User:Aarnott/Lego Bin 5
Contents
Cold Themed Monsters
I've had an interest for a while in making a whole "book" of cold-themed monsters. I'm going to get started now :).
Arcane Arctic
One thing that I find strange about a lot of D&D environments is that they are practically designed to be like our world with random monsters thrown in because they thematically make sense. D&D is a world where a person can learn to tap into arcane powers that flow everywhere. Some people literally channel the reality altering abilities of gods. The monsters I design here take these assumptions into account.
The Arcane Arctic is an environment that can be included in virtually any D&D setting. It is filled with magic, and consequently, creatures have adapted to this magic and developed to feed from it or use it. A region of Arcane Arctic forms when a rift between a cold region of the Elemental Plane of Water forms in the material plane. The surrounding area undergoes a rapid ice age, killing off most life in the area. If left for a long time, creatures develop; some as the direct result of the cold magic infusion provided by the elemental plane, others as creatures that thrive in the presence of cold magic.
When the rifts to the elemental plane of water are initially formed, they usually occur at the base of a lake or ocean. The resulting breach between planes creates a tremendous shearing force that emanates from the point of the rift. The emanation creates cracks all over the surrounding landscape that is above sea level, which forms a massive underground network of caves. Many of these caves are supplied with direct veins to the elemental planar rift and have fountains of ice that flow as fluidly as water. These fountains are highly magical in nature and are actually supplying pure cold magic to the area.
The creatures native to the Arcane Arctic all have developed based on the massive influx of cold magic.
Will continue later...
Ice Borers
| N Small Magical Beast (Cold) | |
| Init/Senses | +0/Blind, tremorsense 60ft.; Listen +1, Spot +1 |
| AC | 13, touch 11, flat-footed 13; Burrow Cover (+2 natural, +1 size) |
| hp | 6 (1d10+1 HD) |
| Immune | cold |
| Fort/Ref/Will | +3/+2/+1 |
| Weakness | vulnerability to fire |
| Speed | 10ft. (2 squares), burrow 25ft. (5 squares); Burrow Cover |
| Melee | bite +2 (1d3-2) |
| Space/Reach | 5ft./5ft. |
| Base Atk/Grp | +1/-5 |
| Atk Options | Burrow Strike, Frost Bite (+1d6 cold) |
| Abilities | Str 7, Dex 10, Con 13, Int 3, Wis 12, Cha 6 |
| Feats | Weapon Focus (bite) |
| Skills | Escape Artist +5, Survival +4 |
| Advancement | — |
| Blind | An ice borer is blind and can only "see" with its tremorsense. It has fine tuned this sense and is attracted to attack warm living creatures, however. |
| Burrow Cover (Ex) | If an ice borer starts its turn below ground, it gets cover if it goes above ground until the start of its next turn (+4 AC, +2 reflex saves). |
| Burrow Strike (Ex) | Enemies are considered flat-footed against an ice borer if they have no way to detect it while it is underground and then it charges the target. |
| Frost Bite (Ex) | If an ice borer qualifies for a sneak attack, it deals an extra 1d6 cold damage with a successful bite attack. |
| N Small Magical Beast (Cold) | |
| Init/Senses | +2/Blind, tremorsense 60ft.; Listen +1, Spot +1 |
| AC | 15, touch 13, flat-footed 13; Burrow Cover (+2 natural, +2 dex, +1 size) |
| hp | 19 (3d10+3 HD) |
| Immune | cold |
| Fort/Ref/Will | +4/+3/+2 |
| Weakness | vulnerability to fire |
| Speed | 10ft. (2 squares), burrow 30ft. (6 squares); Burrow Cover |
| Melee | bite +6/+1 (1d3-2) |
| Space/Reach | 5ft./5ft. |
| Base Atk/Grp | +3/-3 |
| Atk Options | Burrow Strike, Frost Bite (+2d6 cold) |
| Abilities | Str 7, Dex 14, Con 13, Int 5, Wis 12, Cha 6 |
| Feats | Weapon Focus (bite), Weapon Finesse |
| Skills | Escape Artist +8, Survival +5 |
| Advancement | — |
| Blind | An ice borer is blind and can only "see" with its tremorsense. It has fine tuned this sense and is attracted to attack warm living creatures, however. |
| Burrow Cover (Ex) | If an ice borer starts its turn below ground, it gets cover if it goes above ground until the start of its next turn (+4 AC, +2 reflex saves). |
| Burrow Strike (Ex) | Enemies are considered flat-footed against an ice borer if they have no way to detect it while it is underground and then it charges the target. |
| Frost Bite (Ex) | If an ice borer qualifies for a sneak attack, it deals an extra 2d6 cold damage with a successful bite attack. |
| N Medium Magical Beast (Cold) | |
| Init/Senses | +1/Blind, tremorsense 120ft.; Listen +1, Spot +1 |
| AC | 16, touch 11, flat-footed 15; Burrow Cover, Dodge, Mobility (+5 natural, +1 dex) |
| hp | 39 (6d10+6 HD) |
| Immune | cold |
| Fort/Ref/Will | +6/+6/+3 |
| Weakness | vulnerability to fire |
| Speed | 10ft. (2 squares), burrow 40ft. (8 squares); Burrow Cover |
| Melee | bite +8/+6 (1d4+2) |
| Space/Reach | 5ft./5ft. |
| Base Atk/Grp | +6/+8 |
| Atk Options | Burrow Strike, Frost Bite (+3d6 cold) |
| Abilities | Str 14, Dex 13, Con 13, Int 5, Wis 12, Cha 6 |
| Feats | Multiattack, Dodge, Mobility |
| Skills | Survival +10 |
| Advancement | — |
| Blind | An ice borer is blind and can only "see" with its tremorsense. It has fine tuned this sense and is attracted to attack warm living creatures, however. |
| Burrow Cover (Ex) | If an ice borer starts its turn below ground, it gets cover if it goes above ground until the start of its next turn (+4 AC, +2 reflex saves). |
| Burrow Strike (Ex) | Enemies are considered flat-footed against an ice borer if they have no way to detect it while it is underground and then it charges the target. |
| Frost Bite (Ex) | If an ice borer qualifies for a sneak attack, it deals an extra 3d6 cold damage with a successful bite attack. |
Bursting through the snow and earth below you, an ice borer emerges. The creature resembles a grub in shape, but it is composed of a tough, red, icy substance that reflects light like a mirror. It has sharp mandibles that it uses to bore through rock, ice, and snow, and it has a long needle protruding from its mouth.
Ice borers are a common monstrous pest in icy environments. When they are near cities, they attack livestock and unattended children. They are often intelligent enough to avoid attacking adult humanoids, and it is speculated that they can communicate with each other somehow to share this aversion. Farther out in the wilds, however, ice borers will not hesitate to attack groups of creatures.
Ice borers have a special ability to inject a target with a fluid that freezes their blood. Whenever an ice borer can surprise or distract its target, it is able to inject it with the fluid and deal extra cold damage. Ice borers feed exclusively on frozen flesh.
Combat
Ice borers like to strike and retreat, making full use of their ability to create cover for themselves and use their frost bite ability. A typical ice borer uses the following tactics:
- Round 1: Burrow Strike a target, hitting with a frost bite.
- Round 2: Withdraw action to go below ground.
- Round 3: Repeat.
Adult and greater ice borers will sometimes stay above ground to make two attacks per round if they can use frost bite, increasing the overall damage it can deal. They also will often work together to create flanking opportunities.
Training an Ice Borer
Ice borers make excellent guards, especially in caves. Training an ice borer from hatching into its juvenile stage requires two weeks of work and a DC 20 Handle Animal check.
More training must be done before the ice borer becomes an adult (2 months after becoming a juvenile) or else it will become wild. The training requires two weeks of work and a DC 25 Handle Animal check.
Even more training must be done before the ice borer becomes greater (4 months after becoming an adult) or else it will become wild. The training requires two weeks of work and a DC 25 Handle Animal check.
Ice borers live one year after they become greater ice borers.
Ice borer eggs are worth 500 gp apiece on the open market. Trained juveniles are worth 1,000 gp each, trained adults are worth 2,000 gp each, and trained greater ice borers are worth 4,000 gp each.
Snowflake
| N Medium Elemental (Cold) | |
| Init/Senses | -1/darkvision 60ft.; Listen +6, Spot +6 |
| AC | 15, touch 12, flat-footed 15; DR 1/—, not subject to critical hits or flanking. (+3 deflection, +3 natural, -1 dex) |
| hp | 28 (3d8+15 HD) |
| Immune | Cold, Mind-effecting abilities, poison, sleep effects, paralysis, and stunning. |
| Resist | fire 5 |
| Fort/Ref/Will | +7/+0/+2 |
| Weakness | vulnerability to sonic damage |
| Speed | 30ft. (6 squares); Hover |
| Melee | Ray of Frost +1 ranged touch (1d3 cold damage, 30ft. range, Su effect) |
| Space/Reach | 5ft./5ft. |
| Base Atk/Grp | +2/+2 |
| Atk Options | Cold Shield |
| Abilities | Str 11, Dex 9, Con 19, Int —, Wis 12, Cha 4 |
| SQ | Mindless, Attracted to Cold, Shattered Remains |
| Feats | Toughness, Alertness |
| Skills | Listen +6, Spot +6 |
| Advancement | — |
| Hover (Su) | Snowflakes hover approximately 3 feet above the ground and as such ignore difficult terrain, do not trigger traps on the ground, etc. |
| Attracted to Cold (Ex) | Whenever a creature would deal cold damage to a snowflake, it makes a will saving throw DC 10 + cold damage that would be dealt. If it fails, the creature gains control of the snowflake for 5 minutes and can mentally command it as a move action to use its Ray of Frost against targets and its Cold Shield on allies. It will continue to take these actions until otherwise directed. If it would take further cold damage from its master during the duration, the duration is reset, potentially allowing creatures with a constant way to deal cold damage to control a snowflake indefinitely. |
| Cold Shield (Su) | As a swift action, a snowflake can grant a creature within 30ft. 5 temporary hitpoints until the snowflake's next round. If another creature damages the creature with the temporary hitpoints, it takes 1 cold damage for every 2 temporary hitpoints it removes. Snowflakes cannot be targeted by Cold Shield. |
| Shattered Remains (Su) | When a snowflake is destroyed, it leaves broken crystalline shards on the ground that count as difficult terrain and deal 1 cold damage to any creature that steps on the square. This effect lasts for 5 minutes. |
| N Huge Elemental (Cold) | |
| Init/Senses | -1/darkvision 60ft.; Listen +9, Spot +8 |
| AC | 23, touch 13, flat-footed 22; DR 3/—, not subject to critical hits or flanking. (+6 deflection, +10 natural, -1 dex, -2 size) |
| hp | 101 (8d8+64 HD) |
| Immune | Cold, Mind-effecting abilities, poison, sleep effects, paralysis, and stunning. |
| Resist | fire 15 |
| Fort/Ref/Will | +14/+1/+5 |
| Weakness | vulnerability to sonic damage |
| Speed | 30ft. (6 squares); Hover |
| Melee | Ray of Cold +5 ranged touch (2d6 cold damage, 2 dex damage (Fort DC 17 half), 45ft. range, Su effect) |
| Space/Reach | 15ft./15ft. |
| Base Atk/Grp | +6/+14 |
| Atk Options | Cold Shield |
| Abilities | Str 11, Dex 9, Con 28, Int —, Wis 13, Cha 4 |
| SQ | Mindless, Attracted to Cold, Shattered Remains |
| Feats | Toughness, Alertness, Iron Will |
| Skills | Listen +9, Spot +8 |
| Advancement | — |
| Hover (Su) | Snowflakes hover approximately 3 feet above the ground and as such ignore difficult terrain, do not trigger traps on the ground, etc. |
| Attracted to Cold (Ex) | Whenever a creature would deal cold damage to a greater snowflake, it makes a will saving throw DC equal to the cold damage that would be dealt. If it fails, the creature gains control of the snowflake for 5 minutes and can mentally command it as a move action to use its Ray of Cold against targets and its Cold Shield on allies. It will continue to take these actions until otherwise directed. If it would take further cold damage from its master during the duration, the duration is reset, potentially allowing creatures with a constant way to deal cold damage to control a snowflake indefinitely. |
| Cold Shield (Su) | As a swift action, a greater snowflake can grant a creature within 45ft. 25 temporary hitpoints until the snowflake's next round. If another creature damages the creature with the temporary hitpoints, it takes 1 cold damage for every 2 temporary hitpoints it removes. Snowflakes cannot be targeted by Cold Shield. |
| Shattered Remains (Su) | When a greater snowflake is destroyed, it leaves broken crystalline shards on the ground that count as difficult terrain and deal 5 cold damage to any creature that steps on the square. This effect lasts for 5 minutes. |
Floating three feet above the ground is a icy crystalline lattice that resembles a snowflake. Around it is a eerie blue glow and although it is cold enough already, you feel as if the temperature has dropped a few degrees.
Snowflakes are created in places where powerful magical springs have frozen over. Although they are native to another plane, their essence is almost always formed in the material plane, drawing power from other planes to form the snowflake.
They are strongly attracted to magical cold and will obey all of the wishes to the best of their ability of those who provide them with magical cold energy.
Combat
Snowflakes are docile unless they are used as a tool by another creature. Other creatures will make liberal use of their Cold Shield ability to focus attention on the Snowflake. The snowflake's main role in combat is, therefore, to defend other creatures.
Snowflake tactics are extremely simple and direct.
Arctic Stallion
| N Large Magical Beast | |
| Init/Senses | +1/darkvision 60ft., low-light vision, scent; Listen +5, Spot +5 |
| AC | 16, touch 10, flat-footed 15 (–1 size, +1 Dex, +6 natural) |
| hp | 52 (5d10+25 HD) |
| Resist | Cold 5 (cold absorb 1) |
| Fort/Ref/Will | +9/+5/+2 |
| Weakness | Mild fire vulnerability |
| Speed | 50ft. (10 squares); Icewalking |
| Melee | 2 hooves +8 melee (1d6+4) and bite +3 melee (1d4+2) |
| Space/Reach | 10ft./5ft. |
| Base Atk/Grp | +5/+13 |
| Spell-Like Abilities | (CL 4th): 3/day—Scorching Ray (cold damage instead of fire damage) 2/day—quickened Burning Hands (cold damage instead of fire damage) 1/day—quickened Chill Touch at will—Ray of Frost
|
| Abilities | Str 18, Dex 13, Con 21, Int 5, Wis 13, Cha 6 |
| Feats | Endurance, Run |
| Skills | Listen +5, Spot +5 |
| Advancement | — |
| Mild fire vulnerability | Arctic stallions take 50% extra fire damage, to a maximum of 5 extra damage from any single source of fire damage. |
| Icewalking (Ex) | Arctic stallions are at home in icy environments. They can move freely on ice and snow as if it were regular terrain. |
| Cold Absorb (Ex) | Whenever an arctic stallion resists cold damage, it heals 1 HP. |
This horse has a thick coat of fur covering its body. Strands of the fur glitter with an icy blue gleam as if the creature has cold magic flowing right through it.
Arctic stallions are the result of regular horses being infused with cold magic. They consume grasses that grow on top of snowy steppes, but can survive almost indefinitely just by being in the presence of cold magic.
The process of the cold infusion has granted this former species of animals sentience. Although they are unable to speak, they can easily understand the native languages of nearby humanoid species and often will work with friendly humanoid settlements in return for protection.
As a result, many humanoid settlements have tamed arctic stallions and it is not uncommon for them to be reared and trained by a skilled beast tamer.
Combat
Arctic stallions that live on the borders of the arcane arctic have learned that their cold magics can be very effective in warding off dangerous enemies. They are reluctant to make a full-scale assault immediately against creatures that threaten their herd and instead prefer to employ hit-and-run tactics.
Arctic stallions prefer to use difficult terrain to their advantage so that they can make a quick retreat if necessary. A typical attack from a herd will employ 3-5 stallions to quickly close in on their targets and use a Chill Touch coupled with a full attack to weaken their enemy.
If the enemy stays close together, the stallions will often try to fire several waves of Burning Hands to hopefully cause enough damage to cause the group to retreat.
If a wild arctic stallion is brought to less than half of its hit points, it will flee the battle and use its at will Ray of Frost to recover its hit points back to full. Once the entire herd has recovered from an attack, they will strike again (usually this is about 10-15 minutes later).
Training an Arctic Stallion
Although intelligent, an arctic stallion requires training before it can bear a rider in combat. To be trained, it must have a friendly attitude toward the trainer (this can be achieved through a successful Diplomacy check). Training a friendly arctic stallion requires six weeks of work and a DC 25 Handle Animal check.
An arctic stallion can fight while carrying a rider, but the rider cannot also attack unless he or she succeeds on a Ride check.
Arctic stallion foals are worth 4,000 gp each on the open market. Professional trainers charge 1,000 gp to rear or train an arctic stallion.
Carrying Capacity: A light load for an arctic stallion is up to 300 pounds; a medium load, 301–600 pounds; and a heavy load, 601–900 pounds. An arctic stallion can drag 4,500 pounds.
Goethi
A monstrous humanoid that is something like a fish and something like a frog. They live in frozen lakes under the ice, but are very territorial about the lake and also raid local settlements.
