Magic Surge in the Icewind Dale
Hello & Welcome!
We've been really enjoying our time so far exploring the Icewind Dale area and diving deeper into the story. The story has several central themes and the one I want to focus on in this post is the Netherese City and their use of Chardalyn and its corruption and how it influences magic in the area.
It was used extensively by the ancient Mages of Netherese as it had powerful magical absorption qualities and it allowed them to cast epic spells. But in their hubris, the ancient city fell and the Chardalyn became corrupted over the years.
And with such a crystal / element so prevalent within the area, it started to occur to me that perhaps there is another mechanic I could create to help expand the story a bit and bring it more to the forefront. Rime of the Frostmaiden is at its core a survival horror campaign and so why not have the environment feature more as something to impact the Party?
Wizards and Sorcerers tap into magic but in fundamentally different ways. Wizards learn and study how to access it. But Sorcerers have a natural ability and so are able to reach it through their innate skill and abilities.
For Sorcerers there already is a mechanic defined in the PHB for Wild Magic origin Sorcerers and this I found appealing. What if the shear abundance of corrupted Chardalyn in the Icewind Dale area affected how Sorcerers accessed this magic and altered how the Wild Magic mechanic works? And the chaotic twist that Wild Magic adds to a story is a good bit of fun so why not make a Rime of the Frostmaiden variant?
I searched online and couldn't find anything already published by the Homebrew community and so I decided to Homebrew something myself. We are still play testing it, so there may be some tweaks to it, and of course you can feel free to alter it yourself if it inspires you - that's the beauty of Dungeons & Dragons.
But when putting it together I wanted to lean into the lore of the Netherese and also the corrupting affect. But still leave it tantalising enough for Sorcerer player characters to want to try for it, but even the sweet things eventually have a bite.
I have a variation for Draconic Bloodline as well.
Have a read and hopefully it can inspire you for your adventures in the Icewind Dale area!
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CHARDALYN RESONANCE
A dual-track corruption & wild-magic table for Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden · 5e
The black crystal is cold in a way that has nothing to do with the Dale. Hold it long enough and it begins to hold back — listening, learning the shape of your magic so it can wear it like a stolen coat. At first it only offers. That is how it gets in.
Two tracks, one table
Chardalyn wears two faces. RESONANCE is the crystal's seductive face — wondrous, mostly-helpful manifestations that cost nothing. CORRUPTION is what it takes: a tracked value from 0 to 10, raised by the ❄ results, by the Bell, and — most insidiously — by accepting the crystal's gifts.
How the crystal stirs
When a creature attuned to a chardalyn item, exposed to raw chardalyn, or casting near a large chardalyn source casts a spell of 1st level or higher, the DM may have them roll a d20. On a 1, the crystal stirs — roll on the table below.
Roll d100 + (Corruption × 5). The table runs from wonder to horror, top to bottom. At low Corruption you land among the Resonance wonders; as Corruption climbs, the modifier drags you inexorably into the black. The crystal seduces first and takes later — the turn is the whole arc.
Rolling over 100. Because of the modifier, a corrupted caster's total can exceed 100. Any total of 100 or higher is result 100 — Frostbite. This is what makes deep corruption an accelerating danger, not just a nastier one: at Corruption 8 (+40) you reach Frostbite on a roll of 60 or more; at 9 (+45), on 55 or more; at 10 (+50), all but the lowest rolls tip over, so the next surge is very nearly certain to be the last one. The crystal tightens as you fall.
Gaining Corruption
• A ❄ result raises Corruption by 1; a ❄❄ result by 2.
• Accepting a ◆ gift (a marked offer) grants its benefit and raises Corruption by 1. Taking the crystal's help feeds it.
• A Bell Manifestation (the roll-again showpieces) raises Corruption by 1.
Thawing — the free lever
A long rest spent warm, fed, and more than a mile from any chardalyn removes 1 Corruption. It is slow, and the Dale rarely offers all three at once — but it is always available, and it is how a careful party holds the line.
Cleansing — greater restoration, and the crystal's hunger
Chardalyn absorbs magic. To cast greater restoration on the corrupted is to pour healing into something that drinks it — sometimes it scours the rot out, sometimes the crystal swallows the spell and, gorged, lashes out. When greater restoration is cast to remove Corruption, the caster makes a check:
d20 + spellcasting modifier + proficiency vs. DC 10 + current Corruption
A creature can benefit from a Corruption-removing greater restoration only once per long rest — the crystal must settle between feedings — and a failed attempt still counts as the attempt.
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Current Corruption |
On a SUCCESS, greater restoration removes |
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1–3 |
3 levels |
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4–6 |
2 levels |
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7–9 |
1 level |
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10 |
0 — the spell alone cannot touch it (see Frostbite) |
Outcomes of the check
• Success (meet or beat the DC): remove the full amount above. The magic wins cleanly.
• Failure by 1–4: the crystal drinks most of it — remove one tier less (3→2, 2→1, 1→0), and a surge triggers immediately: the target rolls on this table at their current Corruption. A partial cure that wakes the crystal.
• Failure by 5 or more: the chardalyn absorbs the whole spell — remove nothing, and a surge triggers at +10.
• Natural 20: scour deep — remove as if one tier shallower (e.g. at Corruption 7, remove 2). No surge.
• Natural 1: catastrophic absorb — remove nothing, surge at +10, and the caster gains 1 Corruption of their own as the crystal notices the hand that reached in.
Note the shape this creates: at low Corruption a near miss still removes 2, so early rot is forgiving; at Corruption 7–9 a near miss removes 0 and surges, so cleansing the nearly-lost is as dangerous as it should be. The risk scales with desperation on its own.
At Corruption 10 — Frostbite. Greater restoration alone can no longer help. Reversal is the campaign beat at result 100.
Echo I — The First Whispers
Wonder, ambience, and the crystal's gentle curiosity. It only watches. It only offers.
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01-02 The White Fox A white fox crosses your vision and is gone into the snow. Until the start of your next turn you cannot be surprised and have advantage on saving throws against natural environmental hazards. If you follow where it went (your choice), you also learn the safest route across the battlefield — but it leads you one step nearer the nearest chardalyn. |
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03-04 Frozen Breath A blast of bitter arctic mist pours from you. A 20-foot cone of freezing mist erupts from you; the area is lightly obscured until the start of your next turn. A creature that enters the mist for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or have its speed reduced by 10 feet until the end of its turn. |
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05-06 Snow Without Wind Snow begins to fall, though no wind stirs it. A silent snowfall fills a 30-foot-radius sphere centred on you until the start of your next turn; the area is lightly obscured. Ranged weapon attacks that pass through it are made with disadvantage. |
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07-08 Reflection in the Ice The air fills with floating shards of mirrored ice. Until the start of your next turn, ranged attacks against you from farther than 30 feet are made with disadvantage. Once before then, when a creature you can see hits you with an attack, you may use your reaction to show it its own reflection: it must repeat the attack against itself with the same roll (DM adjudicates damage). |
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09-10 Silent Aurora The northern lights burn overhead without a sound. Until the start of your next turn, bright light becomes dim and dim light becomes bright within 60 feet of you. This does not dispel magical darkness. Creatures that rely on sight have disadvantage on Perception checks that depend on colour or contrast. |
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11-12 Crystal Bloom Jagged black chardalyn erupts from the frozen ground. Black crystal bursts from the ground in a 10-foot-radius sphere centred on you; the area becomes difficult terrain until the start of your next turn. The first creature to enter the area on a turn must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC or fall prone. |
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13-14 Beneath the Glacier For a heartbeat the snow melts away, revealing polished Netherese streets beneath. Until the start of your next turn, difficult terrain within 20 feet of you is ignored by all creatures — the ancient roads remember how to be walked. |
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15-16 The Watching Foxes White foxes emerge from the snow, watch, and vanish. Until the start of your next turn, invisible creatures within 30 feet of you are outlined in frost and gain no benefit from being invisible against creatures that can see the outline. |
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17-18 Frostlight ◆ THE CRYSTAL OFFERS Pale blue light pours from your skin, cold and beautiful. OFFER — accept to gain the benefit and 1 Corruption: for 1 hour you shed dim light in a 20-foot radius and have advantage on Charisma (Intimidation) checks made against creatures that can see you. While it lasts you cannot benefit from being hidden, and cold-aligned creatures are drawn to investigate the light. |
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19-20 The Bell Below A distant bell tolls once, beneath the ice. The next spell of 1st level or higher cast within 30 feet of you before the end of your next turn is empowered — its caster may double its range or let it ignore half and three-quarters cover. If YOU cast that spell, you also feel the Bell take note of you (no mechanical effect… yet). |
Echo II — The Watching Ice
As the Bell grows louder, the frozen wilderness reveals traces of the lost city — and the first gifts arrive.
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21-22 Watching Shadows Long shadows stretch impossibly across the snow. Until the start of your next turn, creatures more than 30 feet apart have disadvantage on opportunity attacks against one another — the shadows tangle their timing. |
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23-24 Borrowed Memory ◆ THE CRYSTAL OFFERS ❄ +1 Corruption A forgotten Netherese memory becomes, briefly, yours. OFFER — accept to gain the knowledge and 1 Corruption: ask the DM one question about a creature, object, or location you can see. The answer reflects something Ythryn once knew, and is true. The knowledge arrives in a voice that is not quite your own. |
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25-26 Netherese Echo The Weave resonates with forgotten magic. The next spell cast within 30 feet before the start of your next turn is empowered: its caster may change its damage type to cold, or let it ignore resistance to its damage type. |
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27-28 Thin Ice The ground cracks beneath uncertain footing. Until the start of your next turn, the first time a creature moves more than 10 feet on its turn within 30 feet of you it must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC or fall prone as the ice gives way. |
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29-30 Chardalyn Veins Black crystal veins split the frozen earth. A line of jagged chardalyn 20 feet long and 5 feet wide erupts from a point within 30 feet; it is difficult terrain until the start of your next turn. The first creature to enter the line on a turn must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC or have its speed reduced to 0 until the end of that turn. |
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31-32 The Other Reflection Reality hesitates; your reflection lags behind you. Until the start of your next turn, the first attack that would hit a creature within 30 feet of you instead strikes that creature's reflection and misses. The DM chooses which creature if several qualify. |
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33-34 Frozen Time Time fractures around you into glassy shards. Until the start of your next turn, creatures within 30 feet of you cannot take reactions. |
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35-36 The Silent Observatory ◆ THE CRYSTAL OFFERS For an instant you see the world as the Netherese once did. OFFER — accept to gain the sight and 1 Corruption: until the start of your next turn you gain truesight to a range of 30 feet. What you see through the crystal's eyes, the crystal also sees. |
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37-38 The Crystal Offers ◆ THE CRYSTAL OFFERS ❄ +1 Corruption Cold power floods your hands, freely given. OFFER — accept to gain the benefit and 1 Corruption: your next spell this minute that deals damage deals maximum damage if that damage is cold, or you may change its damage type to cold to do so. It felt good. That is the problem. |
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39-40 The Bell Calls ❄ +1 Corruption The Bell's distant toll grows louder. (Bell Manifestation) Roll twice more on this table (do not add your Corruption modifier) and resolve both, ignoring any further Bell Manifestations. Then gain 1 Corruption — the Bell has counted you. |
Echo III — The Resonance Awakens
The buried city pushes through the ice. The wonders sharpen. The crystal begins, quietly, to take.
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41-42 Marble Beneath the Snow The snow parts to reveal polished Netherese marble. A 20-foot square centred on a point within 30 feet becomes smooth marble until the start of your next turn; creatures moving across it ignore difficult terrain but must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC when they first move on it or be stunned until the start of their next turn as the ground transforms beneath them. |
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43-44 The City's Shadow Your shadow walks a step before you. You may immediately teleport to an unoccupied space you can see within 20 feet. Until the start of your next turn, opportunity attacks against you are made with disadvantage, and a frozen image of you remains in the space you left until it shatters at the start of your next turn. |
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45-46 Echoes of the Weave Forgotten Netherese magic resonates through the air. The next damaging spell cast within 30 feet before the start of your next turn becomes cold or force damage (the caster's choice) and ignores resistance to that type. |
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47-48 ❄ The Forgotten Name ❄ +1 Corruption Reality briefly forgets who you are — and keeps a piece. Until the start of your next turn you cannot be magically identified, tracked, or targeted by name. ❄ Then the crystal keeps your name: for 24 hours no one — allies, magic, nor you — can recall it. Gain 1 Corruption. Something in your head answers to something else. |
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49-50 Living Frost Black ice spreads unnaturally across the ground. A 20-foot square centred on a point within 30 feet becomes black ice until the end of your next turn; it is difficult terrain. A creature entering it for the first time on a turn or starting its turn there must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC or fall prone. The ice is warm to your touch alone. |
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51-52 ❄ The Crystal Takes Warmth ❄ +1 Corruption The cold stops being something you feel. ❄ For 24 hours you gain no benefit from nonmagical heat (fires, blankets, shelter) and have disadvantage on saving throws against extreme cold. Gain 1 Corruption. You have also stopped minding the cold, which is worse. |
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53-54 Forgotten Procession Ghostly Netherese citizens pass silently through the battlefield. Each creature the procession passes through (a 5-foot-wide line from a point within 60 feet to another) must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be unable to take reactions until the start of your next turn, transfixed by the dead of Ythryn. |
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55-56 Shattered Weave Magic fractures in the air around you. Until the start of your next turn, whenever a creature within 30 feet casts a spell of 1st level or higher, it must roll a d6; on a 1 the spell fails and the slot is expended. The corruption is learning to spread. |
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57-58 ❄ Berserker's Rage ❄ +1 Corruption A chardalyn fury floods you — the Sunblight madness, in miniature. On your next turn you must move toward and attack the nearest creature you can see (ally or enemy); you gain +2 to that attack roll and its damage. ❄ Gain 1 Corruption. Afterward you remember all of it. |
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59-60 ❄ The Chest Shard ◆ THE CRYSTAL OFFERS ❄ +1 Corruption A dagger of chardalyn erupts from your own chest. You take 2d10 cold damage (no save) as a shard tears free and clatters to the ground: a +1 weapon that whispers and wants lifting. ❄ If any creature attunes to it, they gain 1 Corruption. It is a gift. Gifts have hooks. |
Echo IV — The City Remembers
Ythryn remembers what it was, and reaches through you to be it again. Control is no longer entirely yours.
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61-62 ❄ The Crystal Takes a Memory ❄ +1 Corruption Something small and warm goes quiet in you. ❄ The crystal takes a warm memory — a childhood hearth, a friend's laugh (you and the DM choose; you may not learn which). Gain 1 Corruption. You do not notice it is gone. Someone who loves you might, later, and it is a hook the DM should reincorporate. |
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63-64 Impossible Geometry Space folds into angles that should not close. Until the start of your next turn, all terrain within 30 feet of you is difficult terrain. Whenever a creature moves more than 10 feet within the area, roll a d8; it is teleported 5 feet in the corresponding compass direction if that space is unoccupied. |
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65-66 ❄ The Frozen Mirror ❄ +1 Corruption A double of you, made of black ice, steps out of the air. A frost duplicate appears in an adjacent space and mimics you for 1 minute (functions as one image of Mirror Image, but acts with unsettling independence). ❄ At the end it looks at you before it shatters, and you gain 1 Corruption. You are no longer certain which of you it copied. |
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67-68 Black Bloom The chardalyn in you blooms outward all at once — the crystal's answer to a fireball, and you are at its heart. A 20-foot-radius sphere of black crystalline cold erupts centred on YOU (the classic wild-magic bloom, turned to ice). Each creature in the area — including you — must make a Dexterity saving throw against your spell save DC, taking 8d6 cold damage on a failure or half as much on a success. The shattered crystal leaves the area difficult terrain until the start of your next turn. |
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69-70 ❄ Lucid Cruelty ❄ +1 Corruption The crystal offers your own logic back to you, sharpened. ❄ You gain a short-term madness (DMG) and act on it now — but lucidly: you calmly narrate why hurting your allies is the correct choice. Gain 1 Corruption. The reasons are persuasive because they are yours. |
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71-72 The City's Judgment Ancient Netherese wards awaken and take your measure. Choose up to three creatures you can see within 60 feet. Each must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be frightened of you until the start of your next turn. |
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73-74 ❄ The Bargain ◆ THE CRYSTAL OFFERS ❄ +1 Corruption The crystal speaks aloud, in your own voice, so all can hear. OFFER, spoken so the table hears it: name a creature within sight; it drops to −1 hit point. In exchange you drop to 1 hit point and gain 3 Corruption. ❄ Refusing costs nothing. Wanting to accept costs something. |
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75-76 ❄ Cast Through You ❄ +1 Corruption Your best spell leaves your hands, perfect, and not by your will. ❄ The crystal casts one spell you know of your highest level through you at no slot cost, perfectly, against a target of the DM's choosing (favouring what would most horrify you). Gain 1 Corruption. For one moment you were the mage you always wanted to be, and a passenger. |
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77-78 White Silence All sound vanishes into the cold. Until the start of your next turn, creatures within 30 feet of you are deafened, and spells with verbal components cast in the area automatically fail unless the caster succeeds on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. |
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79-80 ❄❄ Deepening ❄❄ +2 Corruption The crystal finds the door in you and props it open. ❄❄ Gain 2 Corruption. Frost visibly spiders across the chardalyn item you carry, and across the backs of your own hands. The next surge you roll this session adds a further +5 as the door stays ajar. |
Echo V — The Final Toll
Reality buckles beneath the city's return. The Bell no longer whispers — it tolls, and the cold is permanent.
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81-82 Ythryn Revealed For a heartbeat the City of Enclaves stands whole around you. Each creature of your choice within 60 feet must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be incapacitated until the start of its next turn as it beholds the impossible vision of the risen city. |
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83-84 ❄ The Crystal Takes Reflection & Shadow ❄ +1 Corruption You cast neither, now. ❄ For 24 hours you cast no reflection and throw no shadow; divination magic seeking you returns only cold. Gain 1 Corruption. You feel, obscurely, safer — and that should frighten you more than anything. |
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85-86 The Bell's Gaze The Bell turns its attention upon a single soul. Choose one creature you can see within 60 feet. It must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw against your spell save DC or be paralysed until the start of its next turn as the Bell fixes upon it. |
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87-88 ❄ Crystalline Flesh ❄ +1 Corruption Your limbs go to black glass to the elbow and knee. For 1 hour you gain +3 AC and your unarmed strikes deal 1d8 cold damage, but you cannot cast spells with somatic components and cannot feel anything you touch. ❄ Gain 1 Corruption. You are becoming furniture for another will. |
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89-90 The Living City The buried streets rise and rearrange around you. Until the start of your next turn, the battlefield within 60 feet reshapes: choose to create or remove one 20-foot-long, 10-foot-high wall of Netherese stone (as a Wall of Stone that lasts until then). The city obeys — but the DM chooses one additional wall it raises unbidden. |
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91-92 ❄❄ The Killing Cold ❄❄ +2 Corruption The temperature plunges to a depth that kills. Each creature within 120 feet, including you, must succeed on a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC or take 8d6 cold damage, half on a success. ❄❄ Gain 2 Corruption. Frost-flowers bloom on the fallen, and every one of them points at you. |
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93-94 ❄ Cone of the Crystal ❄ +1 Corruption Your strongest cold spell leaves you, aimed by another hand. ❄ The crystal casts Cone of Cold (or your highest-level cold spell) from you at maximum effect and no slot cost, angled to catch as many of your allies as possible. Gain 1 Corruption. You watch your own hand move. |
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95-96 ❄❄ Permanent Frost ❄❄ +2 Corruption The cold takes root and does not leave. ❄❄ You gain permanent immunity to cold damage and vulnerability to fire damage, can no longer benefit from any warmth, and have stopped wanting to. This does not end when corruption is cleared. Gain 2 Corruption. Some doors do not close. |
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97-98 ❄ Blackout ❄ +1 Corruption You are not driving, for a moment, and you will not be told what happened. ❄ The DM controls your character entirely for 1 round and narrates one thing the crystal does through you — and does not tell you what it was. Gain 1 Corruption. You come back to cold hands and your party staring. |
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99 ❄❄ The Crystal Offers to Stop ❄❄ +2 Corruption All of it can end. It will be so warm. OFFER: all Corruption clears, every ❄ effect reverses, the crystal goes silent — if you permanently destroy one spell level's worth of your own casting (lose your highest spell-slot progression, forever). One-time offer. ❄❄ If you refuse, gain 2 Corruption; the crystal is offended. |
100 — Frostbite
The crystal has finished learning you.
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100 Frostbite — The Coat Fits Now The chardalyn no longer needs to surge. It simply is you, and you it. You become a corrupted NPC under the DM's control: a caster-berserker sheathed in black crystal. The party has one of two jobs — SAVE you (greater restoration cast at the heart of a chardalyn-free sanctum, OR the destruction of the specific chardalyn source you are bonded to) or STOP you. You are still in there. You can hear them. You just can't reach the controls anymore. This is a story beat, not a death — make it one worth playing back from. |
Appendix — The Draconic Bloodline
When the crystal comes for a sorcerer who is already part-dragon.
Wild Magic is chaos, and the corruption above hijacks its Wild Magic Surge. A Draconic Bloodline sorcerer has no such misfire to seize — their magic is steady, reliable, controlled. So the crystal takes a different road, and a more personal one. In Rime of the Frostmaiden, chardalyn's corruption is bound to a dragon — and a Draconic sorcerer is already part-dragon by blood. The crystal does not inject chaos into them. It calls to the heritage already there, trying to overwrite their true ancestor with the chardalyn dragon. This corruption comes for what they are.
Trigger — Elemental Affinity
A Draconic sorcerer surges not on a random misfire but when they reach for their heritage. Whenever they use Elemental Affinity (adding their Charisma modifier to a damage roll of their element, or spending a sorcery point to gain resistance to it), the DM may have them roll a d20. On a 1, the crystal answers — roll on the table above at their current Corruption. Elemental Affinity is where they deliberately channel the dragon within; it is the natural door for the chardalyn dragon to come through.
Before 5th level (no Elemental Affinity yet): use “spends 2 or more sorcery points in a single turn while attuned to or near chardalyn” as the trigger instead.
Escalation — Elemental Drift
Where a Wild Magic sorcerer is taken piece by piece, a Draconic sorcerer is rewritten. As Corruption climbs, the crystal turns their element toward its own cold. This needs no new dice — it is the corruption becoming visible in the magic itself.
• Corruption 1–3: The element is unchanged, but its colour shifts — flame edged blue-black, lightning gone hoarfrost-white. Flavour only. Something is wrong with the light.
• Corruption 4–6: You may choose to deal cold damage in place of your element. When you do, add +1 damage per die — and gain 1 Corruption. The crystal rewards you for using its cold. (A baited gift.)
• Corruption 7–9: Your element is replaced by chardalyn cold. Elemental Affinity, any breath-like effects, and your resistance all become cold. Your Draconic Resilience scales visibly blacken to crystal.
• Corruption 10: The heritage is fully overwritten. Draconic Frostbite (below).
A gift to the DM: the sorcerer's scales (Draconic Resilience) are a built-in corruption meter. Describe them darkening toward black crystal as Corruption rises — a visible tell that needs no rules at all.
Draconic Frostbite — result 100, reworked
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100 Draconic Frostbite — A Second Dragon The bloodline is overwritten. What was a sorcerer's dragon is now the crystal's. The sorcerer becomes a Scion of the Chardalyn Dragon — a black-crystal, dragon-touched NPC under the DM's control, Xardorok's true heir and the seed of a second dragon. Saving them requires severing the draconic bond itself: greater restoration cast at the heart of a chardalyn-free sanctum AND the destruction of the chardalyn dragon (or the specific source they are bonded to). The stakes are higher than a lost caster — this is stopping the birth of a second dragon. They are still in there, beneath the crystal. For now. |
Designer's notes (for the DM)
• The two tracks are a seduction. Early, the dice land white: real wonders, real help, no cost. Let the party fall a little in love with the crystal. The betrayal of the black bands only lands if the gifts were genuinely good first.
• The gifts are the trap. Every ◆ offer is worth taking in the moment — and every one feeds Corruption. Make players choose out loud. The tension between 'this helps me' and 'this is how it wins' is the whole game.
• Keep Corruption visible, keep its meaning hidden. Show players the number climbing, but let the flavour of what's coming stay a dread. The ❄ results that take names, memories, and warmth are roleplay hooks — reincorporate them: the stolen memory in a villain's mouth, the forgotten name on a gravestone.
• Cleansing should cost a heartbeat. The restoration check means curing your friend at Corruption 8 is a real gamble — failure surges the black bands onto them. Don't soften it. The fear is the point.
• 100 is a beginning, not a death. By the time a PC reaches Corruption 10, the table has told them for hours what's coming. Frostbite is the campaign's save-your-friend climax. Make the rescue worth playing back from.
Unofficial fan content for Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. Chardalyn, Icewind Dale, Ythryn, and related names are property of Wizards of the Coast. Created for home use.
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And here are some ideas on how to save a Hero from the Corruption:
Saving the Frostbitten
When a character has fallen to Corruption 10 — and the party refuses to let them go.
At Corruption 10, a character reaches Frostbite (result 100): the chardalyn has finished learning them, and they become a corrupted NPC under the DM's control. This is not a death. It is the campaign's most personal crisis — a friend, still in there, wearing the crystal's coat. This supplement gives the party ways to fight for them.
The one rule that matters. The rescue must cost something a spell slot cannot buy. If greater restoration in the right room simply fixed it, the whole dread arc would deflate. Every route below asks the party to risk, surrender, or lose something. That cost is what makes the save land.
These are homebrew hooks built to fit Rime of the Frostmaiden's lore (the chardalyn dragon, Ythryn, Auril, the Abyssal taint in the crystal). Use, cut, or reskin freely.
Five routes to a rescue
Do not choose only one. The strongest version of this is a quest with multiple valid approaches — the party discovers several possible cures and reaches for whichever suits them. Different tables will save their friend in different ways.
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ROUTE 1 Sever the Source THE MODULE-NATIVE ROUTE The bond needs something to feed on. Starve it. The character is bonded to a specific piece of chardalyn — the item they attuned to, or the vein, forge, or dragon that corrupted them. Destroy that source and the bond has nothing left to hold. Greater restoration then takes, cast normally, its check no longer auto-failing. The cost: the source is guarded — often by the chardalyn dragon itself — and the crystal now wants to live. The corrupted character may fight the party to protect it, because protecting the source is protecting the thing wearing their face. |
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ROUTE 2 The Warmth That Thaws THE THEMATIC INVERSION Chardalyn is Auril's cold and the Abyss's hunger. The antidote is not magic. It is warmth. Not a spell — a ritual of true warmth. Bring the character to a place of genuine heat and fellowship: a rekindled hearth, the returned sun after Auril's endless night ends, a fire that will not go out. Then keep them there as the crystal fights to drag them back into the cold. Run it as a skill challenge, not a die: the party must succeed on a number of checks (Medicine, Persuasion, Performance, raw Charisma — whatever they'd use to hold someone to the warm world) before a number of failures. Each failure, the crystal reclaims a little. This rewards the table that has felt the module's central grief — the sun has gone — and answers it. |
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ROUTE 3 Give Back What Was Taken THE ROLEPLAY PAYOFF — RECOMMENDED The crystal spent the whole campaign taking pieces. Return them, and there is a person to save. Every ❄ result that took something — a warm memory, the character's name, a trusted relationship — was a seed planted for this moment. The rescue requires the party to give those things back: recover the stolen memory, speak aloud the forgotten name, reaffirm the severed bond. They remind the character who they are, against a crystal that spent a campaign making them forget. Why this one is best: it makes the earlier corruption results matter at the climax. The DM who reincorporated the stolen name into a villain's mouth, or the lost memory into an NPC's grief, is rewarded — and the save becomes specific to this character, not a generic cure. Track the ❄ takings through the campaign; they are your rescue's ingredients. |
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ROUTE 4 Bargain With a Greater Power THE COSMIC DEBT Something older than the crystal has a claim on the cold. Ask it to let go. The corruption answers to powers already in the module: Auril, who owns the cold and could release her claim; or the Abyssal presence whose essence sleeps in the chardalyn. A rescue can be won by bargaining with one of them. The cost: a new debt, worse than the one repaid. You free your friend and owe something — a service, a name, a future price the DM banks for later. Best for tables that like their salvation to leave a mark on the whole party, not just the saved. |
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ROUTE 5 The Sacrifice WHEN THERE IS NO CLEAN CURE Some doors do not close. Some can only be walked through by someone else. The bond can be transferred rather than destroyed: another willing character takes the corruption to free the first, beginning the arc anew in someone else. Or the character is saved but not made whole — they return with a permanent mark: the cold immunity that never fades, white-rimed hair, a scar of crystal beneath the skin. This route honours the table's own words: some doors don't close. Not every rescue can be total, and a friend who comes back changed is its own kind of story. |
The clock
Give the rescue urgency without a hard death timer. The longer the character remains frostbitten, the further they pass into the crystal's shape — for a Draconic Bloodline sorcerer especially, they are becoming Xardorok's heir, the seed of a second dragon. Mark the passage in stages the party can see: first they command the corrupted character in melee only; then it casts; then it flies on wings of black crystal; then it is a dragon in all but name. Each stage the party lets pass makes the rescue harder and the eventual stop — if it comes to that — more costly.
And if they cannot be saved
Leave this door open, honestly. Sometimes the rescue fails, or comes too late, or the player chooses to let their character fall — and the story becomes about that. A corrupted PC who becomes the campaign's tragic antagonist, whom the party must one day stop, is among the most powerful arcs a table can play, if they have the stomach for it. The routes above should be real — but never guaranteed. The fear that they might truly be lost is what gives the fight to save them its weight.
Companion to Chardalyn Resonance. Unofficial fan content for Icewind Dale: Rime of the Frostmaiden. Chardalyn, Ythryn, Auril, and related names are property of Wizards of the Coast. Created for home use.
Embrace the Cold the Chaos and watch out for the Corruption!
Hope you enjoy and can be inspired!
Until next time!
Happy Painting and Happy Gaming!
-Pete (& Mitz & Simz)
If the wild currents of Magic in the Icewind Dale have sparked your imagination, these pieces from our range may feel right at home in your campaign:
High Elf Draconic Sorcerer by Ella's Arcanum Minis · Funeral Bell 01 by Novaminis · Crystal Ball Table by Mia Kay M3DM
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