|
 |
|
Frostburn: Mastering the Perils of Ice and Snow (Dungeons & Dragons d20 3.5 Fantasy Roleplaying Supplement)x$16.37
  (14 reviews)
Best Price: $34.95 $16.37
A complete guide to playing D&D in the ice and snow.
This 4-color supplement begins a new series of releases that focus on how the environment can affect D&D gameplay in every capacity. Frostburn contains rules on how to adapt to hazardous cold-weather conditions, such as navigating terrain with snow and ice and surviving in bitter cold or harsh weather. There are expanded rules for environmental hazards and manipulation of cold weather elements, as well as new spells, feats, magic items, and prestige classes. New monsters associated with icy realms are included, as well as variants on current monsters. There is enough adventure material included for months of gameplay.
|
Customer Reviews
|
Misses the mark
By A33K9SOLFEQNQT on 2004-12-04
I bought this book expecting some great rules and insights on how to really make my players suffer in the cold, I wanted them to think everytime they reached for their sword, everytime they put on armour and everytime they wandered what was for diner...and FrostBurn fell far short.
Yes it's crammed full of new prestige classes and monsters and spells, but if I wanted more of these I'd have bought a book called "Monsters, Feats and Prestige Classes for Artic Conditions".
Filling up 75% of a book with Monsters and Prestige Classes seems to be becoming a rather bad habit in D20.
The first 5-10 pages were a good start, and if the rest of the book had continued in the same vein I'd have been really happy.
Things I expected to find :
- Effects of cold on weapons and armour
- Hunting and food in the cold
- Flora and Fauna, herbs and wildlife
- Far more on cold related illnesses such as snowblindness, more detail on Frostbite and Hyperthermea (sp) in a D20 setting.
- Effects of deep snow and ice on combat
- Synergy of skills in cold environments
- More on travel.
The book seems more aimed at creating a new campaign setting (new player races are introduced) than being a Generic guide that can work for any campaign.
Certainly didn't fill the gap I needed, I'm still looking for other options.
a good book if you want winter in your world
By AGAAO1WVF1XKX on 2004-10-27
this book has real possiblities if you are interested in doing a artic or a cold environment like in the George RR Martin series (game of thrones)
You are introduced in the opening chapter of the frostfell environments of high altitude, winter, ice age and lands of eternal ice. The dangers are listed like freezing, snow blindess, dangerous terrain, etc. There are listed specific terrain types, like tundra, frozen seas and the like.
Chapter two has the various races of the frostfell, mostly adaptations of the current ph races plus the uldra, a small fey who live in the cold. There is a section on the various classes and how they fit into this environment. There are new feats, but not alot. One of the feats is snowrunner which allows you to run at full speed, another is piercing cold which allows you to add the cold descriptor to your spells.
There are some new prestige classes which look hit or miss to me. It would depend on the DM to pick and choose. One of the prestige classes is the frostmage who gains natural armor, resistance to cold in the first two levels of the class.
There are new equipment and spells. There are several conjure ice beasts(summon monster equivilent). Ice shield gives damage reduction of 15, freezing glance which freezes subject in their tracks.
New monsters like the dire polar bear,and the wolly mammoth. The book ends with some adventures, always a good idea in my opinion.
If you are creative enough, you can do without this book.
I am planning on a series of adventures for my players and I find this to be a useful book, especially for the hazards of the cold and some of the monsters and spells
When Cold is not necessarily a bad thing
By AR6VC93RAWVN0 on 2004-09-24
This is a tool kit for adventuring in the arctic. The feats, magic and monsters within are all geared towards this end. If you want to turn your caapaign into a winter wonderland, this is the book for you. If you want to run a medieval Ice Age, this is your book. For those that like it cold, this is your book. A word of caution on classes, the wilderness classes will get a lot more out of this than the others especially Druids and Rangers. Frostburn stands out in that hands down, Rangers get more new spells than Paladins but at least in my opinion, this is how it should be.
A supplement which hits the mark
By A2VSVAOPHCB3KS on 2004-11-10
Frostburn is the first in a series of environment-based supplements, featuring arctic climates. The book is in the standard supplement format: New Races, New Prestige classes, New Spells, New Monsters, etc. This doesn't set Frostburn above its brethren.
What does set Frostburn above its fellow D&D supplements is the strength of the design and content. The book includes some intriguing campaign possibilities for GMs to explore, but without a heavy-handed campaign world. A gamemaster can use the book either as a standalone campaign, a single-shot adventure setting, or simply as good source material.
The new races were strong. There are arctic variants of some of the standard races (such as glacier dwarves). Humans finally get a subrace - the neanderthal - as a player race. And finally there is the Uldra PC race.
The Uldra are small fey creatures of the north. The race is fascinating itself, but there is also a very interesting campaign which could be developed from their gods and backgrounds. The uldra prestige classes are also very interesting.
The feats give a number of excellent new options for arctic heroes (and could be easily adapted to characters near volcanos by switching Cold to Fire :). There are feats for every class, giving all classes something to use. Spells were similarly intriguing. Unique substances, such as blue ice that can be worked like iron, create some interesting additions to a treasure trove.
The artwork is good for the most part, though some of the monster art is a little weak. The monsters themselves. FInally, there was an unexpected bonus - a couple of tiles for the D&D miniature grid - in the back.
Overall, definitely worth it.
Not really about cold climates
By A1GHHBZYBV8EKW on 2005-05-09
Apparently "the perils of ice and snow" are pretty much the same as the perils everywhere else: a proliferation of prestige classes largely suitable for NPCs and a handful of monsters that wouldn't have made the cut for the 1st edition Fiend Folio.
In fact, if you thought the perils of ice and snow might be, well, ice, snow and cold, this is not the book for you. Less than 20 pages are dedicated to discussing what life in extremely cold zones, especially in alpine regions, is like. Although there are a couple of feats designed to explain how some people (or races) might be able to survive in extreme climatic conditions, there is almost nothing about how to create the terror of an avalanche, rule on the gradual onset of snow blindness, or ajudicate the creeping psychological effects of oxygen deprivation. Hmmmm... in fact, almost nothing about adventuring in the element of cold that wasn't in the DMG and/or PHB.
I presume WotC is doing its market research and that research shows that prestige classes sell. If that's what you're looking for, this book will provide some. If you were looking for a book that would provide you with campaign insights on life in the cold, and how the 3.5 rule set can be used to ajudicate the hazards therein, you'll be disappointed. But the real shame is that with a hard look you realize that no one should really be satisfied with this supplement. Power gamers use the terms "crunchy" and "fluffy" to describe rule mechanics vs. campaign flavor. There needs to be a third term, "filler" that describes verbiage that fits into neither of the above categories. Sadly, that is where about 60% of this supplement falls.
The only upside is that there is still room for some hungry and enterprising d20 company to write a good supplement on setting a campaign in the cold.
*Update 10/2005* The "enterprising d20 company" I was looking for is MonkeyGod Enterprises with its "Frost and Fur" supplement. Excellent work of defining cold climates, rule smithing hazards, as well as providing a fantasy approach to three different cultures' (Slavic, Inuit, and ice age savage) view of living in extreme cold climes.
- A great book for any campaign
By A3Q7W8XFQHQIGI on 2005-01-02
This book is a great addition to any D&D game. It has a ton of stuff in it for DM's, like rules for cold weather, new magic items, new monsters, traps for cold environments and more. It also has tons of new prestige classes, spells, feats and equipment to keep players happy. As a DM I love books with new monsters and magic items and this has plenty of both. Buy this book and you won't be disappointed.
- IT'S A BIT FRIGID
By A2JP0URFHXP6DO on 2005-07-23
I kind of think WOC is really starting to Micromanage the D&D universe with so many specialized supplements. It's almost like they want to take all possible work and imagination out of the hands of the DM. Frostburn, as the name implies contains supposedly all the information you could ever want...in fact you WON'T want a lot of it...about adventuring into cold climates. There's info about dealing with the cold, hypothermia, snow blindness...There are frosty (and I really can't think of a better term...) versions of the standard demi-human races like glacial dwarves, snow elves, and ice gnomes, along with some new races such as the Uldra.
There are a number of new feats(32 in all I believe) and prestige classes but their really only usable in these colder climates so I'm thinking there's not much value there except maybe to the DM for NPCs unless your entire campaign is set in the arctic. The next two chapters deal with new equipment and spells. I didn't find all that much of interest in the equipment chapter but some of the new spells are pretty interesting such as the Column of Ice spell and Iceberg. There are also a couple of new domains for clerics: winter and cold.
Chapter six details new monsters although a lot of them are ones you're already familiar with such as the Yetis, as well as cold version of typical monsters like spiders, undead, etc. There are a couple of adventures included which I'd say may be about the best thing in the book. The Iceraver scenario has characters going to a haunted city on an iceberg.
As I mentioned...I think a lot of it is simply overkill. This could easily have been just an adventure with new spells, monsters, etc, without all of the rules about dealing with cold that most people will never use.
- Good Book
By AV38HA259TT23 on 2005-01-01
I can't see this being the most useful book in my collection, but it is well-written, offers new cool spells (some of which are epic), interesting monsters, rules for new situations, and some interesting ideas for campaigns. There is also a pile of encounter tables at the back of this book.
Being a Canadian, I've always liked winter so this book is fun for me.
- One of the best D&D Suplements I have
By AQGN6C15O9V3E on 2006-02-01
I am VERY happy with this book. Not only are the new critters exceptionally cool, but the conditions added ontop of the core DM's Guide, but the PRC's are well thought out, the new classes and races available are impressively balanced. Overall I would give this another 2 stars totaling to 7 out of ten possible but my limit is 5 so, there it is.
- Great Series
By A3OR6MIWZ8TW22 on 2006-02-23
I'm a big fan of the Frostburn, Sandstorm, and Stormwrack series. If you're not planning to DM, the books provide interesting alternatives for your characters. If you DM and plan to do your writing for the campaign, these books are an excellent way to add flavor to your campaign.
|
|
You may also be interested in...
|
|
|
|
|
|
