Go far enough north, and you will come to the mountains rightly called the Spine of the World. Turn west and go toward the Sea of Moving Ice, and you might eventually come upon one of the scattered communities of Icewind Dale. You can also travel up the ever-narrowing road from Luskan called the Northern Means, and eventually come upon the frozen tundra beyond.
Katabatic winds sweep down from the Reghed Glacier, ceaselessly battering anything that dares to grow or breathe in Icewind Dale. Without fail, these winds find their way through every chink and crack, every opening in the warmest furs, every tent flap, every roof and board of the strongest homes, draining away any hint of warmth.
The sun, held down below the horizon by the Frostmaiden’s magic, offers no respite from winter’s fury. The days are twilit, the nights dark. As Auril casts her nightly spell, a curtain of light weaves across the starry sky to keep the dawn at bay—an aurora that portends an everlasting winter. Storms bring driving hail and sleet that leaves everything coated in a sheath of ice. Snow piles in deep drifts and blocks all trails leading south to warmer lands. The ice cliffs of the Reghed Glacier rise in the east like prison walls, while the snow-capped peaks of the Spine of the World loom to the south. North and west, the Sea of Moving Ice churns icebergs and floes in a deadly tumult, like winter grinding its teeth in anticipation of its next freezing assault.
Trapped in winter’s cold embrace, nomadic humans follow herds of reindeer through their migrations, while others dare the treacherous waters of the Sea of Moving Ice in search of fish, seals, walruses, and whales to sustain them. Dwarves dig into the earth to seek shelter and mine for iron. Meanwhile, folk descended from foolhardy and treasure-mad immigrants eke out meager lives in Ten-Towns, which can barely hold back the wind, let alone marauding orcs, giants, and fierce tundra yeti.
Why travel so far? Well, if you’re like many who’ve drifted up there from the south, it is because an easier life doesn’t suit you, you’re running from something, or you just don’t fit in anywhere else. Despite the unnatural cold and other dangers, people still brave the journey to reach this harsh winterscape, searching for opportunity and adventure.
Wilderness Survival
While exploring Icewind Dale, the characters are going to have to take action to survive the hostile landscape. These are some hazards players may encounter after they embark into the icy, hellish tundra of Icewind Dale.
Avalanches
The following rules can be used for rockslides as well as avalanches.
An avalanche is a mass of snow and debris falling rapidly down a mountainside. A typical avalanche is 300 feet wide, 150 feet long, and 30 feet thick. Creatures in the path of an avalanche can avoid it or escape it if they’re close to its edge, but outrunning one is almost impossible.
When an avalanche occurs, all nearby creatures must roll initiative. Twice each round, on initiative counts 10 and 0, the avalanche travels 300 feet until it can travel no more. When an avalanche moves, any creature in its space moves along with it and falls prone, and the creature must make a DC 15 Strength saving throw, taking 1d10 bludgeoning damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
When an avalanche stops, the snow settles and buries creatures in it. A creature buried in this way is blinded and restrained and has total cover. The creature gains one level of exhaustion for every 5 minutes it spends buried in the snow. It can try to dig itself free as an action, breaking the surface and ending the blinded and restrained conditions on itself with a successful DC 15 Strength (Athletics) check. A creature that fails this check three times can’t attempt to dig itself out again.
A creature that is not restrained or incapacitated can spend 1 minute freeing another creature buried in the snow. Once free, that creature is no longer blinded or restrained by the avalanche.
Blizzards
The blizzards that ravage Icewind Dale and harry travelers on the mountain pass are reflections of Auril’s self-imposed isolation. A blizzard in Icewind Dale typically lasts 2d4 hours, and whenever the characters are caught in one, the following rules apply until it ends.
A blizzard’s howling wind limits hearing to a range of 100 feet and imposes disadvantage on ranged weapon attack rolls. It also imposes disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on hearing. The wind extinguishes open flames, disperses fog, erases tracks in the snow, and makes flying by nonmagical means nearly impossible. A creature falls at the end of its turn if it is flying by nonmagical means and can’t hover.
Visibility in a blizzard is reduced to 30 feet. Creatures without goggles or other eye protection have disadvantage on Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight due to blowing snow.
Any creature that is concentrating on a spell in a blizzard must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw at the end of its turn or lose its concentration on the spell unless the creature is sheltered against the elements (for example, in an igloo).
Veering Off Course. It’s easy to veer off course while traveling through a blizzard, and it’s also easy for party members to become separated from one another, which is why the wisest course of action is to stay put and wait for the blizzard to pass.
If the characters travel during a blizzard, have the players designate one party member as the navigator. At the end of each hour of travel through the blizzard, the DM makes a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check on behalf of the navigator. On a successful check, the party stays on course. On a failed check, the party wanders off course, putting its members no closer to their destination than they were at the start of that hour. If the check fails by 5 or more and the party members aren’t tied together, one randomly determined party member becomes lost in the blizzard and separated from the others. If the group tries to reunite with its missing member, have the party members (including the missing one) make a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) group check at the end of each hour. If this group check succeeds, the missing party member is found, but no progress is made toward reaching the group’s intended destination that hour. The group check can be repeated after each hour spent searching for the missing party member.
Extreme Cold
A creature exposed to the cold must succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw at the end of each hour or gain one level of exhaustion. Creatures with resistance or immunity to cold damage automatically succeed on the saving throw, as do creatures wearing cold weather clothing (thick coats, gloves, and the like) and creatures naturally adapted to cold climates, such as reindeer and snowy owlbears.
Temperatures. During Auril's everlasting winter, the average temperature in Icewind Dale is -49 degrees Fahrenheit (-45 degrees Celsius). Wind chill can lower these temperatures by as much as 80 degrees.
Fishing for Knucklehead Trout
To fish for knucklehead trout on the lakes of Icewind Dale, a character needs fishing tackle and a rowboat. The former costs 4 gp (per the Player’s Handbook), while the latter can be bought for 50 gp or rented for 2 gp per day. A character can fish on the ice instead of a boat, in which case a saw or similar tool is needed to cut a fishing hole through the ice.
At the end of each hour spent fishing on the lake, the character must make a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check. A failed check indicates no fish is caught during that hour. If the check succeeds, the character hooks a knucklehead trout (see appendix C) and must make a Strength (Athletics) check contested by the fish’s Strength check to pull it out of the water. The trout has advantage on its check. If the character fails the check, the trout escapes. A character who fails the check by 5 or more must succeed on a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or be pulled into the frigid water (see “Frigid Water” below). A character who is pulled out of the water is dripping wet and continues to suffer the effects of the frigid water until the wet clothes are taken off and replaced with dry ones.
Frigid Water
A creature can be immersed in frigid water for a number of minutes equal to its Constitution score before suffering any ill effects. Each additional minute spent in frigid water requires the creature to succeed on a DC 10 Constitution saving throw or gain one level of exhaustion. Creatures with resistance or immunity to cold damage automatically succeed on the saving throw, as do creatures that are naturally adapted to living in ice-cold water.
Illumination
So long as the Everlasting Rime lasts, natural light in Icewind Dale is never brighter than dim. In normal (non-blizzard) conditions, twilight extends from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Icewind Dale is otherwise dark until Auril’s aurora or the full moon appears in the night sky.
Wilderness Encounters
As the adventurers explore Icewind Dale, they might come upon friendly, indifferent, or hostile creatures in the wild. Such encounters can create suspense, reinforce the perilous nature of the setting, or create fun roleplay opportunities.
You decide if and when random encounters occur. Use them judiciously. One or two per game session is usually enough.
If you're not sure how often to schedule random encounters in a 24-hour period, you can leave it to chance by rolling a d8 and consulting the following table.
Running Wilderness Encounters
When you're ready to stage an encounter in the wilderness, roll two d20's of different colors. The first d20 is the encounter die; the second d20 is the blizzard die. Use them as follows:
- Roll the encounter die and consult the Random Wilderness Encounters table to determine what the characters come across.
- Roll the blizzard die and add 1. If this total is higher than the encounter die roll, the encounter takes place during a blizzard. The blizzard starts 1d4 hours before the encounter is triggered and ends 1d4 hours after it is resolved.
The Random Wilderness Encounters table is structured so that certain monsters are more likely to be encountered in a blizzard than others. For example, at the two extremes, yetis are always encountered in a blizzard, whereas perytons almost never are.
Some the random encounters are designed to test the characters in battle, while others encourage roleplaying. All of them paint a picture of Icewind Dale as a harsh realm full of a wide variety of creatures struggling to survive. An encounter’s difficulty—noted as Easy, Medium, Hard, or Deadly in the Difficulty column of the Random Wilderness Encounters table—assumes the characters are 4th, 5th, or 6th level. It’s okay for some encounters to be easy and others to be hard or deadly. Easy encounters build players’ confidence; hard and deadly encounters force players to weigh their characters’ options and think outside the box. If the characters find themselves in a tough spot, give the players time to try to find a way out of it, encourage them to be creative, and award inspiration when appropriate.
Travel in Icewind Dale
During the Frostmaiden's endless winter in Icewind Dale, travel has become more treacherous than ever before. The snows rise into mountainous drifts and the winds whip up torrential blizzards. To survive, the people of Ten-Towns must travel between the towns and trade goods. The players are likely to also do this so there are two different ways of traveling through the Dale.
Overland Travel
The fastest way to travel across the tundra is by dogsled. But dogs are expensive and require food, water, and shelter. Unless they have more equipment than they can carry, adventurers are better off traveling on foot.
The speed that characters can travel across Icewind Dale’s rough, snowy tundra is given in the Overland Travel table. Travel is less time-consuming on the snowy roads and trails that connect the settlements of Ten-Towns.
| Method of Travel |
Distance per Hour |
| Dogsled |
1 Mile |
| On Foot, With Snowshoes |
1/2 Mile |
| On Foot, Without Snowshoes |
1/4 Mile |
Mountain Travel
Navigating the Spine of the World or the slopes of Kelvin’s Cairn is particularly arduous because of the unforgiving mountain terrain. At the end of each hour, the character or NPC leading the expedition must make a DC 15 Wisdom (Survival) check. On a successful check, the hour’s journey was not hindered by weather or terrain. On a failed check, the party comes to an impasse and must backtrack, which costs an extra hour of travel. If the check fails by 5 or more, the party is caught in an avalanche as it backtracks. The avalanche starts 2d6 × 100 feet above the characters.
Even in the best of cases, a journey in the mountains takes twice as long as one of the same distance across the tundra
| Method of Travel |
Distance per Hour |
| Dogsled |
1/2 Mile |
| On Foot, With Snowshoes |
1/4 Mile |
| On Foot, Without Snowshoes |
1/8 Mile |
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