Magic : Could be a lost spell that some powerful wizard is casting or something along the lines of maybe magic is leaving the world somehow and thats making the heat drain from it. Maybe a lich is trying to drain the lay lines of magic to summon a army of undead and its effecting the world?
God/Goddess : Maybe like in some myths the god of summer/spring was kidnapped and the players need to help them OR they are trying to kill the world and the players are asked to intervene.
World dying : Maybe the world is just dying and the players need to figure a way to heal it? Maybe they need to stop whats killing etc.... Maybe the world is really a living creature and the players need to go into the caves and figure out whats wrong with the world and how to help it.
Plenty of things you can play off of just depends on if you want it to be natural or set up by someone/something.
Real ice ages occur because of changes in the Earth’s orbit that cause less sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere. Something similar can happen in your game world — a spell that was cast not on your planet, but on the sun. Perhaps a wizard created a cover of dense clouds that prevented sunlight from reaching the surface, or perhaps a demon lord just ate the sun. The possibilities are endless.
A lost artifact, or a part of an artifact where the balancing heat peice has left the world and needs to be brought back. Something like that is responsible for the great glacier in FR - a magic necklace given to the queen of the giant deities has been dropped to the bottom of the northern sea and has frozen it and more creating the great glacier.
What magic could make a world or large demiplane turn permanently icy cold? Thanks for any advice and suggestions.
Action? Or phenomenon?
To me, realistically, there's nothing anyone can do to permanently change the climate of a world or plane. Although you could take a look at Dark Sun: Defiling magic, over time, ruined the eco system, but even before that, massive psionic rituals were used to change the climate, to devastating effects (they tried to do good stuff, but in the final outcome changed their sun to burn much hotter).
Otherwise, what sort of timeframe are you looking at? If it's slowly, it could be a spreading curse of some sort. Some BBEG dies, but ice slowly spreads from his tomb, and now he rises as an undead, and anyone he kills, they also rise from their graves, and ice spreads from those too. Over time, as more and more people spread the curse, it becomes ... problematic.
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Unless you want the players to fix the problem I would just go with a natural phenomenon, a simple ice age is starting or the planet is already into one.
Just remember that unless your making something really cold then a large area of the equator will still be livable. Do you want it like Alaska or Siberia or do you want it like Antarctica?
This actually happened: "The volcanic winter of AD 536 was the most severe and protracted episode of climatic cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 2,000 years. The volcanic winter was caused by at least three simultaneous eruptions of uncertain origin, with several possible locations proposed in various continents." Look up "Volcanic Winter of 536" on wikipedia. There were dark skies and cop failures for 18 months. It snowed in China. I'm not a historian, so you should google it.
So, if you want it to be permanent, keep those volcanos blowing.
Or, you could have the sun god perish or disappear.
You could also look at the old Dark Sun setting....for a planetary cataclysm.
If you are looking for story flavor, you could say that the sun has been blocked out by a spell cast by an evil cult, boosted by some magical artifact that magnified the spell greatly.
If you want a visible phenomenon, perhaps something has happened to the sun - its energy could be being siphoned away/into something, a bright line in the air. Or it could be blocked by a massive (incomprehensibly massive if you actually worked out the required size) cloud of shadow. A permanent eclipse with a big enough moon. Permanent cloud or fog, above which the sun is normal, but below it, plants can't thrive in the eternal shade.
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Currently homebrewing the Mistveil Rogue, an elusive infiltrator that can vanish into thin air.
An exceptionally powerful mythal would be especially appropriate for the Forgotten Realms. And an eldritch machine would be a good solution in Eberron.
For me, I would use an open portal. Pick some part of the world and put a large open portal to a super cold other world. Good excuse to put weird monsters in that location as well.
If you're up for some D&D archaeology, the DMG2 from 3.5e had a "magical event" called "the killing frost of Ghulurak". The basic idea was that there's a cosmic horror entity of ice and madness yadda yadda that exerts influence into other planes when its cultists carve its likeness into pure ice. When that happens, the climate around the likeness becomes frigid, and begins to expand. When that area extends to cover the entire plane, the entity, Ghulurak, enters the plane and takes over. The only way ot stop this is for the likeness to be destroyed.
It's basically plot device level magic, which 5e doesn't bother to give exact rules for because it's a plot device. A reasonable candidate would be Cryonax (you'd need to convert a prior edition, or maybe use a version that someone did in homebrew).
I never got how D&D uses cultists. In real life cults are composed when a charismatic person decides to take some poor unhappy people and convinces them either a) they are going to die unless they do what he says, b) they are going to hell unless they do what he says, or c) it is OK to have all the drugs and sex they want if they do what he says.
If I was going to make a cult, it would be based on one of these ideas. I would have one cult selling scrolls of Protection from Evil and that you would be totally killed by demons if you didn't join their cult. Another organizing Orgies where they cast Detect Diseases before the fun begins. Another one of bards shaking tambourines saying "Meat is MURDER". All of them would of course be backed by demons or abberations of course, but they would not admit it up front.
I never got how D&D uses cultists. In real life cults are composed when a charismatic person decides to take some poor unhappy people and convinces them either a) they are going to die unless they do what he says, b) they are going to hell unless they do what he says, or c) it is OK to have all the drugs and sex they want if they do what he says.
If I was going to make a cult, it would be based on one of these ideas. I would have one cult selling scrolls of Protection from Evil and that you would be totally killed by demons if you didn't join their cult. Another organizing Orgies where they cast Detect Diseases before the fun begins. Another one of bards shaking tambourines saying "Meat is MURDER". All of them would of course be backed by demons or abberations of course, but they would not admit it up front.
I mean, the basic principle is still there; most of the example cults basically exist to empower extraplanar beings, typically with mixed elements of "you will be spared and/or rewarded on my coming" and "it's good to do X thing, and you should do more of it".
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What magic could make a world or large demiplane turn permanently icy cold? Thanks for any advice and suggestions.
Turn on the ac and leave the door open.
Ok you can just say epic level magic cold spell. Or the gawds of cold have took a vacation to the hot zones and are chilling out.
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Lots of things in DnD could.
Magic : Could be a lost spell that some powerful wizard is casting or something along the lines of maybe magic is leaving the world somehow and thats making the heat drain from it. Maybe a lich is trying to drain the lay lines of magic to summon a army of undead and its effecting the world?
God/Goddess : Maybe like in some myths the god of summer/spring was kidnapped and the players need to help them OR they are trying to kill the world and the players are asked to intervene.
World dying : Maybe the world is just dying and the players need to figure a way to heal it? Maybe they need to stop whats killing etc.... Maybe the world is really a living creature and the players need to go into the caves and figure out whats wrong with the world and how to help it.
Plenty of things you can play off of just depends on if you want it to be natural or set up by someone/something.
Real ice ages occur because of changes in the Earth’s orbit that cause less sunlight in the Northern Hemisphere. Something similar can happen in your game world — a spell that was cast not on your planet, but on the sun. Perhaps a wizard created a cover of dense clouds that prevented sunlight from reaching the surface, or perhaps a demon lord just ate the sun. The possibilities are endless.
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A lost artifact, or a part of an artifact where the balancing heat peice has left the world and needs to be brought back. Something like that is responsible for the great glacier in FR - a magic necklace given to the queen of the giant deities has been dropped to the bottom of the northern sea and has frozen it and more creating the great glacier.
Wisea$$ DM and Player since 1979.
Action? Or phenomenon?
To me, realistically, there's nothing anyone can do to permanently change the climate of a world or plane. Although you could take a look at Dark Sun: Defiling magic, over time, ruined the eco system, but even before that, massive psionic rituals were used to change the climate, to devastating effects (they tried to do good stuff, but in the final outcome changed their sun to burn much hotter).
Otherwise, what sort of timeframe are you looking at? If it's slowly, it could be a spreading curse of some sort. Some BBEG dies, but ice slowly spreads from his tomb, and now he rises as an undead, and anyone he kills, they also rise from their graves, and ice spreads from those too. Over time, as more and more people spread the curse, it becomes ... problematic.
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
In the Forgotten Realms it is said the Ring of Winter could freeze the planet under the correct conditions.
https://forgottenrealms.fandom.com/wiki/Ring_of_Winter
Unless you want the players to fix the problem I would just go with a natural phenomenon, a simple ice age is starting or the planet is already into one.
Just remember that unless your making something really cold then a large area of the equator will still be livable. Do you want it like Alaska or Siberia or do you want it like Antarctica?
Magically anything goes.
This actually happened: "The volcanic winter of AD 536 was the most severe and protracted episode of climatic cooling in the Northern Hemisphere in the last 2,000 years. The volcanic winter was caused by at least three simultaneous eruptions of uncertain origin, with several possible locations proposed in various continents." Look up "Volcanic Winter of 536" on wikipedia. There were dark skies and cop failures for 18 months. It snowed in China. I'm not a historian, so you should google it.
So, if you want it to be permanent, keep those volcanos blowing.
Or, you could have the sun god perish or disappear.
You could also look at the old Dark Sun setting....for a planetary cataclysm.
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If the poles of the planet suddenly reversed that could theoretically do it I think.
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You can also look up an "impact winter" (an asteroid hits) in wikipedia.
Food, Scifi/fantasy, anime, DND 5E and OSR geek.
If you are looking for story flavor, you could say that the sun has been blocked out by a spell cast by an evil cult, boosted by some magical artifact that magnified the spell greatly.
For example, a world-wide Storm of Vengeance, or if you want to go creepier, Hunger of Hadar.
If you want a visible phenomenon, perhaps something has happened to the sun - its energy could be being siphoned away/into something, a bright line in the air. Or it could be blocked by a massive (incomprehensibly massive if you actually worked out the required size) cloud of shadow. A permanent eclipse with a big enough moon. Permanent cloud or fog, above which the sun is normal, but below it, plants can't thrive in the eternal shade.
Currently homebrewing the Mistveil Rogue, an elusive infiltrator that can vanish into thin air.
An exceptionally powerful mythal would be especially appropriate for the Forgotten Realms. And an eldritch machine would be a good solution in Eberron.
For me, I would use an open portal. Pick some part of the world and put a large open portal to a super cold other world. Good excuse to put weird monsters in that location as well.
If you're up for some D&D archaeology, the DMG2 from 3.5e had a "magical event" called "the killing frost of Ghulurak". The basic idea was that there's a cosmic horror entity of ice and madness yadda yadda that exerts influence into other planes when its cultists carve its likeness into pure ice. When that happens, the climate around the likeness becomes frigid, and begins to expand. When that area extends to cover the entire plane, the entity, Ghulurak, enters the plane and takes over. The only way ot stop this is for the likeness to be destroyed.
It's basically plot device level magic, which 5e doesn't bother to give exact rules for because it's a plot device. A reasonable candidate would be Cryonax (you'd need to convert a prior edition, or maybe use a version that someone did in homebrew).
I never got how D&D uses cultists. In real life cults are composed when a charismatic person decides to take some poor unhappy people and convinces them either a) they are going to die unless they do what he says, b) they are going to hell unless they do what he says, or c) it is OK to have all the drugs and sex they want if they do what he says.
If I was going to make a cult, it would be based on one of these ideas. I would have one cult selling scrolls of Protection from Evil and that you would be totally killed by demons if you didn't join their cult. Another organizing Orgies where they cast Detect Diseases before the fun begins. Another one of bards shaking tambourines saying "Meat is MURDER". All of them would of course be backed by demons or abberations of course, but they would not admit it up front.
I mean, the basic principle is still there; most of the example cults basically exist to empower extraplanar beings, typically with mixed elements of "you will be spared and/or rewarded on my coming" and "it's good to do X thing, and you should do more of it".