Stygian Ice (3.5e Equipment)

''You may be looking for the awful version of this material in Frostburn. This is homebrew.''

= Stygian Ice =

Summary::This extraplanar ice comes from Stygia, the fifth layer of Hell. Infused with the soulless evil of that realm, along with the magical waters of the river Styx, stygian ice is black and constantly crawls with a thin layer of pale blue mist. Stygian ice is much colder than normal ice and freezes the mind much more rapidly than flesh.

Stygian ice deals 1d6 cold damage per round of contact. A creature with Endure Elements or a similar effect against cold weather can hold an object made of stygian ice without taking damage, but being damaged by a stygian ice weapon will still cause cold damage. A creature that does take cold damage from this material must make a Will saving throw DC 12 or else take 2 points of Intelligence damage as its memories are slowly frozen. If a creature's Intelligence is reduced to 0 from the ice, it dies and rises 2d4 rounds later as a Wraith that deals Intelligence drain instead of Constitution drain. These wraiths are not under the control of the wielder of the Stygian ice weapon and may well attack him.

When made into a weapon and wielded, stygian ice freezes a part of the wielder's spirit. The Will saving throw DC of its Intelligence damage effect is increased to 10 + 1/2 the wielder's HD + the weilder's choice of a modifier from one of their mental statistics (Int, Wis, or Cha). That mental statistic is reduced by 2 as long as the weapon is wielded.

Armor can also be made with stygian ice, but it poses some issues. While nothing prevents the creation of the armor, the user should be able to resist cold or they will freeze themselves. Even Endure Elements is not enough. While wearing stygian ice armor, anyone who touches the wearer with natural weapons, unarmed strikes, or melee attacks takes 1d6 points of cold damage. Each round, the wearer also takes 1d6 cold damage. Heavier armors radiate more powerful cold magic too; medium armors deal 2d6 damage a round and heavy armor deals 3d6. Shields are treated as light armor. Armor created with stygian ice, like weapons, also have an increased DC for the Intelligence damage at the cost of a reduced mental statistic (see above).

Stygian ice has 25 hit points per inch of thickness and hardness 8. Magical fire damage ignores the hardness of this material, which is generally how it is harvested and sculpted. It is otherwise nearly as durable as steel!