Ice (surface)

This article is about the slippery ice surface. For other uses, see Ice (disambiguation).

Ice is a type of area. Created in numerous ways, it can knock  Prone anyone who travels over it.

Description

Difficult terrain - movement speed is halved and creatures may fall Prone.

Properties

Type: Surface

Condition: Prone

 Prone

Duration: 1 turn

Spell save DC  Dexterity saving throw

• The affected creature cannot move or take  Actions,  Bonus Actions, or  Reactions, and has Disadvantage on Strength and Dexterity saving throws.
• Attacks against a Prone creature have Advantage if made within 3 m / 10 ft of the creature.
• A Prone creature must spend half its Movement Speed to stand up.
  • A character with the Athlete feat spends only 1.5 m / 5 ft of Movement Speed to stand up.

 Prone, Unconscious

Condition: Difficult Terrain

 Difficult Terrain

• Movement Speed halved

Creation

This area can be created by the following:

Items:

•  Snowburst Ring
•  Arrow of Ice

Spells and actions:

•  Blade of Rime
•  Chromatic Orb: Cold
•  Death Burst (Cold)
•  Explosive Icicle
•  Ice Knife
•  Ice Storm
•  Icy Regurgitation
•  Magic Allergy: Ice Bloom
•  Otiluke's Freezing Sphere (Launch)
•  Sleet Storm
•  Sphere of Elemental Balance: Cold

Interactions

• Ice can be formed when many "wet" surfaces are exposed to ⁠Cold damage. Ice formed this way lasts for 2 turns and melts into water afterwards. These surfaces include:
  •  Blood
  •  Water
  •  Alcohol
  •  Acid
  •  Simple Toxin and other coatings
• Ice melts into  Water when exposed to ⁠Fire damage.
• Ice surfaces created (by any method) on top of existing surfaces behave differently from those made on normal ground. Ice surfaces on normal ground instantly trigger a saving throw to fall Prone on creation, while those made on other surfaces do not.
  •  Blood surfaces are produced by any instance of physical damage, so to ensure that creatures make an initial save to fall Prone when creating an ice surface beneath them, avoid dealing physical damage.

Notes

• When an ice surface is made through converting another surface with ⁠Cold damage or by the  Snowburst Ring, it uses the attacker's spell save DC (i.e., the spell save DC of their newest class). When created by a spell, it uses the spell save DC of the class to which the spell belongs (i.e., Intelligence-based spells use Intelligence for the spell save DC). The exception is  Sleet Storm, which always uses the spell save DC of the caster's newest class.
• A creature slipping on an ice surface attributes the source of the Prone condition to the character that formed the ice surface. This can trigger the  Boots of Stormy Clamour and similar effects.
• The  Arrow of Ice uses a fixed DC 12 save to avoid becoming Prone for any creature in range of the initial hit. This is a different save from the Dexterity save of the ice surface left behind afterwards, which behaves as a non-spell-created ice surface and uses the spell save DC of the attacker's newest class.
• If a creature succeeds on the saving throw to fall Prone, it can walk up to 4 m / 13 ft before triggering the next saving throw.
• If an ice surface is created on top of another surface, the first saving throw is only triggered after more than 1 m / 3 ft of movement.

Gallery

• 
  An ice surface on a grassy, paved path at dusk.
• 
  An ice surface as seen in the prologue.