Heart of Ice now grants advantage on Insight checks and Wisdom saving throws against "attempts to sway you emotionally". This is intentionally a bit vague as it will require some DM fiat, for example to resist the charm effect of a succubus if it is attempting to have you fall in love with it, or if they have you roll Insight to see if you're convinced by an attempt to appeal to your patriotism or such. Basically it's intended to be a flavour feature to encourage the player to push for advantage that they might already have asked for for character reasons anyway.
Avatar of Frost now allows you to use Hoarfrost as a start or end of turn reaction (no spell casting required) while still ignoring the limited uses for the duration, so you can activate it every round if you want to (but lose your reaction every round as a result).
Various improvements to wording to hopefully clarify things.
Still hasn't received a lot of playtesting, but I'm pretty happy with it mechanically. Also, in response to suggestions for more utility, I eventually settled on creating a more cold-themed alternative to Shape Water; there's some overlap but here's what I came up with:
LEVEL
Cantrip
CASTING TIME
1 Action
RANGE/AREA
30 ft (5 ft *)
COMPONENTS
S
DURATION
Instantaneous
SCHOOL
Transmutation
ATTACK/SAVE
None
DAMAGE/EFFECT
Control
You can manipulate ice in all of its forms, choosing one of the following effects to apply to an area of water, ice or snow that you can see:
You unfreeze up to a 5-foot cube of ice or snow into water. It will refreeze into ice after an hour in a frigid environment, or ten minutes in a freezing one.
You freeze up to a 5-foot cube of water into ice as long as it contains no creatures. It unfreezes after an hour in a warm environment, or ten minutes in a hot one.
You sculpt up to a 5-foot cube of snow or water into any shape you wish. Shaped water will spill to the ground unless you maintain concentration upon it, you may maintain concentration upon only one shape at a time.
If it is raining, you may cause the rain to turn to snow within 30 feet of yourself for as long as you maintain concentration upon doing so.
If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have no more than two of its non-instantaneous effects active at a time, and you can dismiss any effect as an action.
So yeah, pretty similar to shape water but focused more on the utility of building or reshaping something; while you could use this to construct larger structures, it will require separate unfreezing (if necessary)/shaping/freezing steps of only a 5-foot cube at a time so it shouldn't be too easily abusable as you can always be spotted while doing it. In a hot environment you're also limited by the fact that the ice will be unfreezing as you work.
There's a bit of DM fiat involved in the snow falling, but this will depend a lot on how heavily it's raining and what the other conditions are like as snow may not last long enough to settle, or it might not be heavy enough for a creature to be forced to check for coldness.
It's not specific to frozen soul, and would be available on at least the Druid, Sorcerer and Wizard spell lists as with Shape Water; I considered granting it as a free cantrip, but Sorcerers do get four cantrip choices at 1st level (though on that basis maybe a free one is less of a big deal)?
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
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Hoarfrost - immunity to a damage type at 1st level (even it's not necessarily a common type for players to encounter, and only temporary) seems like too much, and also seems somewhat redundant when you're getting permanent resistance to that type at 6th anyway. Overall, this feature should probably just generally be brought in line with newer subclass features like Form of Dread -- activating on a bonus action rather than a reaction and not being tied to a cast, for instance. If you don't want to simply mimic shield or armor of agathys with this feature, there's a Humblewood spell called spiny shield that might be worth tinkering with -- maybe have Hoarfrost reduce the damage you take and deal a combo of cold and piercing damage to any attacker within 10 feet in return, rather than giving immunity + AC boost. Maybe toss in advantage on checks against being grappled (ice is slippery) too, something like that
Winter's Rime -- making this an extra spell cast is clunky. For one thing, it runs into the "can't cast multiple leveled spells on the same turn" rule, so you'd really only be able to use it with ray of frost or other cold cantrips. Instead, lose the hold spells element and simply pick a creature to try and make restrained (save vs your usual DC, which they can repeat as an action) when you cast a cold damage spell, once per short or long rest or PB uses per long rest, and then at 14th level make it full-on paralyzed
Heart of Ice - love it. Awesomely thematic, great RP potential. No notes
Avatar of Frost -- I'd lose the "non-magical" qualifier on the resistance. You're 18th level! I'd even consider tossing in fire resistance too, as you're just that hard to thaw out. Also, this should probably be a 1/day thing
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Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Hoarfrost - immunity to a damage type at 1st level (even it's not necessarily a common type for players to encounter, and only temporary) seems like too much, and also seems somewhat redundant when you're getting permanent resistance to that type at 6th anyway.
The intended gamble with Hoarfrost is that you're it doing preemptively rather than as a true reaction (unlike Shield which triggers only when you're hit) so while immunity and an AC boost are quite strong, you may trigger it then not need either of them (nothing would have hit you anyway, or didn't use any cold damage).
I'm not sure how the resistance makes it redundant though? It means you may not need to rely on it as much, but if you're facing a white dragon's breath weapon or such then full immunity is still better than resistance. Basically it gives you a progression of only being able to prevent a few cold attacks, then resisting all and blocking some.
For comparison, chromatic Dragonborn now have Chromatic Ward, a 1 minute once-a-day for full immunity as an action; Hoarfrost maxes out at 6 a day (except during Avatar of Frost) and is for single rounds. While it does also come with an AC boost, chances are you're only going to benefit from one effect or the other (doesn't matter if you're hit by damage you're immune to, doesn't matter if you're not immune to damage that doesn't hit).
Winter's Rime -- making this an extra spell cast is clunky. For one thing, it runs into the "can't cast multiple leveled spells on the same turn" rule
It's triggered by casting a 1st level or higher spell; the ability to then cast something else as a bonus action is overriding the normal levelled spell rule. It lets you cast two spells in a turn without Action Surge, but only a specific type of combo and you're still burning the extra spell slot to do it. I was hoping this should be clear enough with the "specific beats general" rule, but I could possibly clarify it further.
Avatar of Frost -- I'd lose the "non-magical" qualifier on the resistance. You're 18th level! I'd even consider tossing in fire resistance too, as you're just that hard to thaw out. Also, this should probably be a 1/day thing
Yeah after adding fully "free" Hoarfrost for the duration it probably is a bit much to allow it to be reused, I probably will drop that part. For fire resistance, the Frozen Soul does also get the spell Fire Shield as part of its spell list, but for the chill shield only (fire resistance and cold damage); it's an ideal spell to cast when you're about to go full Avatar of Frost.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
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It's triggered by casting a 1st level or higher spell; the ability to then cast something else as a bonus action is overriding the normal levelled spell rule. It lets you cast two spells in a turn without Action Surge, but only a specific type of combo and you're still burning the extra spell slot to do it. I was hoping this should be clear enough with the "specific beats general" rule, but I could possibly clarify it further.
No matter how clear you make it, I still think this would just cause table/forum arguments, which could be easily avoided by not having it be a spell but a spell-like effect. I guess I don't see what you gain by making it an actual spell cast
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Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
No matter how clear you make it, I still think this would just cause table/forum arguments, which could be easily avoided by not having it be a spell but a spell-like effect. I guess I don't see what you gain by making it an actual spell cast
Simplicity was my aim, since the spells are already on the spell list, handle "freezing" a target, and have a built in cost (concentration and spell slot use).
I'll think about changing it to just be described in the feature, but I don't really see why it should be a cause for arguments; you have to cast a spell to trigger it, then it lets you cast another, specific, spell as a bonus action against a single target, there's not really any other way of looking at is as trying to apply the "no other spells if you use a bonus action spell" rule would mean the feature could never actually be used under any circumstances, and that would require a general rule overriding a specific one.
Update: I've decided to drop the sorcery points to reuse on Avatar of Frost; on a sample high level character I built I came up with a combo of Time Stop to cast False Life, Fire Shield (Chill Shield) and Investiture of Wind before activating Avatar of Frost early into a hard fight, and it's a pretty serious combination. An extra buffer of temporary HP, fire resistance and added cold damage against nearby enemies, and Investiture of Wind to make you hard to hit and able to fly (rather than Ice which is redundant when Avatar of Frost is active, though you could take it for other times) plus of course Avatar of Frost for the added resistances, total cold immunity, extra AC, cold damage aura and twinned freezing on top of something nasty like Otiluke's Freezing Sphere and you've got a true ice god floating around the battlefield, practically impossible to hit, but tough, resistant and vengeful if you do.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
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This is excellent. No suggestions. It does seem too similar to Armor of Agathys, though.
Frozen Soul
I think that this should be completely reworked. Hoarfrost already gives you (brief) immunity to cold damage, and depending on the campaign, you might not be taking any cold damage at all anyway.
Winter's Rime
The wording could be changed a little bit, as could the mechanics. I think it would work better like this: "When a humanoid takes cold damage from a spell you cast of 1st level or higher, you can expend one sorcery point to force it to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be paralyzed. It can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Alternatively, you can spend three sorcery points to do the same to a non-humanoid monster." In fact, I think that it should be a Constitution save instead.
Heart of Ice
You say: "In addition, you have advantage on Insight checks and Wisdom saving throws taken against attempts to sway you emotionally." I suggest changing the wording to: "In addition, you have advantage on Insight checks and on Wisdom saving throws taken against attempts to sway you emotionally." It doesn't seem like much, but the way you have it, it seems like the Insight checks are taken against attempts to sway you emotionally.
Glacial Aura
This is great. No suggestions.
Avatar of Frost
Aside from the wording ("you are resistant", "does not consume limited uses", et cetera), I think that this is good. However, if you are an "avatar of living frost", shouldn't you have resistance/immunity to fire and ice damage? Also, I think that Winter's Rime should always be active while you are the "avatar", and the ability to spam Hoarfrost essentially gives you a +4 or +5 bonus to AC overall and is very OP.
Overall
The wording could be improved. Also, like several other classes and subclasses (official as well as homebrew), this is too weak at the beginning and way too powerful at the end.
This is excellent. No suggestions. It does seem too similar to Armor of Agathys, though.
Mechanically it's very different or do you just mean thematically? As mentioned in the notes I had originally hoped to give the class that spell but unfortunately it's not valid for public homebrew on D&D Beyond (which only supports spells in the Basic Rules or Elemental Evil Player's Companion, however Armor of Agathys is a Player's Handbook spell).
I think that this should be completely reworked. Hoarfrost already gives you (brief) immunity to cold damage, and depending on the campaign, you might not be taking any cold damage at all anyway.
Hoarfrost is limited use though, and is preemptive so it's no good against unexpected attacks. I think it's definitely still important to gain full resistance.
The wording could be changed a little bit, as could the mechanics. I think it would work better like this: "When a humanoid takes cold damage from a spell you cast of 1st level or higher, you can expend one sorcery point to force it to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be paralyzed. It can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Alternatively, you can spend three sorcery points to do the same to a non-humanoid monster." In fact, I think that it should be a Constitution save instead.
I think one sorcery point is definitely too low, as Hold Person is a 2nd level spell (3 points to buy the slot). Again though, doesn't this seem like reinventing the wheel when the player will already have these spells (since they do fit the theme of being able to "freeze" things)?
You say: "In addition, you have advantage on Insight checks and Wisdom saving throws taken against attempts to sway you emotionally." I suggest changing the wording to: "In addition, you have advantage on Insight checks and on Wisdom saving throws taken against attempts to sway you emotionally." It doesn't seem like much, but the way you have it, it seems like the Insight checks are taken against attempts to sway you emotionally.
I get your point but I'm not sure I see the difference by adding "on" in the second version. Perhaps the better phrasing might be "…you have advantage on both Insight checks and Wisdom saving throws taken…"?
Aside from the wording ("you are resistant", "does not consume limited uses", et cetera), I think that this is good. However, if you are an "avatar of living frost", shouldn't you have resistance/immunity to fire and ice damage?
You'll have resistance to frost damage (Frozen Soul) or full immunity each turn you use Hoarfrost. My thinking on fire resistance was that you already have Fire Shield (chill shield only) as one of the sub-class spells if you need it, and it's a good spell to already have active (or quicken) if fire is in play?
Also, I think that Winter's Rime should always be active while you are the "avatar", and the ability to spam Hoarfrost essentially gives you a +4 or +5 bonus to AC overall and is very OP.
Avatar of Frost only lasts for one minute once per long rest, plus you have no special protection against anything save based, so while it's strong I'm not sure it's that OP? Another way of thinking about it is that you get some extra free uses of Hoarfrost per long rest (usually only 3-6 in most combats).
like several other classes and subclasses (official as well as homebrew), this is too weak at the beginning and way too powerful at the end.
The tricky thing is I'm trying to make it balanced against official sub-classes, and a lot have fairly modest starting features; Aberrant gets telepathy, Clockwork is proficiency uses per long rest cancel advantage/disadvantage, Divine Soul is proficiency uses per long rest attack roll bonus, all with added spell lists. Of those without spell lists Draconic is probably the best 1st level with always-on Mage Armor, extra HP, draconic and double proficiency on CHA checks vs. dragons, Shadow is okay with darkvision, see through Darkness (for 2 sorcery points) and once per long rest unreliable Death Ward, Storm can be fun with primordial and a bonus 10 foot fly move if you cast a 1st level or better spells, Wild Magic has Tides of Chaos (basically advantage on one roll per long rest, but with ways to recover it sooner) and Wild Magic Surge which can be a mixed blessing when it goes off (if at all in a session).
Personally I think Frozen Soul stacks up pretty favourably with Hoarfrost and a spell list? Sixth level the sub-classes are very mixed; Storm is one of the best IMO (resistance to lightning and thunder, plus 1st level or higher spells to do decent damage in a 10 foot aura), Aberrant Mind is pretty good with cheaper Font of Magic (essentially) and resistance to psychic damage, charmed and frightened, Divine Soul better healing, Clockwork is a damage reducing shield that's okay but not amazing. I feel like resistance to cold and the ability to cast two full spells per turn stacks up favourably for that level?
I'm always open to suggestions on balancing, just wanted to give you some of the points of comparison I'm trying to use. Thanks for your feedback!
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
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This is excellent. No suggestions. It does seem too similar to Armor of Agathys, though.
Mechanically it's very different or do you just mean thematically? As mentioned in the notes I had originally hoped to give the class that spell but unfortunately it's not valid for public homebrew on D&D Beyond (which only supports spells in the Basic Rules or Elemental Evil Player's Companion, however Armor of Agathys is a Player's Handbook spell)
I do mean thematically.
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I've seen a few different attempts at an ice-themed sorcerer in homebrew, but have decided to take a stab at making one of my own for a player to use in a possible future campaign.
And it's now been released, you can now try the Frozen Soul for yourself here! Below is the version posted to the forums:
A frozen soul sorcerer has a heart of ice and blood as cold as death.
Frost Magic
1st-level Frozen Soul feature
You learn additional spells when you reach certain levels in this class, as shown on the Frost Magic Spells table. Each of these spells counts as a sorcerer spell for you, but it doesn’t count against the number of sorcerer spells you know.
Frost Magic Spells
In addition, the spells frost fingers, elemental weapon, elemental bane, freezing sphere, and wall of ice are added your spell list.
Hoarfrost
1st-level Frozen Soul feature
Whenever you use your action to cast a spell of 1st-level or higher that deals cold damage, you may use your reaction to cause your body to become coated in magical ice until the start of your next turn. While your Hoarfrost is active you are immune to cold damage and gain a bonus to your armour class equal to your Charisma modifier (minimum of 1).
You may use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses on a long rest.
Frozen Soul
6th-level Frozen Soul feature
Your skin takes on an icy sheen, granting you resistance to cold damage.
Winter's Rime
6th-level Frozen Soul feature
Whenever you cast a spell of 1st-level or higher that deals cold damage you may use your bonus action to cast Hold Person against one of your targets. Starting from 9th level you may instead choose to cast Hold Monster using this bonus action.
You must expend a spell slot and meet all other casting requirements as normal when you do this.
Heart of Ice
14th-level Frozen Soul feature
Cold suffuses your entire being and emotions feel like distant memories, granting you immunity to the frightened condition. In addition, you have advantage on Insight checks and Wisdom saving throws taken against attempts to sway you emotionally.
Glacial Aura
14th-level Frozen Soul feature
While your Hoarfrost feature is active you are surrounded by a 10 foot radius area of freezing cold, which other creatures treat as difficult terrain. Whenever another creature starts its turn in this area, or enters it for the first time during its turn, it must take a Constitution saving throw. On a failed save the creature suffers cold damage equal to your sorcerer level, or half on a success.
Avatar of Frost
18th-level Frozen Soul feature
Passing through the world like a blizzard, you are the frozen soul of eternal winter made manifest. As an action, you transform into an avatar of living frost, granting the following benefits:
The effects last for up to a minute, ending early if you fall unconscious or choose to end them. Once you have used this feature, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
I'd love any feedback, especially around balance compared to official sub-classes! I try to keep things as balanced as possible but it's so much harder with something original rather than my usual tweaks of existing sub-classes!
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Frost Spells or Frozen Spells? I suggest picking a name (like Clockwork Magic) that won't be confused to mean anything other than "The spells on your subclass list". Can Bane, Hold, or Slow (or any replacement spell) trigger the other class features?
Define "cold spell", especially since you later reference frost spells (not capitalized, is this the List spells, or any spell that is frosty?) . Anything that deals cold damage? Anything themed as cold? How about if I Transmute it to / from cold damage?
Hoarfrost: Could make it a Reaction to prevent Shield stacking. Most of the time it is worse or as good as Shield (unless your GM loves cold attacks), and only Prof times per day. Having "Cast a worse version of Shield 2-3 times a day" in most campaigns isn't going to break anything, and IMHO is better for balance than stacking & having a crazy MA + HF + S + Dex armor class during the BBEG fight. Stacking is the root of all evil.
Winter's Rime: Remove "also" from Hold Person, could be interpreted to add casting Hold Person on to a normal Bonus Action (I take a Bonus Action, and also cast Hold Person). Can these spells be cast even if they have been replaced on the List / are not known in some other way? Seems worth it to state either way.
Glacial Aura: 10' radius or diameter? Affects all creatures, not just hostile ones?
Avatar: Not too powerful unless you plan on being surrounded by melee / cold attackers. 7 SP is a reasonable cost, especially with how fast you can burn thru spell slots Holding every enemy you come across. Consider having Hoarfrost be active the entire time, no activation required, else it could easily become "You didn't cast a single target cold spell, so absolutely nothing special happens", especially if the BBEG or a sidekick starts counterspelling (or Subtle becomes even more required). To confirm: I cast a 1 target cold spell as a Action, split it to affect 2 targets, then use my Bonus Action to Hold both of them, or still just 1?
Finally, wanted to point out that, aside from Cold Resistance for when you go trudging thru the snow in Rime of the Frost Maiden, the subclass has no effects out of combat. Which is fine, or even a non-issue in some campaigns, but can leave you feeling like you made a bad choice in less combative scenarios. Unsure what to suggest, or if it's even relevant. Some people just want to be a walking avalanche.
Whoops, "Frozen Spells" was just a straight up missed word change, but you're right maybe just "Frost Magic" would be better for consistency?
I intended it to mean cold damage specifically, I'll change some of the wordings to reflect this.
Excellent idea, nice and simple!
Actually I had intended to remove the replacement mechanic since it still doesn't work on D&D Beyond anyway; these are intended to be spells that you will always have.
Whoops, should say radius. And it's intended to affect all other creatures (i.e- friend and foe, excluding only yourself), I felt it would be kind of thematic that you're actually encouraged not to stay too close even to your allies.
You could do both, as the effect is intended to apply to both cold and frost (Frost Magic) spells, or do you think that's too much?
My groups tend to play using Tasha's optional class features, which actually gave sorcerers a big out of combat boost (spend a sorcery point to re-roll any ability check), and actually a lot of sorcerer sub-classes don't seem to have much in the way of out of combat utility; for Clockwork Soul for example only really the Clockwork Cavalcade has out of combat utility, and that comes in at 18th level.
One thing I had considered though as part of the Heart of Ice feature was some kind of advantage on checks and/or saves vs. "emotive" effects, but I haven't figure out how to word that, it was originally something like "You have advantage on opposed social checks against attempts to sway you emotionally" or something, but I'm not sure if that's very clear. I was also thinking about some kind of general snow/ice manipulation; e.g- something a bit like Shape Water but more specifically for freezing and manipulating snow/ice, but that could get very wordy for a class feature.
Anyway, thanks so much for the excellent feedback! I'll get some of the wording issues fixed on the original post shortly, and think over the rest!
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
I really like this subclass. Personally I don't think there is enough cold based spells or abilities in D&D 5e, and this subclass is a breath of fresh air and seems pretty well written.
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I really like it too :-)
Only thing is I would just not publish it on D&D Beyond but rather on something like Homebrewery or GMBinder (or just not add the spells in D&D Beyond's homebrew editor) - so that I can give it whatever thematic spells it deserves, such as Armor of Agathys or Rime's Binding Ice.
Also, I think Hoarfrost should just happen without requiring a reaction, as there already are so many reactions a sorcerer might want to take (not just Shield, but also Counterspell, Absorb Elements, Silvery Barbs if that is allowed, opportunity attacks...), and unless you roll godlike stats, your AC even when stacking Shield on top of that won't be problematic.
As an alternative, an unarmored AC like what the Draconic sorcerer gets could work well.
I've updated the first post with some changes to the Frozen Soul sub-class; a lot of the changes are relatively minor but I think it rounds it out:
Still hasn't received a lot of playtesting, but I'm pretty happy with it mechanically. Also, in response to suggestions for more utility, I eventually settled on creating a more cold-themed alternative to Shape Water; there's some overlap but here's what I came up with:
You can manipulate ice in all of its forms, choosing one of the following effects to apply to an area of water, ice or snow that you can see:
If you cast this spell multiple times, you can have no more than two of its non-instantaneous effects active at a time, and you can dismiss any effect as an action.
So yeah, pretty similar to shape water but focused more on the utility of building or reshaping something; while you could use this to construct larger structures, it will require separate unfreezing (if necessary)/shaping/freezing steps of only a 5-foot cube at a time so it shouldn't be too easily abusable as you can always be spotted while doing it. In a hot environment you're also limited by the fact that the ice will be unfreezing as you work.
There's a bit of DM fiat involved in the snow falling, but this will depend a lot on how heavily it's raining and what the other conditions are like as snow may not last long enough to settle, or it might not be heavy enough for a creature to be forced to check for coldness.
It's not specific to frozen soul, and would be available on at least the Druid, Sorcerer and Wizard spell lists as with Shape Water; I considered granting it as a free cantrip, but Sorcerers do get four cantrip choices at 1st level (though on that basis maybe a free one is less of a big deal)?
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
My initial impressions:
Hoarfrost - immunity to a damage type at 1st level (even it's not necessarily a common type for players to encounter, and only temporary) seems like too much, and also seems somewhat redundant when you're getting permanent resistance to that type at 6th anyway. Overall, this feature should probably just generally be brought in line with newer subclass features like Form of Dread -- activating on a bonus action rather than a reaction and not being tied to a cast, for instance. If you don't want to simply mimic shield or armor of agathys with this feature, there's a Humblewood spell called spiny shield that might be worth tinkering with -- maybe have Hoarfrost reduce the damage you take and deal a combo of cold and piercing damage to any attacker within 10 feet in return, rather than giving immunity + AC boost. Maybe toss in advantage on checks against being grappled (ice is slippery) too, something like that
Winter's Rime -- making this an extra spell cast is clunky. For one thing, it runs into the "can't cast multiple leveled spells on the same turn" rule, so you'd really only be able to use it with ray of frost or other cold cantrips. Instead, lose the hold spells element and simply pick a creature to try and make restrained (save vs your usual DC, which they can repeat as an action) when you cast a cold damage spell, once per short or long rest or PB uses per long rest, and then at 14th level make it full-on paralyzed
Heart of Ice - love it. Awesomely thematic, great RP potential. No notes
Avatar of Frost -- I'd lose the "non-magical" qualifier on the resistance. You're 18th level! I'd even consider tossing in fire resistance too, as you're just that hard to thaw out. Also, this should probably be a 1/day thing
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
The intended gamble with Hoarfrost is that you're it doing preemptively rather than as a true reaction (unlike Shield which triggers only when you're hit) so while immunity and an AC boost are quite strong, you may trigger it then not need either of them (nothing would have hit you anyway, or didn't use any cold damage).
I'm not sure how the resistance makes it redundant though? It means you may not need to rely on it as much, but if you're facing a white dragon's breath weapon or such then full immunity is still better than resistance. Basically it gives you a progression of only being able to prevent a few cold attacks, then resisting all and blocking some.
For comparison, chromatic Dragonborn now have Chromatic Ward, a 1 minute once-a-day for full immunity as an action; Hoarfrost maxes out at 6 a day (except during Avatar of Frost) and is for single rounds. While it does also come with an AC boost, chances are you're only going to benefit from one effect or the other (doesn't matter if you're hit by damage you're immune to, doesn't matter if you're not immune to damage that doesn't hit).
It's triggered by casting a 1st level or higher spell; the ability to then cast something else as a bonus action is overriding the normal levelled spell rule. It lets you cast two spells in a turn without Action Surge, but only a specific type of combo and you're still burning the extra spell slot to do it. I was hoping this should be clear enough with the "specific beats general" rule, but I could possibly clarify it further.
Yeah after adding fully "free" Hoarfrost for the duration it probably is a bit much to allow it to be reused, I probably will drop that part. For fire resistance, the Frozen Soul does also get the spell Fire Shield as part of its spell list, but for the chill shield only (fire resistance and cold damage); it's an ideal spell to cast when you're about to go full Avatar of Frost.
Thanks for the feedback!
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
No matter how clear you make it, I still think this would just cause table/forum arguments, which could be easily avoided by not having it be a spell but a spell-like effect. I guess I don't see what you gain by making it an actual spell cast
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Simplicity was my aim, since the spells are already on the spell list, handle "freezing" a target, and have a built in cost (concentration and spell slot use).
I'll think about changing it to just be described in the feature, but I don't really see why it should be a cause for arguments; you have to cast a spell to trigger it, then it lets you cast another, specific, spell as a bonus action against a single target, there's not really any other way of looking at is as trying to apply the "no other spells if you use a bonus action spell" rule would mean the feature could never actually be used under any circumstances, and that would require a general rule overriding a specific one.
Update: I've decided to drop the sorcery points to reuse on Avatar of Frost; on a sample high level character I built I came up with a combo of Time Stop to cast False Life, Fire Shield (Chill Shield) and Investiture of Wind before activating Avatar of Frost early into a hard fight, and it's a pretty serious combination. An extra buffer of temporary HP, fire resistance and added cold damage against nearby enemies, and Investiture of Wind to make you hard to hit and able to fly (rather than Ice which is redundant when Avatar of Frost is active, though you could take it for other times) plus of course Avatar of Frost for the added resistances, total cold immunity, extra AC, cold damage aura and twinned freezing on top of something nasty like Otiluke's Freezing Sphere and you've got a true ice god floating around the battlefield, practically impossible to hit, but tough, resistant and vengeful if you do.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
Hoarfrost
This is excellent. No suggestions. It does seem too similar to Armor of Agathys, though.
Frozen Soul
I think that this should be completely reworked. Hoarfrost already gives you (brief) immunity to cold damage, and depending on the campaign, you might not be taking any cold damage at all anyway.
Winter's Rime
The wording could be changed a little bit, as could the mechanics. I think it would work better like this: "When a humanoid takes cold damage from a spell you cast of 1st level or higher, you can expend one sorcery point to force it to make a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be paralyzed. It can repeat the saving throw at the end of each of its turns, ending the effect on itself on a success. Alternatively, you can spend three sorcery points to do the same to a non-humanoid monster." In fact, I think that it should be a Constitution save instead.
Heart of Ice
You say: "In addition, you have advantage on Insight checks and Wisdom saving throws taken against attempts to sway you emotionally." I suggest changing the wording to: "In addition, you have advantage on Insight checks and on Wisdom saving throws taken against attempts to sway you emotionally." It doesn't seem like much, but the way you have it, it seems like the Insight checks are taken against attempts to sway you emotionally.
Glacial Aura
This is great. No suggestions.
Avatar of Frost
Aside from the wording ("you are resistant", "does not consume limited uses", et cetera), I think that this is good. However, if you are an "avatar of living frost", shouldn't you have resistance/immunity to fire and ice damage? Also, I think that Winter's Rime should always be active while you are the "avatar", and the ability to spam Hoarfrost essentially gives you a +4 or +5 bonus to AC overall and is very OP.
Overall
The wording could be improved. Also, like several other classes and subclasses (official as well as homebrew), this is too weak at the beginning and way too powerful at the end.
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Mechanically it's very different or do you just mean thematically? As mentioned in the notes I had originally hoped to give the class that spell but unfortunately it's not valid for public homebrew on D&D Beyond (which only supports spells in the Basic Rules or Elemental Evil Player's Companion, however Armor of Agathys is a Player's Handbook spell).
Hoarfrost is limited use though, and is preemptive so it's no good against unexpected attacks. I think it's definitely still important to gain full resistance.
I think one sorcery point is definitely too low, as Hold Person is a 2nd level spell (3 points to buy the slot). Again though, doesn't this seem like reinventing the wheel when the player will already have these spells (since they do fit the theme of being able to "freeze" things)?
I get your point but I'm not sure I see the difference by adding "on" in the second version. Perhaps the better phrasing might be "…you have advantage on both Insight checks and Wisdom saving throws taken…"?
You'll have resistance to frost damage (Frozen Soul) or full immunity each turn you use Hoarfrost. My thinking on fire resistance was that you already have Fire Shield (chill shield only) as one of the sub-class spells if you need it, and it's a good spell to already have active (or quicken) if fire is in play?
Avatar of Frost only lasts for one minute once per long rest, plus you have no special protection against anything save based, so while it's strong I'm not sure it's that OP? Another way of thinking about it is that you get some extra free uses of Hoarfrost per long rest (usually only 3-6 in most combats).
The tricky thing is I'm trying to make it balanced against official sub-classes, and a lot have fairly modest starting features; Aberrant gets telepathy, Clockwork is proficiency uses per long rest cancel advantage/disadvantage, Divine Soul is proficiency uses per long rest attack roll bonus, all with added spell lists. Of those without spell lists Draconic is probably the best 1st level with always-on Mage Armor, extra HP, draconic and double proficiency on CHA checks vs. dragons, Shadow is okay with darkvision, see through Darkness (for 2 sorcery points) and once per long rest unreliable Death Ward, Storm can be fun with primordial and a bonus 10 foot fly move if you cast a 1st level or better spells, Wild Magic has Tides of Chaos (basically advantage on one roll per long rest, but with ways to recover it sooner) and Wild Magic Surge which can be a mixed blessing when it goes off (if at all in a session).
Personally I think Frozen Soul stacks up pretty favourably with Hoarfrost and a spell list? Sixth level the sub-classes are very mixed; Storm is one of the best IMO (resistance to lightning and thunder, plus 1st level or higher spells to do decent damage in a 10 foot aura), Aberrant Mind is pretty good with cheaper Font of Magic (essentially) and resistance to psychic damage, charmed and frightened, Divine Soul better healing, Clockwork is a damage reducing shield that's okay but not amazing. I feel like resistance to cold and the ability to cast two full spells per turn stacks up favourably for that level?
I'm always open to suggestions on balancing, just wanted to give you some of the points of comparison I'm trying to use. Thanks for your feedback!
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
I do mean thematically.
pm me the word "tomato"
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