Base Class: Fighter
Due to various circumstances, you have become endowed with primordial power of ice and snow. Explain the origin of your newly awakened affinity; whether it is a divine blessing, the power of a bloodline, a strange coincidence, a deal with the (proverbial) devil, or some other fifth thing. Is it something you wanted? Did you have to sacrifice something to obtain this power? Has this elemental endowment brought about changes to your appearance or personality? If the source of your endowment isn't from the Elemental Planes, simply change the relevant narrative details to suit your character.
Your save DC for this subclass is 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus.
Elemental Physique
3rd level martial archetype feature.
Divination reveals your creature type to be both Elemental and Humanoid. You are fluent in Primordial and you have resistance to cold damage. You ignore difficult terrain created by ice or snow and can tolerate temperatures as low as −50 degrees Fahrenheit without any additional protection. If you wear heavy clothes, you can tolerate temperatures as low as −100 degrees Fahrenheit.
Freezing Attacks
3rd level martial archetype feature.
Your attacks can count as cold damage in addition to their normal damage type. Cold damage caused by you ignores resistance to cold damage and you can treat any 1 on a damage die as a 2 when rolling for cold damage.
Whenever you hit a creature with a cold-imbued attack and roll the highest value on one of your damage dice for that attack, the target creature's speed is reduced by 10 feet and it cannot take reactions until the end of its next turn.
Ice Sculptor
3rd level martial archetype feature.
You can conjure ice in the form of sculpted objects or directly sculpt solid ice with your bare hands, as if it were snow. This ability can be used in any unoccupied space within a 30 foot radius of you. The effects of this ability are considered permanent unless stated otherwise, but the ice can still melt like normal. In 70 degree Fahrenheit weather under direct sunlight, a 1 foot cube of ice will be mostly melted after about 8 hours.
- Over the corse of one action, you can conjure from thin air about one cubic foot's worth of featureless ice, freeze about 5 cubic feet of water, or solidify 10 cubic feet of snow (two 5 ft. cubes). You cannot telekinetically lift ice or snow, but you can remotely manipulate it by "pushing" or molding an area of about 5 cubic feet to move 5 feet in any direction.
- You can manipulate ice and snow to take any shape, form, color, or consistency. How long this takes depends on how detailed the final product is. Your DM might ask for a Charisma or Dexterity ability check to aid in estimating the time needed or the sculpture's artistic value. This should include any applicable skill or tool proficiencies.
- You can use an action to condense a layer of snow or ice several inches thick to cover all inanimate surfaces within an area of up to 20 squared feet (four 5 ft. squares). The area can be arranged in any configuration but all the squares must be contiguous. After every 15 feet of movement on the ice, a creature must succeed on a DC 7 Dexterity saving throw or fall prone.
- As an action, you can imbue some elemental energy into a small sculpture of ice or snow to create harmless illusory effect such a glowing aurora or a shimmering surface. This can produce dim light within 5 or 10 feet and dissipates after one hour. At any time, this can be active on a number of objects equal to your Charisma ability score.
- As a bonus action, you can conjure a weapon made of ice. The maximum number of ice weapons you can have active at one time is equal to your Constitution modifier. An ice weapon you conjure will lose its magic after 10 minutes, becoming normal ice. Ice weapons have the same stats as non-magical basic weapons, except that they count as cold damage in addition to the normal weapon's damage type.
Endowment of Ice Advancement Options
You can choose from the following options twice at 7th level, and once at 10th and 15th levels.
Elemental Attunement
Your affinity with ice and cold has expanded your perception in frigid climates. You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Wisdom (Survival) checks made in frigid climates. Your perception is not impaired by weather such as blizzards. Within areas that are frozen solid or blanketed in ice or snow, you have tremorsense within a range of 30 feet.
Additionally, you are able to detect the presence of magic that is strongly tied to your elemental endowment within a range of 90 feet, so long as it is not blocked by 1 foot of stone, 1 inch of common metal, a thin sheet of lead, or 3 feet of wood or dirt. If it applies, you are able to vaguely estimate its direction and distance, the scale and intensity of the effect, how old it is, or if it is familiar to you. You might also be able to determine whether it is foreign to this plane of existence. This feature functions as blindsight exclusively for the detection of magic. It can manifest in one of many ways, such as a 'visible' aura, a distinct scent, tingling on the skin, a vague spatial sensation, etc.
Flash Freeze
When a creature enters within 10 feet of of you or exits from within 5 feet of you, or when a creature hits you with a melee attack, you can use a reaction to Flash Freeze everything within a 10 foot radius sphere of you. Each creature within the sphere takes 2d4 cold damage and must make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, a creature becomes restrained until the start of your next turn. On a successful save, a creature has its movement reduced by half until the end of its turn. This ability can be used once per short rest.
The damage increases at 10th level (2d6), 15th level (2d8), and 18th level (2d10). The uses per short rest increases at 10th level (2) and 18th level (3).
Freezing Fog
Once per long rest as an action, you exude a cloud of subzero fog that obscures vision and induces frostbite. The fog is a cylinder with a radius of 20 feet and a hight of 20 feet, centered on yourself, and it does not move together with you. The fog spreads around corners and its area is heavily obscured. It lasts for 10 minutes and a wind of moderate or greater speed (at least 10 miles per hour) pushes the fog at a speed of 5 feet per additional 5 mph over 10 mph. When activating this ability, you can choose to control the size of the fog cloud to be smaller than its maximum.
Unless a creature within the fog is able to resist the effects of temperatures as low as −50 degrees Fahrenheit, its movement speed is reduced by 10 feet within the fog and it takes 1d6 cold damage when it ends its turn there. If a creature within the fog is reduced to 1 or fewer hit points, it becomes frozen. A frozen creature that is not dead has immunity to cold damage and can have its hit points restored by magic, and it can be freed from the ice by melting the ice normally. As the ice melts, a creature takes 1d4 cold damage.
The radius, duration, and damage of this ability increase at higher levels. 10th level (40 feet, 1 hour, 1d8), 15th level (60 feet, 8 hours, 1d10), 18th level (80 feet, 24 hours, 1d12).
Frostbite
If you consecutively hit a creature with two or more attacks dealing cold damage in the same turn, the cold will numb their mind and dull their senses, causing them to suffer a -1 to all attack rolls, ability checks, and saving throws until the start of your next turn. This changes to become -2 at 18th level.
Frozen Field
Once per long rest, you can use an action to create a thick sheet of ice that covers all surfaces within 30 feet of you. Each creature standing within this radius must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or take 1d8 + your Constitution modifier of cold damage and become frozen, having its lower body trapped in ice. A frozen creature can attempt to free itself from the ice by using an action to make a Strength saving throw. On a failed save, it takes 1d4 cold damage and continues to be frozen. An unfrozen creature can use its action to free a frozen creature, making the same saving throw but with advantage.
For every 10 feet a of movement across the Frozen Field, a creature takes 1 cold damage. A creature that walks more than half its movement over the Frozen Field on its turn must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw or fall prone. A creature automatically succeeds if it ignores difficult terrain caused by ice.
In 70 degree Fahrenheit weather under direct sunlight, the Frozen Field will be mostly melted after about 4–6 hours.
Most creatures with immunity to being restrained are not affected by this feature. Some such creatures can still be affected, granted that they could plausibly be frozen. For example, a swarm of rats or a water elemental.
The radius of this ability increases by 5 feet at 10th level (35 feet), 15th level (40 feet), and 18th level (45 feet).
Glacial Strike
Once per action as part of a cold imbued ranged or melee attack, you can use a bonus action to create whirling, blizzard-like attack that causes ice to spread from where your strike hits. If you can make multiple attacks in one action, Glacial Strike replaces one of them. On a hit, the target takes an additional 1d6 cold damage and has its movement speed reduced by 15 feet until the start of your next turn. It must then succeed on a Strength saving throw or become restrained in ice until the start of its turn. This ability can be used a number of times per long rest equal to your proficiency bonus.
Most creatures with immunity to being restrained are not affected by this feature. Some such creatures can still be affected, granted that they could plausibly be frozen. For example, a swarm of rats or a water elemental.
The damage of this ability increases at 10th level (1d8), 15th level (1d10), and 18th level (1d12).
Ice Crystal Armor
As part of a long rest, you can condense layers of primordial energy to cover yourself with a glistening armor of steel-like ice. The Ice Crystal Armor counts as heavy armor with an AC of 13 + your Constitution modifier. As part of the armor's creation, you can also choose to create a shield (AC +2) or a tower shield. A tower shield counts as half cover and reduces your movement speed by 5 feet, unless your Strength score is 19 or greater.
The Ice Crystal Armor grants temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier. This pool of temporary hit points has resistance to fire damage and immunity to cold damage. As part of the creation of this armor, you can choose to expend a number of your fighter hit dice up to your proficiency bonus. For each hit die you expend, you gain additional temporary hit points equal to your Constitution modifier. The Ice Crystal Armor does not disappear if the temporary hit points are reduced to 0.
The Ice Crystal Armor can take any form that does not impede movement. It covers the entire body, including the head. If you use your Ice Sculptor feature to add minor illusory effects to the Ice Crystal Armor, the effects remain until dismissed.
The armor's AC increases at 10th level (AC 14) and 18th level (AC 15).
Icy Persona
You gain proficiency in Charisma (Intimidation), if you do not already have it, and other creatures have disadvantage when making Wisdom (Insight) ability checks against you.
Creatures that make their home in frigid climates tend to view you with familiarity or fear, your choice. You can always add your proficiency bonus to Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma ability checks made to non-violently interact with or recall knowledge related to creatures that are at home in frigid climates. If you are already proficient in the relevant skill, you can add twice your proficiency bonus to that ability check.
Unstable Ice Weapon
Using a bonus action, you can conjure an unstable magical ice weapon that lasts until the start of your next turn. You must have at least one free hand to do so. An unstable ice weapon is a magic weapon with a +1 bonus to attack and damage rolls and has a base damage of 2d8 cold damage. This unstable ice weapon can resemble any mundane weapon, including a ranged weapon and its' projectiles. It is destroyed if you take fire damage while holding it.
This changes at 10th level (+2) and 18th level (+3).
Elemental Progression
10th level martial archetype feature. Choose one option from the Endowment of Ice Advancement Options.
You gain immunity to cold damage.
Elemental Surge
15th level martial archetype feature. Choose one option from the Endowment of Ice Advancement Options.
You can enhance your action surge. During action surge, each time a creature receives cold damage caused by you they must succeed on a Constitution saving throw or become restrained in ice until the start of their next turn.
Primordial Ice
18th level martial archetype feature.
Your flesh and bones have condensed into primordial ice. Divination reveals your creature type to be only Elemental. Creatures that end their turn within 5 feet of you take cold damage equal to your Charisma modifier and any fire damage you take is reduced by an amount equal to your fighter level.
You regain 1d8 hit points at the start of each of your turns; this cannot exceed your maximum hit points. If you have been hit with fire damage within the last round, you cannot regain hit points in this way. This applies even if the fire damage was reduced to 0.
Previous Versions
| Name | Date Modified | Views | Adds | Version | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1/24/2022 1:47:43 AM
|
6
|
4
|
--
|
Coming Soon
|
|
|
1/26/2022 11:22:26 AM
|
3
|
1
|
--
|
Coming Soon
|
|
|
2/4/2022 12:43:46 PM
|
5
|
1
|
--
|
Coming Soon
|
|
|
2/5/2022 3:42:27 PM
|
10
|
1
|
--
|
Coming Soon
|
|
|
2/6/2022 6:50:01 PM
|
9
|
1
|
--
|
Coming Soon
|
|
|
2/6/2022 8:43:32 PM
|
9
|
1
|
--
|
Coming Soon
|
|
|
2/26/2022 1:48:33 AM
|
10
|
2
|
--
|
Coming Soon
|
|
|
2/26/2022 11:48:39 PM
|
25
|
6
|
--
|
Coming Soon
|
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Mar 12, 2024Only just recently realized how OP Freezing Fog + Frozen Field is.
"It's 70 degrees outside, why are you all wearing snow gear, goggles, and crampons?"
[Entire party sends conflicted glares at the fighter]
The fighter: "Sometimes I panic..."
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Aug 14, 2022Hi Starflight, I do indeed appreciate the feedback! Thank you for your high praises! If only my cheeks were more than bone, I'm sure they'd be flushed!
As it turns out, I also have a handful of nits I'd like to pick at on this subclass! But if I were to update it, I would lose these precious comments and those sweet, addictive upvotes lol. After having finally had a chance to playtest all my subclasses, I've found the Endowment of Ice to be a little bit too weak in terms of damage and 'overall ability uses per long rest', if you know what i mean. This is relative not only to the other five Elemental Endowment subclasses I've made, but also when compared to other classes.
But! You've left me feeling inspired and rosy, so I'd like to respond to your feedback!
It seems there's a lot of recurring confusion about this one! The way I've been running it is conceptually similar to how weapons which are silvered, adamantine, or magic work.
To give an example: If you use a cold-imbued longsword attack against a water elemental, then it basically just counts as if you were using a magic weapon which bypasses its slashing damage resistance. If you hit a fire snake using the same attack, then the attack would count as having triggered the monster's cold vulnerability while also ignoring the resistance.
Narratively, I felt it would be somewhat silly to basically imply "You can make the sword cold, but it can't cut things while it's cold!" A longsword imbued with elemental energy is still a longsword, right? It's simply a bone-chilling longsword which both slashes and chills bones.
The logic behind the mechanics is that if the player can, without using an action, change the damage type of their attacks, then isn't that functionally equivalent to using both damage types at the same time? Wont the result always be that they use the damage type which will be effective? Why impose a mechanical restriction which doesn't fit the narrative and is unlikely to make a difference? I felt it was too forced, and so I went with the rule of cool.
To be honest, I agree with you here. I normally try to phrase feature descriptions in ways which make them more widely applicable, because what's the point of an interesting or powerful ability if it can hardly ever be used?! However, this is one instance where I deliberately tried to imply that I do not recommend allowing the player to use the Elemental Endowment martial archetypes' features together with spells. If your DM is okay with it, then there's obviously no problem.
Some of the features for the other five of my Elemental Endowment subclasses could easily become overpowered if used in conjunction with spells, and I wanted to keep a degree of consistency among the fundamental premises by which I attempted to balance these six martial archetypes. So, I phrased it in a slightly more restrictive way hoping that it would convey a soft suggestion toward caution.
All six of the Elemental Endowment martial archetypes use mainly Constitution as the save DC, with all six also having one to three features which can lean on different ability scores. The reason for using Constitution is twofold:
1. Because it fits the narrative! The ability modifier used for a save DC should indicate where that power comes from, and for the Elemental Endowments, that power comes from your literal constitution! The power you can harness is the result of the degree of elemental corruption you're able to endure. Charisma is the spellcasting ability used when a spellcaster's magic depends on the strength of their personality. The Elemental Endowments aren't about gentle persuasion, they're about the unrelenting primordial forces of nature! But, persuasion can still work. So I always include some stuff for it.
2. Simply because i don't want to force people to spend stat points on Charisma if their character isn't even remotely charismatic! But if you're a fighter, then there's a very good chance that your character concept is going to include 'toughness'.
The reason for having some features use different ability scores is both to add diversity to the way the elemental power might be applied by a character, and also sometimes to potentially balance out some of the cool ideas I had which I couldn't give up but didn't want to compromise by making weaker lol.
This is a bit of a hot take of mine pun. It's commonly imagined for 'ice' to be weak to 'fire' and for fire to be resistant to ice. But, that doesn't really make much sense? Imagine an elemental humanoid composed of ice and a normal human both trying to withstand a flamethrower. Which one is going to die first? The one that's made of meat, or the one that's made of ice?
What do we use to 'beat the heat'? We use ice. Cold beats heat, and heat also beats cold. They're equal and opposite, right? irl, they're only equivalent and not actually opposite at all. They're both just thermodynamics. But when it comes to magic, they can be considered equally opposed forces. So, as an ice elemental, you resist being harmed by fire, but it also impedes you.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Aug 8, 2022Looking through this hidden gem of a subclass, I have to give major props; this is a class that combines a unique and extremely creative idea, with the concept of Elemental Endowment and Corruption, but also executes it brilliantly, feeling neither like a mere proof of concept nor a silly gag, which so many other Beyond Homebrew Classes do, but feels like a completely realized concept, one that I couldn't imagine Wizards of the Coast producing, because it is somehow above their quality. Not only does each ability feel cohesive to the subclass itself, but also is integrated extremely well with the abilities of the Fighter Class. Each one of these abilities is so well polished and excellent that their quality alone outshines the quality of many entire subclasses. And on top of that, while the class would feel complete if there only three predetermined Endowment of Ice Advancements for the class, there are instead 9 entirely different abilities, roughly equal to another in strength, which offers more choice for variation by this one feature than some official classes do with their subclass roster (Looking at Warlocks here).
This class provides much needed out of combat utility features to a martial class, without resorting to giving them access to spells, and the class feels entirely balanced in comparison to the other fighter subclasses. This class truly brings the concept of an ice-based character to justice, (something WotC ignores all too much) and as someone thinking about trying to create an Ice Fighter Subclass of my own, this makes me not want to try, because this subclass simply does so much with the concept. (I still probably will try though) Honestly, this is a work of art, and one that does not have nearly as many upvotes as it should, and my only problems are mere nitpicks at best.
First I will say, much like Moonbound, my only really problem is the idea of attacks counting as cold damage in addition to their normal damage type. While damage types have no rules of their own, there is definitely a reason that damage only comes in the form of one type. For instance, what if you attack a creature that has resistance to slashing damage? Does it take half damage, because you're using a Slashing weapon, or does it take full damage, because your attack deals cold damage? I think it should probably just be rephrased to "any attack you make can deal cold damage instead of it's normal damage type" or something similar, which is in line with what I'm pretty sure the ability is supposed to do, but as of right now it's just kinda confusing when it really doesn't need to be. I don't really agree with the rest of Moonbound's opinions however.
As for nitpicks, "Whenever you hit a creature with a cold-imbued attack" should be changed to "Whenever you hit a creature with an attack that deals cold damage," just to allow better synergy if picking up spells from a multicast; I imagine spells uncommonly used like Ray of Frost and Ice Knife can become way more interesting. (Especially considering the other abilities, ignoring resistance to cold damage and treating any 1 on a damage die as a 2, do actually synergize with these spells)
Otherwise, I will say that the duality between needing Constitution for some abilities and Charisma for others is kinda weird. While I get the thought process, (like with the armor) I think it makes more sense to just stick with Charisma, given that it seems like the Elemental Affinity derives power in a similar way to Warlocks or Sorcerers.
Finally, I'm a little bit confused why some abilities make fire damage easier to counter? Especially in the final ability, where taking fire damage is both a strength of the build, and a weakness in the same ability? It's just a little odd, and while mechanically not problematic, it is still kinda weird.
But that is it, I hope you appreciate the feedback, and thank you for creating this amazing class!
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Mar 19, 2022Hi Moonbound, I'm happy that someone likes the cool(pun) thing I made! And yes, I'm always happy to receive feedback! This subclass is pretty new, anyways. I'm genuinely happy to receive your feedback, not only for practical purposes, but also because it gives me insight into the different values and expectations which other groups have for their D&D experience. In fact, I'd like to tailor a new Elemental Endowment of Ice according to your input! I can make it however you'd like!
But first, let me explain:
I agree that it feels a bit overloaded — and this was done with ulterior motives! You see... You're absolutely correct! Overcoming resistances hardly matters at 3rd level; that's why I put it there! It's the same with "treat any 1 on a damage die as a 2", it does basically nothing! The average damage of a d6 increases from 3.5 to 3.67. But it feels like quite a lot though, doesn't it? It's the perfect balance! It feels strong and satisfying to the player, but it doesn't make problems for the DM. The ulterior motive is simply to make this subclass feel stronger and cooler than it really is, so that more players will like it and more DM's will allow it!
I didn't know they were phasing out short rests, this would significantly affect the balance of all the Elemental Endowment martial archetypes i've made. I'm not sure how to bridge that gap, but your suggestion should work for many of the advancement abilities!
Damage is usually only a single type in spells, abilities, or monster traits, so I can see where you're coming from. But it turns out that "Damage types have no rules of their own"!!
These two I can address together. You see... You're absolutely correct! They're not useful. They're simply cool! The dim light is purely aesthetic. For example, you can use it to create a colorful 'aurora borealis' around an ice sculpture you created. Isn't that cool?! Or you can make your ice weapons each a different glowing color! If you get really creative, you might be able to use these lights to deceive enemy creatures. One of my friends would probably say that this is one of the best parts of the Endowment of Ice. He loves fanciful things, and many others do as well!
As to how a subclass can change your creature type; I know of no rule against it. Though it is certainly strange! And this strangeness is the narrative heart of all the Elemental Endowment martial archetypes. You aren't merely borrowing power from the elemental planes, you're being corrupted by it! The further you progress down the path of primordial power, the further away you become from 'human'-oid. However, this is ultimately a narrative prompt. As the subclasses introduction says, if any of the narrative details don't suit your character concept, don't hesitate to change them! There are no consequences!
As you can see, most of these things are the result of a difference in how we both enjoy the game. My friends and i treat the rules as a supplement to our roleplaying and storytelling adventure. If the rules ever obstruct us from doing something we all agree is perfectly plausible, we simply ignore the rules! If failing an ability check would be boring or improbable, we simply ignore the ability check and continue roleplaying! Even if the rules break down completely, isn't it fine so long as it's fun? That's my D&D background. In fact, my friends sometimes get annoyed at me as the local neighborhood rules lawyer!
If you'd like me to make a new version according to your preferences, let me know! Thanks again!
p.s., please upvote! I want the cool stuff I make to be popular!
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Mar 17, 2022Hi, I don't know if you still take feedback for this, but I think it would be great to split the Freezing Attacks feature up into multiple parts.
Make it ignore resistances at level 6, and you can treat any 1 on a damage die as a 2 when rolling for cold damage on level 9 or something. It seems very overloaded at third level, and resistances usually doesn't matter that early anyways.
Other than that, the subclass looks really cool!
Edit: Also as WOTC is phasing out short rests, having some features be: a number of times equal to your profieceny modifier per long rest.
Would probably make more sense?
Hey, I'm back again after discussing the subclass with a friend. We realized that an attacks damage can only be one type. So the wording "they count as cold damage in addition to the normal weapon's damage type." Doesn't really make sense.
We also questioned how a class would change your creature type, and that it doesn't really add much or matter.
And making the ice glow as dim light is just kind of weird? Seems off and unecessary. Might wanna remove that.
I know I've mostly come with critisism, but I genuinely love this subclass idea, and I find a lot of your balance, like the temporary hit points on Crystal Ice Armour to be super clever. I love how defensively and control skewed the subclass is, with few damage abillities. If what I've mentioned above was adressed I'd probably force my dm to let me play it, haha.
-
View User Profile
-
Send Message
Posted Mar 5, 2022The Endowment of Ice is probably the most complicated of the Elemental Endowment subclasses. It doesn't have much in the way of damage, but it has quite a lot of environment control and CC options. The most significant strength of this martial archetype is that the ice you create is just normal ice. It isn't magical, it's just ice. It doesn't go away when 'the spell ends'.
Interestingly, "treat any 1 on a damage die as a 2" does basically nothing. It feels very good but, using a d6 as an example, it only increases the average damage by .17 (from 3.5 to 3.67). Even knowing that it's negligible, it still gives me a wave of gratification to triumph over that dreaded red "1" when rolling damage.
Please let me know if you discover any problems with this subclass! I'd also appreciate it if you'd help by sharing your opinions or suggestions about the class.