Ice mage in a cold campaign...

[onthetown]

Well, there's a new (probably small) campaign starting up, and it's going to be in the northern regions of a map. I want to play a character who is able to manipulate the cold (basically, sorcerer with a cold-based spell list), but I'm wondering how it's going to work out. Obviously not well -- cold-immune creatures are probably going to be plentiful.

There's gotta be some way to make it work, though! I think it would be interesting and definitely add to flavour since it assumes that the character's been in the north long enough to manipulate his surroundings. There should be some way that he can use that against enemies who live there, too.

If not, maybe I'll switch and make him focused on storm effects. But I really, really like the idea of an ice mage in a northern setting.

[ocdscale]

Piercing Cold (from Frostburn?) lets your cold spells damage cold immune creatures.

[Sstoopidtallkid]

Buy Frostburn. There are a lot of awesome feats and PrCs for cold-based characters in it.

[Ponce]

Buy Frostburn. There are a lot of awesome feats and PrCs for cold-based characters in it.

Seconded. If you know that you are always going to be in a cold region, this becomes incredibly powerful.

[erikun]

Piercing Cold won't damage creatures with the cold subtype, but they will hurt creatures who are just immune to cold.

You might be better as a Druid. A number of Druid cold or snow-themed spells don't actually deal cold damage, either through creating weaponlike attacks or various summons.

I strongly recommend looking through Frostburn, if you have it. There are several feats which increase your spellcasting when in cold environments, and even one which can grant the benefit to all spells you cast. (Snowcasting)

[Starbuck_II]

Yeah, Piercing cold is awesome. You do 1/2 damage to cold immune creatures (well 1/4 if it says save 1/2).
Drawback, it doesn't affect creatures with [Cold] subtype like a White Dragon.

[Dusk Eclipse]

To continue the frostburn trend, isn't there a prestige class that is specialized in cold spells?

I also sugest Energy Substition (Cold) from complete Mage (or was it arcane I don't remember).

[erikun]

It's in Complete Arcane. Might be in Complete Mage also, not sure.

The Frost Mage PrC (Frostburn) gives you some free spells to add to your spellbook (multiple Summon Ice Beast spells) along with feats like Piercing Cold for free. It is especially good for a Sorcerer, as the spells are added directly to your spells known, and don't count against the limit of spells you know each level. (So basically, you have one extra known spell for free.)

You also become cold subtype as a capstone, for good or ill. Memorize the spell Fire Shield.

[AirGuitarGod32]

I think I suggested a build earlier that fell into this trend...

Arctic Kobold Half-Red Dragon Sorcerer10/FrostMage10

Immunity to Fire and Cold, a fire breath weapon, and all of the Half-Dragon cheez

[Anonanimal]

I think I suggested a build earlier that fell into this trend...

Arctic Kobold Half-Red Dragon Sorcerer10/FrostMage10

Immunity to Fire and Cold, a fire breath weapon, and all of the Half-Dragon cheez

Half-Dragon has a hefty LA (+4, I believe). This means that it is most definitely not cheesy. In fact, it is a terrible idea--the Sorcerer, which already progresses in spells slower than the wizard, now won't even get 9th level spells, and the already squishy caster loses out on 4 HD.

Also, while a fire breath weapon might be handy against cold creatures, it doesn't really fit the theme of an ice mage at all.

[SurlySeraph]

I think he's thinking Dragonwrought instead of Half-Dragon, which would indeed be powerful.

EDIT: Or, rather, he's thinking Half-Dragon but Dragonwrought would be a better idea.

[Leon]

Just make sure to have some non cold based spells (Force ones are good as they can still fit the "cold" theme without too much effort)

[Heliomance]

I'm sure I remember a class or something called Lord of the Uttercold. What's that, and where's it from?

[Dracomorph]

I'm sure I remember a class or something called Lord of the Uttercold. What's that, and where's it from?

It's a feat, from Complete Arcane, and I bet it doesn't do what you think it does.

[MichielHagen]

I made this thread a few days ago, it might help you.

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=133806

[onthetown]

I have Frostburn and Complete Arcane; the ice theme is just an idea so far, but after reading your comments I'm definitely going to have to go looking for all those features and whatnot

We're starting at level 5, so I'll cast 2nd level spells? Maybe 3rd? I don't have a sorcerer spell list right in front of me... But thank god the DM is playing Pathfinder now, no level adjustments! (The character is a drow)

Thanks for all of your comments If you have anything to add, please do! I'll keep checking back for more ideas~

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

If you're going to play a Sorcerer, you should consider going with a Kobold. Take the feat Dragonwrought from Races of the Dragon, and use the Loredrake archetype from Dragons of Eberron. That will give you +2 levels of Sorcerer spellcasting ability, so starting out you'll be casting as a 7th level Sorcerer and get 3rd level spells. You can also do the Greater Draconic Rite of Passage at level 6 to get another +1 level of spellcasting ability, so you'll be casting as a 9th level Sorcerer at level six.

Edit: There's even an Arctic Kobold from UA, so the character could be a local.

[SaintRidley]

It's a feat, from Complete Arcane, and I bet it doesn't do what you think it does.

It makes blasting a neat option for necromancers, oddly enough.

[Zom B]

I'd recommend picking up something like Energy Substitution: Acid, so that you can have feats like Arcane Thesis (pick a spell, and with that spell metamagic feats apply at one less spell level increase) and because Energy Substitution does not actually change the name of the spell, it still works with Arcane Thesis (some people prefer to call the spell something else when preparing it, though, like Lightningball or Melf's Fire Arrow, but that's personal taste. It's difficult to do with a spell like Meteor Swarm anyway.), so you can have a "Chill" Metal that is doing Acid damage (don't ask me how that would work, it just does), and you can apply cheaper metamagic feats to it just the same as if it were really Chill Metal.

Also, if you go mucking about with metamagic feats, there is a feat in, I believe, Complete Arcane Mage called Rapid Metamagic that lets you apply metamagic feats to sorcerer spells without them becoming full-round actions to do so.

[onthetown]

I'd recommend picking up something like Energy Substitution: Acid, so that you can have feats like Arcane Thesis (pick a spell, and with that spell metamagic feats apply at one less spell level increase) and because Energy Substitution does not actually change the name of the spell, it still works with Arcane Thesis (some people prefer to call the spell something else when preparing it, though, like Lightningball or Melf's Fire Arrow, but that's personal taste. It's difficult to do with a spell like Meteor Swarm anyway.), so you can have a "Chill" Metal that is doing Acid damage (don't ask me how that would work, it just does), and you can apply cheaper metamagic feats to it just the same as if it were really Chill Metal.

Also, if you go mucking about with metamagic feats, there is a feat in, I believe, Complete Arcane Mage called Rapid Metamagic that lets you apply metamagic feats to sorcerer spells without them becoming full-round actions to do so.

I'm not seeing the relationship between ice and acid, here... It sounds like a fun idea, but shouldn't I rather just take Energy Substitution: Cold for an ice mage?

[Zom B]

I'm not seeing the relationship between ice and acid, here... It sounds like a fun idea, but shouldn't I rather just take Energy Substitution: Cold for an ice mage?

What I'm saying is that you could take, for instance, Arcane Thesis: <some cold spell>, and you could, say, Enlarge it at no increase to its spell level. You could alternately cast it substituted with Acid* as an alternative.

I suppose you could pick Arcane Thesis in a non-cold spell and always substitute the damage for Cold (unless Cold would be unwise), but that seems backwards to me.

*I'm only naming an element. You could do Fire or Lighting or whatever you like. I usually pick Acid because while you might find something Immune to Cold, it's rare that it would be resistant or immune to Acid as well. Alternately, you could do Fire, so that Cold Immune creatures who take extra damage from fire would be affected.