ECOLOGY

Environment any cold land
Organization solitary, pair, or drove (3–12)
Treasure none

Frostfallen creatures are mindless undead infused with icy cold and animated by a hatred for all living things. Their bodies radiate a devastating chill that cloaks them in patches of ice that act as armor. Frostfallen creatures appear otherwise as they did at the time of their reanimation, except for a cold gleam in the eyes.

In the harshest reaches of the world, cold is an ever-present enemy. When a creature dies from exposure to such harsh conditions, bitter anger and the searing cold sometimes combine to reanimate the dead as one of the frostfallen. Once reanimated, frostfallen creatures prowl the cold lands in which they fell, wreaking indiscriminate vengeance on living creatures out of spiteful rage.

Although frostfallen creatures can be created through necromantic magic like other undead, arcane scholars are fascinated by the necromancy that brings frostfallen creatures to unlife, for the animating force is a synthesis of negative energy and a bone-numbing cold. This cold empowers the creature's attacks, wreathing its natural weapons in a deathly chill. Those who have fought these creatures describe great wounds instantly numbed by the lethal touch of frostbite. In addition, a frostfallen creature's body emanates an aura of cold that flash-freezes moisture in the air around it, coating the creature in a patchwork of ice capable of deflecting blows from even the heaviest weapons. The creature's affinity for cold also allows it to locate nearby warm-blooded creatures, even in driving blizzards and on moonless nights.

Frostfallen creatures move with the same gaits they had in life, while gaining a savage surge in physical power. Additionally, unlike normal zombies, the frozen condition of the creature fortifies its unlife, making it extremely durable.

Habitat & Society

The corrupt animus that powers frostfallen creatures imbues them with a hatred of all living things, and most spend their time wandering wintry terrains near where they died, looking for life to snuff out. Sometimes, vestiges of behavior from their original forms lead to groups banding together, like frostfallen wolves that hunt in packs. Even those frostfallen that have never encountered others of their kind seem to instinctively recognize their own, and band together if prey is nearby.

Winter witches and other ice casters prefer creating frostfallen creatures, as such creatures' bodies more readily withstand the decay and brittleness often faced by skeletons and zombies in harsh northern climes. Casters who create frostfallen creatures often use minor magic to emblazon a creature's ice armor with carvings or specific colors, effectively branding the creature as a servant.

On rare occasions, casters will create frostfallen creatures in warmer regions. In such cases, the undead's creator normally employs her minions against creatures that are susceptible to the frostfallen creature's freezing attacks. Some frostfallen creatures have even survived independent of their creators. When such a rarity comes to pass, the frostfallen creature simply begins hunting the region for fresh life to end, though it will often lie in wait in cooler places like deep caves, or under the water of an oasis so as to better ambush creatures and travelers who would never expect to see a frostfallen creature so far south.