Hello everyone, welcome to Clerical Domination. In these installments, I normally take an existing domain, and go through the spells and abilities of the domain, and design a deity for this domain in particular. In honor of the festive season, however, we’re doing it slightly differently this time around. Today, I’ll be creating a new domain and a deity that’s, more or less, a figment of my imagination, based loosely on real-Earth myths, legends, and stories.
All that said, welcome to this week’s article on the domain of: Winter
Touch of Frostbite (Su): As a touch attack, you inflict numbing cold on your opponent. This causes 1d6+1/cleric level points of non-lethal damage (i.e. a 2nd level cleric causes 1d6+2 points of non-lethal damage). At the same time, the target must make a Fortitude saving throw with DC 10+½ Cleric Level, or be affected with fatigue, until the damage is healed. You can use this ability a number of times per day equal to 3 + your Wisdom modifier.
Lord of Frost (Ex): At level 6 you gain resist cold 10. This resistance extends to all allies within 30 feet at level 12. At 20th level, it increases to resist cold 20 (for you and your allies).
1st-snowball, 2nd-unshakeable chill, 3rd-sleet storm, 4th-fire shield (chill shield only), 5th-cone of cold, 6th-cold ice strike, 7th-ice body, 8th-polar ray, 9th-polar midnight
Spells:
The spells you get with the Winter domain are as follows:
Snowball
Snowball is a low level and quite powerful attack spell requiring a ranged touch attack, causing up to 5d6 points of damage, which for a 1st level spell is quite powerful, if not THE most powerful 1st level damage spell.
Unshakeable Chill
This spell inflicts the target with the effects of a severe chill, meaning that if the initial saving throw fails, the target takes 1d6 points of nonlethal cold damage and must save every 10 minutes (using the DC of severe cold (DC 15+1 per every previous check) instead of this spell’s DC) or take additional damage. And at the time where the cleric gets this spell, it’ll last a minimum of 30 minutes, causing up to 3d6 points of non-lethal damage and increasing the save DC up to 17.
Sleet Storm
This spell blocks all types of vision (including darkvision), making it invaluable to people looking to sneak around in a cold climate (where the storm wouldn’t draw undue attention), and requiring anyone wishing to move around on the icy ground to take an Acrobatics check. That means that it is possible to render ranged attacks impossible on account of vision impairment, and stop heavily armored opponents from moving around due to the Acrobatics check and Armor Check Penalties associated with heavy armor.
Chill Shield
This punishes an attacker when they hit you, causing them to suffer damage PER SUCCESSFUL hit, so someone could literally beat themselves to death. It’s important to note that it calls out natural attacks and handheld weapons that strike you, so a bow is not affected, but there’s NO caveat against reach weapons. As they are handheld and strike you, they will take damage.
On a side note, because it also provides a form of fire resistance (depending on the type chosen), it also provides you with some protection against fire spells (the most common damage spells of all).
Cone of Cold
Cone of Cold does not have much of a description, mentioning only damage, after creating an area of extreme cold. As such, given the right circumstances, the spell could be almost undetectable, depending on the weather in the area. It’d be noticeable as a drop in temperature and possibly a faint shimmering in the air.
Cold Ice Strike
See Cone of Cold, but with a 30-foot line instead of a 60-foot cone. So why do I want this spell? Well, the answer to that one is simple: Casting time! It only takes a swift action to cast Cold Ice Strike, meaning that with the right combination, you can cast Cold Ice Strike AND another spell. Though unfortunately, you cannot combine this with a spell affected by the Quicken Spell metamagic feat for a grand 3 spells in a round. ☹
Ice Body
This spell basically turns you into an ice statue. That means that you gain the following: cold subtype and damage reduction 5/magic, immunity to ability score damage, blindness, critical hits, deafness, disease, drowning, electricity, poison, stunning, and all spells or attacks that affect your physiology or respiration, because you have no physiology or respiration while this spell is in effect.
The downside is that you cannot drink (and thus can’t use potions) or play wind instruments.
Polar Ray
Polar Ray is a ranged touch attack spell, causing up to 25d6 points of damage (at a minimum of 17d6) without a saving throw. Just as importantly though, it does 1d4 points of Dexterity drain, making the opponent easier to hit for future attacks.
Polar Midnight
This spell is a KILLER. Let’s look at the list of effects:
Illumination conditions are dropped by two steps (though only to darkness, not supernatural darkness), and all creatures in the area take 5d6 points of cold damage and 1d6 points of Dexterity damage per round. A successful Fortitude save each round negates the Dexterity damage but not the cold damage. Any creature that doesn’t move on its turn becomes encased in a sheath of ice equivalent to wall of ice, is helpless, and cannot breathe.
Basically, this spell kills you if you do not move (assuming you breathe), and you take a fair amount of cold and Dexterity damage each round. In fact, with a few lucky rolls (and a few failed saving throws), you could reduce an opponent to a Dexterity of 0, meaning that they will now automatically be unable to move, and then get encased in ice and killed. Sometimes this is far more effective than pounding your way through their hit points, especially against creatures with a bad Fortitude save, but a high AC, as it doesn’t require any rolls to hit.
New Deity
Father Winter
Lord Frost, The North Wind, King of the High Ice
Alignment N
Worshipers druids, rangers, hunters, those living in the cold regions of the world
Cleric Alignments LN, NG, N, NE, CN
Domains: Animal, Darkness, Water, Weather, Winter
Sub-domains: Fur, Ice, Night, Storms
Favored Weapon: Spear
Symbol: a stylized snowflake, half of which is white, the other half of which is black.
Father Winter is an ancient deity, often portrayed as the oldest of the gods, at least in physical terms, with a long beard, and a hefty physique. Often he is also portrayed wearing a heavy woolen cloak.
While Father Winter does care for his worshippers, he does not suffer fools easily, so like his preferred season, winter, he can be equal parts unforgiving and a source of food or wealth. He helps protect his worshippers (and others taking reasonable precautions) against the predations of cold-using monsters, but those who foolishly take him lightly, he punishes with harsh storms and sudden drops in temperature, as well as heavy snowfalls.
Lord Frost is always worshipped in the open, preferably while standing faced towards a strong wind, though this is not always possible. Every morning before sunrise and every evening after sunset, he expects his clergy to reflect on the day to come, or the day that has passed, for at least 15 minutes. Prayers for spells can be done at any time, and are usually done while sheltered from the wind (whether that is just out of reach of the wind, or inside a warm hut, does not matter to Father Winter).
The holiest day of the year to the King of the High Ice is the winter equinox, the shortest day of the year, where the sun holds the least sway over the realms of mortals. On that day clergy often hunt, and the strongest of the clergy may have the honor for bringing down a polar bear, whose pelt is worn as a sign of strength, and favor with Father Winter. Common lay worshippers avoid this practice, knowing full well that polar bears are dangerous and more than capable of killing an unprepared hunter.
I hope you enjoyed this little venture into creating a deity, and perhaps Father Winter and the Winter Domain will find a home in your campaigns.
Kim Frandsen
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