I am working on an ice homebrew world and in need of ideas for ice monsters. If anyone has anything that they would like to share, please comment below or Private Message me.
What are you looking for? Are you looking for arctic themed monsters? If so I would look at arctic creatures. Are you looking for creatures made of ice? I know there's several ice genasi you could augment in the homebrew race listings. You could also take an earth elemental and map ice on to it. It loses earth glide, and vulnerability to thunder damage, but gains immunity to cold damage, vulnerability to fire damage, and deals cold damage.
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
I ran an episode in the ice covered plains of my champaign world like twenty years ago (pre game of Thrones) and I have chosen undead as foes. Undead do no have to eat in the icy wastes and they don't need warmth (which your party will need), so they can be relentless hunters and just "be there" without a need to sustain themselves. I had an special kind of zombie covered in thick ice (high armour and resistance), floating skeletons (without legs) armed with javelins (they were very fast skirmish troops that did hit and run attacks, while the players were knee deep in snow and a "black heart" undead, which used his claws in melee and also tore open his chest, when receiving a death blow to have his heart of ice explode right in the face of the players for AoE damage.
I have been digging deep in my old notes and have found very little about the appearance of "The Black Hearts". From the bullet points I still have, it comes down to this:
The zombie still looked very human, dressed in recognizable leather and fur clothing, covered with frost. Small icicles were dangling from its hair. The face showed its bony skull underneath the grey skin and blistered lips. The grinding teeth made sounds like crushed glass or sheets of ice, moving on a slow river. There were no eyes in the sockets, just eternal blackness. A long pointy icicle protruded from each finger, forming a pair of deadly claws on both hands. ... When the creature ripped through its own clothing, dried flesh and cracked open its ribcage with a sickening noise, you could see a black heart made out of obsidian, grown to the size of two large clenched fists and hardened by the curse of corruption. While the zombie was malevolently grinning, the heart erupted in a flash of blue light and burst into a thousand shards, tearing apart not only the creature, but also ripping through everything and everyone close to it.
I can't remember how the battle with them progressed, but imagine you have to fight a suicide bomber with an explosive vest that will trigger when close to the party (or as many people as possible, if you have NPCs, sledge dogs etc.). The challenge is not only to kill it at range, but also not to kill it when its death explosion can harm allies.
I am working on an ice homebrew world and in need of ideas for ice monsters. If anyone has anything that they would like to share, please comment below or Private Message me.
You will get credit for it.
What are you looking for? Are you looking for arctic themed monsters? If so I would look at arctic creatures. Are you looking for creatures made of ice? I know there's several ice genasi you could augment in the homebrew race listings. You could also take an earth elemental and map ice on to it. It loses earth glide, and vulnerability to thunder damage, but gains immunity to cold damage, vulnerability to fire damage, and deals cold damage.
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Astromancer's Homebrew Assembly
"The relevant equation is: Knowledge = power = energy = matter = mass; a good bookshop is just a genteel Black Hole that knows how to read." - Terry Pratchett
I ran an episode in the ice covered plains of my champaign world like twenty years ago (pre game of Thrones) and I have chosen undead as foes.
Undead do no have to eat in the icy wastes and they don't need warmth (which your party will need), so they can be relentless hunters and just "be there" without a need to sustain themselves.
I had an special kind of zombie covered in thick ice (high armour and resistance), floating skeletons (without legs) armed with javelins (they were very fast skirmish troops that did hit and run attacks, while the players were knee deep in snow and a "black heart" undead, which used his claws in melee and also tore open his chest, when receiving a death blow to have his heart of ice explode right in the face of the players for AoE damage.
This sounds amazing, thank you for your contribution. In your words what would the black heart look like?
I have been digging deep in my old notes and have found very little about the appearance of "The Black Hearts". From the bullet points I still have, it comes down to this:
The zombie still looked very human, dressed in recognizable leather and fur clothing, covered with frost. Small icicles were dangling from its hair. The face showed its bony skull underneath the grey skin and blistered lips. The grinding teeth made sounds like crushed glass or sheets of ice, moving on a slow river. There were no eyes in the sockets, just eternal blackness. A long pointy icicle protruded from each finger, forming a pair of deadly claws on both hands. ... When the creature ripped through its own clothing, dried flesh and cracked open its ribcage with a sickening noise, you could see a black heart made out of obsidian, grown to the size of two large clenched fists and hardened by the curse of corruption. While the zombie was malevolently grinning, the heart erupted in a flash of blue light and burst into a thousand shards, tearing apart not only the creature, but also ripping through everything and everyone close to it.
I can't remember how the battle with them progressed, but imagine you have to fight a suicide bomber with an explosive vest that will trigger when close to the party (or as many people as possible, if you have NPCs, sledge dogs etc.). The challenge is not only to kill it at range, but also not to kill it when its death explosion can harm allies.
This is an amazing concept, thus would indeed be perfect for a cold cold world. Thank you for this great depiction of the black heart.