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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Messageboard Golem" data-source="post: 2011707" data-attributes="member: 18387">By John Gigsby, Staff Reviewer d20 Magazine RackInitiative RoundFrostburn is a Dungeons & Dragons supplement from Wizards of the Coast. This 224-page full-color hardcover by Wolfgang Baur, James Jacobs, and George Strayton has wrap-around cover art by artist depicting a frost giant menacing the iconic characters Regdar, Lidda, and a mounted friend I don’t recognize. It features interior art by Steven Belledin, Mitch Cotie, Ed Cox, Steve Ellis, Jason A. Engle, David Griffith, David Hudnut, Dana Knutson, Doug Kovacs, Dennis Crabapple McClain, Dan Scott, and Sam Wood. Frostburn retails for $34.95.I sometimes wonder if it is coincidence, but then I think, “No, it can’t be.” The only believable answer is that the RPG industry is a fraught with espionage as any other major corporation. How else can you explain similar products being released within a few months of each other? It seems only a few weeks ago that I picked up a copy of Frost and Fur (see my review of that product) from Monkey God Enterprises, and now here I am doing another review of an artic survival manual. But of course, it is really just the result of cocentric development and timing of the releases. Anyhow, I digress...A frostfell is a region dominated by ice, snow, and extreme cold. This area may be a small as a single dungeon chamber or as large as an entire plane. I mention that only because you’ll hear the word a lot in this review (and within the text of Frostburn). The product opens with an introduction that reveals that tidbit, as well as some ideas of how Frostburn may be put to use in your campaign.The first chapter describes elements of the frostfell, from conditions of extreme cold to the hazards and features of such. Frostfell environments are greatly varied, and each is detailed herein. High altitudes can be a frostfell environment, as can (obviously) polar reaches and winter conditions. But what about an ice age? Wouldn’t that qualify? Sure it would, and it’s detailed in this product! And then there are the effects of the dire winter (an epic spell presented in Frostburn) and the mysterious (and dangerous) lands of eternal ice, where supernatural effects such as the coldfire and ebony ice are commonplace.Other places can be regions of frostfell as well. Arctic locales may have natural or shaped snow or ice caverns, and certain dungeons may have been altered through magic to present a frostfell region. Even the planes may offer up icy adventure. At least two layers of the Abyss and three layers of the Nine Hells fit the description, and there are places on the elemental planes of air and water that could easily be considered frostfell.Though the Dungeon Master’s Guide offers some advice for extremes of temperature, altitude sickness, and avalanches, Frostburn takes it further. Here you will find detailed rules for the effects of extreme cold, temperature variations due to altitude, nightfall, and wind chill, frostbite, hypothermia, getting lost in frostfell conditions, breaking through ice on frozen lakes or rivers, lighting conditions, snow blindness, and whiteouts. There are new poisons and traps, ranging from the mundane to the magical, and unique terrain, each with its own features (including dungeon terrain). Then, too, there are supernatural dangers as well. Supernatural hazards are largely confined to regions of unnatural cold, created by forgotten magics or deific influence. Here, adventurers risk facing dire weather (such as acid sleet, death hail, or rust flurries), diseases such as coldfire ruin and creeping frost, magical terrain like acid slush or negation snow, or supernatural manifestations such as the beautiful (and deadly) rimfire.Frostburn introduces two new races, along with four new human cultures and four variants of traditional player character races (half-orcs and half-elves remain unchanged). Glacial dwarves, snow elves, ice gnomes, and tundra halflings are basically the ‘stock‘ races with some minor adjustments to better suit the setting. The Neanderthal and the uldra are new to the setting; the Neanderthal being a primitive human variant, and the uldras small fey that dwell in the arctic wilderness. (It seems to me that the uldra were described in an issue of Dragon magazine several years back; a quick check of my index reveals that they were featured in issue #36 and that the ones presented here are quite similar. Gods, I’m old!)The existing character classes are largely unchanged, save for minor modifications. A list of arctic familiars for wizards and sorcerers native to this region (or summoning a familiar while visiting) opens new options. There are nine “new” deities presented (actually, two are borrowed from the Forgotten Realms, two are taken from Greyhawk, and a third is described in the Book of Vile Darkness) for clerics to choose from. There are no new base classes, but several prestige classes have been offered.The cloud anchorites are monastic recluses who seek isolation to perfect themselves. Though not exclusively monks, most have at least a little monk in their background. Cryokinetics are masters of cold psionic energy, and disciples of Thrym are devotees of the frost giant lord (most of whom are, of course, frost giant, through the class is not exclusive to such). The frost mage is a wizard who eventually becomes a creature of frost himself, the frostrager is a barbarian whose battle rage infuses his fists with shards of ice, while the Knights of the Iron Glacier are an order dedicated to bringing order to the frostfell. A primeval is a warrior who has tapped his racial memories to forge a bond with an ancient creature, the rimefire witch bonds with the mysterious rimefire eidolon, the stormsinger uses music to control weather conditions, and the winterhaunts of Iborighu seek to bring upon the world a neverending ice age. Each prestige class is accompanied by a sample character that utilizes the class.There are 32 new feats in Frostburn, most of which are, obviously, best suited to the arctic terrain. All but two are general feats, with six being added to the fighter’s bonus feats list; the remaining two include Craft Skull Talisman (an item creation feat) and Piercing Cold (a metamagic feat). Still, feats such as Cold Focus (which makes cold spells more potent than normal) and Mountaineer (representing a gift for mountain climbing) are useful even outside of the frostfell.New equipment and magic items abound, from the ice axe and sugliin (a polearm comprised of caribou antlers) to the staff of winter and the instant igloo. Essentials such as crampons make crossing ice much easier, while alchemical items like whale grease serve as a measure of defense against the cold. There are new exotic items and even a selection of new vehicles (and magical augmentations for such). A sidebar details the effects of extreme cold on equipment. Hope that your PC’s aren’t too attached to those swords, scrolls, and potions that they brought with them.Frostburn offers 100 new spells and a selection of five epic spell seeds that are sure to both benefit and harass your PCs. Two new domains for clerics are described; cold and winter, and there are two new components; coldfire and frostfell. Coldfire is a supernatural substance unique to certain areas of the frostfell, while the frostfell component requires that the caster be standing in a frostfell site. I think that my favorite spell (omitting the epic level seeds) is iceberg, which simply causes a massive block of ice to drop from the sky onto a spot selected by the caster. 20d6 crushing damage and the creature is buried in snow and must make a DC 25 Strength check to free itself or else be dug out by others. It’s not exactly subtle, but it gets the job done.Frostfell has its share of new monsters to offer as well, from the horse-like branta to the yuki-on-na (imported directly from Oriental Adventures and adapted to 3.5). There are plenty of Pleistocene animals, such as the dire polar bear, the wolly mammoth, and the smilodon (that’s a saber-toothed tiger, don’tcha know?), as well as arctic version of goblins, ghosts, and spiders. The yeti (also from Oriental Adventures) are present, along with a number of unique beasties that are sure to keep your characters on their toes. Most interesting of all are perhaps the frost giants. Frostfell presents three variations on the “standard” frost giant; the frost giant mauler, the frost giant spiritspeaker, and the frost giant tundra scout.Finally, Frostburn offers two well-detailed sample locations that can serve as adventure sites. These two locales are fully described and could easily be used as is for an impromptu adventure if a DM just wanted to drop a group of unsuspecting characters into the frostfell. Delzomen’s Iceforge describes a dungeon sheathed in the mysterious blue ice, while Iceraver is a devil-haunted city that floats atop a massive iceberg. A table of 20 adventure ideas is also provided for frostfell campaigns.An appendix provides detailed encounter tables for different types of terrain, for encounter levels 1 through 16. Encounter levels of higher than 16 should not be delegated to random rolls and instead offer some singular encounters that might serve as ideas for expansion. Following the appendix is a quartet of terrain cards designed for use with the D&D Miniatures game. Each has a different frostfell environment (razor drifts, ice palace, crevasse, and ebony lake) and provides rules for standard D&D play, as well as D&D Miniatures effects.Critical HitThough there is plenty here that is to like, I think the things that came across strongest for me are the monsters. It’s rare that I say that, but in this case, it’s true. I love some of these creatures, especially the entombed (an undead corpse encased in ice that makes it the size of an ogre!) and the chilblain (it can freeze you in your tracks, literally!). Those, along with old favorites like the yeti and the frost folk (known as frost men in the original Fiend Folio), make this one book I can’t wait to use!Critical FumbleThe one thing about Frostburn that left me cold (pun intended) are the encounter tables. They take up 26 pages and, while I admit that they are useful, I take exception to the idea that every EL between 1 and 16 is provided for. Any DM worth his or her dice can adjust an encounter to suit their party, so this is a waste of space that could have been used for more monsters, more showy goodness, or even a few more inserts. I’d rather have seen a list of possible encounters, or even a table for each type of terrain (but not divided by EL), with the rest of this space devoted to other things. In fact, this really could have been reserved as a web supplement and the space used for other things.I would also like to have seen the frost giant culture expanded on a little more. Three new kinds of frost giants are offered, but they serve as little more than variety. Here was an opportunity to build up the culture and place of these beings in a D&D campaign, and it was missed. Maybe some of the space devoted to the appendix could have been used for this purpose instead.Coup de GraceI have to say, between this book and Frost and Fur, I’m very tempted to dig out my old Dragon magazine that detailed ice age adventuring (I think it was issue #68) and set up a campaign. I love winter, myself, and the opportunities for adventure in an arctic environment are just overwhelming, especially when you have a book like Frostburn to help you out. For DMs running campaigns set in the arctic or for those looking to throw their players a real curve, this product is highly recommended. Spells, monsters, magical items, and rules for the hazards unique to this environment make this a winner! As a plus, much of what is found here can be easily adapted to other genres or even other game systems entirely!It is a WotC product, so there is no Open Game Content, but that doesn’t detract one whit from the usefulness, so don’t let that influence your decision. The artwork is top-notch, as I’ve come to expect from Wizards, and it seems as though this one was actually edited. I noticed relatively few editing errors this time around.To see the graded evaluation of this product and to leave comments that the reviewer will respond to, go to The Critic's Corner at <a href="http://www.d20zines.com/html/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=1248&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0" target="_blank">www.d20zines.com.</a></blockquote>

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