Snow Elves
A Lost Race of the North
Bringing Light Into a Frozen
World
Snow Elves were amongst the first of the elf races to venture
onto the material plane. Back then, the age of giants and
dragons had just ended, the earth was frozen, covered by
winter's white cloak. Glaciers slowly crept towards the
chilling seas, snow storms howled across the landscape, it
was a terrifying winter that lasted for hundreds of years - the
great ice age. Many races and animals unable to adapt either
died out or had to fight for survival in a few hideouts, where
temperatures were not as cold as elsewhere.
The first snow-elves came together around a great, lonely
mountain in the Far North, and from there, thriving in the
cold that made other races suffer, they spread around the
world and formed countless of communities, from small
villages to great kingdoms. Legends tell of their wonderful
magic, their pure souls and their beautiful music, of how they
sang and with their songs, entire cities rose, shaped from ice
and snow. Even in the darkest, coldest nights, the ice crystals
always gave off a beautiful, colorful glow almost like the
aurora. It was as if snow elves were representing the calm,
beautiful side of winter in a cruel, relentless and deadly,
frozen world.
The Heart of the Glacier
However, nothing was to last forever, and as the winter came
to an end and the world thawed out, new races started to
conquer the lands, some more ruthless and brutal than
others. While snow elves were able to cast powerful spells,
the rising temperatures took their toll and made them unable
to withstand all these new threats. Those who survived fled
back to the Far North, where, to their relief, winter was still
there. And here, at the base of the lonely mountain where
everything began, the remaining snow-elves settled down.
Monumental, blessed halls of ice beneath the mountain's
glaciers, some formed naturally, some built with the help of
their magical songs, became the snow elves' most sacred
place known as the Heart of the Glacier, serving as a temple
and a place of peace, calmness and art.
Magic of the Snow Elves
The magic of snow elves always was unique. They were able
to use magical songs, often sung together in small groups, to
take control of and shape snow and ice around them, which
allowed them to create beautiful spires and even entire
palaces; and thanks to their pure souls, they even were able
to use restorative and purifying magic that today would be
classfied as divine in that way. However, not many of these
magical songs are still known today.
1
 In addition to that, over thousands of years, snow elves had
learned to harness the energy found within snow and
especially magical, crystalline ice they referred to as "pure
ice" with the help of their songs, which allowed them to cast
frost and ice magic of tremendous power. How they did that,
and what exactly they were able to do, that is a great mystery
today, as most findings of "pure ice" nowadays appear black
and corrupted.
The Fall
Meanwhile humans and other races in other parts of the
world had learned to master traditional arcane magic, which
allowed them to rise to great power - and eventually, the most
powerful of these wizards came together to create the empire
of Netheril. With power, however, came corruption and
madness, and soon the Netherese wizards began
experiencing an unquenchable thirst for more knowledge and
power. They wanted to master all kinds of magic. They knew
that snow elves were somehow able to use magical energy
bound within ice, but they did not know how they did that.
Insane as they were, they tried everything to learn the "secret
of the magic within the ice"; the snow elves, sensing how
these wizards were corrupted and, with their thirst for power,
a danger for the entire world, refused. This culminated in the
great war of the Far North - and as the snow elves had taken
severe losses, being overwhelmed by strange spells cast by
Netherese wizards despite refusing to succumb to the
spreading corruption, they all came together and held a last
prayer in the Heart of the Glacier before they decided to take
the secret with them to the grave, or rather to the undying
lands. And then they departed from the mortal world, in
search of peace in the elven paradise. And Netheril fell soon
after as its inhabitants succumbed to irreversible madness,
unable to ever use their magic again.
Snow Elves Today
A general consensus is that there are no snow-elves left today.
Ruins of their settlements, tombs, palaces and spires can still
be found today, and many people still tell legends of these
elves, their wonderful realm in the Far North and their magic.
Frescoes and mosaics within their ruins provide a rather
detailled image of snow elven culture and of their
appearance. They depict mystic elves with pale skin and long
dark, silvery or white hair clad in white and blue or wearing
silvery shiny armor, wearing sapphire rings and necklaces,
who were singing, casting ancient spells or fighting with
swords with blades of ice.
Even a few magical items crafted by snow elves have been
found, such as a suit of armor made of mithril, fine hilts of
longswords, glaives and even double-bladed scimitars that
very likely once had crystals of "pure ice" as blades and a
magical ring that most likely was used as a wedding band.
Inscriptions left behind by snow elves are generally difficult
to decipher even for those who speak elvish, as the language
of the snow elves had quite a few differences compared to
"modern" elvish, like a lot of draconic and sylvan influence.
2
However, there are rumors that maybe a few snow elves Hei
chose to remain on the material plane, living in a small
enclave most likely even further up in the north... Why they Playe
would do that is not known, but some researchers who same
dedicate themselves to the history of the snow elves and world
Netheril think that maybe there is something important up weigh
there in the North, something that must be guarded by these table
snow elves. table
chara
Creating your Character
When you create your D&D character, you decide whether
your character is a member of the human race or one of the
game’s fantastical races, which include the race presented in
this article. If you create a character using a race option
presented here, follow these additional rules during
character creation.
Abiltiy Score Increases
When determining your character’s ability scores, increase
one of those scores by 2 and increase a different score by 1,
or increase three different scores by 1. Follow this rule
regardless of the method you use to determine the scores,
such as rolling or point buy. The “Quick Build” section for
your character’s class offers suggestions on which scores to
increase. You’re free to follow those suggestions or to ignore
them. Whichever scores you decide to increase, none of the
scores can be raised above 20.
Languages
Your character can typically speak, read, and write Common
and one other language that you and your DM agree is
appropriate for the character. The Player’s Handbook offers a
list of widespread languages to choose from. The DM is free
to add or remove languages from that list for a particular
campaign.
Creature Type
Every creature in D&D, including every player character, has
a special tag in the rules that identifies the type of creature
they are. Most player characters are of the Humanoid type. A
race option presented here tells you what your character’s
creature type is. Here’s a list of the game’s creature types in
alphabetical order: Aberration, Beast, Celestial, Construct,
Dragon, Elemental, Fey, Fiend, Giant, Humanoid, Monstrosity,
Ooze, Plant, Undead. These types don’t have rules
themselves, but some rules in the game affect creatures of
certain types in different ways. For example, the text of the
cure wounds spell specifies that the spell doesn’t work on a
creature that has the Construct type.
Life Span
The typical life span of a player character in the D&D
multiverse is about a century, assuming the character doesn’t
meet a violent end on an adventure. Members of some races,
such as dwarves and elves, can live for centuries—a fact
noted in the description of the race.
Snow Elf Traits
When you choose the snow elf as your race, you gain the
following traits:
Age: The elven understanding of adulthood goes beyond
physical growth to encompass worldly experience. Most likely
due to living in extremely cold environments, snow elves
mature and age a bit slower than other elf races, a typical
snow elf claims adulthood and an adult name around the age
of 150 and can live to be around 1200 years old, although
legends of even older snow elves exist.
Creature Type: You are a Humanoid. You are also
considered an elf for any prerequisite or effect that requires
you to be an elf.
Size: Your size is medium.
Speed: Your walking speed is 30 ft.
Child of the Glacier. You are resistant to cold damage and
you ignore difficult terrain created by ice or snow.
Furthermore, you can see normally in areas heavily obscured
by snow.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you
as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim
light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of
gray.
Fear of Fire. When you take fire damage, you have
disadvantage on attack rolls and ability checks until the end
of your next turn.
Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws you
make to avoid or end the charmed condition on yourself.
Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Perception skill.
Songs of Ice and Snow. Your songs can influence ice and
snow around you and shape them to your will. You know the
ray of frost and word of radiance cantrips.
Starting at 3rd level, you can spend 10 minutes to create an
inanimate object made of ice and snow. An object created in
this way must fit inside a 5-foot cube, can't have any moving
parts and has the density of stone or steel (your choice). The
object appears in an unoccupied space within 5 feet of you,
has hit points equal to five times your proficency bonus and
lasts for 1 hour or until it is destroyed. In temperatures above
0 degrees, the object loses 1d10 hit points every 10 minutes
as it melts. You can create an amount of objects equal to your
proficiency bonus in this way and regain all uses when you
finish a long rest.
Starting at 5th level, you can cast the spell Galder's tower
once with this trait and you regain the ability to cast it when
you finish a long rest. Your spellcasting ability for these spells
is Intelligence, Wisdom or Charisma (your choice).
Trance. You don't need to sleep, and magic can't put you to
sleep. You can finish a long rest in 4 hours if you spend those
hours in a trancelike meditation, during which you retain
consciousness.
Whenever you finish this trance, you can gain two
proficiencies that you don't have, each one with a weapon or
a tool of your choice selected from the Player's Handbook.
You mystically acquire these proficiencies by drawing them
from shared elven memory, and you retain them until you
finish your next long rest.
Artwork: Araeglos, the Snow Prince by Xealynn Art / Stain: Xanathar stains - Imgur by unknown.
Languages. You can speak, read, and write Elvish and one W
other language that you and your DM agree is appropriate for ou
your character. Elvish is fluid, with subtle intonations and to
intricate grammar. Elven literature is rich and varied, and yo
their songs and poems are famous among other races. Many M
bards learn their language so they can add Elvish ballads to fin
their repertoires.
Snow Elf Magic. As a snow elf spellcaster, you have
learned to harness the energy within the "pure ice" to cast
spells unlike any other. If you have the Spellcasting or the
Pact Magic class feature, the spells on the Snow Elf Magic
table are added to the spell list of your spellcasting class.
When you cast one of these spells, it does not require any
material components besides a shard of crystal clear ice.
Snow Elf Magic
Spell
Level Spell
armor of agathys, protection from good and
1st
evil
2nd lesser restoration, rime's binding ice
3rd sleet storm, spirit guardians
4th aura of purity, ice storm
5th cone of cold, greater restoration
Racial Feats
Soul of the Glacier
Prerequisite: snow elf, spellcasting or pact magic feature,
level 4
Your understanding of the mystic magic of ice and snow
deepens. You gain the following benefits:
When you deal cold damage, you ignore resistance to cold
damage and treat immunity to cold damage as resistance.
When you cast one of your Snow Elf Magic spells, you
briefly become surrounded by radiant aurora, or, if the
spell deals cold damage, by chilling winds and snow, with
the following effects:
1. Aurora: Each creature of your choice within 15 feet of
you regains hit points equal to 1d4 plus your
proficiency bonus.
2. Chilling Winds: Each creature of your choice within
15 feet of you takes cold damage equal to 1d8 plus
your proficiency bonus.
Purity of Ice
Prerequisite: snow elf, spellcasting or pact magic feature,
level 8
Pure as crystalline ice, you are able to withstand
corruption. You gain the following benefits:
You are immune to diseases.
You gain resistance to necrotic and poison damage and
have advantage on saving throws against poison.
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