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"During one particularly harsh winter, an innumerable host of blue-skinned trolls and cold fey, marched down from the Crown of the World, led by the ghastly crone Baba Yaga, an incredibly powerful sorceress from a distant world of the Great Beyond." -Pathfinder Chronicles Campaign Setting, p 80.
The idea of 'cold fey' has been swirling around in my brain since I first read that passage, many months ago, but I haven't sat down to stat up such creatures yet. Here are my rough thoughts;
Fey of the Winter Court
Frost Maidens / Hearthless / Lonely Ones
Typical powers; Charm person, suggestion, flaming sphere (creates a ‘snow devil’ that does cold damage instead), entangle (snow/ice only), often take levels in adept, druid or sorceress
The Dryad/Sylph of Irrisen, Hearthless appear as beautiful women with flawless snow-white skin and dark eyes, whose hair can be white, blonde, brunette, black or blue, but is always long and full, reaching down at least to their waist, if not their ankles, and sometimes being their only garment. Lonely Ones are arctic vampires, of a sort (although fey, not undead), draining warmth instead of blood, and being drawn to lone travelers lost in blizzards, whom they take into their gentle embrace and hold tight until the poor soul is frozen through. They do not think of themselves as evil, and indeed sometimes even think of themselves as providing a mercy or a comfort to those who were already doomed to die alone in the unforgiving elements. They are harmed by the touch of open flame (Cold subtype) but are still attracted to the sight of dancing flames, and will sometimes dance outside a window, mesmerized by the motion of the flames. Some say that they are not fey, but are the spirits of women who lost their families and died alone in the cold, ever craving the home and hearth that has been lost to them, but they remain Fey in nature. Ice Maidens can transform into a flurry of snow that acts as a Sleet Storm spell, and travel in that form up to speed 50. Their touch drains heat, but the effect is insidious, and often goes unperceived by those enticed by their great beauty and the terrible longing that fills their eyes. Viewers must make a Will save or remain unaware of the damage they are taking from the Snow Maidens grasp, and most victims saved at the last moment recount that they felt loved, as if the Snow Maiden was sharing something wonderful with them, even as their life slipped away.
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Ice Sprites
Typical powers; Entangle (snow only), grease (ice), snowblind (pyrotechnics / obscuring mist), minor image, dancing lights, ghost sound, Cold subtype
Wheeling through the air like snowflakes, these tiny fey have the Cold subtype and both their visibility and their movement are unimpeded by snow and ice effects. Their crystalline wings, which resemble the two halves of an unusually large snowflake or frost pattern, slice at those they pass in the air, opening bleeding wounds, and they typically slice at foes before fluttering out of range, to wait for their prey to succumb to their wounds. They huddle around the cooling bodies, draining warmth from them, and they have an unhealthy (for them) fascination with fire, which is deadly to them, fluttering around and daring each other to touch the flames (and laughing at the deaths of any of their own who succumb to temptation and are burned). When the flames die out, and the heat from the bodies is exhausted, they lose interest and flutter away, looking for some other source of light or heat that draws their deadly attentions. Ice sprites take advantage of Move by attacks that cause Bleed damage, whirling and dancing out of melee range as they deliver their attacks with tinkling cruel laughter.
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Rime Knights
Powers: As an immediate action after felling a foe, gains 1d8+1 hp points of healing (excess as temp hp lasting 1 hour) and a +1 morale bonus to attack, damage, saves and skill checks for 1 minute, ignores terrain / visibility penalties for snow/ice effects. Take levels in Barbarian, Fighter and Ranger
Appearing as unusually tall, muscular and broad-shouldered elves of particularly cruel demeanor, with bone-white skin and hair ranging from white to blue), these cold beings dress in ornate armor and weaponry, usually festooned with spikes and barbs, and all made of blood-streaked ice that is as hard as iron. The Rime Knights (who are always male in appearance) challenge themselves against the mightiest foes their area has to offer, and refuse no offer of combat, which is always to the death. They smear the blood of vanquished foes on their armor and weapons, where it freezes in place, adding additional thickness (and, it is said, potency). The armor and weaponry of an rime knight is always at least moderately enhanced by magic, although the gear cannot be used by a member of another race without melting away uselessly (some arcane means have been found of preserving specimens for display in private collections, but no one yet has found a way in which a non-time knight can wear or use the items effectively). Rime Knights believe that they must constantly challenge themselves, drawing the blood of new foes to further strengthen their armaments, and themselves, and they increasing power of their items, and their limbs, as they accrue more kills, seems to bear out this belief. Rime Knight weapons are always oversized and brutal things, two-handed and covered with extra barbs and spikes and jutting blades, branching out like the antlers of a stag, and resulting in their weaponry doing damage as a weapon of one size class larger. They universally prefer slashing and piercing weapons, based on their belief in strength-through-bloodletting.
Typical weapon and armor enhancements (which are of no use to non-Rime Knights), include Keen, Frost and Ghost Touch, for weapons, and Slick, Shadow and Light Fortification, for armor.
Warriors from the Lands of the Linnorm Kings respect their fighting skill, but still disdainfully call Rime Knights ‘painted ladies’ for their slender builds, graceful movements and habit of decorating their armor with streaks of blood from their kills.
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Special Feat
Winter’s Sting – Using the stored energy of prepared or known cold spells, the winter witches of Irrisen have learned to conjure up daggers, javelins or spears of ice to hurl at their foes. Such weapons are as hard as steel, yet feel weightless in the witches hand, despite their composition, and the witches are always treated as proficient with these conjured weapons, regardless of the form they take. The weapons melt away at the end of any round in which they leave the witches grasp. Creating these weapons is a free action, although a caster can hold no more than two of them at a given time.
The level of cold-based spells that the witch has prepared determines the efficacy of the conjured weapons.
1st - Masterwork Freezing* weapon
2nd - +1 Freezing* weapon
3rd - +1 Frost weapon
4th - +1 Icy Burst weapon
5th - +2 Icy Burst weapon
6th - +3 Icy Burst weapon
7th - +4 Icy Burst weapon
8th - +5 Icy Burst weapon
9th - +5 oversized** Icy Burst weapon
*The Freezing weapon property causes the weapon to inflict +1 Cold damage on a successful hit.
**The weapon inflicts damage as a weapon one size class larger, but the user suffers no penalties for it's use.
Note that not every level of spells has a Cold spell for the Witches to use, but the following list of OGL spells are allowed, supplemented from the Unearthed Arcana;
0 - Ray of Frost
1st - Chill Touch (learned as an Evocation (cold) spell by the witches) or Endure Elements (cold)
2nd - Chill Metal (available as an arcane spell to the witches) or Resist Elements (cold)
3rd - Sleet Storm
4th - Ice Storm, Wall of Ice
5th - Cone of Cold
6th - (Otiluke's) Freezing Sphere
7th - Delayed Blast Frostball (cold version of Delayed Blast Fireball)
8th - Polar Ray
9th - Comet Swarm (cold version of Meteor Swarm)
If non-OGL sources are in use, spells such as Lesser Orb of Cold, Ice Dagger, Ice Knife, Frost Breath, Ray of Ice, Snowball Swarm, Icelance, Hailstones, Orb of Cold, Ice Claw, Field of Icy Razors and Obedient Avalanche may also be used to meet the requirements of this Feat. A plethora of appropriate spells may be found in Frostburn, as well.
Excellent work! I especially enjoyed the detail you put into each of the creature descriptions. The snow maidens were my favorite. Lots of great roleplaying opportunities there.
I hereby nominate Set as a contributer to the hopefully-upcoming Irrisen Pathfinder Companion sourcebook! ;-)
Rime Knights
These guys remind me of the Cold Riders from Irrisen. One of them makes an appearance in Darkmoon Vale in the Carnival of Tears Pathfinder adventure.
Once again, your description and attention to detail is awesome!
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Rime KnightsThese guys remind me of the Cold Riders from Irrisen. One of them makes an appearance in Darkmoon Vale in the Carnival of Tears Pathfinder adventure.
Once again, your description and attention to detail is awesome!
Thanks, I actually was hesitant to post them, since I was too lazy to come up with stat-blocks, but there aren't enough hours in the day to fully detail every whacky notion that crosses my daydreaming mind. :)
And the name 'Cold Rider' has inspired me to give these Rime Knights a Mount spell SLA that summons up a cold-subtype warhorse who is covered in increasingly better icy barding (and has higher HD) as levels increase. Alternately, perhaps only the 5th level and higher Rime Knights get this SLA, and it is Phantom Steed-based, instead...
Set,
Any thoughts on an appropriate bloodline for sorcerers?
RPG Superstar 2015 Top 16, RPG Superstar 2013 Top 16
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Awesome ideas, Set...really great flavor. When I ran a one-shot set in Irrisen, I used Frost Folk from Frostburn, winter wolves, and Ice Trolls from Unapproachable East. Irrisen ended up with kind of a Blair Witch meets Witch-King-faction-from-BFME2 vibe. I also wrote an original stat block for the porcelain hag-dolls that guard the empty huts on the borders... I'll have to look for it and post it later.
Wendigo also make great enemies in Irrisen.