D&D 5E The Arctic Campaign and 5th edition

[Minigiant]

So I was looking through the DMG and wondering what a DM might have to think about in if they ran a game in a cold weather setting and emphasizing these elements in 5th edition. The DMG does speak on the aspects of these tyes of campaigns.

Weather
The DMG does a decent job on the perils of a cold weather campaign. It highlights extreme cold and strong winds (which can happen in any campaign).

With extreme cold, the DMG explains the process of freezing to death (saving throw or get a level of exhaustion). It also explain the ways to avoid the problem completely: cold resistance, cold immunity, cold weather gear, and naturally adaptions.

Cold Resistance: White and silver dragonborn and dragon sorcerers, step right up.

Issue #1: Protection for Energy
The protection from energy spell grants cold resist and thus cold adaption. But it only lats an hour and is 3rd level. A DM could alter it, claiming the mages of the land would have made enhancing or cheapening the spell top priority. But every change has a big effect.

Issue #2: Potion of Cold Resistance & Boots of the Winterlands
These magic items would drastically alter the cols weather aspect of the campaign. I could see big cities with high magic population sell the potions and the boots. The decision of their availability is a big one and should be hinted or outright explained early.

Issue # 3: Cold weather gear
"Thick coats, gloves, and the like" is all you get. Because of this.... THIS IS THE BIGGEST DECISION.
How much does it cost? Does full cold weather gear count as armor? If so what level and what about the non-proficient? Are there multiple forms of it?


Then there's strong winds. Strong winds weakens ranged attacks and detection. Doubly so for detection if a sandstorm is ruled the same as a snowstorm or blizzard.

Hazards

The DMG goes on about 3 hazards which fit an arctic campaign. Frigid water is extreme cold but faster. Slippery Ice notes a skill/ability check. And Thin Ice gives small races and their light weights better.

Monsters

Welp. Kobolds and Orcs are the suggested humanoids. And the orcs have ogres and half orges as back up. And you get yetis and white/silver dragons. But Arctic is the smaller monster by environment type.

Issue #4: Other environments
You kinda have to unless you are running an Ice world, Plane of Water, Paraemental Plane of Ice, Stygia, or Cania. Cities give you Urban monsters. Taiga and temperate forests allows the oodles of monsters in forests and grasslands. Mountain is nice to mixing in fire giants and fire type dragons for fire damage...

Cold Damage

Good old cold damage. Many magical creature in the arctic will be immune or resistant. Humanoids will be hunting for cold resist gear for survive cold attacks form artic magic beings.

Issue #5 Cold Magic
Cold magic's gonna suck. Cold magic's gonna suck. Do you boost it? Leave it be. Lower the value of cold damage magic items? Weaken fire magic as well (you know that guy "it's cold outside, half damage")?

Here's how'd I do it.
#1 Some mages, druids, and shaman sell protection from element but the costs are high.
#2 Same with potion of cold resistance. Boots of the Winterlands is boosted in rarity.
#3 Heavy and medium armor can be fitted with fur and padding to function as cold weather gear. Characters can wear heavy coats or cloaks but count as wearing hide but can don or doff if as an action. This hurts the unarmored and lightly armored a bit but not too much.
#4 Evil snow orcs with kobold slaves and ogre allies is cool and all but it would get boring after a while and is very limited. Gotta do some city adventure and forest adventure to mix it up.
#5 Just don't take the cold damage spells, man.

What are your thoughts? Other big issues?

 

[Kobold Stew]

I've always wanted to play in a cold campaign. There are some really good ideas here. Why I think it would work particularly well for 5e is the use of the exhaustion rules. There's a scale for effects in place, that can easily be triggered by failing a cold weather save. That means high-con characters will do well (incl. dwarves, sorcerers).

I'd be fairly generous though as to what counts as preparation: outlander, anyone with unarmoured defence (monk/barb), should all get a bonus to the save. You want the characters to survive the weather, but to feel it. A check for every long rest (say) will mean that in a few days all of the party are suffering to some extent. But you don't want them wiped.

Tying it to exhaustion actually hinders barbarians, since they use the same scale when raging. But, like sorcerers, they are proficient in Con saves. Just finding food and water might be tough.

I'd say Boots of the Winterlands would be more common (you suggest rarer?) but it's also an item that people will kill one another for, since they offer so much. There's some plot hooks right there -- pcs wake up and find their boots gone.

There seem to be so many cool adventure opportunities too -- though the image of a ship, trapped in the pack ice under continual darkness, illuminated only be the northern lights, and now overrun by a horde of goblins would be enough to get involved.

 

[I'm A Banana]

For me, the first major decision would be how big a deal do I want cold weather stuff to be?

Do I want it to be background stuff that changes appearance but little else? Do I want it to be an occasional risk for the careless or unlucky? Do I want it to be something the party spends some time on each session? Do I want it to be a constant threat of death? Or a special kind of encounter?

If it is to be the focus of 20 levels of gameplay, I'd say that it should be mostly a background event - people know how to get from place to place in cold weather, and the PC's can benefit from that (typically, I imagine, cold weather gear). I'd have extreme cold, snowstorms, etc. as significant weather events, and those I'd treat something like traps (setback, dangerous, or deadly in risk), probably. Like, being exposed to a snowstorm when you travel over land deals setback trap damage if folks fail a DC 14 Constitution save or something. Party members might make a skill check to help prevent the party from having to make that check, much like how Perception can prevent people from stumbling into a trap (Survival and Nature would be the go-to skills here). Poor weather won't be any more common here than it would be in any other campaign though - cold snaps like thunderstorms, blizzards like tornadoes, etc.

I'd probably read up on Frostburn a bit to get things like terrain ideas and monster ideas and the like.

As for damage types, I might rule that it's easier to use cold magic. Maybe cold damage is automatically empowered up here (especially during weather events), allowing you to re-roll 1's and 2's when you deal it. That would make it attractive if you didn't have a reason NOT to use it, and against most humanoids and beasts and whatnot, there'd be no real strong reason not to use it. Fire might suffer from the inverse - you have to re-roll whenever you roll max damage on a die. Again, gives you a reason NOT to use it, but it won't curb the double damage very much, so it's still worth using it when you can exploit it.

Rather than cold resistance, I think I'd let the monster equivalent of "winter gear" percolate out - heavy pelts, warm fur, layers of fat, etc, make you resistant to the temperature, but not necessarily to damage.

I'd probably stick with a "magic items aren't really available for purchase" mantra. So those boots will be really useful...if you find them in the hoard...but who know what you'll find, and you can't presume that you'll get it, or that cities will have it.

As a campaign setting, rather than just a one-off "adventures in the great wastes!" kind of quest, I'd probably treat the cold just as the natives would - just a thing you need to take into account when you're traveling. You bring oil for fire, you bring warm clothes and blankets, you avoid thin ice...people walk to and fro every day without dying suddenly of exposure, hunters and farmers do it without batting an eye, it shouldn't be a big deal for the PC's to avoid the basic level of cold that is ubiquitous if they're natives as well.

 

[Hussar]

As far as monsters go, reflavoring is going to be your friend.

I can see ankheg's, for example, as a sort of burrowing, lesser rhemorhaz. (jeez, talk about spelling) There's no reason that trolls couldn't be pretty common, as well as ogres and various humanoids. If there's enough resources up there to support cities, then there should be enough to support humanoid settlements. You do lose out on the insect critters, but, adding shaggy pelts to pretty much any beast and you're good to go. Why can't there be arctic manticores? Arctic owl bears, that sort of thing.

THere's probably a few databases out there (my google fu is weak) that would let you search, say, the 2e Monstrous Compendium for arctic creatures. Gives you a good place to start anyway.

 

[CapnZapp]

This thread might add a few tidbits:
http://www.enworld.org/forum/showthread.php?409315-protection-from-elements

My first and foremost advice is to ignore, or at least, elaborate on, the bit in the DMG which states winter clothing makes you plain immune to winter conditions. That is written for those who want the arctic as a beautiful backdrop rather than a challenge in itself.

 

[CapnZapp]

I'd probably read up on Frostburn a bit to get things like terrain ideas and monster ideas and the like.

What I want is fantastical challenges concerning weather and terrain phenomena that transcends merely rolling skill checks against absurdly high DCs. In my view, slapping penalties on characters is a fundamentally flawed way to do it. (Restricting what my character can do, and how she can do it, is alright and not unfun for me as a player, provided the options I am left with still operate AT FULL POWER, that is without penalties. For example, some weather condition could reduce your movement or impair ranged combat: OK, if it allows for creative solutions to get me in position to do stuff at full power. Giving you disadvantage on everything you do: Not OK, since I've already been told there's nothing I can do to get rid of that penalty. There's no incentive for me to try out new strategies instead of just keep whaling on like I always do)

I dug through old threads regarding this and found voices recommending "Frost & Fur" by Monkeygod Enterprises. It wasn't easy to find, but sadly the effort wasn't worth it in my opinion.

Perhaps Frostburn is better in actually making the hardships of winter, darkness, cold and wind come alive for the players.

 

[CapnZapp]

As for damage types, I might rule that it's easier to use cold magic. Maybe cold damage is automatically empowered up here (especially during weather events), allowing you to re-roll 1's and 2's when you deal it. That would make it attractive if you didn't have a reason NOT to use it, and against most humanoids and beasts and whatnot, there'd be no real strong reason not to use it. Fire might suffer from the inverse - you have to re-roll whenever you roll max damage on a die. Again, gives you a reason NOT to use it, but it won't curb the double damage very much, so it's still worth using it when you can exploit it.

Yes, any winter campaign worth its salt must provide a solution to the paradoxical state of affairs that fire spells is always BETTER to use in cold terrain.

That question can be overlooked in a regular game of D&D, but in my opinion it is a mistake to ignore it in a themed campaign.

Put plainly: Why would all these cold creatures spew ice and snow, when everything around them is resistant or immune against cold?

(Hint: Kamikaze is thinking in the right direction)

 

[Derren]

Put plainly: Why would all these cold creatures spew ice and snow, when everything around them is resistant or immune against cold?

Let me reformulate the question, why do you as DM make them spew ice and snow whe everything around them is resistant or immune against cold?

 

[Minigiant]

Yes, any winter campaign worth its salt must provide a solution to the paradoxical state of affairs that fire spells is always BETTER to use in cold terrain.

That question can be overlooked in a regular game of D&D, but in my opinion it is a mistake to ignore it in a themed campaign.

Put plainly: Why would all these cold creatures spew ice and snow, when everything around them is resistant or immune against cold?

(Hint: Kamikaze is thinking in the right direction)

Let me reformulate the question, why do you as DM make them spew ice and snow whe everything around them is resistant or immune against cold?

Because it's easier.
Kamikaze's idea works great if the cold is causes by some sort of magical effect.
Developing and utilizing cold and ice via magic uses fewer resources.
Developing and utilizing heat and fire via magic uses more resources.

Cold creatures can lie in wait. They are sneaky and patient. Winter wolves chase their prey into exhaustion. Yetis and those furry bugbears lurk in the shadows and ambush.

Fire creatures are aggressive. Hellhounds and nightmares are relentless and easily provoked. They need to fuel their magic. Efreeti raid constantly and build magical boilers to heat their blazing cities in the frozen wastes, needing more and more fuel. Slaves toil at their mines for fuel to burn and are burned themselves when broken.

 

[Blackbrrd]

These magic items would drastically alter the cols weather aspect of the campaign. I could see big cities with high magic population sell the potions and the boots. The decision of their availability is a big one and should be hinted or outright explained early.

I don't think it really makes too much sense (or, at least more sense than buying magical items otherwise). If you look at the native population of Greenland and Finnmark in Norway where you regularly get temperatures of around 40-50 degreese below zero in winter, they don't really have any problems. The traditional clothes where good enough to survive in these conditions.

The biggest problem with cold is if you get surprised by a sudden change in weather and don't have the appropriate clothes and don't know when it's about time to dig in. Usually it's non-locals who has these problems, but also younger locals that aren't old enough to respect the weather.