Frosty Melee Build

[hymer]

Dear Playgrounders, please lend me once again your collective wisdom: What are the elements (or the complete build) of a melee-based character, with a winter/cold/frost theme?
Let's say that we are looking for mid-level (say 4-11) play, but anything starting earlier is very welcome - and why shouldn't we be interested in stuff that won't start until higher level if it's tantalizing?

I am particularly interested in filling the Mighty Glacier (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MightyGlacier) (warning, TVTropes link) slot, so a strong defensive would be particularly prized.

[TundraBuccaneer]

Going of your link, it really sounds like a barbarian storm herald. If you want to go with spells I would go eldritch knight and flavour all spells with ice theme like shield is a wall of ice you conjure and hold person is freezing someone in place.

I hope this helps, have fun

[Naanomi]

Storm Herald Barbarian is probably the most natural fit... arguably the only fit without extensive refluffing

[Mortis_Elrod]

Besides barbarian I’d say Immortal Mystic with Mastery of Ice, then just theme everything else as ice

[nickl_2000]

Storm Herald Barbarian is probably the most natural fit... arguably the only fit without extensive refluffing

I don't know, you could take the Tempest Domain Cleric and change all thunder damage to cold damage in their abilities and it would fit pretty effectively. The domain spells would work pretty well for it still.

[tieren]

I was thinking sorlock, hexblade with armor of agathys, some frosty cantrips (frost bite, control water, etc..)

[nickl_2000]

If you are allowed Homebrew, then Kryx's Monk with Way of the Flowing River could be perfect (page 70). Kryx writes some great stuff

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BxGh_mU9ihaPbXMtclcwWTlsM1U/view

[Naanomi]

I don't know, you could take the Tempest Domain Cleric and change all thunder damage to cold damage in their abilities and it would fit pretty effectively. The domain spells would work pretty well for it still.
Ok, without extensive refluffing or changing the mechanics... if you can change damage types, then an ice-smiting Paladin would probably work as well

[DarkKnightJin]

Ok, without extensive refluffing or changing the mechanics... if you can change damage types, then an ice-smiting Paladin would probably work as well

The Paladin that I was playing in a now-defunct game, was turning into an Ice Queen. White Dragonborn, Paladin 2/Divine Soul 1, with Ray of Frost for some range. If I got to pick again, I'd snag Frostbite for another damage cantrip. Or maybe Booming Blade and ask to change it to Cold damage instead of Thunder.
Considering she was a Paladin of Bahamut, the Ice theme was fairly fitting, too.

Sword & Board, Chainmail.. I wasn't getting hit a lot with my starting 18AC. I did feel like a 'Mighty Glacier', except I wasn't super slow about getting to baddies to ask them of they'd heard about my Lord and Savior, Goomy Bahamut.

[ProsecutorGodot]

You can use the Blood Hunter homebrew on DNDBeyond.

You get all the weapons, so you have your choice of Heavy or SNS and for your third level archetype you can take Profane Soul to gain Armor of Agathys. The key feature of the class is Blood Rites, which give you an option to empower your weapon using your health points with certain elemental power (Cold arguably being the best primal rite even without you aiming for a frosty build).

Fits the "Mighty Glacier":
-Cold damage and spells without changing fluff
-You hit very hard with rite damage
-Making bloody ice spikes on your Greatsword is cool

Misses:
-It's homebrew, which might not fit at your table
-Sacrificing your health to empower your damage might make you a bit squishier than an alternative cold based build
-No heavy armor
-Profane Soul spell slots are even worse than Warlocks so you're going to be casting a pretty weak Armor of Agathys for most, if not all, of your game.

[Specter]

Eldritch Knight works, especially at level 7 (Frostbite + attack).

If you could refluff Green-Flame Blade or Booming Blade as an icy attack, that would be cool too.

[strangebloke]

I was thinking sorlock, hexblade with armor of agathys, some frosty cantrips (frost bite, control water, etc..)

This is what I was thinking as well, although I think Paladin adds more.

Paladin 1/Hexblade 1-2/Paladin x

Wear heavy armor (and maybe a shield)
Pick up heavy armor master at character level 5, or play a vHuman and get it at level 1.
Always keep armor of agathys up in your highest slot.
You have the shield spell for when things really get ugly.
Ray of Frost and Frostbite as attack cantrips,
~or~
you go one more level in warlock, take EB, and get the cantrip that slows targets with every hit.

Really, the only ice-themed bit here is Armor of Agathys, but... I'm of the mind that you really only need a few spells to cement a theme, and I'm a huge fan of refluffing abilities. It's trivial to make shield an ice barrier for example.

Additionally, you can get a lot of mileage out of Armor of Agathys, particularly when you have HAM reducing the damage your armor takes on a hit. You should be able to basically just wade through a bunch of low-level grunts, freezing every one that hits you. When you want to, you can use Hexblade's curse, crit, and smite for extreme damage.

[Vogie]

I'll throw my vote behind Lockadin as well... however with a single level in Sea Sorcerer (UA). The Curse of the Sea will augment both your cold and forced movement spells.

Hexblades also had Chilling Hex (UA) which dealt cold damage as a bonus action to the target of the Hexblade's curse.

I'd suggest going up to 5 in Hexblade - Summoning weapons looking like Ice, Improved pact weapon allows you to use your weapon as a spellcasting focus, then using spell slots to Eldritch Smite in addition to Paladin Smites.

Tomb of Levistus would be an interesting invocation, as you could literally become an iceberg for a turn.

[hymer]

Lots of good ideas. Thanks everyone!