Frost Salamander
Image from Wizards of the Coast and D&D Beyond
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The Hook
The villagers reported that The Summer of Winter began with a flash freeze. Soon after snake-like monsters began to attack the town and drag people and odd items away towards the frozen lake.
Inspiration to Draw on
Let me begin with, these things are one of the coolest monsters that this series has shown me.
Frost Salamanders are very similar to last Week’s Rust Monsters in that they are extremely aggressive when they find themselves in the presence of their food. In the case of the Frost Salamander, that is anything that produces heat! They are attracted to heat and consume it with fervor.
These cute “little“ guys are HUGE! They are spec’ed as huge monsters. But here is something interesting to note, they have a vulnerability to fire. To me, this makes no sense if they are consuming things that give off or produce heat. Now, I am not arguing that they get immunity, but in my very humble opinion, the vulnerability thematically does not make sense. But I digress.
This brand of Salamander is a burrowing kind, especially in ice, and it is said that they make such large layers, that unknowing adventures looking for shelter from the cold might be caught in a very deadly encounter.
I think it would be cool if they sustained themselves on heat, not things that created or gave off heat. This would be cool imagery if a party found themselves somewhere where a Frost Salamander had consumed the heat from a bunch of animals. All they find are frozen corpses. This too would lend itself nicely to the evocative explanation on how its “breath weapon“ works. Instead of exhaling, it inhales.
There are so many possibilities that this monster has wether one alters the monster or not and I think that is what makes this a monster that I now have to use in an encounter.
Check out D&D Beyond or your always near to hand copy of Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes for more history on the Frost Salamander and remember to have fun with it!
Fair Use
Monster of the Week is a series we put together as a way to help DM’s generate ideas for adventures or campaigns. Please feel free to use these ideas freely. If you do use these ideas for published content, we just ask that you reference DM’s Table and reference https://www.dmstable.com/.