Frozen Rocky Shore

An endless winter holds the land. Snow lies in midsummer, rivers are frozen to their beds, and trees stand cased in ice that never melts. This cold does not come from the sky, and fires give less warmth than they should. Rocks, cliffs and tide pools battered by the sea. Seals and seabirds crowd the ledges, shellfish cling to the stones, and the tide decides when a way along the foot of the cliff is open.

Hear it

Frozen: Frozen Coast (In the album RPG Ambiences Vol. 2)
At camp: Campfire on a Frozen Tundra (In the album RPG Ambiences Vol. 2)
Blizzard: Magical Blizzard (In the album RPG Ambiences Vol. 9)
Snowfall: Mystical Snow (On Patreon, Guardian tier)
By day: Rocky Coast (In the album RPG Ambiences Vol. 8)
In the wind: Windy Coast (In the album RPG Ambiences Vol. 3)
A cove: Cove (In the album RPG Ambiences Vol. 4)
Under the cliffs: Waterfall over Windy Cliff (On Patreon, Guardian tier)
At camp: Rocky Coast Campfire (In the album RPG Ambiences Vol. 8)
Tides: Rough Sea (In the album RPG Ambiences Vol. 8)
Falling rock: Earthquake (On Patreon, Raven tier)

For the table

Ground: rough, about 20 km a day on foot
Water: scarce
Foraging: fair

Hazards

Tides. The sea comes back faster than a walker on the flats. A causeway or a beach crossed at low tide can close behind the party.
Falling rock. Frost, rain or a careless step bring stones down from above. Scree slides underfoot.
Endless cold. The cold does not lift by day or by season, and a campfire only warms those who sit right beside it.
Glazed ground. Paths, roots and stones wear a skin of clear ice that the sun never softens.
Frostbite. Fingers and toes go white, then stop hurting, which is worse.

D&D 5e

Plays as: coastal, normal pace at most
Checks: forage: Survival DC 10 · find the way: DC 5 · search: DC 15
Creatures are spotted at: 2d10 × 10 ft

Endless cold. (House rule) The extreme cold rule holds in every season, day and night: at the end of each hour outdoors, a creature makes a DC 10 Constitution save, DC 12 at night, or gains 1 Exhaustion level. Cold resistance or immunity passes automatically; furs and winter clothing give Advantage.
Glazed ground. Slippery ice is Difficult Terrain. A creature that moves onto it for the first time on a turn, or starts its turn there, makes a DC 10 Dexterity save or has the Prone condition.
Frostbite. (House rule) A creature that ends a day of travel with wet hands or feet makes a DC 12 Constitution save. On a failure it has Disadvantage on Dexterity checks and on attack rolls with weapons until it finishes a long rest beside a fire.

This work includes material from the System Reference Document 5.2.1 ("SRD 5.2.1") by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available at https://www.dndbeyond.com/srd. The SRD 5.2.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode.

Pathfinder Second Edition

Plays as (Pathfinder Second Edition): plains, difficult terrain, about 16 km a day at Speed 25
Checks: Subsist: Survival DC 10 · Sense Direction: Survival DC 15
Random encounters: flat check DC 12 each day

Falling rock. An avalanche, landslide or collapse deals major or massive bludgeoning damage (8d6 to 24d6); a Reflex success halves it and a critical success also avoids burial. Buried creatures take minor damage each minute and are dug out with Athletics (GM Core p. 96).

This product is licensed under the ORC License located at the Library of Congress at TX 9-307-067 and available online at various locations including paizo.com/orclicense, azoralaw.com/orclicense, and others. All warranties are disclaimed as set forth therein. Attribution: this rules layer is based on the following Licensed Material: Pathfinder Player Core © 2023 Paizo Inc., Designed by Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, and Mark Seifter. Authors: Alexander Augunas, Kate Baker, Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, Carlos Cabrera, Calder CaDavid, James Case, Eleanor Ferron, Steven Hammond, Joan Hong, Vanessa Hoskins, James Jacobs, Jenny Jarzabski, Erik Keith, Dustin Knight, Lyz Liddell, Luis Loza, Patchen Mortimer, Dennis Muldoon, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Mikhail Rekun, David N. Ross, Michael Sayre, Mark Seifter, Kendra Leigh Speedling, Mark Thompson, Clark Valentine, Andrew White, Landon Winkler, and Linda Zayas-Palmer; Pathfinder GM Core © 2023 Paizo Inc., Designed by Logan Bonner and Mark Seifter. Authors: Amirali Attar Olyaee, Logan Bonner, Creighton Broadhurst, Jason Bulmahn, James Case, Jesse Decker, Eleanor Ferron, Fabby Garza Marroquín, Jaym Gates, Matthew Goetz, James Jacobs, Brian R. James, Jenny Jarzabski, Dustin Knight, Jason LeMaitre, Lyz Liddell, Luis Loza, Ron Lundeen, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, David N. Ross, Michael Sayre, Mark Seifter, Owen K.C. Stephens, Amber Stewart, Clark Valentine, Landon Winkler, and Linda Zayas-Palmer; Pathfinder Monster Core © 2024 Paizo Inc., Authors: Alexander Augunas, Dennis Baker, Kate Baker, Joshua Birdsong, Joseph Blomquist, Logan Bonner, Jason Bulmahn, James Case, John Compton, Paris Crenshaw, Adam Daigle, Darrin Drader, Brian Duckwitz, Robert N. Emerson, Scott Fernandez, Eleanor Ferron, Leo Glass, Matthew Goodall, BJ Hensley, Thurston Hillman, Vanessa Hoskins, James Jacobs, Jenny Jarzabski, Miko Kallio, Jason Keeley, Jeff Lee, Lyz Liddell, Luis Loza, Ron Lundeen, Robert G. McCreary, Philippe-Antoine Menard, Jacob W. Michaels, Dave Nelson, Jason Nelson, Tim Nightengale, Stephen Radney-MacFarland, Mikhail Rekun, Patrick Renie, Alex Riggs, David N. Ross, Michael Sayre, Mark Seifter, Chris S. Sims, Amber Stewart, Jeffrey Swank, William Thompson, Jason Tondro, Clark Valentine, Landon Winkler, Tonya Woldridge, and Linda Zayas-Palmer. If you use our Licensed Material in your own published work, please credit us as follows: Biomes, Pathfinder Second Edition rules layer © 2026 Michael Ghelfi. Reserved Material: the names of Biomes and its catalogues, its descriptions, sounds, art and code. Pathfinder is a registered trademark of Paizo Inc.; this site is not published, endorsed, or specifically approved by Paizo Inc.

Adventure hooks

A smith whose forge no longer grows hot enough to work iron offers her best blade to whoever finds where the heat of her fire goes. It goes to a hollow nearby where, in the middle of the ice, a patch of grass grows green around a cradle someone has built there.
A merchant has noticed that nothing kept here ever spoils and has opened a cold store for rich clients from the south. Business is splendid until a young lord comes to collect a crate laid down by his grandfather and finds the grandfather inside, alive and furious about the delay.
Every evening an old woman walks out to talk to her son, who stands frozen in the ice where the winter caught him. She does not want him freed; she wants someone to promise to keep talking to him once she is gone.
The village draws lots each year to choose who walks out into the cold to feed the winter. This year the lot fell on the headman’s son, and the headman has quietly decided that a passing stranger will do just as well.
Wreckers light false fires on the cliffs on stormy nights to draw ships onto the rocks. A young wrecker wants out, since he found his own brother’s sea chest among the spoils.
Egg gatherers go down the cliffs on ropes each spring to rob the seabird ledges. One man’s rope was cut, and he lived two days on a ledge before anyone heard him; he saw who did it, and will not say.
A grey seal comes into the cove every evening and stares at one house. The widow who lives there asks the party to find out what it wants; she thinks she already knows.
A spring tide has opened the way along the foot of the cliffs to a cove cut off the rest of the year. A smuggler pays well for a cargo carried through and back, and the tide turns in four hours.

Animals

Brown Bear (man-killer, alone, at dawn and dusk)
Polar Bear (man-killer, alone, by day)
Arctic Fox (dangerous if cornered, in families, day and night)
Harbour Seal (dangerous if cornered, alone, by day)
Walrus (dangerous if cornered, in herds, day and night)
Atlantic Puffin (harmless, in colonies, by day)
Common Eider (harmless, in flocks, by day)
Common Raven (harmless, in pairs, by day)
Eurasian Otter (harmless, alone, by night)
European Herring Gull (harmless, in colonies, by day)
Northern Gannet (harmless, in colonies, by day)
Sea Otter (harmless, in colonies, by day)

Creatures

Ice Mephit (a threat to the unwary, Challenge 1/2)
White Dragon (deadly, Challenge 2-20)
Winter Wolf (a fight to fear, Challenge 3)
Frost Giant (deadly, Challenge 8)
Remorhaz (deadly, Challenge 11)

Also met here

Giant Crab (a threat to the unwary, Challenge 1/8)
Sahuagin (a threat to the unwary, Challenge 1/2)
Harpy (a threat to the unwary, Challenge 1)
Berserker (a fight to fear, Challenge 2)
Bronze Dragon (a fight to fear, Challenge 2-22)
Merrow (a fight to fear, Challenge 2)
Sea Hag (a fight to fear, Challenge 2)
Wyvern (deadly, Challenge 6)
Roc (deadly, Challenge 11)

To gather

Winter Wolf Eye, Yeti Glands, Remorhaz Flame, Arctic Fox Pelt, Atlantic Puffin Egg, Atlantic Puffin Feathers, Atlantic Puffin, Eurasian Otter Pelt, European Herring Gull Egg, European Herring Gull Feathers, Harbour Seal Blubber, Harbour Seal Pelt, Northern Gannet Oil, Northern Gannet Feathers, Northern Gannet Chick, Walrus Blubber, Walrus Hide, Brown Bear Bile, Brown Bear Hide, Common Eider Down, Polar Bear Fat, Walrus Ivory, Polar Bear Hide, Sea Otter Pelt, Sunken Ambergris, Coral Polyp Dust, Iodine Powder, Adult Dragon Tonsils, Dragon Tongue, Witch's Eye

To fish

Fouled Anchor, Harbour Scrap, Herring Shoal, Kelp Bundle, Oyster Clutch, Rock Crab, Wreck Timber Bundle, Coral Branch, Drowned Purse, Message Bottle, Reef Octopus, Spiny Lobster, Pearl Oyster, Reef Shark, Ambergris Lump

The same milieu, otherwise

Rocky Shore, Haunted Rocky Shore, Crystalline Rocky Shore, Eldritch Rocky Shore

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