Any recommendations for a frost themed lair

[steeldragons]

One thing that often gets ignored/forgotten in these kinds of things...to counterpoint the "loading up on fire offense" which is, of course, a certainty.

If you're talking about a lair that is in a glacier, or (as I suspect) a "Frozen-eqsue" castle/fortress/tower that's actually formed of ice...throwing fireballs around is a GREAT way to cause mounting/significant structural damage. In their zeal to "fire-blast" every enemy they see, they could easily bring the place down on their own heads.

 

[Mistwell]

Anyone have some rulings suggestions for slippery ice, freezing temperatures, freezing mist, and the like?

 

[Tony Vargas]

Just brainstorming:

Ice-sickle piercers & ropers.
Vampiric snowflake swarms.
Thin-ice hypothermia pit traps.
Slick ice that hampers PC but the monsters 'skate' on.
Ice staircases, furniture, & partitions forming spontaneously for the BBEG & sublimating when she no longer needed (or the PCs try to take advantage of them).
AE fire attacks result in great clouds of mist that block LoS for a few rounds, but which the BBEG can condense into a barrage of hail or razor-sharp snowflakes.

 

[steeldragons]

Just brainstorming:

Ice-sickle piercers & ropers.
Vampiric snowflake swarms.
Thin-ice hypothermia pit traps.
Slick ice that hampers PC but the monsters 'skate' on.
Ice staircases, furniture, & partitions forming spontaneously for the BBEG & sublimating when she no longer needed (or the PCs try to take advantage of them).
AE fire attacks result in great clouds of mist that block LoS for a few rounds, but which the BBEG can condense into a barrage of hail or razor-sharp snowflakes.

<emphasis mine>
Great list.

But that last one, in particular, is excellent! I like the [icy] cut of your jib, sir.

 

[iserith]

Anyone have some rulings suggestions for slippery ice, freezing temperatures, freezing mist, and the like?

Slippery Ice: After taking a Dash action, the character must make a DC 10 Dexterity check or fall prone.

Freezing Temperatures: Creatures that aren't resistant or immune to cold must make a DC 10 Constitution check every hour or suffer from one level of exhaustion. The DC increase by +1 for every additional hour spent in the freezing temperatures. If a creature is clad in cold weather gear, it can make the ability check with advantage. (This is probably best for supernaturally cold places.)

Freezing Mist: See the white dragon's freezing fog lair action.

 

[steeldragons]

Slippery Ice: After taking a Dash action, the character must make a DC 10 Dexterity check or fall prone.

Freezing Temperatures: Creatures that aren't resistant or immune to cold must make a DC 10 Constitution check every hour or suffer from one level of exhaustion. The DC increase by +1 for every additional hour spent in the freezing temperatures. If a creature is clad in cold weather gear, it can make the ability check with advantage. (This is probably best for supernaturally cold places.)

Freezing Mist: See the white dragon's freezing fog lair action.

These are great. And handily bypasses the idea of the party having to make Dex checks all of the time.

But I would say/suggest/houserule, for "Slippery Ice", both the DC must be higher (nearly everyone all of the time will be able to make a 10) and there should be more "Actions" specified. Like, I would make it Dash, Disengage, and Melee Attacks...anything that'll require sudden or many movements...and maybe Dodge, too. It should be a severe inconvenience...I mean, all ice is slippery...I can be on my ass stepping on a patch a few ices across! (Gods forbid on stairs.) Now imagine the whole floor like that! If we're hand waving away you can move around on ice without any issues, then the actions need to pick up the slack and just Dash doesn't really cover it...imho, ymmv, et al.

 

[iserith]

These are great. And handily bypasses the idea of the party having to make Dex checks all of the time.

But I would say/suggest/houserule, for "Slippery Ice", both the DC must be higher (nearly everyone all of the time will be able to make a 10) and there should be more "Actions" specified. Like, I would make it Dash, Disengage, and Melee Attacks...anything that'll require sudden or many movements...and maybe Dodge, too. It should be a severe inconvenience...I mean, all ice is slippery...I can be on my ass stepping on a patch a few ices across! (Gods forbid on stairs.) Now imagine the whole floor like that! If we're hand waving away you can move around on ice without any issues, then the actions need to pick up the slack and just Dash doesn't really cover it...imho, ymmv, et al.

Thanks, and limiting other "movement-related" actions would be reasonable. I would just be careful about it because it's disincentivizing movement which can be a little boring when the clump-fest ensues. I'm also sensitive to situations where too many ability checks might end up making the capable adventurers look like boobs.

 

[The Grassy Gnoll]

You mean a scarecrow?

That's the boy! Brain fart for a minute there.

 

[CapnZapp]

Excellent!

Any pointers to actual ready-made lairs, including previous edition sourcebooks?

Preferably with nice maps? ☺

 

[MarkB]

Here's an idea - mostly flavour, but a bit of a challenge too.

The Larder
It makes sense to take advantage of the cold for food preservation, and indeed the walls of the lair are dotted with shallow alcoves into which a variety of humanoid and monstrous figures have been frozen. You can tell that they're food rather than just decoration by the way many of them are missing body parts.

It's not until the party reach the main larder, a room whose walls are covered in these figures, that the true horror of the arrangement becomes clear. On close examination it turns out that these figures are magically frozen alive - and conscious. Their flesh is solid, but their glazed eyes still move in their sockets, helplessly observing their fate.

It might be possible to save these victims, but it would take hours of careful defrosting and healing magic. The problem is, these figures are most heavily concentrated in the larder room - but a few of them adorn every room in the lair, and they're highly vulnerable. A stray blow or an area effect spell could shatter them. Do the PCs try to keep them safe, hampering their own efforts in combat, or do they write them off as a lost cause?