Frost Salamander

A frost salamander resembles a big lizard scaled in white or bluish white, walking on six legs whose sharp claws grip even the slickest ice. Its eyes are blue and its clear white teeth look like icicles. It earned its name because people think of it as a cold-climate counterpart of the ordinary salamander of the Elemental Plane of Fire.

Cold attacks of every kind leave it unharmed, while fire-based attacks deal 1 extra point per die. Its body radiates a killing chill to 20 feet in every direction, inflicting 1d8 damage on every creature in range. It has no strategy beyond ripping its enemy apart as fast as possible, and several together do not coordinate. Rearing up on its hindmost pair of legs, it rakes with the four front claws and then bites; it never uses weapons. With a frigid pool close by, it often shoves victims in, risking exposure damage during or after the fight. It prefers cold meat, so it drags kills into icy water or other frigid places before feeding.

Native to the Paraelemental Plane of Ice, frost salamanders also turn up on other elemental planes, and come to the bitterest corners of the Prime Material Plane when summoned or for their own unknown reasons. Warmth is torture to them: each turn spent where it is above freezing costs them 1 hit point. Lairs lie on windswept arctic plains or beside frozen pools. They soak up icy gales the way others bask in the sun and actually enjoy being hit with spells like cone of cold.

Loot in a lair is often encased in ice or made brittle by the cold, and potions there are nearly always ruined. Thawing treasure free can take hours, and handling frozen items barehanded is a bad idea.

These greedy hunters usually eat frozen meat but will eat plants they come across, and they avoid competing with other cold-dwelling creatures. A frost brand can be tempered in their thick, bright blue blood, and their bones are fine material for crafting a wand of frost. Frost salamanders and true salamanders loathe one another and fight on sight in the rare cases when they meet.

These crabs sometimes accompany frost salamanders and likewise stay in freezing places, especially icy pools. They have only four legs and two claws, and white shells rimmed in pale blue. Camouflage and the patience to stay perfectly still until prey comes near impose -4 on foes' surprise rolls. Each claw hit deals 1d4 damage plus 1d3 cold damage. Ice crabs collect gems only, usually pearls or diamonds.