Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Xaipher Jan 08, 2015 7:15:51	Hello everyone. A player of mine is currently building a wizard but he wants to reflavour a few spells. He basically wants to be a frost mage, changing the fire spells in the players handbook into frost (cold) damage. Of course I'd have to change some of the spell's effects but overall do you think this would be fair? Or even possible for that matter? Some examples would be: Fire bolt -> Ice Spike; 1d10 cold damage and freezes objects in area that aren't being worn or carried. Burning hands -> Minor Cone of Cold; 15-foot cone, Dex saving throw, 3d6 cold damage or half on a save. Freezes objects in the area that aren't being worn or carried. Let me know what you think. I am still unsure if I should allow it but I may depending on how much work it would be to rewrite the spells that would be needed.
#2 iserith Jan 08, 2015 7:21:29	Yes, I'd be cool with that especially if the player promises to say chill stuff like "Have an ice day" or "Ice to meet you" before or after casting a spell.
(Reply to #2) Xaipher	Hahaha that's good, I'll definitely let him think on it. I will most likely allow him to do so but my main concern is a few people I've asked were against the freezing effect saying it was too powerful. I figured it was a good way of flavouring the frost effect since the fire one sets things on fire.
#4 iserith Jan 08, 2015 7:35:23	Freezing unattended objects doesn't seem too disruptive to me so tell those folks to "chill out." An icepick will sort that out. If it turns out to be leading to an unintended gaming experience during play, then just change it with your player's agreement.
#5 Clutchbone Jan 08, 2015 7:53:22	What are the mechanical effects of freezing unattended objects?   Fire spells (burning hands, fireball, etc) often "ignite any flammable objects in the area that aren’t being worn or carried" but the default cold damage spells are all over the place.     Cone of Cold: A creature killed by this spell becomes a frozen statue until it thaws.   Ice Storm: makes difficult terrain.   Otiluke’s Freezing Sphere: freezes water for 1 min.   Ray of Frost: target gets -10 speed.
#6 iserith Jan 08, 2015 7:58:37	You should also require that the character's name be Ray of Frost or else no deal on the mechanics swap.
#7 Oraibi Jan 08, 2015 8:01:43	If people complain, just tell them to Let It Go.
#8 iserith Jan 08, 2015 8:06:26	Yeah, seriously, it's snow big deal.
#9 PSusac Jan 08, 2015 8:25:44	Make him take a feat that converts fire spells to frost spells.  He preps the fire version, but has the option of casting it as a cold spell (or maybe he must prep it as a cold spell, whatever).   So, yeah.  Give him cold feat.
#10 Akeisha Jan 08, 2015 9:07:03	Going with the ice/frost versions definitely sounds awesome and would add a nice bit of 'flavour' to the character and campaign.    I would definitely allow this option in my campaign...
#11 durntaur Jan 08, 2015 9:21:53	No one can say that there is an abolute zero percent chance that this will break some game mechanic, but the rule of cool wins the day.
#12 feartheminotaur Jan 08, 2015 9:54:57	Icy no problems with the change...
#13 Devils-Advocate Jan 08, 2015 10:58:48	Just got to make sure the other players don't get left out in the cold by these house rules.
#14 Xaipher Jan 08, 2015 11:48:05	Hahaha, you guys made this thread great. Definitely left me in a good mood and for that I thank you. I will definitely be allowing the player to do the reflavour. And as Iserith suggested I will keep the freeze effect unless we find that there is a problem with it in game. Maybe I'll have it simply distinguish nonmagical flames.
(Reply to #14) Pinwarp	Xaipher wrote:
#16 cowleymen Jan 08, 2015 16:45:10	I would say no problem. WIzards invent spells all the time. Even the spells they learn by leveling up are a "reflection of your arcane research on your own, as well as intellectual breakthroughs your have about the multiverse." That means every spells is a "custom" spell. Changing damage types is the easiest thing to do.
#17 sleypy Jan 08, 2015 16:46:39	It will be a cold day in hail before I make a flavor change cost a feat.