Tupilak 291 of the Hoarfrost Grip

Lore In the deepest polar wastes of Saṃsāra lies the Great Glacier, a sea of living ice that groans and shifts with a will of its own. The Ukiuk tribes who live on its edge do not fear the cold; they are born of it. They believe the Great Glacier is a sleeping primordial, and they carve their Tupilaks from its heart—shards of ancient, blue ice that never melt. These charms are not just to guard against spirits, but to borrow the Glacier’s own power: the power of stillness, of absolute zero, the inevitable freeze that halts all things. This Tupilak was said to be carved by a shaman who fell into a crevasse and survived for a month by “becoming like the ice” until her people found her.

Description This Tupilak is not a carving in the traditional sense, but a ring sculpted from a single, sharp piece of translucent, blue glacial ice. The ice is unnaturally hard and perpetually cold, frosting over in even the warmest environments, yet it never melts. The ring is shaped like a coiled, serpentine creature with a head made of jagged ice shards, its form biting its own tail. Faint, white crystalline patterns, like frost on a windowpane, are visible deep within the ice.

Detailed Stats

Type: Magical Ring
Rarity: Common
Required Tier: 1
Weight: 0.1 lbs
Material: Unmelting Glacial Ice

Passive Magic

Heart of Winter: The spirit of the glacier within the ring grants you its endurance. You are naturally acclimated to cold environments, suffering no ill effects from extreme cold weather and gaining a minor advantage on any checks to resist cold-based effects.
Numbing Touch: Your touch is unnaturally cold. While wearing this ring, your unarmed strikes and physical touch leave a lingering, deep chill on surfaces and creatures for one minute. This does not deal extra damage but can be used to leave cold prints, chill a drink, or unnerve a creature.

Activable Magic

Flash Freeze: Three times per day, you can use an action to touch a small amount of non-magical liquid (up to one gallon) or a wet, non-magical object. The target instantly freezes solid. This can be used to create a slippery patch on the floor, freeze a simple lock shut, or create a small, improvised ice tool.
Hoarfrost Grip: Once per day, as an action, you can attempt to make a touch attack against a creature. If successful, you deal no damage, but a thick layer of magical frost instantly coats the target’s limbs. For the next minute, the target is slightly hindered, suffering a minor penalty to their movement speed and dexterity-based actions.

Specific Slot: Ring (worn on a finger)

Tags: Utility, Control, Ice, Cold, Worn, Inuit-inspired, Debuff, Poison, Auditory, Visual, Concentration, Summoning, Teleportation, Held, Two-Handed, Technological, Gestalt

Based on the nature of the Tupilak 291 of the Hoarfrost Grip, an item of elemental control and cold endurance, it would be found in niche markets where its unique properties are understood and valued.

Assuming a standard currency of Gold, Silver, and Copper pieces:

1. The Source: An Ukiuk Ice-Lodge

The Shop: This is not a shop but the communal lodge of the Ukiuk people, built into the side of the Great Glacier itself. The air is frigid, and the walls are living, shifting ice. The “shopkeeper” is the clan’s shaman, who communes with the glacier spirit and oversees the creation of these rings.
The Transaction: The transaction is a solemn ritual. The shaman will subject the buyer to a test of endurance against the cold, such as submerging their hand in a pool of near-frozen water, to see if they are worthy of the glacier’s gift. They do not sell these items for mere coin; they trade them for things the glacier cannot provide—things of warmth.
Cost: The Ukiuk will not accept money. They will trade one ring for a bundle of high-quality, magically-infused firewood, a shipment of sun-dried, protein-rich food, or textiles that can provide exceptional warmth. The value is in the irony: to gain the power of cold, you must provide the gift of heat.

2. The Specialist: An Alchemist’s Supply

The Shop: A shop filled with the scent of strange chemicals and bubbling concoctions, run by a meticulous alchemist. The ring would not be displayed as jewelry, but kept in a specially insulated box on a workbench, treated as a piece of laboratory equipment.
The Transaction: The alchemist is fascinated by the ring’s ability to create cold without a chemical or magical reaction. They would discuss its properties in terms of thermal dynamics and its practical uses for preserving volatile reagents or flash-freezing mixtures. The sale would be less about adventuring and more about its scientific application.
Cost: 50 Silver Pieces. The price is higher than a typical charm because of its unique utility in alchemy and potion-making. The alchemist might also be willing to trade it for rare ingredients of equivalent value.

3. The Generalist: A Magical Emporium

The Shop: In a large city, a well-stocked magic shop would have a section for “Elemental Charms.” The Hoarfrost Ring would be nestled on a velvet cushion inside a display case, labeled as a “Minor Ice Elemental Charm.”
The Transaction: The sale would be professional and straightforward. The wizard or sorcerer running the shop would use their Mind’s Eye to identify its properties and explain them clearly. “A Tier 1 cold-resistance ring. Has a minor hindering touch and a useful utility function for freezing liquids. Standard stuff, good for northern expeditions or dealing with fire-based pests.”
Cost: 40 Silver Pieces. This is the standard market price for a common magical ring with several useful, if minor, abilities.

4. The Underworld: An Enforcer’s Broker

The Shop: A dimly lit, unmarked office in the city’s underbelly. The broker deals in tools for intimidation and non-lethal coercion. They would not see the ring as a protective amulet, but as a tool of control.
The Transaction: The broker would demonstrate its use with a sinister grin, touching a glass of water and watching it instantly freeze. “Forget breaking kneecaps,” they’d say. “Just a touch of this and your target’s legs go numb. They ain’t running nowhere. Or freeze the lock on their door. Or make their front step a sheet of ice. Subtle. Clean.”
Cost: 65 Silver Pieces. The price is inflated due to its specific and valuable applications in criminal enterprises, where leaving no obvious wounds is a significant advantage. The sale would be cash only, no questions asked.

The Tupilak 291 of the Hoarfrost Grip is an item of control and environmental manipulation. Its use in combat is subtle and tactical, focusing on hindering foes and turning the surroundings into an ally.

Here is how a character could roleplay its use in different environments.

1. In an Arctic or Snowy Environment

This is the item’s natural element, where its power is most resonant.

Defensive Roleplay:

Scenario: Your party is caught in a blinding blizzard, taking shelter behind a rock outcropping while being hunted by tundra wolves.
How it’s used: While your allies shiver and struggle, your Heart of Winter passive keeps you clear-headed. You calmly kneel, using Flash Freeze on the deep snow around your cover. You’re not building a wall of ice, but flash-freezing the snow into a dense, hard-packed barrier, reinforcing your position against the wind and charging foes. If a wolf gets too close, you use Hoarfrost Grip not as an attack, but as a defensive touch to its leg, causing it to stumble as its muscles seize from the sudden, magical cold.
Roleplay: Your defense is one of quiet endurance and preparation. You are the calm center of the storm, using the very element that threatens your party as a shield. You would describe the feeling of the glacier’s spirit rising to meet its native environment, making your magic feel stronger and more instinctual.

Offensive Roleplay:

Scenario: You need to capture an ice goblin scout alive, but he is swift and knows the terrain.
How it’s used: You don’t try to outrun him. Instead, you anticipate his path. As he runs past a drift of snow, you use Flash Freeze on the snow beneath his feet, turning it into a sudden patch of slick, solid ice. As he slips and tumbles, you close the distance. You use Hoarfrost Grip on his hands, causing his fingers to go numb and stiff, preventing him from drawing a hidden dagger.
Roleplay: Your offense is trapping and control. You are a predator of the ice, using the environment to disable your prey without causing serious harm. You would describe the cold flowing from your ring not as a blast, but as a creeping, inevitable frost that saps the strength and speed from your target.

2. In an Urban or Civilized Environment

Here, the item’s power is subtle and often unexpected, making it a tool for clever sabotage.

Defensive Roleplay:

Scenario: You are being chased through a crowded market by city guards.
How it’s used: As you vault over a merchant’s cart, you use Flash Freeze on a puddle of spilled water or discarded wine behind you. You don’t even look back as you hear the satisfying clatter of armor as a guard slips and falls. When cornered in an alley, and a guard draws their sword, you “accidentally” stumble into them, touching their sword hand with Hoarfrost Grip. Their hand seizes with cold, and they fumble their weapon for a critical second, allowing you to slip past.
Roleplay: Your defense is about creating minor, chaotic interruptions. You are a trickster, using the environment in small ways to create openings. You would roleplay these actions as quick, almost reflexive flicks of your finger, the magic lashing out subtly.

Offensive Roleplay:

Scenario: You need to disrupt a rival guild’s smuggling operation by jamming the winch that lifts their illicit goods from the docks.
How it’s used: You sneak up to the large, greasy winch mechanism. You place your ringed hand on the main gear cog, and with a whispered word, use Flash Freeze. The thick grease and any ambient moisture instantly freeze solid, jamming the gears. When the smugglers try to operate it, the winch groans and stalls, leaving their cargo dangling exposed for the authorities to find.
Roleplay: Your offense is sabotage. You are not destroying the machine, but temporarily disabling it in a way that is difficult to diagnose immediately. You would describe the quiet satisfaction of the cold seeping from your ring, silently and efficiently executing your will.

3. In a Swamp or Humid Jungle

In a hot, wet environment, the unnatural cold of the Tupilak is a potent and shocking weapon.

Defensive Roleplay:

Scenario: A giant, venomous serpent strikes at you from the murky water.
How it’s used: As the serpent lunges, you thrust your ringed hand into the water in its path. Using Flash Freeze, you instantly turn the water around its head into a block of ice. The serpent’s attack is halted as it is momentarily trapped. This doesn’t harm it, but it buys you the precious second you need to dodge away.
Roleplay: Your defense is a surprising, elemental counter. You would describe the hiss of steam as the unnatural cold meets the fetid water, and the serpent’s confused rage at being stopped not by a shield of steel, but by its own environment.

Offensive Roleplay:

Scenario: You are fighting a large, insectoid creature that relies on its antennae to sense its surroundings.
How it’s used: You dodge its attacks, looking for an opening. When you get close, you use Hoarfrost Grip, touching one of its delicate, twitching antennae. A thick layer of frost instantly coats it, making it heavy, brittle, and numb. The creature flails in confusion, its primary sense suddenly impaired and useless.
Roleplay: Your offense is a precise, debilitating strike against an opponent’s weakness. You are not trying to overpower the creature, but to cripple its ability to fight effectively. You’d describe the satisfying crunch of frost forming on the delicate organ and the creature’s subsequent panic.

Perception of Activation: This describes the sensory experience of using the ring’s primary offensive ability, Hoarfrost Grip, which involves touching a creature to hinder it with magical frost.

Sight

User’s Perspective: The faint, white patterns inside the ice ring begin to crawl and shift, like a time-lapse of a window freezing over. As you extend your hand, the air around the ring seems to warp and shimmer as if from intense cold. Upon contact, you see a breathtakingly beautiful and rapid explosion of fractal frost patterns spreading from your fingertip across the target’s body.
Observer’s Perspective: The blue ice of the ring flashes with a brief, intense inner light, like a flare deep beneath a frozen lake. When the user touches their target, a visible layer of thick, white frost instantly encases the point of contact, spreading several inches in every direction with an audible, crystalline crackle. A fine mist of ice particles hangs in the air for a moment after.
Positives: Provides an immediate, unambiguous visual confirmation that the ability has worked. The effect is visually intimidating.
Negatives: The flash of light from the ring makes a subtle or stealthy application of the ability impossible.

Sound

User’s Perspective: A low, deep hum resonates up your arm from the ring, a sound like a distant glacier groaning under its own weight. The moment you touch your target, the hum is silenced by a sharp, high-pitched CRACK, the sound of magical ice violently forming.
Observer’s Perspective: The moment of contact is marked by a distinct and sharp cracking sound, loud enough to draw attention. It’s an unnatural sound, like a tree branch flash-freezing and snapping in an instant.
Positives: The sound is jarring and can startle the target and those nearby, potentially providing a tactical advantage.
Negatives: The noise makes the ability impossible to use discreetly. Anyone nearby will know exactly who caused it.

Touch

User’s Perspective: Your ring finger goes completely, painfully numb, a deep and absolute cold that seeps into your hand. When you touch the target, you feel a bizarre and powerful sensation of intense heat being pulled out of them and into the ring, like placing your hand on a vacuum.
Observer’s Perspective: The target’s affected area is visibly rigid and coated in a thick layer of frost. If touched, it would feel as cold and hard as a block of ice.
Positives: You receive direct, powerful tactile feedback, confirming the transfer of energy.
Negatives: The profound cold in your own hand is uncomfortable and can cause a temporary, minor penalty to fine motor skills using that hand for a few moments after activation.

Extra-Sensory: Thermal Inversion

User’s Perspective: For a split second, your normal vision is overlaid with a thermal one. The world becomes a landscape of heat signatures. Your target glows like a small sun, and when you touch them, you “see” their warmth being violently siphoned away, their vibrant glow turning into a patch of deep, void-like black.
Observer’s Perspective: An observer with the Mind’s Eye sees the user’s aura flare with a hungry, blue-black energy. They would witness the target’s own life-aura being visibly “extinguished” or “devoured” at the point of contact, leaving a cold, dark patch.
Positives: This momentary perception can give you unique insight into a creature’s nature, revealing if it is warm- or cold-blooded, or if it has any unusual thermal properties.
Negatives: The sudden, alien shift in sensory input can be disorienting and jarring.

Extra-Sensory: The Glacier’s Will

User’s Perspective: You feel the consciousness of the ancient glacier spirit within the ring—an immense, slow, and inexorable will. It doesn’t feel malicious, but it has an overwhelming, primal desire to stop motion, to bring everything to a state of perfect, frozen stasis. You feel a momentary echo of this powerful longing within your own mind.
Observer’s Perspective: For a fraction of a second at the moment of contact, the user’s expression becomes utterly impassive and cold. Their eyes take on a distant, ancient quality, devoid of any emotion, before returning to normal.
Positives: This brief connection allows you to channel the power with immense focus and control.
Negatives: Touching this unfeeling, primal consciousness is mentally taxing. Repeated use could begin to subtly leech the user’s own emotional warmth, making them more cold, detached, and pragmatic over time.

Rite of the Unmelting Ring

This recipe describes the demanding ritual and precise artistry required to sculpt a ring from pure ice and bind it with a willing spirit of the cold, creating a powerful focus for cryomantic control.

Materials Needed

The Core: A flawless, crystal-clear block of ice, at least one cubic foot in size. It must be harvested from a place of immense natural cold, such as the heart of an ancient glacier or the peak of a mountain during a winter solstice.
The Stabilizer: The powdered heartwood of a frost-touched Ironwood tree or a similar magical flora that thrives in extreme cold. This is what prevents the ice from melting.
The Lure: A single, perfectly formed snowflake, caught and preserved on a shard of obsidian or smoked glass.
The Anchor: A personal, emotional offering. The memory of a profound sorrow or loss, held clearly in the crafter’s mind.
Polishing Agent: A handful of diamond dust or similarly hard, abrasive powder.

Tools Required

A set of Jeweler’s Tools or Mason’s Tools (fine chisels, picks, and files) made of steel or silver. The tools must be chilled to a sub-zero temperature before use.
An insulated container to transport the ice block without it fracturing.
A crafting location that is naturally below freezing, such as an ice cave or a chamber magically chilled for the duration of the ritual.

Skill Requirements

Artisan Skill: Proficiency with Jeweler’s Tools or Mason’s Tools. The crafter must have a delicate but firm hand to sculpt the ice without shattering it.
Magical Aptitude: The ability to channel cold energy. The crafter must be able to imbue an object with their magical will, often demonstrated by the ability to cast at least one spell with the Ice or Cold tag.
Mental Fortitude: The crafter must possess the mental discipline to handle the numbing influence of the cold spirit. This may require a successful Willpower or Endurance check as determined by the Guide Manager (GM).

Crafting Steps

Step 1: The Infusion Place the block of ice on your workstation. Lay your hands upon it and enter a state of concentration, allowing the ambient cold of the room to flow through you. Slowly sprinkle the powdered Ironwood heartwood onto the ice. You must use your magic to push the essence of the powder into the ice, infusing its structure. You will know it is working when the ice loses its mundane brittleness and takes on an unnatural, resilient hardness. This process can take over an hour.

Step 2: The Sculpting With the ice now stabilized, you must work quickly with your super-chilled tools. Use your Mind’s Eye to see the stress points and crystalline structures within the ice. Carve out the ring, shaping it into the form of a coiled, serpentine creature. This is a delicate process where a single misplaced tap can shatter the entire work.

Step 3: The Invitation Once the ring is fully sculpted and polished with diamond dust to a glass-like smoothness, place it on the obsidian shard. Gently slide the preserved, perfect snowflake from the obsidian onto the ring. The snowflake is the lure, a beacon of perfect, ordered cold that will attract a minor ice spirit or elemental.

Step 4: The Binding Anchor Bring the ring close to your lips. You must now provide the emotional anchor. Focus entirely on the memory of your chosen sorrow or loss. Feel it completely, then whisper the story of that memory into the heart of the ring. The cold of the ice will seem to draw the words and the feeling from you. This act creates a cold, emotional resonance that a spirit can latch onto.

Step 5: The Awakening If the rite is successful, a willing spirit will answer the call. The snowflake will not melt, but will instead seem to dissolve into the ring, its perfect shape becoming the crystalline, frost-like patterns deep within the ice. The ring will emit a single, soft pulse of pale blue light and a faint, humming sound.

Step 6: The Sealing The spirit is now bound to its new vessel. The crafter must be the first to place the ring on their finger. This act seals the pact, attunes the item to its creator, and makes its magic permanent and stable.

Sila’s Sorrow and Summer-Killing Beast

And it came to pass that the world turned wrong. In the land of the Great Ice, where winter is king and the sun is a weak visitor, there came a summer that was not a summer. It was a time of wrong-heat. The ice-that-is-always-ice began to weep, and the ground, which was hard like bone, became soft like a sick belly. This was because of the Great Beast, a spirit of fire and rage that had wandered from the lands of the hot sun. The Beast was a shouting of heat, and where it walked, the snow became black water and the animals for the hunt fled.

The hunters of the Ukiuk tribe threw their spears, but the spears became smoke before they touched the hide of the Beast. The shamans made powerful fire-magic, but it was like throwing a candle into a bonfire; the Beast only ate their magic and grew stronger. The people despaired, for the fire was consuming their world.

There was a young woman, Sila, who was learning the spirit-paths. Her path was not of the great bear or the swift wolf. Her spirit-path was cold. She found comfort in the silence of the ice and the stillness of the winter night. The others thought her path was one of weakness, for what is silence against the roar of a fire?

Sila saw the tribe’s despair. She went not to the elders, but to the edge of the Great Glacier, which was now weeping under the wrong-heat. She placed her hand on its cold face and listened. She did not listen with her ears, but with her soul. And the Glacier, in its ancient, slow mind, gave her a thought. It was not a thought of words, but of feeling. The feeling was this: a great fire is not killed by a greater fire. A great fire is killed by a great quiet. It is killed by the memory of the time before fire, the time of the first, endless cold.

So Sila journeyed onto the weeping Glacier. She walked for days, toward its heart, where the ice was oldest. She came to a cave, not of rock, but of blue ice so old and hard that it held the light of stars that had long since died. This was the Heart of the Glacier. Here, the wrong-heat of the Beast could not reach.

She could not use tools of metal, for they would shatter. She could not use tools of bone, for they would freeze to her hand. She used her will. She took a shard of the ancient ice and began to carve another piece, using her focused spirit as the tool. She carved a ring in the shape of a serpent of ice, a creature of stillness, biting its own tail to symbolize the winter that always returns.

To give it life, she needed to invite a spirit. But a spirit of fire or of beasts would not come to this cold place. Only a spirit of ice would come. And a spirit of ice does not want a warm offering of blood. It wants a cold offering. So Sila reached into her own heart and found her oldest, coldest memory: the sorrow she felt when, as a small child, her first dog was lost to the ice. She took this cold, hard piece of her own soul and whispered the memory of it into the ring.

The ice of the ring pulsed with a pale light. A piece of the Glacier’s ancient, sleeping consciousness awoke and made the ring its home. The ring was now a thing of power, an artifact of absolute zero.

Sila returned to her village. The Fire-Beast was there, burning the lodges with its breath. The warriors were helpless. Sila walked toward the Beast. The air was a furnace, but a small circle of cold surrounded her, a gift from the ring on her finger.

The Beast turned its great, fiery head to her. It roared, and a wave of heat that could melt stone washed over her. Sila did not raise a shield. She raised her hand, the hand with the ring of ice. She did not cast a great magic. She walked forward, and she touched the Beast.

It was a touch of great un-heat. Where her ring met the Beast’s hide of living flame, the fire did not hiss. It simply… ended. A patch of black, glassy obsidian formed on the Beast’s body. From that point of contact, a beautiful and terrible frost spread with great speed. It was not a layer of ice on top of the fire; it was a deep cold that extinguished the very nature of the heat.

The Beast shrieked, a sound not of pain, but of confusion, as its own essence was being undone. The spreading frost did not encase it, but consumed its fire. The roaring flames became silent, black rock. In moments, the great Fire-Beast was no more, only a strange, cooling statue of obsidian that crumbled into ash. Sila had not fought the fire. She had reminded it that before fire, there was a long and perfect cold, and to that cold, all heat must one day return.

The Moral of the Story: To conquer a force of great and terrible energy, do not answer with force of your own, but with the perfect and quiet opposite of its nature.

Suggested conversions to other systems:

Dungeons & Dragons (5th Edition)

Ring of the Glacial Grasp Ring, uncommon (requires attunement)

This ring is sculpted from a single piece of translucent blue ice that feels perpetually cold but never melts. It is shaped like a coiled, serpentine creature biting its own tail.

While wearing this ring, you gain the following benefits:

You have resistance to cold damage.
The ring has 3 charges. As an action, you can expend 1 charge to touch a non-magical object or up to 1 cubic foot of liquid and instantly freeze it solid. The ring regains all expended charges daily at dawn.
Hoarfrost Grip. When you hit a creature with a melee attack, you can use your reaction to force the target to make a DC 13 Constitution saving throw. On a failed save, the target is coated in a thick layer of magical frost until the end of its next turn. A creature frosted in this way has its speed halved and has disadvantage on Dexterity-based attack rolls. Once you use this property, you can’t use it again until the next dawn.

Call of Cthulhu (7th Edition)

The Heart of the Glacier

A bizarre artifact recovered from a high-altitude expedition that vanished under mysterious circumstances. It is a ring carved from a type of crystalline ice unknown to science, as it does not melt. It is unnaturally cold and seems to whisper promises of stillness to those who hold it for too long.

Mechanics: The wearer is immune to the effects of mundane environmental cold and gains a Bonus Die on any roll to resist freezing.
Flash Freeze: By spending 1 Magic Point, the wearer can touch a small volume of liquid (a puddle, a drink) and freeze it solid instantly.
The Glacier’s Touch (Activation): The Investigator may make a Fighting (Brawl) roll to touch a living target. If successful, the user may choose to spend 4 Magic Points and 1d3 Sanity points. The target must then succeed on a Hard CON roll or be overcome by a supernatural seizure of cold. For 1d4 rounds, the target suffers a Penalty Die on all physical skill rolls (e.g., Fighting, Dodge, Athletics) as their muscles become numb and rigid.
Sanity Effects: The first time an Investigator uses the Glacier’s Touch, they feel the ancient, vast, and uncaring consciousness of the ice and must make a Sanity roll (1/1d6 SAN loss).

Blades in the Dark

The Rime-Finger

A strange ring said to have been pried from the finger of a frozen corpse found in the ice-choked northern seas. It’s made of a sliver of ice that never melts and is disturbingly cold. The spirit within is ancient and silent, desiring only that all things become as still and quiet as itself.

Mechanics: This is a magical artifact.
Cold-Blooded: You are not affected by the biting cold of Duskvol’s nights or the chill of the canals. You may ignore environmental hazards related to cold.
Flash Freeze: When you need to quickly freeze a small object (a simple lock, a puddle on the stairs, a glass of wine), you can do so as your action. If you’re under pressure, the GM may ask you to make an Attune or Finesse roll to see how effectively you do it.
Hoarfrost Grip: When you Scrap or otherwise make physical contact with an enemy, you can take 2 Stress to inflict the level 2 Harm: “Frozen Nerves” or “Frostbitten Limb.” This harm is difficult to treat without magical aid.

Knave (2nd Edition)

Unmelting Ice Ring

A ring carved from a shard of eerie, blue glacial ice that is always covered in a thin layer of frost. It takes up 1 inventory slot.

Passive: You are immune to the negative effects of cold weather and environments.
Charges (3): The ring has 3 charges. You can expend a charge to touch a small, mundane object (a waterskin, a simple lock, a wet rag) and freeze it solid.
Daily Use (1): Once per day, you may make a touch attack against an enemy. If you hit, they are encased in a magical rime. On their next turn, they may either move or take an action, but not both.

Fate Core System

The Glacier’s Tooth

This item is a core part of your character’s identity and story, best represented by a character Aspect and a special Stunt.

Aspect: Wears the Glacier’s Tooth You wear a ring carved from the unmelting heart-ice of a glacier. It is a piece of the first winter, and its cold consciousness sometimes whispers to you.
- Invoke: You can spend a Fate Point to invoke this aspect for a +2 or a reroll on Physique rolls to endure harsh environments or Provoke rolls when using the ring’s unnatural cold to intimidate someone.
- Compel: The GM can offer you a Fate Point to compel this aspect. For instance, the ring’s intense cold might accidentally shatter a fragile glass you’re holding, or its grim nature might cause a social faux pas, making an NPC deeply distrustful of you.
Stunt: Hoarfrost Grip When you succeed with style on a Create an Advantage roll by physically touching an opponent, you can choose to attach the Numbed by Frost aspect to them with two free invocations instead of the usual one.

Numenera & Cypher System

Cryo-Stasis Ring

A ring made of a synthetic crystalline material that mimics the structure of ice but does not melt above freezing temperatures. It constantly draws thermal energy from the immediate vicinity. It is likely a piece of terraforming equipment or a personal environmental regulator from a prior world.

Level: 1d6+1 (Level is determined when found)
Form: A seamless ring of translucent blue crystal.
Effect: The wearer is immune to the effects of natural cold environments. As an action, the wearer can make a touch attack against a creature. If successful, the target’s movement is hindered (the difficulty of all tasks involving movement is increased by one step) for one minute. Alternatively, as an action, the wearer can touch a volume of liquid up to the size of a small barrel and freeze it solid.
Depletion: 1 in 1d20 (Check for depletion each time one of the active abilities is used).

Pathfinder (2nd Edition)

Ring of the Biting Frost Item 3 [Uncommon] [Cold] [Evocation] [Invested] [Magical] Price 60 gp Usage worn ring; Bulk —

This ring is sculpted from a shard of supernatural ice into the shape of a coiled serpent. It remains perpetually frosted and is cold to the touch.

When you invest the ring, you gain resistance 5 to cold.

Activate [One-Action] manipulate; Frequency three times per day; Effect You touch an unattended object of 1 Bulk or less. It is immediately covered in a thin, slick layer of ice. For the next minute, any creature attempting to Interact with or hold the object must succeed at a DC 17 Reflex save or drop it.

Activate [Reaction] envision; Trigger You successfully Strike a creature with an unarmed attack; Frequency once per day; Effect The creature must attempt a DC 17 Fortitude save.

Critical Success The creature is unaffected.
Success The creature is slowed 1 until the end of its next turn.
Failure The creature is slowed 1 for 1 minute.

Savage Worlds Adventure Edition (SWADE)

Fetish of the Rime Serpent

A ring carved from a piece of a fallen star found in the frozen wastes. It is said to hold the spirit of a winter serpent, granting its wearer a measure of its cold power.

Requirements: Novice, Spirit d6+
Passive Effect: The wearer gains Armor +4 against damage with the Cold descriptor and is immune to the effects of mundane cold weather.
Active Powers: The fetish grants the wearer access to two powers that can be activated using their own Power Points.
- Entangle: The wearer can cast Entangle using their Spirit skill. The trapping is always ice-based—frost covers the target, freezes them to the ground, or encases their limbs in ice.
- Numbing Touch: When the wearer makes a successful Touch Attack, they can spend 1 Power Point to force the target to become Distracted. If they get a raise on the attack, the target becomes Vulnerable instead.

Shadowrun (Sixth World)

Winter’s Bite Fetish

A small, intricately carved ring made from what appears to be a shard of blued mammoth ivory, sourced from the Siberian wastes. It is a focus used by Winter-aligned shamans to channel spirits of the cold. The ring is always cold to the touch and visibly frosts over in humid environments.

Type: Spellcasting Focus (Manipulation)
Rating: 3
Availability: 10R
Cost: 21,000 nuyen
Mechanics:
- Passive: As a focus, it provides its Rating as a dice pool bonus when casting spells of the Manipulation category with the Cold descriptor. The bearer also gains Armor Rating 3 against attacks with the Cold descriptor.
- Flash Freeze: As a Minor Action, the bearer can touch a small, mundane object (a commlink, the handle of a weapon, a maglock). Any character attempting to use the object must first succeed on an Agility + Athletics (3) test to overcome the slick, freezing rime.
- Hoarfrost Grip: The bearer can use this focus to cast a special touch-only spell. It requires a Spellcasting + Magic (3) test. If successful, the target suffers a -1 penalty to their Agility attribute for a number of Combat Rounds equal to the net hits. This effect is not cumulative. The spell has a Drain Value of 2.

Starfinder

Cryo-Binder Ring Level 3 Price 1,550 credits Hands —; Bulk L Armor Slot ring

This ring is fashioned from a synthetic crystal that mimics the appearance of blue glacial ice. It’s a piece of personal-regulation technology, popular among miners on ice-belt asteroids and security forces in arctic environments. It functions by creating a localized thermal-reduction field.

Mechanics:
- While wearing this ring, you gain cold resistance 5.
- As a standard action, you can touch an object of 1 Bulk or less to cover it in a slick layer of hard frost. For 1 minute, a creature must succeed at a DC 16 Reflex save to interact with or hold the object without it slipping from their grasp.
- Once per day, you can use the ring to make a melee attack against a creature’s EAC. If you hit, you deal no damage, but the target must succeed at a DC 16 Fortitude save or be entangled and off-target for 1d4 rounds.

Traveller (Mongoose 2nd Edition)

Cryo-Kinetic Inhibitor Ring

A discreet, high-tech device often disguised as simple jewelry. The Cryo-Kinetic Inhibitor uses a sophisticated heat-pump system to draw thermal energy into a micro-capacitor, allowing for several non-lethal, deterrent applications. It is favoured by intelligence agents and corporate security for its subtlety.

Tech Level: 13
Cost: 22,000 Cr
Legality: Restricted (often requires a license or is considered a concealed weapon)
Skills: Melee (unarmed)
Mechanics:
- Environmental Shielding: The wearer gains Advantage on any Endurance checks made to resist the effects of cold environments.
- Flash Freeze: The ring has 5 charges. As an action, the user can expend 1 charge to instantly freeze a small object they are touching (a lock, a glass of liquid) or to create a slick, 1-meter patch of ice on a wet surface.
- Neural Inhibitor: The user can make a Melee (unarmed) attack. If the attack hits, they can expend 1 charge to deliver a cryo-kinetic shock. The target must make a Difficult (10+) Endurance check or suffer a -2 penalty to their Dexterity and all related skill checks for 1d6 rounds due to nerve and muscle seizure. The ring’s capacitor recharges fully when connected to a standard power source for one hour.

Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay (4th Edition)

The Ice Witch’s Kiss

This ring is said to be the frozen teardrop of a powerful Ice Witch of Kislev, given to a lover she later encased in a glacier. It is sculpted from a shard of what appears to be unmelting ice, and it is so cold that it causes a faint mist to form around the wearer’s hand, regardless of the season.

Encumbrance: 0
Qualities: Magical, Corrupting
Mechanics:
- Heart of Winter: The wearer is immune to the effects of non-magical cold and gains a +10 bonus to Endurance Tests made to resist magical cold.
- Frost’s Touch: Once per day, the wearer may make a successful Melee (Brawling) Test to touch a target. If successful, the target is instantly encased in a creeping rime. They must make a Challenging (+0) Endurance Test or gain 1 Entangled Condition and 1 Fatigued Condition as the supernatural cold saps their strength and mobility.
- Curse: The ring is infused with the cruelty of its creator. Each time the wearer uses the Frost’s Touch ability, they must make a Difficult (–10) Cool Test. If they fail, they are overwhelmed by a wave of cold, spiteful glee and gain 1 Corruption Point.