Frostfell Maven



"I used to fear the winter - fear the endless expanse of white, and the silence it brings. But I have found myself in the wind and snow, and seen the reflection of one who stands unconquered by the greatest of nature's terrors. This is my home... and you do not belong."

-A Frostfell Maven, to an intruder upon her domain

Since ancient times, mortals have feared the frozen dark. They might build and hunt and do battle over the sunlit moors of summer, but as the nights grow longer, winter always claimed its rightful dominion. To most, it was a great and terrible force - fierce and unyielding in its wakefulness, and harbinger of a grim silence as it sleeps. Mortals huddled around their paltry hearths while winter rules, and the great expanse of snow remained unbroken, save by corpses and fools.

Now, the rise of civilization has stemmed the tide of winter in many lands. Wide roads are kept clear of snow, while mysticism warms the common folk without fear of an icy doom. Some mortals laugh and feast through the frozen months, boasting of their conquest and endurance in the face of the elements. Other mortals know better. They know that in the frigid north, there lies a winter that never end, and a season that shall never be conquered. They look upon the frostfell in all its immaculate splendor, and see the beauty and resilience to which most are blinded by their primal fear.

They are the frostfell mavens - artists and visionaries like no others. And they will spin the resplendence of winter from the stuff of their very souls.

Requirements
To become a Frostfell Maven, you must fulfill all the following criteria.

Skills: Survival 8 ranks

Illuminations: Must know at least one illumination with at least one rank in the Prisms component

Class Skill List
Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Diplomacy (Cha), Heal (Wis), Intimidate (Cha), Jump (Str), Knowledge [Geography] (Int), Knowledge [Nature] (Int), Knowledge [The Planes] (Int), Perform (Cha), Profession (Wis), Sense Motive (Wis), Survival (Wis), Swim (Str), Tumble (Dex), Use Magical Device (Cha)

Skill Points
4 + Int modifier at each level.

Hit Die
d8

Weapon and Armour Proficiencies
A Frostfell Maven gains no additional proficiencies.

Illuminations
At each indicated level, a frostfell maven gains an increase in evoker level, illuminations known, illuminations readied, innate illuminations, and personas known as if they had gained a level in an illumination-using class to which they belonged before adding the prestige class level. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. If she had more than one illumination-using class before becoming a frostfell maven, she must decide to which class to add each level for the aforementioned purposes.

Frostforged Artistry (Su)
Calling upon the pristine and elegant power of winter, a frostfell maven can coax form and beauty from the air itself. When using the Craft skill to produce any non-alchemical mundane item, a frostfell maven may choose to use conjured, never-melting ice and snow in place of mundane materials. If she does so, the maven may use her evoker stat in place of Intelligence when making Craft checks for that project. Additionally, the frostfell maven may complete the work of one week in only ten minutes of concentration. She need not pay the gold piece cost normally required to supply the materials for crafting. Items created in this fashion function identically to counterparts made of less exotic materials, but their icy nature is obvious - few merchants can be expected to accept payment in coins of frozen water. Normally, items created by Frostforged Artistry melt away twenty-four hours after their creation. However, by infusing her creations with components of equal value to materials normally composed in the crafting process, the frostfell maven may sustain her creations indefinitely.

Beginning at 3rd level, the frostfell maven is capable of unleashing a torrent of frozen power, sacrificing finesse for swiftness in her icy artifice. As a full-round action, the maven may manifest a crude construct of magical ice in an adjacent space. She may create a number of 10' squares with this ability equal to half her class level, rounded down, which may be placed horizontally or vertically in any pattern she desires. Not all elements of her construct need be present in a space adjacent to the frostfell maven, but they must all be connected to any others manifested. These panes of ice are a foot thick, and statistically identical to masonry when used as walls. If a creature would risk being trapped by this ice, it is instead shunted harmlessly to the nearest open space (choosing its own path if multiple equidistant paths present themselves). The ice created by this ability otherwise functions identically to mundane ice, and melts away at a rate appropriate to ambient temperatures.

Beginning at 5th level, the frostfell maven may infuse items with the very essence of winter when using her frostforged artistry. This functions in all respects as if the maven possessed the Craft Magical Arms and Armor, with the following exceptions. For all purposes involved in the item creation process, treat the frostfell maven as having a caster level equal to her evoker level. Additionally, she may ignore requirements for any spell she is unable to cast. Lastly, the maven may ignore any gold or XP costs the crafting process might incur, and may complete one week of work in only ten minutes of concentration upon her project. Despite these advantages, magical equipment created in this fashion is comprised almost purely of frozen power, and is even less stable than most of a frostfell maven's creations. If she does not infuse a piece of magical weaponry or armor with the gold and XP components to sustain it, the item's enchantments will melt away the moment it is no longer in contact with the maven herself.

Beginning at 7th level, frost and snow leap to the defense of the frostfell maven. As a standard action, the frostfell maven may breathe life into any object formed entirely of ice, snow, or a similar substance. Items brought to life in this fashion possess the statistics of animated objects of appropriate size, though the frostfell maven may choose to bequeath upon them Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores of any value up to one half her own score in those respective abilities. These animated objects are utterly loyal to their creator, and last until they are destroyed or dismissed by the frostfell maven as a free action. This ability only functions on objects of Large size or smaller, and the frostfell maven may sustain up to [evoker level * 4] HD worth of animated objects at any given time.

Beginning at 9th level, the frostfell maven can call entire buildings from the icy ether. The maven may construct strongholds with her frostfell artistry, does not require the assistance of any additional laborers when doing so, and may complete one week's worth of construction in a mere ten minutes of magical exertion. Additionally, when constructing a stronghold in this manner, she may treat her conjured ice as being Reinforced Masonry for the purpose of determining its material properties and pricing. Unlike most entities crafted through frostforged artistry, a stronghold crafted in this manner lasts a number of days equal to the frostfell maven's evoker stat modifier if not supplied with the components to render it permanent, rather than melting after twenty-four hours. This duration is renewed if the frostfell maven rests for at least eight hours within the confines of the stronghold. Details on the construction and pricing of strongholds may be found in the Stronghold Builder's Guidebook.

Immaculate Frost (Su)
Beginning at 2nd level, a frostfell maven learns harness the inevitability and pristine nature of winter itself. Whenever the frostfell maven deals cold damage with an illumination, she may ignore an amount of her target’s cold resistance or hardness equal to [class level * 3]. If the target possesses both cold resistance and hardness, this value is deducted from each of them separately. Creatures with cold immunity are instead treated as having Cold Resist 40, which this ability then reduces as normal. This ability may not reduce a creature’s effective cold resistance or hardness below 0.

Winter Fury (Su)
Elegant and beautiful as the frozen earth may be, only a fool would forget the dangers it holds when wind and snow are awakened in terrible fury. Whenever a frostfell maven of 4th level or higher evokes a blast illumination with a cold-attuned prism component, she gathers a storm of frigid, biting wind into an aura with a 15' radius. If she is already manifesting this aura, she instead increases its radius by 15' (to a maximum radius of 300'). At the end of her turn, if the frostfell maven has not used such a blast on her turn, the radius of her aura is instead reduced by 5'. Whenever a creature within this aura takes cold damage from any source, that damage is increased by an amount equal to the frostfell maven's class level. Multiple applications of this effect (even from multiple frostfell mavens) do not stack - only the strongest effect at any given time applies. A frostfell maven may protect any number of creatures within her aura from its effects, so long as she is conscious of their presence.

Heart of Ice (Su)
Just as those mighty wastes forever embraced by ice and snow, a frostfell maven eventually comes to welcome the pristine beauty of everlasting frost into the very heart of her radiance. Beginning at 5th level, the frostfell maven is considered to have the Primal [Cold Attuned] costume effect active at all times – even when she does not have her costume manifested. This does not count against her normal costume effect limit, and may have motes invested in it as usual. If the frostfell maven wishes, she may still manifest the Primal costume effect for other energy types, but she may not use this effect to manifest a second cold attuned Primal effect.

Arctic Aegis (Su)
As civilization encroaches upon even the wildest reaches of a once-primal world, the frostfell remains unmarred by the whims of outsiders - those who would think to challenge it simply vanish, whatever mark they might have left soon buried by the snow. From 6th level onwards, at the beginning of each of her turns, the frostfell maven gains a supply of temporary hit points equal to her class level. If a creature suffering the effects of her aura of winter fury deals sufficient damage to the frostfell maven to reduce these temporary hit points to zero, that creature immediately sustains one point of cold damage.

Frozen Earth (Su)
In the frigid expanse of the frostfell, the sovereignty of cold is absolute - other elements may accept its embrace or be crushed by it, but they cannot hope to stand alone. Beginning at 8th level, whenever the frostfell maven evokes a blast illumination with a cold-attuned prism component, she may leave a zone of primordial frost in the wake of her attack. If the blast targeted an area, the zone encompasses the same area. If the blast targeted individual creatures, the zone encompasses the spaces occupied by the target creatures, as well as any spaces adjacent to them, and manifests regardless of whether the triggering illumination hit or missed. Whenever an ally standing within one of these zones of primordial frost deals any form of energy damage, they may choose to deal cold damage instead. The zones generated by this ability fade after one minute.

Auroral Apotheosis (Su)
The barrier between the frostfell maven and the frigid power she channels has all but dissolved. Where others might have been lost to the uncaring wasteland of perilous cold, she has drawn forth from the ancient ice a grace and beauty unmatched by the clumsy works of mortal hands. At 10th level, a frostfell maven forevermore becomes a Native Outsider with the Cold subtype and an Augmented subtype pertaining to her previous type, with all the traits that implies. Unlike most creatures with the Cold subtype, however, the frostfell maven does not gain vulnerability to fire damage. Further, she can no longer be aged by any means mundane or magical, and will never die of old age.