Huge elemental, neutral evil
Armor Class 17 (natural armor)
Hit Points 168 (16d12 + 64)
Speed 60 ft., burrow 40 ft., climb 40 ft.
Proficiency Bonus +4
Proficiency Bonus +7 (5th Edition Advanced Mode)
| STR | DEX | CON | INT | WIS | CHA |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 20 (+5) | 12 (+1) | 18 (+4) | 7 (-2) | 11 (+0) | 7 (-2) |
Saving Throws Con +8, Wis +4
Skills Perception +4
Damage vulnerabilities fire
Damage Immunities cold
Senses darkvision 60 ft., tremorsense 60 ft., passive Perception 14
Languages Primordial
Challenge 9 (5000 XP)
Burning Fury. When the salamander takes fire damage, its Freezing Breath automatically recharges.
Freezing Aura. It radiates cold in a 20-foot radius, causing 1d8 points of damage to all creatures within this area.
ACTIONS
- Multiattack. The salamander makes five attacks: four with its claws and one with its bite.
- Claws. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 10 ft., one target. Hit: 8 (1d6 + 5) piercing damage.
- Bite. Melee Weapon Attack: +9 to hit, reach 15 ft., one target. Hit: 9 (1d8 + 5) piercing damage and 5 (1d10) cold damage.
- Freezing Breath (Recharge 6). The salamander exhales chill wind in a 60-foot cone. Each creature in that area must make a DC 17 Constitution saving throw, taking 44 (8d10) cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
5th Edition Advanced Mode
Limiting the power of a character and making the overall difficulty of the game harder, does not reduce the creativity, indeed it does quite the opposite.
The Game Master has the option to use any and all of the instances proposed in this guide, or just some of them according to their preference.
It is the lack of something that move and motivate characters, not the abundance of it
DESCRIPTION
A Frost Salamander is a huge, six-legged, serpentine creature that dwells in cold and windy regions. It has ice-blue scales, a reptilian head, and a long tail. Its claws and teeth resemble icicles, and it can exhale a blast of frigid air. It is a native of the Plane of Ice, also known as the Frostfell, which lies between the Plane of Air and the Plane of Water . It has blue eyes and translucent white teeth that look like icicles.
COMBAT
A Frost Salamander is a fierce and aggressive predator that attacks anything that enters its territory. It prefers to ambush its prey from below the snow or ice, or from behind a wall of wind. It rears up on its hind legs and slashes with all four of its front claws, while also biting with its sharp teeth. It can also charge its enemies into pools of freezing water, or use its freezing breath to create a cone of cold wind that damages and slows down its foes . A Frost Salamander is immune to cold damage, but vulnerable to fire damage . It enjoys being recipients of such spells as cone of cold.
HABITAT / SOCIETY
A Frost Salamander lives in isolated areas where the temperature is always below freezing, such as glaciers, mountains, or tundra. It basks in chilly winds, as if they were rays of sunlight. It avoids warmer regions, as they cause it discomfort and harm . A Frost Salamander is usually solitary, but sometimes forms small groups or clans with other Frost Salamanders. They communicate with each other using a dialect of Primordial, the language of the elemental planes . They are territorial and hostile to most other creatures, especially regular Salamanders, their mortal enemies . They sometimes leave their otherplanar home to visit especially cold places on the Prime Material Plane for reasons known only to them, or through summoning.
ECOLOGY
A Frost Salamander is an omnivorous creature that feeds on frozen meat and arctic plants. It hunts large animals such as polar bears, mammoths, or reindeer, and drags them to its lair to freeze and preserve them. It also scavenges on carcasses left by other predators. It sometimes raids human settlements or caravans for food or treasure . A Frost Salamander’s blood and bones are valuable to adventurers and magic-users, as they can be used to create weapons or items imbued with cold magic . A Frost Salamander reproduces by laying eggs in deep snow or ice caves, where they are protected from predators and fire. Items found in the lairs of Frost Salamanders often have frozen into blocks of ice or have turned very brittle from the cold; the low temperature almost always ruins magical potions. Melting treasure free can take several hours, and characters should not attempt to carry frozen items without hand coverings.
MYSTARAN ORIGIN OF THE FROST SALAMANDER
The Frost Salamander is a creature that originated from the Mystara Campaign Setting, a fantasy world created for the Dungeons & Dragons role-playing game. Mystara was the default setting for the “Basic” version of the game throughout the 1980s and 1990s. The Frost Salamander was first mentioned in the Module X1, Isle of Dread, which introduced the Known World, a central continent of Mystara that includes a varied patchwork of both human and non-human realms. The Frost Salamander was later featured in other modules and sources, such as the Creature Catalogue, the Hollow World Campaign Set, and the Wrath of the Immortals. The Frost Salamander is one of the many exotic and unique creatures that inhabit Mystara, a world that has sub-settings such as the Hollow World, the Savage Coast, and the Plane of Ice.