Cone of Cold: Freezer Burn
Spell Level: 5
School: Evocation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (60-foot cone)
Duration: Instantaneous
Components: V, S, M (a small crystal or glass cone)
A blast of cold air erupts from your hands. Each creature in a 60-foot cone must make a Constitution saving throw. A creature takes 8d8 cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. A creature killed by this spell becomes a frozen statue until it thaws.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 6th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d8 for each slot level above 5th.
Review by Sam West, Twitter: @CrierKobold
For those rare moments when you need to transform the swarm of zombies into a snowcone, Cone of Cold has got your back. Beyond that, it's AGGRESSIVELY average.
A 60 ft. cone is a large area, but it does have to come from you making the actual area it affects challenging to set up. Damage wise it's one point higher on average than up-casting the main offenders (Fireball and Lightning Bolt). It can cover a wider area and conceivably more enemies, but practically its going to be about the same as fireball when you consider Fireball is a 20 ft. radius sphere anywhere within 150 ft. of you, not just an area coming directly out from you.
Fortunately the archetype of “cold mage” has a fair amount of utility options already. Sleet Storm, Ray of Frost, Ice Knife, and Ice Storm all offer some flexibility in casting and give the build controlling support.
For a 6th level spell you can cast Freezing Sphere, a spell that offers a lot more niche utility in its ability to be handed to an ally to deploy and how it freezes large areas of water while still dealing a hefty chunk of damage.
Cone of Cold does have a place in these ice specialist builds as a go to damage dealer, but isn’t necessary if you don’t want a tiny bit more punch. I’m glad it includes the freezing bit, as that can inspire some amazing player ideas. An ancient golem turned popsicle bobsled is something more tables desperately need.
Enemy lairs that are decorated with frozen trophies can act like the stone statues in a medusa’s lair, hinting at the upcoming freezing power the lair’s lord wields. It isn’t much, but it does raise my rating just a smidge.
For your ice mages built around the aesthetic of crystalized ice, sharp clean lines, and cold damage this spell is right up your alley. There aren’t a ton of other options in this field, so in the mid to late tiers of play it can be a fine go to damage spell to sell that fantasy.
For your generalist wizards looking for a damage spell this is another fine option among a sea of fine options. You won’t be disappointed with it if all you’re looking for is damage.
Thank you for visiting!
If you’d like to support this ongoing project, you can do so by buying my books, getting some sweet C&C merch, or joining my Patreon.
The text on this page is Open Game Content, and is licensed for public use under the terms of the Open Game License v1.0a.
‘d20 System’ and the ‘d20 System’ logo are trademarks of Wizards of the Coast, Inc.
and are used according to the terms of the d20 System License version 6.0.
A copy of this License can be found at www.wizards.com/d20.
